Emma,
I am wondering....
Have you done a letter-to-you writing minilesson? Perhaps students are
not putting in their letters what you need to read in order to
conference with them effectively. What is it that you want, exactly,
from these letters? Maybe that's a question that you need to answer for
yourself. What about a whole group brainstorming session on what could
be in these letters to help in the conferences?
Another question you might ask yourself is, What do I want to know,
exactly?
Also, since you have older students (well, older to me, as I am
primarily a primary person) who already know how to read proficiently,
they may not need as much help as you'd like to give. From your
description below and your list of what your focus is, it seems as
though you are doing ok here.
So, to come full circle, what if you had a list of things you'd want
students to choose from when they write a letter to you? For example, a
reference chart of strategies with the list: foreshadowing, theme, type
of conflict, symbolism, etc.... with a prompt at the top: "How does
this book show....." This could be something your students could refer
to when they write the letters to you, to choose JUST ONE of those
things to tell you about.
And.... here's what I think is the absolute number one question to ask
in a reading conference:
"Tell me more."
It's so open-ended that the student can choose where to go with it.
THEN, your job is to really listen, without a preconceived notion or
idea or goal, and have a true conversation with the student about what
he or she is reading.
At least that's my opinion. :-)
Renee
On Feb 28, 2012, at 6:06 AM, Emma Takvoryan wrote:
To answer all your questions (and I am so thankful to everyone for
replying because I feel overwhelmed with what I am trying to implement
at times):
1. I teach 5th and 6th grade multi-age at a Montessori school. I
have 10 students.2. I have 1 hour, 3 days a week to teach reading
(crazy, right?)-I use 10-15 minutes of that to do a Read-Aloud, which
is where the bulk of my reading instruction comes from.3. I teach
mini-lessons at least once or twice a week for the first 10-15
minutes. 4. I have had them write letters because when I researched
about RW I kept seeing them at as way to keep track of what they were
thinking. I also liked how it gave me a starting point for
conferencing.
I guess what I am finding is just that maybe I don't know well enough
how to take what I'm seeing in their letters and use that effectively.
I don't know if part of that is because I have such a small group of
students and almost all are proficient readers??--Reading above grade
level, able to make inferences/draw conclusions, make connections,
predictions, ask questions, etc...
That's why during my read-aloud I try to focus on looking with the
students at taking the novel to a deeper level-look at foreshadowing,
theme, types of conflict, symbolism.
Sorry for this lengthy response!
Howard Zinn: "If teacher unions want to be strong and well-supported,
it's essential that they not only be teacher unionists but teachers of
unionism. We need to create a generation of students who support
teachers and the movement of teachers for their rights."
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