Thinking ahead is SO important.  As teachers, we are masters of keeping our feet firmly planted in the now, while our eyes look toward the future.  Simultaneously, we plan, prepare, and perfect current and next units of study–always asking, “What do my students need to be successful in this work?”

Argument writing is on the horizon, and to prepare for the unit, I’ve been working on a conferring toolkit.  In case you are unfamiliar with a conferring toolkit, it is a collection of tools to aid in the teaching of reading and/or writing strategies.  The toolkits can be used both during individual conferences or in small groups.   They might include marked up demonstration or anchor texts, annotated sample writings, teaching charts, rubrics, checklists, etc.

While thinking about the upcoming Argument unit, I recalled past student struggles as well as potential pitfalls .  One major hang up for students is how to effectively add text evidence into their argument.  In past years, this difficulty has popped up due to a myriad of common predictable problems all of which can be addressed with the following strategies:

But what tools do I have to teach these strategies??

Enter the conferring toolkit!!

Follow this Argument Writing Conferring Toolkit series as I share some of the teaching charts and tools I created to support students in this work!

Let’s keep the conversation going-

Lindsay