Macey's ch. 4 reflection

Chapter 4 of the text goes into more detail about reading conferences and the way the Taberski runs them. There were a couple of things that I liked about the way she holds conferences. Once again, she tells her ideas that make the conferences run smoother, and thus save more time.

I liked how the chapter talked about students who request conferences and some of the reasons why they may request conferences. I guess at first, I got the impression that the students just wanted to show off their reading, but it makes sense that sometimes they want a conference to change some of the books in their book bag. Also, it talks about how students may request a conference simply because they were following the directions on the note.

That leads to the next thing I thought was a good idea, which is writing a note to each student at the end of each conference. I like this idea because it gives students something to work for and it helps the teacher keep track of conferences. I also think it’s a good idea for teachers to draw pictures on the notes for emerging readers.

I have not had a chance to try out this technique yet, and I think I am a bit hesitant to try it with my fifth grade class, only because it is probably something they never experienced before. It’s new to me as well, and probably Mel probably hasn’t done it before either. I wish I had learned more about this last semester when I used to listen to the kids read almost every day I was there.