Conferring

[Notes from the afternoon session with Christine Robson]

Reading Workshop:
1. Mini lesson
2. Private reading
3. Midworkshop Interruption
4. Partner reading
5. Teaching share


Private and Partner Reading:

• Think about teaching, in a mini lesson, what kids will be doing during this time. What will they do during a conference? What should they do if the teacher is conferring and they need something? How will they be independent? 

Nuts and Bolts of Conferring:

• Where should I confer?
• Take the conference to the students (It makes your presence known, Other kids might listen-in to conferences, It allows kids to own the space)
• Use a conference to settle the room (If a side of the room needs redirection, go do a conference in the middle of it)
• How often should I meet with each student?
• You must see all of your kids every week, but it might not necessarily be in a one-on-one conference (Balance it with small groups)
• How do I confer when everyone needs 
• Why do I need to keep notes?
• There is no way you can keep all of the information in your mind
• You won't be able to check back in with kids, for accountability, unless you wrote it down (If you don't follow-through, kids will learn that they don't need to do what you ask they do)
• To communicate effectively with support staff (to make sure instruction matches)
• Helps you evaluate what types of conferences you are conducting (Do you tend to always do fluency conferences? Do you never teach any synthesizing?)

Record Keeping System Tips

• Fast and easy
• Write only what you will use
• Create a system that will allow you to see individual students as well as patterns in groups of students
• Be consistent
• Idea: Think about mini lesson/next step ideas (1 or 2 words: Helps you see patterns in whole class)
• Maybe include teaching points across the top

Compliment Conferences/Table Conferences

• Often at the beginning of the school year
• Walk around room and interrupt the whole table, then share something one reader at the table did well
• Great opportunity for using a checklist with skills/behaviors/engagement/stamina to get a better read on the room
• Great for helping plan mini lessons and small groups

Conferring

Major 2 types:

1. Research-Decide-Teach Conference (Works better in higher level texts (J and above))

2. Coaching Conference (Works better in lower levels (I and below)

Research-Decide-Teach Conference:

• Research
• Stand back and just observe what they are doing. Can you notice any evidence of monitoring? (Jotting notes, looking up and thinking, etc.)
• Reading under J? You will probably ask them to read aloud a bit
• K and above? You might not always need to hear them read (unless it's a fluency issue)--It might be more around the work of comprehension
• Some research will happen outside of the conference (ex: Running Records)
• Might look through their reading notebook while they keep reading
• Looking through post-its in books that are finished
• Look through reading bags during small groups as kids are transitioning (You might find the kid reading at a level D with a Harry Potter in his book bag)
• Compliment
• Tell the reader something specifically that they can keep doing (Name it directly)
• Behavior issues: "Oh my gosh! This is great! Billy was all done with his book, and I can tell that he was JUST ABOUT to grab another book because readers know they go right from one book to another. That is SO smart!"
• Teach
• When demonstrating with a book, make sure you use a book the student already knows (You want the focus to be on the teaching, not on the content)
• Demonstrate it, then have the student try it
• Link
• Leave  a little artifact for them: Jot on a post-it note what you want them to keep working on

Coaching Conference: (A, B, C, D, E readers) 

[Decoding is already so much work. Don't take them out of the book into another book as you demo. Coach them in their own books.]

• Prompt students "on the run"
• Help them get started
• Use lean, consistent prompts
• Ex: Baseball
• First coaches would teach how to swing a bat and hit a ball
• During the baseball game, the coach wouldn't teach how to swing a bat (Demonstration). The coach would just shout from the sideline:  "Eyes on the ball!" and "Level swing!"
• Match prompt to the miscue
• Let the student do the work!