Reading and Writing Conference Conversation

I was excited to see that Stenhouse authors Mark Overmeyer and Patrick Allen just started a Voice thread conversation about reading and writing conferences. Conferring continues to be a hot topic for me right now as I am trying to gain more confidence and become more effective. I encourage you to join the conversation and am excited to follow this conversation as it develops!

Small Group Intervention

I recently received a copy of Linda J. Dorn's and Carla Soffos' professional development resource, Small Group Intervention: Linking Word Study to Reading and Writing. I initially underestimated the possibilities for the video because it is only 15 minutes long. While the topic caught my attention (word study has been one of my focuses the last couple years), I was not sure how much I would learn from the brief segments on word assessment, setting a purpose, modeling, guided practice in reading, guided practice in writing, prompting for transfer in reading, and prompting for transfer in writing..

The resource comes with two discs, one DVD and one CD with additional resources. After watching the DVD and taking notes of new thoughts to consider on how I could make my word study even more beneficial, I popped in the CD. I loved what I saw and instantly realized how there was so much more to the resource than I thought. The CD contains a power point presentation for staff development in both PC and Mac versions. All of the video clips from the DVD are embedded right into the presentation, making it easier for presenters to share the concepts with ease.

The Power Point begins with background resources, a guiding question to open up the dialogue about the topic and direct learning, and background information. Then it moves into the individual clips with discussion questions. I quickly realized that while the clips alone were only 15 minutes, the actual structured presentation set up would entail much more than just viewing the video and reflecting on the concepts. As I am building more interest in staff development and literacy leadership, I especially enjoyed this resource. I look forward to eventually sharing the DVD with others to support literacy instruction development.

When Writing Workshop Isn't Working

After reading What Student Writing Teaches Us, I ordered Overmeyer's first book, When Writing Workshop Isn't Working: Answers to Ten Tough Questions Grades 2-5, because I enjoyed his writing style and expertise so much. In the introduction Overmeyer states, "This book is organized in a series of questions followed by some suggestions that I hope are practical for your classroom. I don't see the suggestions as definitive answers [...] It isn't about the answers; it's about learning. [...] I have always loved talking to teachers about what works for them, and I especially love talking to those who know that what works today may need to be adjusted tomorrow because each day is different" (3). This explains so well what I like about the style of writing in my favorite professional development books, authors who set the tone as a learner with thoughts to consider on a continual journey to improve and reflect.

Because I am teaching in a dual immersion school where all of my students are language learners, I especially appreciated that Overmeyer had sections focusing on considerations for English Language Learners in almost every chapter. I liked that described how he has successfully implemented his ideas and adjusted the level of scaffolding to best meet the needs of a range of language proficiency levels. I am able to apply all of the suggestions to my Spanish Language Learners as well.

This book provides a lot of practical advice to successfully launch and sustain a writers workshop, providing sufficient scaffolding for students to flourish. I will be integrating a lot of his ideas. For example, I loved his peer revision form (84) that guides students to taking ownership in the process, scaffolding revision with stacking the deck (93), and standardized testing preparation (105). I am trying out stacking the deck for the first time this week.

Overmeyer's book is yet another resource that I was able to connect to and write a lot of notes while reading. I am so excited about the plethora of quality resources available that are at my reach when planning, reflecting, and teaching.

The Unfinished Angel

I have not been posting as much about Teachable Moments in Literature as I had planned on when I first came up with the idea. I just finished reading The Unfinished Angel by one of my favorite authors Sharon Creech. I loved it just as much as I have loved all of Creech's books that I have read. I noticed that this book appears to be more accessible to students that are not reading at grade level than some of her other books. The book has short brief chapters but still leaves the reader with a lot to ponder.

Creech's craft leaves room for a lot of teaching points. In this book one that stands out is the use of onomatopoeia. Frequently throughout the book there are words to represent various sounds such as drums, a nail gun, a dog barking. As with many of Creech's books, it also uses some words from different languages. Since I work at a dual immersion school and students have a love of languages, I can show how Creech integrates different languages and what she does to help her readers who may not speak that particular language. The book is also an excellent opportunity to talk about moving a plot along and revealing the story bit by bit.

Intermediate CAFE in the Classroom

This summer I read about and was intrigued by the possibilities of using The CAFE Menu in my classroom. I started the year working out a plan to be able to build my menu board by introducing strategies one at a time throughout the year. I had to think of a way to be able to flip the signs so that they could reflect the language of the week in my immersion setting (link to see my writing menu with the same concept). As the year evolved I decided that my older students needs were mainly comprehension and ended up taking down the other three sections of my menu in order to save wall space. I have been trying to experiment and decide exactly what adaptations I need to make when using the CAFE menu concept in my 6th and 7th grade language arts classes.

Luckily, the instructional coach at my school was able to order the DVD, Intermediate CAFE in the Classroom: Helping Readers Thrive in Grades 3-6. The DVD came at a perfect time after I have already gotten my feet wet with the concept. It served as a good way to focus my reflections and reevaluate how I have been using it and how I can use it more effectively. The 117 minute video shows a wide variety of lessons. For example, it represents the different grade levels, different lesson configurations (whole group, small group, one on one), and different reading levels. I appreciated that through their examples I could see types of students. Through the needs of their students and the decisions they made based on individual needs, I could imagine how the same concepts would work with my own students.

I was also able to reflect on how the one on one conferences fit with the ideas of others that I have been reading lately, especially Patrick Allen's Conferring and Donalyn Miller's The Book Whisperer. I especially loved seeing how "The Sisters" guided students from different reading levels in selecting goals and setting up plans. The students left with a sense of ownership in the process.

I always love to see ideas that I read about in action. I took pages of notes while viewing the video. I will immediately be implementing some changes, as well as reflecting on the big picture, what I will start to do different in future years with the introduction and set-up. For example, I love that they do not necessarily build the board from scratch with older students. This would work so well in my classroom. There were many points in the video such as this that made me pause and wonder if they had not mentioned that in the book or if I did read it and just was not at the right stage in the process to have that idea register. I am planning on taking a day during winter break to reflect about reading, and the notes I took during the video will be a key component in my considerations.

Conferring Walk-Aways Wrap-Up

My posts about Conferring walk-aways were only a glimpse into the information that I took from Allen's book. When I was originally listing out possible topics to include, I quickly realized that I could continue posting for a long time on this one book. I imagine that I will often revisit the book as I gain more experience with conferring to once again reevaluate my progress and areas where I would still like to improve.

Here is a list of some of the areas that I did not write posts about to give you an idea of other topics the book addresses that I found helpful:
*The rationale for sitting side by side when conferring. I had heard this often before but had been pondering what was the most feasible with the layout of my classroom. I had considered going to students without actually sitting down versus having students come to me and being able to sit side by side. After reading Allen's book I realized how essential it is to go to students and sit side by side. I was able to figure out a way to make this happen with my present lay out.

*Knowing students as readers through conferences.

*All readers need conferences; there is not a stage where they are so proficient that they no longer need to confer.

*Small groups versus conferring

*Networking with colleagues and personal professional development

*Jumping in too fast

*The ins and outs of finding a record system that works for each individual teacher

*Being able to explain the benefits of conferring to others

Conferring Walk-Aways Parent/Staff Involvement

Last year our school started to have grade-level meetings throughout the year to talk to parents about specific academic areas. I am still planning out our meetings with my teaching partner for this year. Last year my parent meetings ended up being about new technology in the classroom and my students' first ever over-night field trip to visit a college. This year I want to make sure that in addition to these types of meetings I also include topics specifically related to language arts.

One of my favorite sections in Conferring was "Lingering Questions and Answers About Conferring with Readers". It concisely reviewed concepts that he had mentioned at various points in the book, as well as some new thoughts. I was particularly interested in his answer to how teachers can utilize parents and staff members. He gave many specific tips on where parents should start when conferring and what types of information they can note about their children, as well as questions they can ask. He concluded by saying, "It is important that we teach parent volunteers and support staff how to confer with readers. Knowing how to confer makes their work with students more purposeful and meaningful" (184).

I realized that Allen was probably talking about parents as volunteers, but he got me to think about how this could be a powerful parent meeting topic. Our parents who are able to often ask about how they can help their students at home. Many of the parents read and discuss books with their children. Allen's suggestions give me so many ideas on how I could provide support for parents to confer with their children if they are not already doing so. It is also a great way for them to understand our workshop model in class.

His comments also gave me new ideas on how to support my instructional assistant in conferring with readers. Earlier this year I had asked a question at Two Writing Teachers if they had suggestions for best utilizing instructional assistants in the workshop. One of them had mentioned the benefits of having them confer (I tried to find the post so I could link it but didn't). I loved the idea, but I quickly realized that since I was so new to conferring and did not have my own system down yet, it was hard to explain what I wanted my assistant to do. Now that I am getting more comfortable I am getting to a point where I can add in this piece utilizing Allen's ideas for starting points.