1. Reading Conferences and Reading Folders
DENVER PUBLIC
SCHOOLS

2. Reading Conferences One-on-one meeting with student
Reading conferences are the core of a successful reading program. This is where the teacher gets to know the students really well and conducts ongoing assessments which help to inform reading instruction.

3. Purposes of Conferences
Get to know student as a reader – attitude, interests, preferences
Assess student’s comprehension
Take a running record to identify student’s strategies
Focus on one or two teaching points
Set goals and plan for instruction
Find new books for independent reading
(Go through each point)
“Plan for instruction” includes planning for small group and whole group lessons, not just for this particular student. The teacher looks for patterns of student needs and groups children accordingly for short periods of time.

4. Talk about Yamel: What did you learn about her as a reader?
What strategies did you see her using?
How was her comprehension?
What teaching points and goals might you have for her?
If you don’t have a video of Yamel or your student, just show these questions as questions you should be asking when you meet with students.

5. This is the running record for Yamel, reading Help Me from The Story Box (Wright Group). If you don’t have the videotape of Yamel, you could just read the story the way she read it and have teachers take a running record. Or you could use a student at your school and use information from a reading conference with that student here. Have teachers figure out the accuracy score for the student and talk about the strategies the student is using.

6. Reading Folders
Reading Log – where students keep a record of books read
Assessment Notebook – where teacher keeps notes from reading conferences
Reader’s Notebook – where students respond in writing to literature
Every student will have a reading folder, which contains these items. Plastic folders with pockets would work best.

7. Reading Log Date Title/Author Genre Pages E,JR,Ch
This reading log might work for 2nd and up. What might teachers want to include in a K-1 log? Don’t make students who are emergent readers write down every title – they won’t have any time left for reading.

8. “I almost feel like there should be bells ringing and lights flashing as I describe my assessment notebooks. For without a doubt, they’re my most important teaching tool.”
--Sharon Taberski (2000)

9. Assessment Notebook Write notes about: Student’s comprehension
Student’s interests and preferences
Strategies student is using
Teaching point(s)
New books chosen
With the student, write 1-2 goals for the student to work on next.
The Assessment Notebook is really important and represents ongoing assessment which involves the student as well as the teacher. (Go through each item.)
The goal(s) should be written in student language and be easily observable in the notebook so that the student can reread the goal(s) for self-monitoring.
The Assessment Notebook will be the Body of Evidence for their students, including those students on ILP’s. This is a crucial piece of documentation in .meeting the requirements of CBLA

10. Responding to Literature
Another key part of the New Standards is helping students learn how to respond to literature, both orally and in writing.

11. “What is the use of a book,”
thought Alice, “without pictures and conversations.”
--Lewis Carroll,
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
Conversations about reading should take place at a variety of times in the Literacy Block – have them identify times (during Read Aloud, Shared Reading, mini-lessons, conferences, peer discussions, sharing, etc.).

12. Response Notebook Write a short summary Relate book to life
Write about questions or confusions
Analyze characters
Talk about a strategy used
Discuss the theme or message
What else?
These are just a few ways students might respond in writing in their response notebook. What are some other ways students might respond?
Note: Students in K-1 would use response sheets (where they might draw a picture and write something) rather than notebooks.

13.   ”The more passion you have about something, the more likely it will translate into a passion in the student. Everyone develops a passion because someone shared a passion when that person was young.”
--Katherine Paterson
Teachers need to share themselves as readers. They are the models of reading for their students, so they need to model excitement about books and reading, including sharing their own home reading.

14. “Students learn to recognize and discuss literary qualities and genre features and to compare and contrast books and authors. They learn to notice the particulars of the author’s craft, such as beginnings and endings, word choice, plot, and character portrayal.”
New Standards (1999)
By having high level discussions about books and by learning how to make connections across texts, students can meet these high standards.

15. “Teaching children to read and providing them with something worthwhile to read is not a job for the faint of heart in this world. But I’ll keep at it, and I won’t be alone. You’ll come too. We’re fortunate, you know. Too many people in this world spend their lives doing work that doesn’t really matter in the great scheme of things, but bringing children and books together does matter. And we get to do it.” Katherine Paterson
(This is a nice slide for closure.)