Transcript Mapping the Year - Wachusett Regional School District

Conferring with
Readers
Part 1
Marcia Uretsky
CACD, Tufts University
July, 2008
Uretsky CACD Tufts University, 2008
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Workshop Goals- Day 1

Overview of Reading Conferences

Finding Patterns in Conferences to Organize
Small Group Instruction and Focus Lessons

Typical Conference Structure
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Conference Language
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Ways to Organize Conference Notes
Uretsky CACD Tufts University, 2008
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Workshop Goals- Day 2

Dual Roles of Reading Conferences
 Reading
Surgery
 Support Focus Lessons
Language to Support Comprehension
 Conferences to Help Students Select “Just
Right” Books
 Small Groups Based on Conference Notes

Uretsky CACD Tufts University, 2008
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The Architecture of Readers’ Workshop
Focus Lesson
-Interactive Read Aloud
-Shared Reading
(Whole Class)
Read and Confer
(Individual and
-Independent Reading
-Small Group Reading
Small Group)
Group Share/
Wrap-up
(Whole Class)
-Share
-Reinforce
-Celebrate
-Discuss
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What Is an Independent Reading
Conference?
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teacher works one-on-one with a student
to teach the reader what s/he needs to learn
about reading.
The teacher assesses (researches) what the
student needs to learn, decides what to teach
the student and then teaches the reader.
Some people think of an Independent Reading
conference as a “private lesson.”
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Dual Role of Reading Conferences
Reading Surgery
 Teach the reader, not the text
Support Curriculum
 Coach student to apply strategy taught in
Focus Lesson
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What is essential?
Conversational tone
 Consistency
 Motivation- develop identity as a reader
 Research, Decide, Teach (RDT,R) and record
 Teach the reader, not the book

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Conference goals for the teacher:
To coach the student to think actively
 To assess what the student knows and
needs to learn
 To teach the reader
 To motivate the student to read more and
to apply the strategies taught

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Conference goals for the student:
 To
apply reading strategies.
 To develop metacognitive skills
 To talk about books in a variety of
ways, (e.g. author’s craft, character
development, preferences).
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Four Part Conference Structure

Research
 What
does the student know?
 What does the student need to learn?

Decide
 Select

1-2 things the student is ready to learn next.
Teach
 Explain

and model the strategy
And Record
 Record
what you taught and expect student to
practice for follow-up at next conference.
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Research, Decide, Teach
Date/Title/Level
Jackal’s Flying
Lesson
What does the
student know?
Reads well.
Retells and
comprehends
well.bbb
and record
What does the
student need to
learn?
How can I teach
this?
Read with
model
question in mind
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Time for Reading Surgery
Four domains for conferring:
Decoding
 Comprehension
 Fluency
 Motivation

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Conferring With Early Readers
Early readers have an
independent/instructional level
between Level A and Level F. (Gr.
K-1)
Early readers:
•rely heavily on picture cues
• rely on pattern
• developing high frequency
words
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Starting a book.
What does the student know about self as a
reader?
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Tell me how you chose this book.
Have you read any ____ books before?
How do you know this is a “just right” book?
What kinds of books do you like to read?
What do you do before you read a book?
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Middle of a book.
Is the student actively engaged and applying
strategies as needed?
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Read a bit of the story to me.
Do a quick running record to analyze strategy use.
What is happening in the story so far?
What do you think might happen next?
Tell me about the characters.
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End of the book.
Is the student thinking beyond the text?
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What do you think about the story?
What was your favorite part? Why?
Did you make any connections to the story?
Retell what happened in the story.
What strategies did you use as a reader?
What was your favorite part of the story?
What will you read next?
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Prompting for Strategy Use
With Early Readers
Cueing systems readers use
 Prompt across cueing systems to develop
cross-checking independence
 Phonics is important, however, an overreliance handicaps students to be “glued
to print.”

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Cueing Systems Readers Use
Structure
Meaning
Syntax
Semantics
Does it sound
right?
Does it make sense?
Does it look right?
Visual
Phonics
Adapted from: Marie Clay (1991).
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PAUSE, PROMPT, PRAISE
Responding to Oral Reading Difficulties
Stops, does not
attempt word.
Produces a
word that
makes sense,
but isn’t the
printed word.
PAUSE FOR 5 SECONDS
Produces a
word that
doesn’t make
sense.
PROMPT
BY
TEACHER
Does that
make
sense?
Does that
sound right?
Can we say it
that way?
Does that
sound like
book
language?
Does that look
like _____ ?
Do the letters
match?
Something
wasn’t quite
right.
Try that again.
Allington, 1999
Uretsky CACD Tufts University, 2008
PRAISE SUCCESSFUL STRATEGY USE
SPONTANEOUS
SELF-CORRECTION
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Prompt in at least two cueing
systems to develop cross-checking
Text: The green toad is in the pond.
Student
Teacher Prompt
The green frog is in the
pond.
The green toad in the pond.
The girl toad is in the pond.
The green tǒăd is in the
pond.
The toad is green.
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Role Playing To Prompt Early
Readers
Partner work:
 One partner reads text as student.
 Second partner prompts with at least two
cues to develop strategy use and crosschecking.
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Discussion of Role Playing
What cues do you find yourself relying on?
 What patterns did you notice the “student”
doing?
 What prompts did you use to help the
student broaden their strategy use?
 What would be the follow-up teaching?

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Research, Decide, Teach and record
Date/Title/Level
What does the
student know?
What does the
student need to
learn?
How can I teach
this?
10/17 Dan the
Flying Man (C)
How to look at the
first letter and the
picture.
Find parts in
words – an, at.
Magnetic lettersmake and break.
Find words in text
with -an & -at
10/22 Tracks (C)
Enjoying books –
Reading for
meaning.
Still relying on
first letter cue..
Used parts when
prompted.
More work on
parts of words –
and, it, is. Is
student looking at
the last letter?
More practice with
books so students
can practice
using parts in
words.
10/24 At the Ball
Park (D)
Reading for
meaning.
Used parts of
words
independently.
Make sure she is
rereading so that
she gets the flow of
the text.
Strategy group on
how to reread
when you have
stopped to figure
out an
unfamiliar word.
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Conferring with Transitional Readers
Transitional Readers have
an instructional reading
levels J-M. (Gr. 1-2)
Transitional readers are
beginning to integrate
cueing systems.
Developing understanding
of plot, characters, simple
literary elements.
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Starting a book.
What does the student know about self as a
reader?
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Tell me how you chose this book.
Have you read any other books by this author, series?
How do you know this is a “just right” book?
What kinds of books and topics do you like to read?
What do you do before you read a book?
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Middle of a book.
Is the student engaged in purposeful reading?
Is the student monitoring for meaning and
using a variety of strategies?
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How did you get back into the story from yesterday?
What is happening in the story now? Earlier?
Tell me about the character. Did the character change?
Take me to that part of the story.
Was there a part of the story that was confusing? What
did you do to help yourself as a reader?
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End of the book.
Is the student thinking beyond the text?
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What do you think about the book?
Was it what you expected? Did you want it to be
different?
Did you make any connections?
What did you learn about yourself as a reader?
Would you recommend this book? To whom?
What do you plan to read next?
What goals do you have for yourself as a reader?
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Prompting to Develop Balanced Reading.
Text: Magic Tree House
Teacher
Inquiry
Student
Response
Probable
Problem
Teacher
Prompt
Tell me how you Points to cover.
chose this
“I like
book.
dinosaurs and
chapter books.”
Read a bit of
the story to
me.
Tell me about
the characters.
Student scans
picture. “There is
a boy and he is
Nate. There is a
cat and a girl.”
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Prompt to develop balanced reading.
Text: Magic Tree House
Teacher
Inquiry
Student
Response
Probable
Problem
Teacher
Prompt
Read a bit of the
story to me.
Read a bit of the
story to me.
How do you et
back into the
story from
yesterday.
“I go to my
bookmark so I
know where I
left off.”
What goals do
you have for
yourself as a
reader?
“I want to read
harder chapter
books.”
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Sample Reading Conference Notes:
Student: Thomas
What does the student
know?
What does the student
need to learn?
How can I teach this?
1/17 Zach Files (L)
Knows someone is
speaking not always
sure who.
Follow dialogue
through sensory images
and inferring.
Short text full of
dialogue without
references after
characters are
introduced initially.
Who's talking?
1/22
Stopping only sometimes
to decode unknown
words.
Is keeping pretty good
track of details.
Wonder when you don't
get something.
Stop when meaning is
unclear and question.
Think aloud using short
text- model stop and
thinkSay huh?
1/24
Excited to finish.
Eagerly takes out book.
Stopped at "individual"
got the meaning.
Chunked .
in • di •vid "oh
individual!"
laughs at appropriate
spots.
Choppy.
Notice end marks vs.
question mark vs. !
Monologues: ( a short
text that holds its own)
poetry.
1/25
Time for Kids
Predicts when asked.
How to use non-fiction
features to help set him
up to readRead with expression.
Use a nonfiction article
or section of a book and
have students generate
text features they notice.
Date/Book Title/Level
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Conferring tips…
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#1. Talk about what you see the
student doing at the moment.

I see you are laughing. What’s so funny?
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I see you have lots of sticky notes in your book. What
are you writing?

I see you’re reading the back of the book. Tell me about
that--what kind of information does it give you?
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I see you have selected many nonfiction text. What do
you like about nonfiction?
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#2. Talk about what you worked on
last conference.
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Last time we met, we talked about finding “just right”
books. Share with me the books you selected. How do
you know they are “just right?”
Last time we met, we worked on reading fluently and
paying attention to the punctuation marks. Read this
part aloud so I can hear how you’re doing…
Last time we worked on what you can do when you
come to a word you don’t know. What can you do to
figure out that word?
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#3 Talk about that day’s focus
lesson topic or the current unit of
study.

In the focus lesson we practiced creating sensory
images. Show me a place in the book where you could
create a strong image.
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We are learning about nonfiction. How do you read this
page? What part do you read first?

We have been practicing retelling. Retell what you have
read so far in the book.
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#4 Ask 1 or more open-ended
questions

How’s your reading going?
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Tell me about this book…what’s it about? What’s
happening so far in the story?
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Tell me about the character in the story?
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Why did you select this book?
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Can I help you with anything in your reading?
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#5 Try an over-the-shoulder read.
I want you to silently read the rest of this page, and I’m going to
sit here beside you and read it silently to myself.
When you’re done, let’s talk about what you’re thinking.
Things to Notice
• Silent Reading Rate—How long does it take for
the student to finish reading that section silently?
• Comprehension—Does the student understand
the selection? What strategies does the student
use?
• Oral Reading (optional)--# of errors, fluency &
phrasing
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Take Away Messages
1. Reading Conferences follow a Research, Decide, Teach, and
Record format.
2. Four domains of reading: decoding, comprehension, fluency,
and motivation.
3. Teach the reader not the book.
4. Conferences involve active teaching and follow-up.
5. Recording conference points helps students take
responsibility and an active role in growing as a reader.
6. A reading conference is “reading surgery.”
7. As teachers we grow in our ability to confer. We start with a
handful of strategies. Over time we develop a basketful.
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