Learning Log 11

Chapter 4 – The Café Book

Prior to reading Chapter Four, think about your idea of conferencing with children in the near future.  Write down:  What do you envision the room to look like, feel like, and sound like?  What concerns or questions do you have?  Then, read Chapter Four and revisit your initial thoughts.  Has your thinking changed?  What questions do you still have?

I envision my classroom to look like the students are working toward their reading and writing goals.  My classroom feels like a fun, productive working environment.  It sounds like the students are reading to each other and reading to themselves; they are working towards their reading goals.  I am concerned with making sure that everyone is working diligently in the classroom as I am conferencing with individual students:  What is the best way to ensure this?  How do I keep the rest of the class focused?

I do not believe that my thinking has changed much; however, I am still concerned with keeping my other students on task when I am conferring with individuals.

Chapter Four presents the seven elements of successful conferences (p. 57-67).  Read and reflect on this section, use p. 151 as a guide.  Grab your notebook and practice conferring with another person/child.  Reflect on the conferences you held.  How long did each conference take?  Did you complete all seven steps?  What did you find most difficult?  How do you see this working in your daily routine?

Step 1:  Check the Calendar for Appointments

The teacher checks the Conferring Notebook for appointments with students.  The teacher is also able to check the Keeping Track form to see that he/she is meeting with students consistently based on their needs.  Some children will have conferences more often than others based on their present level (Boushey & Moser, 2009).

Step 2:  Prepare for the Conference (30 seconds)

The teacher needs to prepare for the conference when they decide upon which child they will meet with.  He/she does this by quickly scanning notes for the following information:  Their teaching point and the follow-up for students between conferences.  By preparing, the teacher will be able to focus on the student.

Step 3:  Observe Child and Listen to Reading (1 minute)

The teacher asks the student to read so that they may listen to see if the student is employing the strategies that were previously taught and what they are doing well with the strategies.  The student describes his/herself as a reader.

Step 4:  Reinforce and Teach (1 minute)

The teacher shares his/her observations with the student, then they teach or reinforce the strategy the appropriate strategy through explicit explanation, modeling, thinking aloud, and offering advice (Boushey & Moser, 2009).

Step 5:  Practice the Strategy (1 minute)

The student is asked to practice the strategy with the teacher, so the teacher will be able to correct misconceptions that the student may have made about the strategy.

Step 6:  Plan (30 seconds)

The teacher and student make decisions together on the next step for the student to take, which will be recorded on the coaching sheet.

Step 7:  Encourage (15 seconds)

The student needs to express what the goal is, and the teacher provides the student with encouragement to keep them positive about practicing the strategy.

Each conference that I conducted lasted about three and a half to four minutes.  I completed most of the steps as it was difficult in having very little information to start with.  I found deciding on a strategy to practice or reinforce to be the most difficult because of the lack of information that I had to go on.  I see this as a way to keep track of my anecdotal notes for each students and as a guide in planning where students need to go.

Reference

Boushey, G. & Moser, J. (2009). The café book. Portland, Maine: Stenhouse Publishers.