After I have pointed to what's working well, I question the reader. If the student didn't offer up additional details during reflection, I will solicit some details by asking questions such as: "What type of dog do you have? Is he allowed in your bed? Does he go to bed when you go to bed?" Then I will ask, "How could you add those details?"        

During this stage, I help the young writer make revisions, not edits. We are not working on conventions, but on the goal we established at the beginning of the conference. Being able to articulate what makes good writing (beyond grammar, punctuation, and spelling) is essential for this stage. Many teachers have found that familiarity with the first five of the six traits (ideas, organization, voice, sentence fluency and word choice)has helped them with knowing how to focus on writing skills.

Sometimes it's useful to tell a student what you observed before asking your question(s).  For example, I might say, "Kara, when you wrote, 'We could hardly fit in our van. It was full of sleeping bags and the tent and the cooler.' I felt as if I was squished in that van with you!  You created a movie in my mind.  However, when you wrote, 'the camping trip was fun,' the movie ended for me.  Where did you camp? What did you do that was fun?"

            I often introduce revision techniques to students during the question stage. (Once I have introduced a technique, the student shows it to classmates during the mini-lesson on the following day, so I usually only have to introduce a technique once before it is spreading through the classroom.)

Here are some useful questions:

Ideas

Why did you choose this idea?

What did you choose to focus on?

There seems to be two stories here.  Which one interests you most?

What happened when . . .?  Where did it happen? Why did you . . .? (for clarification)

Can you tell me more about . . . . .?  I want to picture what happened in my mind.

Organization

How did you decide to organize your piece?

Is there another way that you could begin your story?

What does the reader learn in the middle of your piece?

What happened after . . .?

How did you get from here to there?

What do you think the reader will want to know in the end?

How do you think the reader will react to this ending?

Voice

Where do you feel your voice shines through?

Can you tell me more about . . . ? (Extracting quality details will often add more voice.)

How did you choose this topic? (Is it a topic the reader cares about?)

What part of this writing was the most fun to write?

How would the story change if you were telling it to a friend?

How did this event make you feel?

Word Choice

Which word is your favorite?

Did you try any new words in this piece?

I have a hard time seeing the word "went." Can you come up with another word that creates a picture in my mind? (Solicit lively verbs)

What was the name of the store? (Solicit specific nouns)

Do you know other words that mean the same thing as _________?

Sentence Fluency

Which sentence is your favorite. Why?

Which of your sentences begin in the same way?  What could you do to make them begin differently?

Could this sentence provide more details?  That way I could picture what is happening in my mind.

If you were to choose to stretch one sentence, which sentence would it be?

Did you know that this sentence can be divided into two?  That will give the reader a chance to take a breath.

Have you ever tried writing dialogue?