Conferencing with Students: This Year’s Goal with the Comprehension Focus Group

Heather Zimmerman contributed today's post.

The new year is back in full swing.  My role (part-time coach, part-time interventionist) has stayed the same as last year, and I am at the same school.  I am excited for the consistency, so I can build off what was started last year.

This was the first time I ever cycled with some of my kids.  Some of my 8th graders are students I also worked with as 7th graders.   It was so exciting to see them again, and so interesting starting a year with students who already know me and our classroom routines.  We have had some celebrations together as we began the beginning of the year assessments.  I have noticed many of my students did not experience the dreaded summer slide and took my advice to read over summer.  I strongly believe as they grow as readers and gain skills to be successful through Comprehension Focus Groups (CFGs) and in their other classes, they are then able to apply these strategies on their own.  Therefore, growing as readers!

Some of you may have followed me last year through my journey of implementing CFGs in my middle school classroom for the first year.  Before this school year began, I started to think about what my focus will be this year for professional growth.  I thought about what worked well last year with the CFGs and what I wanted to work on.  

I decided to attempt to tackle putting in a place a conference schedule and method for taking notes.  Conferencing, even small groups, at times seems tricky.  I have yet to find a method I love to track my conferences.  This goal is going to not only be a part of my Professional Practice Goal (PPG), but also learning that I can share with the teachers I work with.  I already shared my goal with some of my colleagues, and they are eager to collaborate.

Here are some resources that are helping guide my thinking:

• How’s It Going? by Carl Anderson
• Two Writing Teachers Blog- https://twowritingteachers.wordpress.com/category/a-peek-inside-conferring-toolkits-blog-series/

I plan to keep track of conferences this year electronically using Google Forms.  I hope if I put the compliment and teaching point into Google forms, I can then use the spreadsheet to sort the data.  With the data, I can sort by student name and also by teaching points for small groups.

I am excited to get started and continue learning.  I have high hopes that I will finally find a method that works for me.

What has worked well for you with conferencing with students?  What advice have you given to your teachers regarding conferences?