This instructional note describes the successful application and adaptation of teacher-student conference techniques as suggested by Donald M. Murray in his book "A Writer Teaches Writing." Athanasourelis states that while he believes that Murray overestimates students' abilities when he describes the conference process as "the working talk of fellow writers" whose relationship will prove to be "remarkably close to [that of] peers", he finds Murray's advice to be valuable that students do need to read their own work critically and then apply what they have learned from self-criticism to future writing tasks. Murray stresses patience on the teacher's part in waiting for the student to initiate dialogue, not easy when teachers feel the pressure as students line up outside the door. Athanasourelis disagrees with Murray's ideal length of five minutes (and not 20 minutes) for conferences. While Murray suggests that the teacher must avoid covering every possible point of criticism, Athanasourelis writes that the time that may be saved should be devoted to giving students as much time as possible to reflect upon their writing, and since dialogue takes longer than monologue, its length requires a space within which both teacher and student can respond to the text with more ease. He states that he has found the most significant change in his practice of teacher-student conferences is having students read their work aloud, which he has always urged them to do for themselves when proofreading at home. When reading aloud, the students invariably corrected themselves, reading the correct form as if it were the one actually written on the page. Instead of his pointing out the error, he pointed out their correction of the error, leading to a palpable enjoyment and sense of satisfaction in students' realization of what they had accomplished. When reading aloud, they invariably corrected themselves, reading the correct form as if it were the one actually written on the page. Instead of having the instructor point out the error. Athanasourelis concludes by saying that while his experience sometimes runs counter to Murray's, he has learned much about teacher-student dynamics from him.