Christine Park

C&T 4133
Reading Conference Reflection
Before approaching Jayriel, I was monitoring the room and noticed how focsed he was
reading his !ook" #s he was reading page after page, I !ecame so intriged that I decided to confer
with him first" $ince he was reading silently in his head, I didn%t ha&e mch research to go with so
I asked him what reading goal he was working on today" Prior to this conference, my CT and I
ha&e !een trying to get stdents to read with a prpose" 'e created a pin chart where e&ery
month, stdents chose a reading goal to work on" I thoght that this wold !e a great way to see
what Jayriel was working on as a reader that day" $ince his reading goal was working on flency, I
was natrally a!le to ask him to read a page from his !ook" I in&ited him to read a page with me
!t instead, he was so enthsiastic in reading to me that he asked if he cold read to me first"
#s he !egan reading I noticed how he self corrected himself sing a reading strategy called
(elephant ears) which is on an anchor chart in or classroom" This anchor chart contains different
strategies that helps stdents tackle difficlt words" I also noticed that when he read, he was
confident and nafraid to sond ot words he wasn%t *ite sre of" 'hile he was reading, I
gathered information to see where he needed e+tra spport in" I think it was great that his reading
goal was flency !ecase I felt that he wold !enefit from getting spport in this area of reading"
The area of complimenting has always !een a strggle for me as I felt like I was ne&er gi&ing
genine compliments that were specific to each child" ,owe&er, what helped this time was when I
heard him read" I had time to think a!ot and see what his strengths were and what he needed
spport in" Complimenting stdents is sch a powerfl tool in gi&ing confidence to children" In
complimenting Jayriel, he looked so prod and I cold see that he was really engaged" In my past
e+periences with conferences, I felt ncomforta!le with gi&ing a great compliment to stdents and
then saying (!t let%s work on this)" ,owe&er, after reading Peter Johnson%s Choice 'ords,
choosing words that gi&e agency to children is sch an effecti&e way of making teaching !ecome
acti&e and powerfl" Instead of saying, (-ow, can I teach yo to do so and so.) I reframed the
*estion !y saying, (-ow, can I gi&e yo a tip that will make yo an even better reader.) In
adding the simple words (e&en !etter), I was still affirming what a great reader he was while
allowing him to frther his reading capa!ilities"
In the teach component, I modeled and stressed the importance of sing the illstration as
well as looking at pnctation marks when reading" #s soon as I pointed this ot, Jayriel was a!le
to try it ot on his own sccessflly" ,e was a!le to nderstand that characters were talking to one
another and almost en&ision how they actally sond like when they are talking in the !ook" In
the second grade, my CT is trying to get to stdents to practice reading in their minds" $ince
Jayriel%s reading goal was to read with flency, I told him that if it helped, he cold *ietly read
ot lod to practice with his reading goal" I felt that this might !e a !etter way to get him to se
what we learned in the conference"
/or the ne+t reading conference with Jayriel, I wold like to see Jayriel read a le&el higher
then what he read for or conference" I feel that he wold !e ready for a more ad&anced !ook"