College football, pumpkin spice lattes, and college essays – happy fall y’all! Brian shared The Biggest College Essay Mistakes a few weeks ago, and I wanted to follow up with how I handle writing conferences specifically pertaining to college essays.

I spend very little time teaching the college essay but rather highlight a few points based on Brian’s information and provide samples to consider. You can find my lesson here: College Essays. We spend one 42 minute class on the basics of a college essay but my real work is not in the teaching but rather the conferencing on essays.

The real magic happens in our writing conferences – not the lesson. Here’s what I ask students to do before they meet with me:

Starting is the hardest part for students. Many students want to talk through idea #1 vs. idea #2 (vs. idea #3 vs. idea #4), but I only meet with students who have a rough draft. This is for a couple of reasons: first, it’s hard for me to think through an essay without seeing it and second, the longer the student stays in their head about writing, the harder starting the essay becomes.

Being an active writer myself, I understand how difficult starting can be, and I also know first-hand how much easier the task becomes once words are typed out. Anne Lamott in her book Bird by Bird (highly recommend) encourages fellow writers to embrace “shitty first drafts.” In other words, bad drafts are expected and part of the process. In our instant gratification society, however, students want to the first attempt to be perfect which often paralyzes them at the start. But once words are on the page, we can start manipulating them and revising. Words on the page matter. And I won’t meet with students unless they have words on a page.

Next students will need to prepare for the conference. More and more teachers are building writing conferences into their classrooms, but too many teachers do all of the talking and no listening. This is not a conference. A writing conference is a sharing of ideas – a collaboration – not a one-sided conversation, so students prepare questions before our meeting.

What do you like about this piece?

What part(s) do you think need work?

What do you think this piece showcases about you?

How would you like for me to help you?

After students have completed these two steps, they can sign up for a conference and we meet. Writing conferences typically happen in my office (the hall) either during class while students are working independently or before or after school. I have a table in the hall where we sit – shoulder to shoulder – to talk about their essay.

After asking students where they’re applying to school, students read their essay aloud. This is hard for some students but necessary. Not only do students find glitchy spots and errors when reading, many are able to tell if the writing is true to their authentic voice. Listening allows me to focus on how the essay flows because when I see words on the page, I tend to get distracted with small details of the essay.

After listening, we go through the questions. What did you like? Most students have never had a teacher ask them this, but I love to hear their answers. Students often glow when sharing what they like; they’re proud of certain parts of their writing and need time and space for this. What part(s) do you think need work? This answer gives me insight into their thinking about writing. Students often wonder if the ideas progress naturally or if it sounds too elevated. This question – more than most – provide insights that help me plan writing lessons for the whole class. What do you think this piece showcases about you? This is important for the college essay because sometimes students think they’re showcasing a characteristic about themselves but another comes across. If we’re working on a different type of essay, I change the question. What is this essay arguing? What is the central characterization offered here? etc.

Finally, how would you like for me to help you? This is probably the most key question in a writing conference. On some assignments, I give specific feedback based on the assignment without asking this question. But in a writing conference, I always ask how students want my help instead of bulldozing in with my thoughts. The writing is the theirs – not mine – and I want them to have ownership of their work and the decisions being made around it. I am always impressed with how specific students are with their answers to this question. Most center on organization, transitions, and conclusions.

A couple of other random things:

1 – Word count is usually dealt with during the final revision stage. I tell my students to ignore it while writing. What I’ve seen happen in their writing (and mine) is some of their best ideas may never make it to the paper if they cut off their writing at 650 words. Instead, I encourage students to get everything on the page then we can choose the best parts and cut the rest. I often tell students they need to write more before revisions can start.

2 – Conclusions. I advise students to either circle back to the beginning to pick up a detail in the opening narrative or forecast to the future and how what they learned will aid them moving forward. I’ll drop a couple of examples of that here tomorrow.

3 – Cutting to 650. Once we’ve got the big ideas on page and talk through which of those to keep, I ask students to cut content so they are in the 750 – 800 word range. At this point, we can do a line by line read and through elimination of unnecessary words and sentence combining, those extra 100ish words are eliminated quickly.

4 – Basic grammar is always the last revision. Ideas are the priority and take the most amount of work.

FAQs

1: How do you have time for college essay writing conferences? I have a sign up sheet for conferences on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays after school. We also have allotted class time for reading during which we can confer. Students sign up on a first come, first serve basis. I usually open conferences during lunch the week before major deadlines (October 15th, November 1st) to get a few more. Students are encouraged to sign up early.

2: College essay writing isn’t on the exam, so why do this? Bottom line – I enjoy doing this work. If you don’t enjoy it or have the time for it, don’t do it and don’t feel guilty about that. Our classes won’t look exactly the same, and that’s okay.

3. Why don’t you charge for this? It’s above and beyond. My district doesn’t allow for me to tutor students I teach for profit.

Susan Barber teaches AP Lit and Writers Workshop/Advanced Composition at Midtown High School in Atlanta, Georgia and serves as the College Board Advisor for AP Lit. In addition to reading, writing, and investing in the next generation, she loves watching college football with her family especially when Alabama is playing.