1. Treat Each Student
Like Your Only Student.

2. Conferring With
Readers
April 13, 2013

3. “…every single reader in the room was focused
and engaged…I had to fight the urge to stop, sit
down in my chair and just let them do their thing.”
P.57
“What can we offer them that is worth disturbing the
silence?...We interrupt what is good to strive for what is
great.” Lucy Calkins

4. “Challenge: How to teach students
to get better at something when
you can’t even see them doing it.”

5. 100/100 Goal:
Educate 100% of readers
about their needs
100% of the time.
Is this desirable?
Is it possible?
How close could you get if you used
conferences with your readers?

6. You can only confer effectively if
students can sustain reading
independently.

7.  The anticipated
Conditions for problem/solution chart
Learning:
Expectation
Responsibility
Approximation
Anticipate problems, then preteach
expectations to avoid these
problems.

8. Research-Decide-Teach

9. “I always find it helpful to go to
a student to have a conference
as opposed to having a
student come to me.”
Why?
What do you think?

10. Research Only Conferences
Research:
 Observe from far and near.
 Ask yourself: What should this reader be proud of?
What is this reader showing me she knows how to do?
 This is not a quiz.
 Observe what students are securely doing & what they
are approximating.

11. “Start by just
complimenting
strengths.”
How could this benefit a child or a
classroom community?

12. 5 steps to a strong
Compliment compliment:
Conferences 1. Research through
observation and
Research-Decide- conversation looking for
strengths
Compliment
2. Choose a strategy to
Individual or table reinforce
conferences 3. Give a specific example of
when the reader used the
“Who could be your strategy
model readers today?” 4. Tell why the strategy is
helpful
5. Restate the steps of the
strategy so it is transferable
to all books and explain
when the strategy will be
useful.

13. Full Conferences
Research-Decide-Compliment-Teach
 Choose a single strategy to teach
 Focus on one skill over time by offering
different strategies for the skill.

14. Sample strategies

15. Choose a Teaching Move:
(from most to least supportive)
 Demonstration- teacher takes on the role of reader and
models the strategy
 Example and explanation- teacher refers to an example
from previous teaching but does not take the role of
reader
 Coaching- teacher supports from the side as student
tries it
 Directing
 Questioning
 Naming and redirecting

16. Recreate chart from page 86