Includes bibliographical references and index.

Foreword / by Lucy McCormick Calkins -- Conferences are conversations -- The teacher's role in the conference -- Teaching students about their conference role -- Matchmaker, matchmaker: teaching students to learn from authors -- Laying the groundwork for conferences: mini-lessons -- Decisions, decisions: choreographing conferences -- "What are all the other students doing?": classroom management in the writing workshop -- Getting back to conferring basics -- Appendix: Mentor texts.