Independent Reading and Conferencing

This is our overarching goal for the district this year.

Why?
There are 4 major components to the balanced literacy framework:
Read Aloud/Think Aloud
Shared Reading
Guided Reading
Independent Reading and Conferencing

We are starting with the component where we will get the "most bang for our buck": Independent Reading and Conferencing. This can be completed easily at any level. Think about it this way: Our students are never going to become better readers unless we let them READ!

Remember this from the Reading Plan page?

H. Embeds practices reflective of exemplary literacy-rich environments.

• District-Wide long range goal of implementing balanced literacy at all levels.
• Focusing one year at a time on one element at a time of balanced literacy. For the 2017-2018 school year, the focus is Independent Reading and Conferencing

Independent Reading is described as "teachers providing regular opportunities for readers to read and respond to self-selected texts, allowing readers time to develop stamina and motivation characteristics of life-long learners"

See the powerpoint by Fran here:

The most important aspect to remember is that it's not just about the reading. It's about the teacher conferencing with the students to differentiate instruction as the students read.

We are going to complete PD throughout this year to learn how to complete this effectively. Here are some resources for conferencing that you are more than welcome to look over and try in the mean time:

Another helpful resource - Questions for each F&P level, fiction and nonfiction:

And this explains/describes the F & P text levels: