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Bobby Beebe
Teaching Philosophy
As a writer, I have always found my greatest resource to be the workshop. I have sat in
many classes on writing and while learning the tricks, techniques and skills have all enhanced
my writing, the most productive exercises for improving my written work have always been
talking with and asking questions to others. As I geared up to teach first-year composition for the
first time, I managed to forget the importance of workshopping. I came into the classroom with a
boosted ego. I believed my own writing experience had given me so much important and useful
knowledge to impart on these, what I assumed were, inexperienced student writers. Upon reading
the first round of rough drafts, I came to the realization that this knowledge was not sticking. In
order to get a better sense of the disconnect between my students and the lessons I had provided
them, I decided to set up one-on-one meetings with each of them. What I was met with in these
meetings were 24 students eager to ask questions, defend their work and explain their processes.
One-on-one meetings allowed students to more explicitly explain their purpose, express their
confusion and address the strengths and weaknesses of their own essays.
Since this experience, I have made workshopping and conferencing the centerpiece in my
classroom. Drawing on theory from Rosmary Arbur, Laurel Johnson Black, and Muriel Harris, I
contend that there is nothing more valuable for students who are learning writing than an open
dialogue about their work. Through research and practice I have found that one-one-one
conferencing and workshopping are best employed when they are centered on collaboration and
dialogue. To ensure this I have pulled from a conferencing structure based on Rosmary Arburs
seven elements of a conference: engagement, problem exploration, problem identification,
agreement, task assignment, solution, and termination. Using this methodology I have been able
to make sure that my one-on-one conferences do not become mini lectures from me to the

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student, but rather collaborative sessions in which the student takes control, allowing them to
take ownership of both the successes and faults of their own work. By employing questioning, a
key factor in both Black and Harriss conference structure, I avoid directive or prescriptive
meetings, striving instead for a meeting in which students can come to their own conclusions
about what is and is not working in their writing. This student-centric model has proven to most
effectively allow students to not only succeed on the specific assignment hand, but at improving
their ability to become critical and mindful writers.
In the classroom this methodology manifests itself in two different ways. First, I have
created lesson plans that revolve around workshopping. This is not to say that my teaching style
does not include lectures, but rather that the lectures always serve as a set-up for some type of
workshopping activity. For example, when I teach introductions I may explain to the students
some of the conventions of introductions, give them some helpful tips about writing this section
of their paper and show them examples of good introductions, but I will reserve the majority of
the time in class for the students to begin shaping their own introductions. During this time I will
walk around the classroom and talk with each student about the direction of their introduction.
This allows for students to voice their concerns, ask questions and work out issues verbally in a
pseudo-one-on-one setting. Time to work in class takes up the majority of my course schedule
because it allows for students to engage with me one-on-one as much as possible.
The second way I center my classroom on one-on-one conferences is by requiring
students to schedule several one-on-one conferences throughout the semester. After students
submit their rough drafts for review I call them in for a meeting. This meeting does not serve as a
means for me to tell them all the issue with their writing, but as a way for them to explain to me
what they feel the issues are. Most of the times our ideas of the strengths and weaknesses of their

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writing align closely. For these meetings I require students to provide me with three critical
questions about the writing process for their particular essay. This allows students to own the
conference from beginning. In doing this, students direct the conference in the ways that will be
most helpful for them. I supplement their questions with a combination of advice and additional
questioning that allows students to come to their own conclusions about writing. This
questioning results in thoughtful and critical revision. Instead of feeling that they just have to fix
all of the changes I have suggested, students revise their papers to address the core issues that
they have identified in their writing. In addition, if students feel as though they could have done
better after they have received their graded work, I encourage them to set up another conference
with me. In these conferences students address areas where they feel they should have done
better on the paper. In doing this students are given to revise their paper for a new grade. By
having them explain where they may be able to further succeed, I allow students to submit
revised essays that address central issues rather than go through a checklist of minimal changes
needed to earn back points.
This conference-centric teaching methodology has given me a chance to see tremendous
growth in the writing and critical thinking abilities of many of my students. I have found that
through workshopping and conferencing students have shifted their focus from meeting
requirements to make a grade, to critically thinking about their own scholarly voice and how they
can become more effective writers. This not to say that students arent still trying to make the
grade, it is obvious that the grade is still their most important objective, but that the students are
aware that getting the grade they deserve depends solely on their ability to improve themselves
as writers. This conference-centric method of teaching has not only lead to meaningful classroom

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interactions with my students, but guided my future education endeavors, allowing me to pursue
an even more conference-centric approach to education through my work with the writing center.