How to manage reading Conferences 

            If you would like to hold individual reading conferences while the other students are reading, it will take some planning and organization. Before you attempt to hold conferences, you must be sure that the students can consistently read independently. You’ll have to teach them how to do this.

Get Them Ready

            Once your students are reading well on their own with few interruptions, start individual conferences. First, teach your class the purpose of the conference and the tools they will need to make the process successful. The purpose of a reading conference is to assess comprehension and set reading goals. They will need to come prepared with current reading and evidence of work on their reading goal.

During the Conference

            The process of the conference should be a predictable one. Review previous goals and evidence that goal was or wasn’t reached. Student reads aloud, teacher leads discussion to assess comprehension. Teacher creates new goal. Student chooses new books with teacher approval. When you feel comfortable with this process, you may start another conference while the first student is choosing books.

Record Keeping

            I like to put out a sign-up sheet for conferences. Students can sign up when they finish a book (and need a new one) or have questions and need to discuss them with you. Of course, some students will rarely sign up. You can’t wait until they finish a novel before you meet with them, so sometimes you’ll need to call them up. Here is how I manage this situation. Every week, I list all the student names on a log in order of priority.  I start with students that requested a conference and then add students I haven’t seen in a while. Hopefully you can conference with each student every one to two weeks. I check off the day that I met with each kid in order to prioritize for the next week.

            You might want students to keep a small notebook with their reading goals so that they can refer to goals while reading independently. You’ll also need a notebook with a section for each student. You need to keep track of current reading, assessment information and goals. This will be your goldmine for data analysis. You’ll have an accurate snapshot of where the students are so you can decide where they need to go next. You’ll also use the goal notes to create small reading groups.