The Power of Conferring with Students

“When we confer with students, we’re not standing above them or even leaning over, we’re sitting right beside them, shoulder to shoulder. We’re digging deeper now, working hard to individualize our instruction and support children as they apply what we’ve taught them in large and small group settings.” Debbie Miller, 2008

As I reflect on my time as a classroom teacher, one of the things that transformed my teaching the most was conferring with students. Having frequent conferring sessions with students proved to be the one thing that impacted student progress the most. I believe there are several reasons for this, but most importantly it was the intentional one to one time spent with students. This time allowed for a deeper relationship to develop between the student and me. For those precious moments, the student had my undivided attention and knew that I was their champion.

When I started incorporating conferring into my daily reader’s workshop time, I would sit at my guided reading table and call students to the table to meet with me. Picture a king or queen holding court over their subjects. That is a good visual of me sitting at the guided reading table and calling students over to confer with me. This practice turned out to be more detrimental than supportive and helpful. I discovered it was actually quite disruptive. Every time I needed to meet with a new student I had to interrupt the learning flow to call a new student to the table. That practice was counterproductive to the goal I was trying to achieve of a quiet, calm working environment. I will revisit this scenario in a minute.

While working as a literacy coach I had an opportunity to attend a workshop that featured Patrick A. Allen from Denver. During the workshop, Allen shared strategies from his book, Conferring The Keystone of Reader’s Workshop. At that time, many of the premiere professional books seemed to be authored by educators Denver, Colorado, Mr. Allen included. Ironically, several years later I had the privilege to work with several schools in Denver as a literacy consultant and trainer.

While attending the workshop I had many takeaways that I was able to turn around and implement right away. One specific takeaway was Allen’s alternative to “holding court” during conferring. Allen at the time was a fourth grade teacher for Denver Public Schools. He would move around student to students as they worked throughout the room and confer individually with them. This technique eliminated the unnecessary interruptions of calling students to the table. The unintended benefit was students that were sitting within earshot of the discussions, often eavesdropped and were positively impacted in the learning as well and at times entered into the conversation.

Another meaningful takeaway for me was Allen’s recording form that he referred to as the RIP form:

• R — review, read aloud, record.
• I — instructions, insight, intrigue.
• P — plan, progress, purpose.

In a 3–5 minute conversation, there is always a plan so learning moves forward. As an example, upon engaging with a student, the student can review what they have been working on since the last conferring meeting. Next, the student might share an insight that they have from the text. Lastly, a plan is set for the student to work on. This keeps the student accountable to keep working when not meeting with the teacher. If you would like to know more about the RIP model, please reach out to me.

If you have never tried conferring during your reader’s workshop time, I encourage you try it. Even if you are involved in distance learning there are ways that you can accomplish this online. I think you will find this teaching strategy one that pays huge dividends!

Join me for the second Learning For Life virtual summit, Achieving Students Best Outcomes: Different Paths to Success March 31st and April 1st. Please take a moment to click this link to sign up for your COMPLIMENTARY ticket to the summit. Can’t wait to see you there!

“Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.”

― Frederick Douglass

The joy is in the journey!

Blessings and Peace,

Mary