Heart Of Conferring

About the Book

We’ve all read or heard somewhere that our students are supposed to be reading for a large part of our reader’s workshop. But, what do we do when they are reading? How do we “do” conferring in a way that is manageable and effective for our students? How do we know if Sarah chose an appropriate book? How do we know if the little boy who loves non-fiction isn’t just staring at the cool pictures? What should a child do after the conference? The Heart Of Conferring delivers a commonsense approach to all these questions and more. This book provides a structure and a roadmap to the fourth part of our reader’s workshop (read aloud, shared reading, guided reading, independent reading/conferring), the part that is most often overlooked. Conferring; The Heart of Conferring, written by two everyday teachers, takes the reader on a journey through the essential steps of the conferring process in the reader’s workshop. This book provides the everyday, working teacher with dialogue from real reading conferences, the benefits of why we do this, and the ever allusive “how” to confer effectively and keep it going all year long. This book will be enlightening to any teacher who confers, wants to confer or has tried and stopped. It will be an effective tool for the seasoned veteran or the first year teacher. Join us on our journey through the Heart of Conferring.

About the Author

Tanya Pfeiffer is a second grade teacher at Barbara B. Rose Elementary School in South Barrington, Illinois. She has been teaching for eighteen years. She began her career as a seventh grade math teacher and has also taught fifth and third grade, respectively. She is an active IRA member and has presented material from this book at the Illinois Reading Conference in Springfield, Illinois. Her passion is literacy and using conferring to get a child to come to the personal realization that they can be a successful reader. Tanya lives in North Barrington, Illinois with her husband Dan, singer-daughter Emma Grace and their super Border Collie, Mickey. In her free time she enjoys practicing Anusara yoga and playing the guitar for her daughter’s gigs. Jen Wessberg is an English Language Itinerant at Barbara Rose Elementary School in South Barrington. She has taught for thirteen years in third and second grade. She has enjoyed being a part of the LARC and IRA. Jen has presented at the Illinois Reading Conference in Springfield, Illinois and is excited to present internationally in the Dominican Republic this summer. Her passions are teaching literacy, traveling, and outdoor adventures. Jen lives outside of Chicago with her husband Mike, and two children.