Reflections on Conferring

Conferring is purposeful helping aimed at developing students' capacity for learning. Conferring is more than merely providing information. I think of it like this: 

Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day (helping)

Teach them to fish and you feed them for a lifetime (conferring)

I taught a lesson about conferring recently with my pre-service mathematics teachers. Here's what we did, how it went, what I'll change for next time, and what we learned.

QTP: Rich tasks are for everyone

Overheard: The modified "rich version" of the task would have been too difficult for some students, so we gave them the original worksheet and one teacher took those students aside to work on it together. 

But... If the rich version of the task is "better" for learning, why shouldn't the struggling students work on it too?

QTP = Quick Thought Post