Teachers who are new to workshop often finding themselves teaching a minilesson and then floating around the room re-teaching that same teaching point during conferences. Don't fall into that trap! Minilessons are for teaching one skill that almost everyone needs; conferences are for teaching individuals new skills that they need to become more proficient. This is like a teacher's Prime Time. So keep 'em short (about 4 minutes per conference if you can), take notes (more on that later), and present new skills as clearly as you can.
There are three basic types of conferences:
Research-decide-teach: An RDT conference is probably comprises most of our conferences (and is most difficult, in my opinion.) We research the child either from afar or by listening in as they read or talk, and we sift through all the possible teaching points. And then we do the hardest thing of all: We decide which teaching point will have the biggest impact with this child, at this time. Once you've made a decision, you need to politely stop the child and teach them a new strategy in almost the same format as a minilesson, except with a compliment. (Compliment & connect, teach, active engagement, link). Use this kind of conference when you're teaching something new OR something you don't think the child has tried.
Coaching: Just like in basketball, the coach yells from the side-lines with the stuff the player has already been taught (important), but aren't doing at the moment. It's essential to use lean prompts, because remember that our goal for all children is independence. If we coach by interupting them with something their own inner voice will never replicate ("Good readers hop over an unknown word and then come back"), then they won't be able to recreate that voice independently. Instead, we need to use the smallest prompts possible so they'll be able to do it when you're not there ("Hop over it!"). Think: Jump! Shoot! etc...
Use this type of conference when you want to support a student in the midst of reading- it's usually more print-oriented. Or, if you have a student teacher or beginning workshop teacher in your classroom and he/she is anxious about coming up with a teaching point, encourage that person to try a RDT conference, but fall back on a coaching conference if they are unsure of themselves.
Proficient Partner: This one isn't used very often. While Research-Decide-Teach is for teaching new skills and strategies and Coaching is for scaffolding kids towards independence through known skills and strategies, Proficient Partner is for helping children be able to have a conversation with themselves in their own head. It's about giving them generic prompts so that when they are by themselves, they can be better thinkers. You can do this conference with an individual by acting like a partner and saying what a partner would say, OR you can talk to a partnership and coach them along as far as conversational moves.
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