Conferring with Readers shows you how to confer well and demonstrates why a few moments with students every week can put them on the path to becoming better, more independent readers.

"With a focus on goal-directed, purpose-driven reading conferences, the author shows how form follows function--the structure of each conference is clearly designed to serve its purpose. Through "Researcher Spotlights" in each chapter, she'll also introduce you to a few of the teaching mentors and researchers who've had a profound influence on her work. The author describes different types of conferences, some designed for individuals, others for small groups. Some are used during independent reading time, others during partnership or club time. One can read the chapters in order or dip into the chapter that best suits their needs and purpose"--

Hows It Going? is a practical book. Written in a conversational style, its filled with lots of useful advice.

Conferring with students about reading allows for clearer access to one-on-one, in-the-moment teaching and learning, yet it can feel intimidating or overwhelming. Kari Yates and Christina Nosek want to help. Here they have provided practical, reflective, student-centered teaching moves that you can use to develop an intentional, joy-filled conferring practice.To Know and Nurture a Reader: Conferring with Confidence and Joy is a get-going guide to conferring. The book includes step-by-step guidance that is also considerate of time and other classroom challenges, as well as: Numerous tools such as guiding questions, reproducible planning and note-taking documents; Classroom vignettes that pull you close to a reader and teacher in a conference setting; Video clips of classroom conferences to show what conferring looks like in action. The book breaks conferring into manageable chunks with specific goals for knowing and nurturing young readers, then puts all the pieces together with various classroom scenarios and examples. The tools, examples, and ideas in this book make conferring something every teacher can do right away and master with continued effort and practice.

In his workshops with teachers over the years, Patrick Allen has encountered a long list of "counterfeit beliefs" about the process of conferring with students, including such comments as: "I don't have time. I don't know what questions to ask, It's too hard, I don't know what to write in my notes, I don't even take notes, I don't know how to go deep. . ." In Conferring: The Keystone of Reader's Workshop, Allen argues that the benefits of conferring are well-worth the effort of learning to do it well. And then he sets out to show teachers how to overcome all of their perceived obstacles, and make the somewhat intangible aspect of conferring tangible. Just as the keystone--a symmetrical, wedge-shaped stone at the center of an arch--forms the foundation of a structure, conferring lays the groundwork for effective reading instruction. Allen defines the word confer as a verb "meaning to consult together, compare opinions, or carry on a conversation." Conferences with students are purposeful conversations that scaffold reading comprehension strategies that guide the reader's progress, and ultimately, through the gradual release of responsibility, create independent readers. Allen begins by explaining what conferring is and what it's not, and then unpacks the essential components of the process: intimacy (the social context of conferring); rigor (the cognitive context); and inquiry (the analytical context). He explores the guiding principles of conferring--including goal setting, instruction points, listening, rapport, challenges, and teacher learning--and provides questions that lead teachers through the reader's conference from start to finish.

"A getting-started primer for teachers conferring with writers in the K-8 classroom" --

Accompanying DVD includes videos of the author working with student writers.