Wonder ing to Be Done 239The Protocol Steps
The collaborative assessment conference protocol has a series of distinct
sections and basic guidelines. Briefly, the protocol follows this structure:
1.Read the text.In silence, everyone reads a student text that has
been brought to the session by a participant who has agreed to be the “pre-
senting” teacher for the conference.
2.Observe and describe. The presenting teacher remains silent. All
other participants discuss the work, and they focus first, as strictly as pos-
sible, on a description of the piece.
3.Raise questions. Description is followed by articulation of ques-
tions about the text, the author, or the context of the writing.
4.What is the child working on?The readers speculate on what they
think the child was working on as the child created the text.
5.The presenting teacher responds.Throughout the discussion so far,
the presenting teacher has been silent. At this point, the presenting
teacher adds personal observations about the text, answering as many
questions as possible.
6.Teaching moves and pedagogical responses.To g e t h e r , t h e r e a d e r s
and presenting teacher consider possible teaching moves to encourage
and challenge the writer.
7.Reflection.When all this conversation is complete, the entire
group, including the facilitator, reflects on the conference. They consider
its satisfactions, frustrations, and confusions as well as ways to improve
the next conference.
In addition to prescribing when the presenting teacher should listen
and speak, the protocol has two major guidelines or rules. First, partici-
pants are asked to withhold their judgments of the work under consider-
ation. This restraint includes expressions of taste (“I like [or don’t like]
___ about the work”) or of quality (“This is [or isn’t] good”). Second, in
the initial phases of the conference, as little information as possible is
revealed about the writer and the context of the writing (such as assign-
ment, grade, gender, or materials provided). These guidelines make col-
laborative assessment conferences quite different from most forms of
assessment regularly practiced by teachers.