I first heard about Patrick Allen's book, Conferring: The Keystone of Reader's Workshop when I had the opportunity to hear Mr. Allen speak at the 2011 Dublin Literacy conference. I loved listening to Patrick describe how the readers in his classroom knew themselves as readers. It led me to start thinking...what would my readers say about themselves and the processes they go through to understand text?
Here are some notes I took while reading this great book...
What does it mean to be a wise reader?
I love how Patrick uses the word wise. He talks about how he encourages his readers to make wise decisions about what they read, about what they're thinking about as they read, and about choices they can make to get better. I loved this quote he included, "Knowledge is gaining and storing information. Wisdom, on the other hand, is knowing how to act on that knowledge." I love this! I am starting to think about how I will nudge kids to not only gain knowledge through their reading but to take action...create new understandings! I will begin the year talking a lot with my third graders on how we can become readers that are wise.
Mr. Allen gave four focus questions/principles to guide beginning of the year discussions...
1. What does it mean to understand? As readers, what does understanding look like?
2. What does it mean to remember? As readers, what might remembering look like?
3. What does it mean to extend meaning? As readers, what might extending meaning look like?
4. What does it mean when something is memorable? As readers, what does memorable look like?
My plan is to create shared language and understanding within my community guided by these questions.
Another great section in this book was about strengthening endurance and stamina within kids. I have taught stamina for several years but again I love Patrick's vocabulary-endurance. He uses beginning of the year read alouds to discuss endurance and students record signs of endurance they notice through read alouds.
This is such a big thing for kids - getting them to endure, care about what they are doing, learn with a spirit of passion! I went to Cover to Cover bookstore today and asked someone to help me find a good read aloud for endurance and I found an AMAZING book that will be an anchor text for endurance.
If I never Forever Endeavor by Holly Meade is a very short but meaning filled book about a young bird who is considering using his new wings. He thinks of bad things that could happen if he fails, but then imagines the great possibilities of flying. He encourages the reader at the end to FLY! I am so glad that I found a text to follow Mr. Allen's lead, and learn with a spirit of endurance.
Mr. Allen also teaches his students the what and why of a workshop. He calls the three components crafting, (seeds we plant during the workshop that hopefully will emerge in independent reading) composing (the practice, time to be WISE, trying things out, and the reflecting (share what you have discovered). Mr. Allen asks kids to find the purpose of each component.
I follow this model in my readers workshop but I don't think we ever as a class have dissected the parts of the reader's workshop like this and discussed the importance, purpose of each part...Again...Brillant!!
Through reading the rest of the book I began to think...
- How can I take better notes during my reading conferences to "uncover students strengths, struggles, and genuine wonderings"?
- How can I "shut up and listen to know what I need to teach". (I have never listened to a conference but I am positive I do more talking than students!!)
- Do my kids have a "walk away" after our conference? Allen describes a walk away as a tool or strategy used or discovered as students negotiate text and develop the capacity for independence.
- How can I get kids talking about themselves as readers the way Mr. Allen's kids did throughout the book? Reading their quotes about reading you can hear his voice guiding them through their own language. So powerful and inspiring!!
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