I am a bit nervous as I anticipate my first informal reading conference with my 5th Grade Buddy. My student is a very capable reader and writer, as evidenced by his writing that he read aloud to me last week, and a very good speller, judging by the informal spelling test that I administered last week. He is also a very sweet kid. There is no reason for me to be nervous. These feelings arise out of a lack of confidence on my part. I am usually uneasy about doing something for the first time.
Routman lists a Framework for an Informal Reading Conference on page 104-105. I have printed this form, Appendix H, (pg.A-9) and plan to follow it diligently. I have also printed her "Child-Friendly" Reading Goals from page 106-107. I know I will have to refer to them as I conference with my buddy, somewhat like following a new recipe to the tee. Fortunately, I really do feel assured that my buddy will be patient and agreeable. I just want to do justice by him; he deserves no less.
Follow-up: The Informal Reading Conference went well. As I expected, my buddy was very willing and cooperative to go through the steps of the conference with me. He is comfortable speaking to adults and enjoys talking about books, making a Reading Conference an easy thing to accomplish with him. Afterwards, as we walked back to his classroom, I told him that before the meeting with him, I had been nervous. He looked at me with expressive brown eyes and admitted that he had been nervous as well. I suggested that I thought, however, it went okay. His grin was the only response I needed.
Follow-up 2: After reading Athena's blog about her reflections on Informal Conferences and what Routman writes about them in Reading Essentials, chapter 7, I realize that I didn't focus on goals for my buddy. We definitely talked about his strengths but my buddy left the conference without any stated goals in mind. I can address this with him next week as we have our 2nd Informal Reading Conference with the just-right book that I bring in.
Pins Of The Week
4 months ago
Ann, I don't think I did well with the goals for my buddy either. My student is a good reader also and a good writer. I could easily speak to her strengths, but I was confused and thought that I should set goals for her to work towards. It was not until we got back to the Arts Room that I heard someone say they had the student set their own goals. This would have been a good way to proceed with my student. She needs to stretch a bit and read at a bit higher level. I'll have to remember this when I see her next week. It is hard to just have met our buddies and try to get to know them so quickly. I am happy that in my classroom when I work on this with my students that I will know them better.
ReplyDeleteCara, I didn't even consider this, but now that you've mentioned it, it seems so obvious to have the student choose which goal/s to work towards. As a student learning to become a teacher, I was thinking the emphasis was on what I was able to assess from the informal conference. But I would much prefer to handle it in your way, which is much more constructive for our buddies.
ReplyDeleteHi Ann
ReplyDeleteI'm glad that the conference went well. These are great kids. The purpose of the first reading conference was to continue to get to know your buddy and to begin some assessment. That said, I am increasingly coming to believe that some of the most powerful learning for kids comes when they self assess and decide what they want to learn and you - the teacher - help them move towards their goals. Of course, kids don't self assess and set goals in a vacuum, so the teacher needs to model that as well (with her own reading?) I appreciate the thoughtfulness with which you are approaching your work with your buddy.