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
Moving into “Big Fat Chapter Books”: Conferring with Elyse
In this conference with seven-year-old Elyse, Joan Moser helps her set a reading goal that will help her move into "big fat chapter books." In the debrief with Gail Boushey,...
Listing Strategy: Minilesson
Aimee Buckner confers with students after a listing strategy minilesson in writing workshop using the book This Is the Tree.
From Cross Checking and Retelling to Main Ideas: Helping Advanced Readers Develop Skills
In this five-minute video, Gail Boushey confers with Amanda, a second-grade student reading at a fourth-grade level early in the school year. In the conference, Gail helps Amanda set a...
Conferring with Leonela: A Two-Day Progression
Leonela is a six-year-old student whose first language is Spanish. In these videos of conferences with Ruth Shagoury filmed over two days, she makes connections between her drawing, writing, and...
In the Zone: Conferring with a Young English Language Learner
The Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) is a concept developed by the Russian language researcher Lev Vygotsky nearly a century ago. The theory simply stated is there is a learning...
Moving Beyond the Basics: Teaching Inferring to a Fluent Young Reader
In this conference, Gail Boushey (of "The Sisters") confers with Brandon, a reader who is becoming fluent in his reading. Gail helps him understand the concept of inferring, and Brandon...
Learning to Cross-Check: Conferring with Hailey
Joan Moser confers with five-year-old Hailey and helps her set a reading goal. Hailey reads a text, and Joan demonstrates how cross-checking can be a useful strategy for readers in...
Writing Conference Principles
When we were first learning to confer with students of all ages, we devoured books written by Nancie Atwell, Donald Graves, and Lucy Calkins. Each of these teachers had their...
Understanding the “Silent Period” with English Language Learners
If you have a new English language learner in your class who is not speaking, don't worry. According to language researcher Stephen Krashen, most new learners of English will go...
The Art of Listening in Writing Conferences with English Language Learners
Listening looks easy, but it is not simple. Every head is a world. —Cuban proverb Researchers have studied the physiology of listening and speaking. One of the things they discovered...
Mix It Up: Helping Young Writers Learn to Confer with Peers and Teachers
When writers put words to paper, they are writing to an imagined audience. The audience might be themselves at another point in time; it might be a specific friend; it...
The Lines are to Write My Words: Phonics in Context
New journals. The excitement of a whole blank book of pages waiting for words and drawings to fill them. The kindergarten children seem eager to have their own new journals...
Conferring in the Zone: Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development and Writing Conferences
The Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) is a concept developed by the Russian language researcher Lev Vygotsky nearly a century ago. The theory simply stated is there is a learning...
Noticing Words to Expand Vocabulary: Conferring with Mariah
In this conference with six-year-old Mariah, Joan Moser of "The Sisters" has chosen to focus on expanding vocabulary. Joan uses the charts in the classroom linked to read-alouds to anchor...
Concepts of Print: Conferring with a Kindergartner
In this conference with five-year-old Mariano, Joan Moser (of "The Sisters") assesses his understanding of reading, print, and books at the start of the school year. After the conference, Joan...
Conferring with a Child in the “Silent Period”
Larisa is a six-year-old who speaks Russian at home, and is in the "silent period" in school. In this conference, Ruth Shagoury demonstrates different strategies for eliciting responses from Larisa....
Conferring with Anna
Anna is a five-year-old student in an Oregon kindergarten classroom who speaks Vietnamese at home. In this conference with Ruth Shagoury, she shares writing about her classmates and a snake,...
Listen In: Jeffry’s Ocean Story
As a literacy coach, I'm lucky to be in the same class once a week for writing workshop throughout the year. Sometimes I refer to it as my "lab classroom,"...
The Difference Between Conferring and “Touching Base”
Sometimes when I talk with teachers about creating "the luscious feeling of endless time," they look at me like I've lost my mind. They tell me they love the idea,...
Tweeting an Author
Katherine Sokolowski helps Amelia send a tweet to a favorite author.
Kindergarten: Conferring with Grace
Hayley Whitaker confers with Grace about her writing early in the year.
