Conferring With the Reader Prompts

About this teaching resource

Conferring With Reader Prompts.

Find out what your readers know about the act of reading with these 5 really good questions/prompts. Have them handy when you confer with each student individually, or during the Reflection/ Share Time. Or glue the sheet into their Reader's Notebook, ready for when you meet with them.

What are the highly effective elements of a Reading Conference?

• Planning. It's not just out of the blue, plan for it to happen every day - who you need to check in with (some more than others). Maybe have a day set for students. Know who to confer with when and what the focus is.
• Referring to previous goals and information. Reflecting on the student's goals, providing feedback to each child around their goal. 
• Decide/Teach. Decide on a new strategy that will really help them. Then demonstrate to the student how that works in the student’s text., and when they should use it. Have the student practise the new strategy with you to check on understanding. 
• Goal Status. Ask the student to articulate the new strategy and record this as their goal. Record their current goal status - is it early, on the way, solid.
• Other: During Independent Reading they have their Reader's Notebook (aka Reading Journal) open so that they look at their goal whilst they are reading. The Reading Conference Notes page process is the same process as in a Mini Lesson.

Tools to have on hand, or actions you need to take:

• A Good Reader Anchor Chart on display as a class
• The Reading Conference Notes page in their Reader's Notebook (aka Reading Journal) to write notes about the student.
• Have the student articulate what they are going to do and have them practise doing it in front of you
• Students should come to the Reading Conference with a lot as they have come across the same things in the Mini Lesson
• The teacher can also use Roving Conferences during Independent Reading. Each student has their goal/s in front of them in their Reader's Notebook, along with their Reading Log. In this way the teacher can check in on reading goals as students are reading and quickly catch up on most students.
• During the Reflection/Share Time of the Reading Workshop, it’s a good time for students to look back on their goals and do a ‘Turn and Tell’. Then they are showing how they are using the strategy with a peer. So it's not just the teacher conferring - it’s the students supporting each other in an ongoing way, every day.
• In other words have the children actively choose and use the strategies in the Reflection/ Share Time or whilst you are conferring with them. Model what this looks like in the Reading Conferences with them and in the Mini Lessons. In this way children have practised these actions with the teacher, with enlarged text or during the Read Aloud when the teacher and students are reading/ listening together. Then the Reading Conference helps the reader with further actions to take.

The Reading Conference Notes page includes: (Picture or record of what child’s doing):

1. Date
2. Observation
3. Decide/Teach
4. Goal
5. Goal Status- early, on the way, solid
6. What text they are using

Listen to our podcast: How To Confer With Kids and Make It Work

Enjoy!