Conference Preparation

Things to Think About Before You Meet with Readers

Conferencing is the most important part of my reading instruction. It’s where I get to hear kids read. It’s where I get to ask specific questions. It’s where I get to head off problems and push for breakthroughs. It’s also very hard. Some conferences don’t seem to go anywhere. Others drag on and on and I can’t get out of them. And the minute I sit down quietly with one kid, I seem to cue all the others to start talking.

Because conferencing is at once so important and so challenging, it helps to be prepared. Here are some important things I put in place to make conferencing work as smoothly as possible:

• Establish my work time procedure. The biggest challenge to successful conferencing is commotion in other parts of the room. So I create a formal procedure for work time that tells kids exactly what they can and can’t do. The procedure is slightly different for each group but it almost always contains the following essential items: (1) You may read silently; (2) You may write in your journal or log; (3) You may get up to get another book but only one person may be up at a time. To make sure kids are clear about this, I rehearse the procedure with them. I tell them that reading time has begun and ask them to begin reading. Then, instead of conferencing, I spend a few minutes slowly circling the room, using proximity to keep the noisiest ones calm, reminding them quietly of our new rules, and praising them for following the procedure so well.

• Establish my conference procedure. Just like my reading time procedure, kids need to understand my conference procedure as well. I tell them that conferences will be no more than 2-3 minutes in length, that I will probably want to hear them read a bit, and that I may want them to answer a few questions for me. In the beginning, I’ll be calling them for conferences. But later on, they’ll be signing up ahead of time. The essential items of my conferencing procedure are these: (1) Have your journal open and dated, and have a pen ready in case we need to write something down; (2) Speak quietly so you don’t interrupt other readers; (3) When we finish, write a note about the conference we had in your journal that includes what you’ll be working on next. This last rule is just as much for me as it is for them. It reminds me to be focused and goal-oriented, and to make sure each reader is clear about what I want them to do.

• Have a way of recording notes. There are many ways to record conferences and everyone seems to have his or her own favorite. Mine is to use a clipboard with a sheet of paper on it. I make a grid with enough squares to have one for each student in a class. Then I put my conference notes in the appropriate square. When the paper is filled up, I know I’ve conferenced at least once with every student.

• Know where I'm going to conference. I can go to them or they can come to me. There are advantages and disadvantages to both. If I go to their desk, I save time and I improve my ability to manage other students in the room by proximity. If they come to me, I can talk louder without interrupting other readers, the student gets more privacy, and I get an often much-needed rest. In an ideal situation, I will set up what I like to call “my office” with two desks or a table away form the main seating area, and have students come to see me there. If I think kids are going to get squirrelly, I’ll move my office into the center of the room or some other more prominent location.

• Queue up my most challenging kids first. If I can predict the kids who are likely to have the most trouble with reading time, I’ll conference with them first. Before I release kids to reading, I’ll say something like, “Josh, Lisa, Amy. I’ll conference with you first in that order.” This lets them know they won’t just be sitting there the whole time. It also gives me a chance to make sure they have appropriate books to read and that they’re clear on my expectations.

• Give myself some reflection time. I try to take a short break after three or four conferences. This gives me time to reflect on how I’m doing, to survey the room and even get out of my chair if necessary, and to collect myself for my next set of conferences. There’s no need to do conference after conference. And I’ve come to the conclusion that trying to cram ten or fifteen into a single class period isn’t good for me or the kids.

Reading is an individual sport. And though we often have to coach 25 players at once, we know intuitively, if not from direct experience, that whole class reading activities aren’t as effective as one-on-one conferences. For most of us, there are two challenges to conferencing: maintaining good classroom management and directing each conference to a focused conclusion where readers understand what they need to do to improve. The second of these challenges seems the most important to us. But we can’t even begin to work on it if we don’t address the first.

Management issues remain the most common reason teachers sight for why their conferences don’t go well. Some cut out conferencing all together because they can’t control the class. This is a shame because cutting out conferencing cuts out our best opportunity to help kids become better readers.

The best approach is to focus first on management issues in the context of short conferencing periods. There’s no rule that says you have to have 40 minutes of conferences your first time out. Start with five. Tell kids your goal is to have two brief conferences while everyone else reads silently. Add a minute or two to your conference time each day. Set a goal with your kids to achieve 15-20 minutes of uninterrupted reading during the first month of school. Then you’re on your way.