Andrea Nelson

Reading Conference
CT 4133

Date: 5/1/17

Context: Matthew has shown significant growth in reading throughout the semester. He
has relatively low self esteem about his reading and we have been working over multiple
conferences about building confidence using different strategies for tricky words and
determining how to us multiple strategies to decode unknown words. In this conference, I
joined Matthew when he was about halfway through an informational book on hospitals
and healthcare workers. After researching with this part, we continued to practice with a
second book.

Conference:

Andrea: Hey Matthew! Hows it going?

Matthew: Good.

Andrea: What are you reading?

Matthew: (shows me cover)

Andrea: Oh, cool! An information book! Just like what weve been doing in writing. Do
you mind if I read with you for a bit?

Matthew: OK

Ambulances have lights that flash and s-s-i.sirens that make loud noises. Ambulances
carry bandages. The paramedics us bandages to cover cuts. Ambulances carry
splinces..splsplices

Andrea: Hmmm. Whats a strategy we could maybe use to figure out this word?
(References a Tricky Word Strategy sheet students keep in book baggie). Do you see
any chunks you might know?

Matthew: Splntssplits?

Andrea: great! You really focused on the different parts that you know and then smoothly
put them together!

Matthew: Paramedics use splints to hold broken bones into place. Ambulances carry
st...strechstrechers?

Andrea: great!
Matthew: Paramedics use stretchers to move sick and hurt people into ambulances. The
end!

Andrea: Wow! Matthew! What a fantastic job reading. You really showed me a great
example of how readers dont give up when they get to words they dont know, but use
all the different tools they have to figure it out. I noticed that you did a really nice job
trying to chunk the word into different parts. I was so impressed as you looked for
different sounds that you know. Amazing job! You should be proud of yourself (gave him
a highfive)

Matthew: (grins and highfives back)

Andrea: So, as you keep reading can I give you a tip?

Matthew: nods

Andrea: When you come to a trick word as you start to chunk out the first sound, if you
start to get jumbled in the word, think about if you could try a different strategy. We
know that some other helpful strategies might be trying a sounds two ways or tapping out
the words. Good readers like you will try more than one strategy to figure out a tricky
word. So.what book should we read together now!

Matthew: pulls out book

Andrea: So, what strategies might we try in this new book?

Matthew: break the word apart? Tapping?

Andrea: Great!

Matthew: The big bad wolf. By

Andrea: Don McMillian

Matthew: And ii.

Andrea: use some strategies!

Matthew: Illusstarttods

Andrea: Try saying it fast

Matthew: Illustart-od

Andrea: What do you think? Does that sound right?

Matthew: No.

Andrea: Maybe try the last part with a different sound

Matthew: illustrated?

Andrea: Nice job! You know exactly what sound the e makes there!

Matthew: max and his friend jake met grandpa at the school gagagate. We are in a
play, said jake. A play? Said grandpa? Yes, said max. its the three little pigs. Im the big
bad wolf. And Im the third little pig said jake.

I was the third little pig in ms. Matthews class!

Andrea: Cool! Ill bet you were a great actor

Matthew: Grandpa laughed as he helped Jake get into the car. So you are going to trick
the wolf he said? On Saturday called Jake, come over to my house and grandpa will help
us with the play. Soon max and Jake could say all of the words. Grandpa could say them
too. The play is on Monday said Max. Please come and watch it grandpa. Grandpa la
la.

Andrea: hm. Whats a different strategy to use?

Matthew: look at the picture?

Andrea: Great!

Matthew: Grandpa.laughed?

Andrea: yup! Laughed. Excellent work! You check each of your strategies by looking at
the pictures and trying different sounds when a word didnt sound right. Keep it up! Ill
come back tomorrow to hear more of your beautiful reading.
Reflection:

Before conference:
I went into the conference with a good knowledge of Matthew as a reader. I
regularly read with him and work on skills in one-on-one and small group settings. He
can be quite shy with adults, so building this trust with him was very important and I
have noticed has made conferring easier to jump into as the semester progressed. I have
noticed as the semester has progressed that he has become more and more comfortable
reading with me, making mistakes and, (perhaps most importantly) taking risks. Prior to
this particular conference, I had read with Matthew multiple days prior.

Research
Even though I know Matthews reading pretty well and had notes from previous
conferences I wanted to be sure to do research on this day so that my compliment,
coaching and teaching could be authentic to the work he was actually doing on this
particular day. I let this occur for a good amount of time both to allow me to gather
information and to allow him to practice and show off his reading before I interrupted.
Because we had been working specifically on chunking out words and then saying the
parts together as a foundational strategy for him, I wanted to be sure he had time to
confidently read before I started with an additional teaching point.

Compliment
I tried to focus my compliment on the specific work he had been doing and how
the work we had been practicing in previous conferences. As Saravallo and Goldberg
(2007) note, compliments are essential to building the confidence of young reading and
reinforcing strategies that they have yet to fully internalize. As I note in the context,
Matthew has some low self esteem about his reading and I have seen tremendous growth
in his confidence over the semester. I do think that this compliment could have occurred
at a different time, perhaps right after he figured out one of the tricky words during my
research, to make it more connected to the work he was actually doing, however I was
hesitant to interrupt the flow of his reading.

Teach
My teach point built on the improvement I has seen as Matthew used one
foundational word solving strategy. In his reading, I noticed that sometimes he would get
stuck trying to chunk out a word and would just start guessing after identifying the first
sound. Because of this, I wanted to teach him that its OK to abandon one strategy and try
another. Because students keep a kid-friendly sheet of strategies in their book baggie, I
thought it would be great to remind Matthew that he can use this tool to help him identify
other strategies to use if one isnt quite working.
I unfortunately did not explicitly model this during this conference and think the
teach point would have been improved if I had. We were running out of time in reading
however I made sure to loop back to him the next day and after hearing him read, did
model how to recognize when one strategy isnt quite working and to try a second one. I
tried to point it how he was using various strategies as I guided him through the practice
portion however as a way to model his own prowess with decoding skills. I tried to link
this to his future reading by building the teach point off of the word he had done in one
book and practicing it in another which I believe helped to highlight the universality of
these strategies.