What is a written conversation?
A written conversation is a series of short notes (or longer ones) written back and forth about a shared experience or a given topic. Essentially, it's just like a verbal conversation but on paper. Today one of the kids said, "Hey, it's like texting!"
Why do we do written conversations?
Written conversations: (1) allow us to engage in thoughtful dialogue with our kids; (2) provide an opportunity to model strong writing skills; (3) help children learn to build conversations around specific topics; (4) scaffold kids into responding to and building upon the thinking of others; and (5) provide a rich artifact that demonstrates the kids' thinking and communication skills at this very moment.
What does it look like?
A written conversation looks a bit like a play script or a transcription of a conversation.
How long should it be?
It should be as long as it takes you to feel comfortable with the completion of your conversation. Some are barely a page long and others are a couple of pages. There is no required length. This should be a natural (written) discussion between you and your child.
What sort of help should I provide during the conversation?
In terms of writing, when you see your child miscuing on something (say, an omitted piece of punctuation or a really short response that is not very clear) you might make a point to demonstrate how to do this properly in your own response and draw their attention to it. No pressure. No shame. Just an opportunity for them to see what their writing might look like. That said, I would not focus on more than one or two things in any given conversation. You don't want to bog them down with too much to think about in one sitting.
In terms of generating and maintaining a conversation, prompt them to think out loud then put it on the paper. Articulating their ideas, especially the more complex ones, is not always an easy task. Give them as much support as you think they need but keep moving them toward greater independence. This is a great opportunity for them to grow into listening carefully to the ideas of others and responding with their own related thoughts and questions.
My child sees this as a question and answer sort of thing. Is that right?
If asking lots of questions early on helps them grow into the work of having a discussion then definitely use this to support them. There's nothing wrong with questions. However, over the course of our two years they will eventually outgrow this and begin responding to ideas rather than just asking and answering questions.
Here are a few examples from the classroom over the past two days...
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