Those Who Know Do Not Speak

Conferring requires the art of restraint:
   Teacher becomes student.
   Student becomes teacher.
Teacher learns to listen.

The teacher who knows,
   asks the just-right questions,
   to push their young writers,
Towards self-actualization.

Questions like:
    Why are you writing this?
    Who are you writing this for?
    How do you think they will react?

We don't know these answers:
     Teacher becomes student.
     Student becomes teacher.
Students teach us to listen.

The teacher who knows,
    takes a breath,
    waits a moment,
And uses writers' responses to formulate an idea.

After the writer speaks, the teacher speaks:
      "I have a thought,
       writer-to-writer, 
       you might want to try."  

The role of the teacher expands to:
     co-writer, co-reviser, co-editor,
     From a snippet of silence,
     Grows learning.

When we confer,
      we must first listen,
      before we speak because:
Those who know do not speak,
Those who speak do not know.