Conferring - Karie

Last year was my first year teaching and my first year using the reading workshop model. Conferring is not something that I had actively planned and focused on in a consistent way. I was fortunate to have support with reading groups, so there were kiddos that I was able to meet with daily on a one-on-one basis due to their high level of need. I did my best to make time to check in with students individually, but I did not have a consistent or routine system, and it was hard to keep track of as it was usually an in-the-moment occurrence rather than a planned and purposeful event.

As I just started, this week, in a K/1 classroom, I am trying to find ways that I could more systematically make conferring a daily ritual in my classroom. As ten of my students are Kindergarten students and pre-readers, I'm feeling that a nice place to start with conferring would be with my four 1st graders, at least to begin with.

I just started the 1st Kindergarten Lucy Calkins unit with the class and they all really seem to be enjoying it so far. Since the unit of study is directed toward the younger students, I am feeling that for the 1st graders that it will be important to focus instruction for them within their reading groups, and with one-on-one conferring. I am noticing posts and ideas about how to keep track of conferences and am very open to ideas on how to go about doing this!