This article reminded me of a Literary Guru I saw a few years back whose main statement to children when conferencing with them was " How's it going?" I think that is even the title of his book( I can't remember his name??? Carl Anderson -I think??) Nonetheless, I like the idea of the conference being nothing more than a conversation between teacher and student, with no pressure, no judgement, etc. I feel it is extremely important to make each student feel comfortable with you before,during and after conferencing. I liked how the article gave you an example of conferencing and then from there moved to show you just how many teaching points can come from just a small amount of time with a student. The article further discussed how to narrow it down- which I appreciated.
The idea of not interrupting the reader was GREAT because as an adult I know I hate it when someone interrupts me when I am at a good part of a book and lose my train of thought but the for-warning of knowing that you still have a few minutes to spare before the conference begins is a GREAT idea. I think it also reflects respect between teacher and student.
The idea of setting reading goals is GREAT. I like the idea though of leading the child to being able to set their own goal and being able to self evaluate that goal. I also liked the prompts that were presented from reading recovery and can definitely see this as being a useful tool. I see how students could even create their own running lists of what they think or have learned to do to help themselves as they read. This list would be something they could refer to as they came to areas where they need assitance.
The quote I loved best was " Our wisdom, our experience, and our teaching are too valuable to run untapped within us. Just as each book, well read, makes children better readers, each conference, well taught, makes us better teachers. Our children deserve our best selves."
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I also like that in the reading as well as the videos we watched today, they showed conferencing as being just a conversation between two people about a book. One just happens to be a student and the other the teacher. When I was teaching first and second grade, I struggled to really have defined expectations during my reading conferences. I didn't really have a plan as to what I was going to focus on and it ended up just being my students wanting to read an entire book to me. I see now that I needed to do some preparation thinking as to the possible teaching points that I wanted to hit upon. Also, when Lucy Calkins mentions that a conference has all the components of a minilesson, that really helped to set a clear picture outline of what an effective conference looks like.
ReplyDeleteWendy I underlined the same quote at the end of the article because it was very well said. :)
ReplyDeleteWhen reading about her conference with Pedro, I liked how she put the responsibility of evaluating his work with Matt back on Pedro. It made him self-evaluate and he was quite honest with her which then allowed for comfort and trust within the conference.
Taking the time to sit back and observe for a while and then move in to "research" by asking open ended questions of the student was very neat.
In the part about coaching a reader, I concluded that it is more of a demonstration/suggestion for the student in hopes that the student picks up on it and then makes it a reading habit of their own. It was not intrusive or demeaning, but rather encouragement from the teacher.
Another article to make me think and reflect on current practices and make changes for next year. Thanks Christy and Becky! :)
While reading this article I "flashed back" to my first few years of teaching. I remember walking up to my students and sitting next to them- I listened, I asked a few quick questions, checked that student off on my "list" and went on to the next student. What missed opportunities! This article re-focused my eyes to coaching and conferencing with a purpose. So much of what we do now is deliberate and purposeful. There is a "WHY" we do what we do now. The why is known-and specific. A question did come to mind while reading this. I wondered about our "Stake-holders" in all of this. I wondered if something like this article would be beneficial to parents. I wondered if we could involved parents in coaching/conferencing from home. Would that empower our families if they were given example questions to talk with their child about before they just randomly signed a reading log? I wondered if reading at home, and "mini-conferencing" at home could give reading another greater purpose?
ReplyDeleteI find as a teacher I get more from reading conferencing and coaching than from any other form of assessment. I am often guilty of doing exactly what the article said about jumping at the first teaching point that comes on the horizon. In the future, I am going to wait and listen. Children will lead us where we need to go if we listen quietly.
ReplyDeleteI agree with all of you, and I also underlined and "coded" with an exclamation mark the last line, "Our students deserve our bravest selves." I have found that I'm pretty brave when it comes to teaching writing, brave when it comes to conducting book clubs and alternative reading assignments, but no-so-brave when it comes to helping students with their reading. I think one reason I enjoy teaching Honors is because they are proficient, and most of the time, excellent readers. They just need me to help them verbalize their thoughts intelligently--to teach them how to talk about theme and the human condition, how to spot author's craft and then use it in original writing. I am terrified of "basic" students because, up until this point, I truly haven't known how to help them. Their weaknesses seem so great, their interest so low, and while they thrive in shared reading and read alouds I could never get them to be truly independent readers. For the last two years, all I have taught is Honors and Advanced. Now, the Advanced and Basic students will be in the same class, called CP. There will be a wide range of students, so I HAVE to differentiate instruction more than ever before. I HAVE to learn how to help students read more effectively and cause a lasting improvement in their reading lives. And that is why I am in this class.
ReplyDeleteThis article caused a paradigm shift for me--I have never thought of myself as a reading coach. One sentence is all it took: "If a teacher's interaction with a writer is meant to alter all the work a student does after the interaction is over, then why wouldn't a teacher's interactions with a reader also be directed towards altering how a student reads after the interaction is over?" Wow. I have always talked to students about their reading, but I've never thought of it in quite this way. I always make suggestions, but I never follow through to make sure my suggestions area followed. I’ve never given a child the opportunity to make a personal goal and then work, at home and at school, to show me evidence of “serious work” towards the goal. So, I will need to keep organized running records (which means I'm going to have to get organized! Sigh.) on each student, but it will be worth it. I think Liz told me today to pick two things from the class and just do those two things really well. I’m going to start with this.
I will definitely change my views on conferencing for next year. I will always go to the child and I will always wait a few minutes to see where I need to go with the conference.Keeping a log and notes is crucial for being parepared to help the child in the best way possible. I am not ashamed to admit that I am worried to death about giving the children what they need in 3rd grade. I am way out of my comfort zone, but I am grateful to have such fabulous team members to help me. This article and watching the videos today were really helpful and gave me lots of ideas to get me started.
ReplyDeleteToday I learned a lot about conferring with readers from the videos in class, this article (and Chapter 7 Make Assessment Instruction's Working Partner). I too thought about the writing conference where students have specific things to work on, and we follow up to see if the corrections were made. Likewise, we need to follow up on what they are told to work on in their reading. I'm going to work on that one!
ReplyDeleteI never realized that conferring about writing was a more popular mindset than conferring about reading with children. I want to borrow her procedure of joining a student where she lets them finish reading or carrying on as if she wasn't there. It was interesting to read at the end about the reasons why reading conferences don't always occur in a classroom. My biggest obstacle was always finding time. However, we are concentrating on conferring for our cohort study this school year. When conferring, I always tried to remember to concentrate on the reader more than the reading. Lucy Calkins states the same thing in her article: "As the child talks, I often find myself looking for ways to steer him away from the text and back to his reading life." It was also interesting for her to point out that what a reader does in front of you might not be what that reader does independently. I always have to keep in mind that readers need to be able to do the best they can without me always being there to help them. Instead, it's all about coaching children to develop these unconscious habits. Lastly, I really appreciate the language, phrases, and questions included in the article. I will have to put all these in a chart to keep near me while conferring until they become part of my coaching and conferring language.
ReplyDeleteToday's videos were a great help to me as a refresher of how good conferring/conferencing should look. This article also gave me great ideas about how those conversations should sound. That part was always a road block for me. I now see that I was not observing enough, listening enough, and digging deep enough. I love the concept of a research-decide-teach-conference. I also liked how Lucy showed and named what the students were doing as she slid up beside them. She was truly a coach to the kids.
ReplyDeleteThis is by far one of the most informative articles on conferencing I have read! ( I stopped at page 110, and plan to read the rest in the a.m., but sleep is calling me:) I find that hearing the "language" effective teachers use..the"talk"... so helpful. Christy, she is definitely one of those "smart" people that write this wow kind of stuff. Lucy Calkins simply lays it all out...I'm looking forward to the last three subtitles in the article.
ReplyDeleteI too found this article very helpful. I like that in the videos today and in Lucy Calkins article the conferencing between the teacher and student was nothing more than a conversation. I think that as we have been hearing all week, establishing rapport and a sense of community within our classroom as well as getting to know each child plays a huge part in our conferencing be "conversation".
ReplyDeleteI also liked the fact that Lucy Calkins included in this article examples of what she might say or ask in conferencing situations such as with the two boys, Matt and Pedro. This allowed me to see what this might look like and sound like in the classroom. I hope that I will be able to refer back and pull from her great ideas in this article next year!
I too loved the article. I underlined so many important things as I was reading. I think the reminder about using wait time spoke to me the loudest. I need to slow down and listen. So much is gained from that simple act. I love the informal conferences and plan to do many more of them this year. I know that with careful planning I will be able to fit them in. I am hoping to conduct some of these type conferences early in the morning. This year I will have a self-containd class. I hope I will have some extra time tucked into my schedule to confer with kids. I really want to use this time to talk and listen to children. This article also showed me the importance of explicitly showing students how to retell a story. Many of the kids are just swiping at the story and not really thinking about it. It is up to me to teach retelling to the students. This article will make it much easier to teach this strategy. I like the way it showed all the components of a great retell.
ReplyDeleteI too jump at times on the first teaching point that comes on the horizon and this article reminded me once again to listen and to wait. I like the way Calkins measured her words and started with the positive. Of course the students were then receptive to the critique and assignment that followed. I like that she reminds us that we must not be timid. "Our wisdom, our experience, and our teaching are too valuable to run untapped within us." These were good insights for me. This article had many great ideas for conferencing and it pointed to the intuition that we have when we listen to that voice inside us.
ReplyDeleteI, too, didn't realize the greater attention that has been given to conferring with writers as opposed to conferring with readers. One of my favorite things to do is sit side by side with my readers, but there are definitely some things I was reminded of in this article. I underlined the part in the text where Lucy Calkins explains that she must resist the temptation to jump at the first teaching point. I must learn to wait, like Lucy, and "weigh the teaching options." I also like the way Lucy coaches her readers by asking them to get started using the new strategy right then and there. I have gotten much better about having my students set their own goals at the end of a conference, but the lasting changes won't take place unless the reader actively changes his or her reading behavior: "I demonstrate what I hope the child will do. I suggest a strategy other readers use. It is tempting to end the conference here, but if I'm the only one who is active during the teaching part of a conference (as in a minilesson), the chances are great that the reader's behavior will remain unaffected. Instead, I often try to get the reader to start using the new strategy right then and there..."
ReplyDeleteOh, and I also greatly appreciate the list of "conference beginners" and lists of prompts to scaffold a reader...really great resources!
I am right there with Maria. I hope I know the right thing to say to the readers during conferences. I think I would like to conduct conferences both ways. At a table (so the Dominie table is not so scary) and going to the students. I think I would alternate periodically. I think that letting students know I am going to conference with them today makes them a little less nervous on those other days. (This would have been me as a reader - Oh no, here comes the teacher. Am I doing everything I am supposed to be doing? Is she going to stop at my desk? What will she say to me? - I would not be able to focus on my reading because I would be scared to death.)
ReplyDeleteThis article and the videos you showed us today made me think about why and how to improve my coaching and conferring style. I am going to be more patient and give the child time to think instead of moving to quickly to assist. As Lucy says, “ they need to feel it”. This week I’ve learned that setting a good conferencing tone appears to be the key in getting to know your students and letting your students know they can trust you as a teacher. I appreciate Lucy’s thinking out loud about comprehension options for her students as well as the list of teacher prompts to use when conferencing. I will also remain with the students to watch them practice after suggesting some reading strategies.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of coming up and sitting next to a child without interupting what they are doing immediately, but allowing them to continue so I can see and hear what they are doing and how they are learning. It is a natural inclination for students to look at you when you sit down next to them.
ReplyDeleteWhen I have conferenced with students in the past, I have students who want to be the first ones to have my individual attention and I have told them to form a line and go back and sit down until it is their turn. Angela made a good suggestion today that at the beginning of class, you list on the board who you plan to conference with that day. You can also alternate that with days that you have "roving" conferences that would be more informal and you can hit the students who need the most help on that particular day.