The Power of a Student Conference

Conferring with your students on a regular basis is a must in the classroom, as it provides you with oh-so-many opportunities to address their individual needs.  However, it tends to be one of those things that many of us avoid.   Hopefully, after reading some more information about the "why" and "how" of a conference, you will be sold on its power.

Why should I conference?

To begin, conferences offer you an opportunity to provide individualized instruction to the learners in  your classroom.  During this time, immediate feedback, both +/-, can be given during a private conversation.  Conferring regularly with your students can prevent future misunderstandings about an assignment or your expectations of how work should be completed.  This translates into LESS work for you later and as a teacher in today's climate, who wouldn't want that?  In additional to all the benefits a conference offers the teacher, students also like them, as they provide an opportunity for you to get to know them without everyone else being involved.

When should I conference and who should I meet with during my conference?

You can conference with your students during independent work time.  Each conference takes between 5-20 minutes so you can meet with multiple students for various reasons each day.  Many teachers have conferences for writing or reading reasons, but they are also appropriate (and needed) in math activities, too!  

The beauty of a conference is that everyone gets one!  While the reason for the conference and the frequency of conference may be different, the best thing about a conference is it is for all students—struggling learners, advanced/gifted, English Language Learners, Special Education, etc.   Some of your students may need to meet with you multiple times a week, while others will only need to meet with you once every few weeks.  

What do I teach during a conference?

There are many different types of conferences; each type lending you a moment or more to address a need or provide additional instruction to push a student further, instructionally.

• On-the-Spot Conferences/Discussion Conferences
• Visit briefly with students at their desks
• Monitor student’s work or check progress
• Pre-reading or Pre-writing Conference
• Plan for the reading/writing session
• Feedback Conference
• Use this instead of writing comments on a paper.
• Share a graded assignment with your feedback
• Use the rubric whenever possible
• Additional Lesson Conferences
• Individual--maybe small group
• Can be used as Tier 2 and/or Tier 3 interventions
• (Re)teach a procedure, strategy, or skill that is needed for this student (s)
• Revision/Editing Conference
• Revise Writing/Repair Comprehension
• Proofread writing/read with a grammar focus
• Focus on spelling, punctuation, grammar, mechanics within writing/reading
• Common Core State Standards Language Strand asks us to teach grammar now--this is a perfect spot!
• Assessment Conference
• Asssess a student
• Discuss growth
• Set goals
• Reflect on assessment/growth/goals 
• 
  

How do I conference with my students?

Treat your conference as a conversation.  Be less formal than when you teach the class.  Allow the back and forth of this conversation to lead your student to new understanding.

Consider using a structure to make your Conference Effective.  These four steps will give you a way to cover all the material you have planned and have some consistency from one conference to the next.  

1. Research

2. Compliment

3.Teach

4. Link (Next Steps)

A great blog to visit for more information about conferring with your students is Two Reflective Teachers.  The image below if from their blog. 

How do I keep track of the student I meet with and what was said?

There are many forms/tools that you can use and modify to get your started. Pick one that fits your style!  

Things to consider:  

-Do you want to use a clipboard?   What about a binder?

-Will you use one form per student?  One form per day? Class list with notes page for week?

If you've moved away from the paper ways of the past, consider using an app.  Two to consider are Confer and Reading Note. 

Still looking for more information?

Visit Pinterest.  There are many great boards about holding a student conference that can give you tips and materials to use during your conference time. 

You can view some great conferences in actions by visiting the links below.  

Lucy Calkins Writing Conference

Reading Conference with Bella

Rick's Reading Conference via The Teaching Channel

Mrs. Noonan Writing Conference

References:

Anderson, C. (2005). Assessing Writers. Portsmouth: Heinemann. 
Anderson, C. (2000). How's it going?: A practical guide to conferring with student writers. Heinemann Educational Books.

Calkins, L. M., Hartman, A., & White, Z. (2003). The conferring handbook. Firsthand Books.
http://tworeflectiveteachers.blogspot.com/

http://readingandwritingproject.org/
http://www.teachingchannel.org/

The Resource Hunt

I'm often asked, "Where can I find articles for my students?"  

As a teacher, it can be time consuming AND frustrating to look for texts at multiple levels and about various topics to reach all of the learners in our room.  Because of this, I thought it would be great to provide you with a list of some of my favorites.  

Please feel free to add comments with new suggestions so that I can continue to update the list for others.. 

• http://teachingkidsnews.com Teaching Kids News Teaching Kids News - Readable, teachable news.

• http://www.popsci.com/category/tags/kids Popular Science

• http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/  The Learning Network - The Learning Network Blog - NYTimes.com

• https://newsela.com/   Newsela | Nonfiction Literacy and Current Events

• http://upfront.scholastic.com/   Upfront Home

• http://www.studentnewsdaily.com/   Student News Daily | Current events articles for teachers and students

• http://www.izzit.org/   izzit.org: Home

• http://tweentribune.com / SmithsonianTweenTribune | Articles for kids, middle school, teens from Smithsonian

• http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/  PBS NewsHour Extra

• http://www.cnn.com/studentnews/  CNN Student News

• http://gogonews.com/  Go Go News | Big News For Little People

• https://student.societyforscience.org/sciencenews-students  Science News for Students | Student Science

• http://www.poetryfoundation.org/learning/articles  Articles for Students & Teachers : Learning Lab : The Poetry Foundation

• http://www.kellygallagher.org/article-of-the-week  article of the week — Kelly Gallagher

• http://www.kellygallagher.org/aow-archive   aow archive — Kelly Gallagher

Getting a Grip on Group Work

We all know that when students collaborate, they learn and remember more.  (See article from Edutopia here.)  We also know that when students collaborate they talk more, are more off topic and have more room for off task behavior.  Because of this, some of us shy away from group work.  While avoiding group work may give you more control in the classroom, it is not the answer.  Here are some steps to help you get a grip on group work:

1.  Pick a Partner:  Put your students in teacher-selected pairs.  Here you offer them some collaborative opportunities but you also maintain control with small grouping and by hand selecting partners.  Partner work gives you the opportunity to do such activities as Turn-and-Talk and Think-Pair-Share.  As time moves on your can expand your partnerships to groups of three or more.
2. Give a Guide:  Nothing invites students to exhibit off task behavior more than loose guidelines, so provide steps for their group work.  You can do this with a To Do list, a checklist or a list of instructions, guiding your students’ collaborative work in terms of task completion. Your list should be specific enough to address the various tasks that need to be completed and what to do if they finish early.
3. Sit in a Session:  Just because your students are working collaboratively does not mean you can’t join in.  Sit in on one of their sessions for a few minutes—ask questions, make comments, provide advice and/or just listen in.  This shows your students how important collaboration is to you.  Furthermore, all groups will focus on the task so that they are prepared for their sit-in session with you.
4. Note your Noticings:  When you are not sitting in on group work, walk around with a clipboard or your tablet and take notes about how the groups are performing.  This will help you give feedback, provide anecdotes for wrap up AND keep your students on task.  Even if you aren’t taking notes about the students, pretend that you are, shadowing a group with your clipboard will ensure that they are focused.
5. Positive Praise:  Use positive praise to let your class know what you like (and notice) about their collaborative work.  Give specific examples and share with the whole class, not just an individual or a group.  Say, “I really like the way this group is…” or "I am so impressed with this group's....".  Doing this will encourage other groups to mimic the behavior.      
6. Delegate the Duty:  Assign roles to each group member.  This can be done one of two ways.  First you can assign the roles based on the ability and strengths of each student in a group or you can allow for students to choose their role.  Giving students a job that is their responsibility will let each member contribute to the group’s overall success. 
7. Create a Calling: If your students are going to be in these groups for more than one day, ask them to take some times to pick a group name.  If time allows, consider having your students make a poster or banner for their group, displaying the group name and a logo or symbol.  This gives your students ownership over the group and fosters some underlying competition between groups, which increases motivation.   

Ted Talks: Motivating Me In and Out of the Classroom

I'm a terrible runner.  Always have been. In fact, I'm not a great athlete in any respect, which of course makes  running quite challenging.  

This summer I decided, once again, to take up running with the support of the Couch to 5K app and the encouragement of those around me telling me how "easy" it was.   For those that do not use this fantastic app, it guides you to a 5K with short run/walk segments; it is truly designed for the non-runner.

After several weeks of "running" I found that the music I listened to did not motivate or focus me enough during my running segments and I would count down the seconds until the running period ended, making my short run even more painful.  

Knowing that this would eventually be my demise, I decided to try something new   During my runs, I would play a Ted Talk, one of the many on my never ending list of must listen to that has developed over the years. I've done this now for several sessions and I'm thrilled to report that it works.  No longer am I obsessively focused on my breathing or checking the time remaining on my run segment.  Now because I am so interested in the speaker or the subject of my talk, I just run.  It's made all the difference! 

Because these talks have had the power to turn this reluctant athlete into somewhat of a runner I thought they were noteworthy and wanted to share.  All are about education.  All hint at motivation.  All talk about change. 

Enjoy them!  Share them with your students or a fellow educator.

1.  Ken Robinson:  How to Escape Education's Death Valley (May 2013)

2.  Ken Robinson:  Do Schools Kill Creativity (January 2007)

3. Angela Duckworth:  The Key to Success: Grit (May 2013)

4.  Sugata Mitra:  The Child-Driven Education (July 2012)

5. Kakenya Ntaiya: A Girl Who Demanded School (March 2013)

One Word

Because I have the same students in multiple courses, it is important for me to think of different ice breakers to use during our first session.  For my Practicum course I asked my students to think of #Oneword that would shape their year as first year teachers.  I showed the video, linked below, to introduce the idea.

#Oneword Video

Student used an index card and the below handout to plan their #Oneword for their first year as a teacher.  Similar to #MyIdealBookshelf, which I discussed in an earlier blog, this activity fostered rich discussion and really encouraged my new group of students to open up and share personal details and feelings about their very new position in life. The final step in the activity was for students to enter their name and their #Oneword into a Google Slide which I will play the next time we meet.  My hope is to use it as an opener to discuss how they worked towards their #Oneword during the time that we were apart. 

#Oneword Handout

Think about it:  It is still early in the school year.  What will your #Oneword be?  What word can focus your energy and keep you grounded throughout another (or your first) busy, hectic school year. 

My Ideal Bookshelf for Literacy

Last year I purchased My Ideal Bookshelf with art by Jane Mount for a friend and fellow Language Arts teacher as a gift.  I ended up enjoying the book so much that I returned to the store later that week to pick up my own copy.  During the past year, I've learned that this book has created quite a movement among book-lovers and even has its own hashtag in the Twitter world, #myidealbookshelf.   Fans of the text, also have the option of sending their Ideal Bookshelf to info@idealbookshelf.com and have a commissioned painting made to hang in their home or office.  

Motivated by my love of books and my course about Adolescent Reading, I decided to think of a way to use this as an icebreaker for my course.  On the first night of class, I shared an Ideal Bookshelf I created for literacy and asked my graduate students to use the handout to create their own Ideal Bookshelf.  The activity was such a powerful opener; it generated such rich discussion on the first night and really encouraged the students to open up and share their ideas.  A copy of the blank form and the video I used with my graduate students can be accessed below:

My Ideal Bookshelf handout
My Ideal Bookshelf with Adobe Voice

Below is a link to My Ideal Bookshelf for Literacy.  It was created using VoiceThread, a great interactive tech tool.  Feel free to leave a comment. 

My Ideal Bookshelf for Literacy using VoiceThread

What books would you put on your Ideal Bookshelf?