How to confer well: Use clarity, vision, and voice, give insight and ask questions that make the person a better writer and to allow them to engage with their writing in away that goes deeper than the surface, use research, silence (making a decision), and teaching in a personal and thoughtful way, act natural, be assertive, and remember your teaching skills, be prepared for the unpredictability of students, confer with your colleagues, observe students and learn from the observations, and work on your own literacy (McCormick-Calkins and Harwayne, 1991).