Choice Lit Topic: Conferring
The teachable moment is what we live for – is there anything more magic than reaching a reader or writer with exactly the right words at exactly the right time? We’ve bottled some of that magic in the resources that follow, with print guidelines and scores of video examples from master teachers.
Results
Creating a Teacher Notetaking System
Sometimes I feel like our reading intervention room should have a revolving door rather than the typical classroom door on hinges. So many kids pass through that door each day....
How Do You Show Up?
Let’s start with a quick exercise. Think about your own coaching work with colleagues or think about a coach you’ve partnered with recently. Using the matrix below, where would you...
Conferring Notebook Details
“Can I take a picture of that?” the observing teacher asked, pointing to my reading conferring notebook. I tried to hide my hesitation with a frozen grin and a nod....
What Should I Teach in a Writing Conference?
“Mrs. Barnett, want to see the letter I’m writing from Jonas?” Tripp calls out as I’m passing his table. “Definitely!” Tripp is writing a letter from the perspective of a...
Conferring Over Character Motivation
Christy Rush-Levine confers with Erica about her reading response to 13th Reality. She helps Erica consider character motivation.
Making Feedback Visible for Young Writers
As I walked out of the classroom with my students at dismissal recently, Andre pushed his way between two students and under my arm. Glasses askew, he looked into my...
Giving Feedback to Energize Writers
The minutes after hitting Send on the email containing our first article submission to Choice Literacy were full of emotion. One of us was giddy, the other nervous. Minutes turned...
A Three-Part Conferring Kit
I clicked open my email and had a few new messages, most of them from familiar correspondents. But another name looked less familiar. I opened the note and it said,...
Conferring Over Whole-Class Reading
Deb Gaby confers with Riley about The Lemonade War. They talk about the writing about reading that students are doing for this whole-class read.
Reading Partners in First Grade
Katrina Edwards guides two first-grade readers who are partners early in the year.
A Roving Student Conferrer
It was Sam’s last day in class before his family moved. He had finished writing his series books for our final unit of study the day before. So when it...
Sincerely Positive
If you can’t find anything positive to say, it’s likely you have not fully analyzed what you’ve observed. This is not because there is always necessarily something good going on,...
Reading Conference: Sports Connections
Christy Rush-Levine confers with Carson about his connections to sports in his reading of the book Swagger.
First-Grade Conference: Information Writing
Stella Villalba confers with Esmeralda about her information writing on blue jays.
Conferring over Motivation and Genre
Christy Rush-Levine confers with Griffin over his reading responses. They consider the differences between dystopian literature and realistic fiction, as well as what motivates characters.
Balancing Conferences and Small Groups
Read any professional book on the workshop model, or listen to any literacy consultant, and they will tell you: Students should have 30 minutes to read independently while the teacher...
Writing Partner Feedback in Fifth Grade
In this video, partner teams in Franki Sibberson's fifth-grade class share their drafts and ask for specific feedback on their opinion-writing pieces.
Big Table Writing
Max Brand uses the "big table" in his kindergarten classroom as a communal spot for writing. You can see how he interrupts students naturally to make quick suggestions, and allows...
Digital and Disney: Conferring with Ben
It would be easy to zip quickly through a writing conference about a vacation story, especially one about a trip to Disney. Franki Sibberson doesn't do that. She slows down...
Student-Led Minilesson: Annotating Reading with Sticky Notes
Reagan from Franki Sibberson's fifth-grade classroom presents a minilesson on annotating reading with sticky notes.
Crafting the Basics: First-Grade Writing Conference
Bitsy Parks confers with Aubrey early in the year, connecting key text elements such as title, author, and the links between images and text to mentor texts used in whole-class...
