CONFER WITH ME

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CONFER WITH ME!

• A Practical Approach to Reading
  WorkshopConferences, Strategies and Ideas

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Confer v. To meet in order to deliberate
together or compare views consultConference 1.
n. A meeting for consultation or discussion. An
exchange of views. 2. The act of conferring, as
of an academic degree.
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One-on-one meetings are the ultimate confidence
builders for students. Theyre especially
effective as follow-ups to (instruction), when
students practice a strategy. Your undivided
attention to each child makes them feel that you
care about their learning and will try to help
them understand and improve (Robb 1998, 7-8)
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What is a conference?A short interaction between
teacher and student during the work time of
Readers Workshop. The follow may occur

• Listen to a student read aloud to determine
  accuracy and fluency
• Ask questions regarding what the student is
  reading to determine comprehension
• Demonstrate the strategies of proficient readers,
  such as self-monitoring by using a look-back
  strategy
• Explain the value of using reading strategies
  regularly
• Reinforce direct instruction done in whole-class
  settings by repeating a point, such as how to use
  the Readers Notebook/Response Notebook correctly
• Converse with the student about any problem you
  have noticed or that the student has identified
• Make recommendations regarding texts the student
  might enjoy or benefit from reading
• Discuss reading habits
• Strategize with the student about what needs to
  happen next
• Evaluate the students reading accuracy by taking
  a running record

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WHERE ARE WE? WHAT ARE WE TRYING TO DO?

• What is happening in my classroom and what am I
  trying to do with it? When we plan we need to
  remember to ask these questions and forgo what
  am I going to say next?, or what is my activity
  for Monday morning?
• (Bomer, 1995, 200)
• Take time to reflect and create the opportunities
  for you and your students

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Conferring Tips

• Keep a nurturing tone
• Give students time to think
• Follow up with more questions, not answers
• Listen carefully for distress signals
• Set goals!
• Keep simple records
• Keep the students needs driving the conference

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Types of Conferences
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A Learning about the Reading Process Conference

• Most frequent type of conference
• Strategies associated with making sense of the
  text are addressed
• Comprehension
• Intrepretation
• Critique
• Personal Response
• Connections (t-t, t-s, t-w)
• Perspective
• Opinion
• Craft
• Predicting
• Text bound aspects of reading
• Summarizing usually occurs

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Questions to ask during Reading Process
Conference

• What new things have you tried in your reading
  lately?
• What do you think is going to happen next in the
  book?
• How would you compare this book to ____
• What genre would you classify this book as?
• How would you describe this authors style?

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A Getting-to-Know-You Conference

• Typically at the beginning of the year to get to
  know the students strengths, needs, interests,
  and weaknessesthey in turn get to know your
  style and structure, and rituals and routines of
  a conference
• Give a survey
• In what ways do you consider yourself to be a
  good reader? A not so good reader?
• How many books have you read in the last month?
• What are the last two things you read?
• What type of books or magazines do you like to
  read most?
• What topics do you like to read about?
• Do you have a favorite author?
• What do you like about that author?
• Does anyone in your family read a lot?
• Does anyone read aloud to you?
• What are you favorite books/texts to listen to
  (on tape or when someone reads aloud to you)
• Do you read more at home or at school?
• After giving the survey you can determine fluent
  readersmeet with your non fluent ones right away
  so you can get them started on creating and
  meeting goals
• For young and emergent readers this survey can be
  given orally

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A Building a Reading Life Conference

• TEACHING STUDENTS HOW READING IS A PART OF THEIR
  DAILY LIFE inside and outside the classroom
• Students can gain information and enrich their
  lives by reading, but some must be explicitly
  taught this fact
• Focus on
• Setting reading goals (i.e. reading all the works
  of a favorite author, find a non-fiction book on
  a topic of interest, trying new genres, reading
  for longer periods of time, finding out what
  types of books they enjoy)
• Helping the student understand their surroundings
  while reading--brainstorming places to read at
  home and school--helping them schedule when
  theyre going to be able to read
• Bringing people together around
  books--encouraging book talks among students

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QUESTIONS TO ASK DURING A BUILDING A READING
LIFE CONFERENCE

• After reading ___ books on (topic), has your
  interest changed or shifted in any way? Do you
  still want to read more about this topic? Has
  reading about this topic increased your interest
  in any related topics?
• After reading books by ____ do you want to
  continue reading all of his/her books?
• You seem to be moving very quickly through
  (series or authors books). Do you think you are
  ready for something more challenging?
• You have tried reading outside, in the library,
  and in your bedroom. Where do you most enjoy
  reading? Where does the most effective reading
  occur?
• Whose recommendations for books and other reading
  do you seem to agree with the most? Is there any
  possibility for you to form a reading
  relationship with that person?

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A Making an Evaluation Conference

• Allow you to note the students progress while
  helping the students learn the habits of being
  reflective, productive, and progressive readers
• From the getting to know you conference you
  should be aware of each students use of
  particular strategies..from that knowledge you
  will determine and evaluate what strategies will
  be useful for each student.
• Running records will be used greatly at this type
  of conference.

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Questions and prompts to begin a making
evaluation conference

• What do you know about the storys plot?
• Tell me what has happened so far in the book you
  are reading?
• Have you reached the climax of the story yet?
• Do you feel any attachment to the characters?
• Do you feel comfortable with the genre? What do
  you already know about the genre?
• Have you had too much exposure to a particular
  genre?
• How does that reading strategy that we talked
  aboout last time work for you?
• Have you been reading a variety of genres?
• Is this book too difficult for you?
• Is the vocabulary unfamiliar?
• What progress have you made toward your reading
  goals?
• What has been your best reading experience yet?
• What problems have you encountered in reading
  this text?

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The Strategies of Proficient Readers

• Activitating relevant, prior knowledge (schema)
  before, during and after reading text
• Determining the most important ideas and themes
  in a text
• Asking questions of themselves, the author, and
  the texts they read
• Creating visual and other sensory images from
  text during and after reading
• Drawing inferences form the text
• Retelling or synthesizing what they have read
• Utilizing a variety of fix-up strategies to
  repair comprehension when it breaks down

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A Taking Action Conference

• These happen when proficient readers really think
  hard about what they have taken in, and are
  usually affected by the reading, moved to
  understand, or take action because of the
  readinggood teachers will support and create
  these moments during a conference after a student
  has felt inspired by a text by asking questions
  like
• How do you feel about what you just read?
• Do you think the situation or issue you read
  about affects your life in any way?
• How do you think others feel about this? Have you
  ever heard family members or friends talk about
  this issue?
• You can also share enthusiasm or show interest by
  commenting
• What a great idea!
• You could write the editor a letter if you feel
  this way!
• See if you can make that happen

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CONFER WITH ME!

• Sources
• Americas Choice
• Reading Monograph Series
• Reading Conferences