CAFE Chapter 5: Eavesdropping on Some Conferences

This chapter was a little hard to blog about.  I am still really learning the lingo of the strategies so I chose to chunk it by strategies and then comment.  Feel free to respond to your favorite one or post something else if you prefer.

Goal: Comprehension/Strategy: Check for Understanding (Beginning Reader)

• This brought back memories of listening to my ELL kids read.  I liked the visual of sticky notes to keep her accountable and to reference in the next conference.  I sometimes worry about focusing on fluency or WPM as it can give a false sense of reading success.

Goal: Comprehension/Strategy: Check for Understanding (Advanced Reader)

• We don't have many ELL students at all, but I have to say that this coaching session was pretty abstract and highly verbal which are big red flags.  I would love to see "Who and What" in some visual way that would keep her accountable and focused.  Do you worry about checking for understanding during your whole class read aloud?

Goal: Accuracy/Strategy: Flip the Sound (Beginning Reader)

• I love this!  I have heard other tricks like "when two vowels go walking, the first does the talking", but I have never heard of this one which is VISUAL.  Have any of you incorporated this?

Goal: Accuracy/Strategy: Flip the Sound (Advanced Reader)

• So, this makes me wonder how you can do these conferences whereever the students are sitting?  At times you need a whiteboard, markers, or sticky notes.  I am not sure about this part.

Goal: Comprehension/Strategy: Summarize Text (Advanced Reader)

• In my experience, many students struggle with leaving out all of those details and just narrowing the focus to the main events.  I like the idea of breaking up the task by chapter and then editing them into a summary.  This seems like a big 2nd or 3rd grade skill. Do those teachers have any tricks to share?

Goal: Accuracy/Strategy: Cross Checking (Beginning Reader)

• I love that included a kindergarten example here!  I think most of our primary teachers instinctively use beginning sounds and pictures in books to build up confidence about reading.  Giving it a fancy name like "Cross Checking" is a great way to build PK-5 language across the building.

Goal: Accuracy/Strategy: Cross Checking (Advanced Reader)

• I like to see the carryover with this skill in the upper grades.  As the vocabulary in their books gets harder, it is important for them to realize that they still need to fall back on previously practiced skills.

Goal: Fluency/Strategy: Reread Text

• I like the idea of this because I do believe we have some students who do not hear fluent reading/are read to at home.  I also think we have cut back at school on how much we read aloud to students.  I am still, though, not sure about modeling non-fluent reading for students.  That might take me some time to buy into!

Goal: Expand Vocabulary/Strategy: Tune In to Interesting Words (Advanced Reader)

• This part reminded me of how our non-proficient readers in many cases have limited vocabulary and limited experiences outside of school to develop it.  We still must move forward and there is no fast or easy way to cram vocabulary in a meaningful way with children.  I wonder how she gets from the "I don't know what silo means" to knowing it.  Dictionary?  The mini-notebooks to carry back and forth to the home are a cute way to keep communication open and add vocabulary practice, too.

CAFE Chapter 4: Conferencing with Children: Principles and Examples

Rethinking Conference Protocols:

• We must keep in mind that the reason we confer with students is to help them work toward individual goals.
• I wonder how comfortable all of you are in individual conferencing with students.  What training have you had? What forms do you use?  How do you use that data to guide instruction or interventions?
• This focus on using the form with today's conference info and conference info for the next time is a great way to build responsibility for the students.  It would be a great tool for the SPED and Title I teachers to use, too, to communicate with the classroom teachers.  Would anyone be willing to share how they "do" this in their classroom?
• I also loved the visual icons of the pencil, eye, brain, arrow, target, and next sign.

Moving from Conferring to Coaching: A Shift in Thinking

• I love that concept of moving from an individual conference to a coaching session.  Much more productive!
• Are any of you using the "Coaching Toward a Target" form?
• It looks like they take about 4-5 minutes.  That sounds very manageable.  I only wondered at the older grades how you would "see" or "hear" application of a comprehension strategy during their oral reading?  Any ideas?

Seven Elements of Successful Conferences

• Fair isn't always equal with children.  I think it was Mary that noted how the higher achieving students sometimes don't like that they don't get to have guided reading as often as the others.  How many times do you get to conference with each student in a week's time?  I am guessing once with the proficient and above and twice with the non-proficient?
• I love the Debbie Miller quote about Hercules. I know how hard it is to manage a literacy block from my own teaching experience.  It takes lots of organization and patience.
• I have never tried the idea of doing the conference where the child is at.  I always called them to my table.  What works for you?
• So, my big question is how do you decide what strategy or two to focus on, model, and follow up on with each student?  Do you have a checklist?  Is it in your grade level literacy expectations?  The sky is really the limit in many ways with fluency, comprehension, and vocabulary.
• Coaching is beautiful to watch.  Do you feel like you are coaching or assessing?
• I like the point about taking the observations from the coaching sessions to fine-tune small group or whole group mini-lessons.
• The recommendation is for the teacher to see four to five touch points of successful application of a strategy.  Is that feasible or is our scope so wide that we move on before that point?
• I agree that it would be a relief to not focus on the time during the conference as the format allows for a teacher to really reach each student every few days at the most.