The first question that came to mind when reading this short post was, “How does she have time to do these every day?” When I think about my classes I’m dealing with 50 minutes of instruction. Taking away 10 minutes each day is a lot of valuable time when you consider the amount of time you actually get to spend teaching, ten minutes is over 20% of that time. At the same time I see the value and honestly the necessity of having these short meetings with students regularly in order to get to know them as readers and as people.
I don’t think there is a large difference in how the conferences would go with high school students versus middle school students. I think it would allow for some more challenging questions that helped the students find their inner reader or their voice as readers. In my head I think of possibly devoting one day a week to multiple conferences rather than a 1-2 each day, but it would end up taking just as much time. So a daily routine is probably best. At the end of the day, as time consuming as it is, I think it is a MUST. I have seen teachers do this in a more casual way in which they walk around the class and simply chat with a few students daily during the reading time. I, being a very organized person, like the idea of a notes sheet to be efficient and to reference before the next conference.
The biggest reason for these conferences is to help the students find what path is best for them as a reader. I think it is important to build trust with students and this is so helpful in that. Having authentic conversations about reading that isn’t assigned/required reading can help you understand your students so much more. This will obviously have an impact in how you teach them and how they receive your teaching. That one on one time to talk with students about what they like to read, what they are having trouble with, a new book that they are excited about, that is going to have such a positive impact on how they feel in your classroom.
Jason's Thoughts 