CHAPTER 4 - CAFE

This Chapter focuses on how to conference with Students. The sisters realized the need for students to set their own goals for reading and the need for more explicit teaching of how to reach their goals. The biggest shift for a teacher in doing conferences is that they move around to meet with the student, the student doesn’t come to them.

Emphasised in this chapter was the benefit for shorter, more focused time with student on a more regular and consistent basis. 

The sisters found that teachers differed in their conferencing observation, instruction and goal setting techniques across the board and were taking much longer than them to conference with each child. For this reason they created a conferencing sheet as a guide with icons to show what to be looking for and what to do at each stage of the conference. 

By using the CAFÉ board it gave the students the language to talk about reading and how to improve it. Instead of students trying to get to a level 22 reader as a goal, they now have reading strategies as a goal. Once mastered, they can clearly move to the next strategy with a sense of achievement about their reading.

From Conferencing to Coaching

This part of the chapter the Sisters address the issue of timing and presented the point that we need to change our focus from longer conferences to a more focused, quick coaching style technique whereby the teacher comes alongside a student for shorter more regular times.  On p56 it gives a clear overview of what an average coaching session will look like. The rough guide is

Prepare  - 30 sec

Observe – 1min

Reinforce & teach 1min

Practice – 1 min

Plan 30c

Encourage 15sec

These time frames are only rough guidelines and it was clearly noted that the most important part of a coaching session is to be fully present with the child for the short focused time you have them and not be so rigid in following a schedule that you forget the needs of the individual child.

The key is having clear goals and having them recorded so time is not wasted each session trying to figure out where a child is at.

Seven Steps

1.  Check calendar for appointments for the day

Note: Not all children will have appointments regularly. They are made on a needs basis with each child.  A key point is that we often neglect able readers when trying to meet the needs of less able readers.  The way the sisters monitor this is by having two recording systems. One is the Calendar where students book appointments and the other is a ‘Keeping Track’ sheet where teachers have a class list and date next to each child’s name each time they meet with them. This way teachers can easily see at one glance any students that have been neglected and plan to meet with them.

2. Prepare for Conference

The teacher quickly glances at the teach points from last session and the ‘take away’ focus point. This time is very short and is usually done whilst walking to the area the child is reading in. It is important to note that the children don’t come to the teacher as this disrupts the children by calling out for kids whilst they are trying to focus. The teacher goes to the student. The sisters observed that this was also an excellent way to monitor social behavior and check on students on the way to the next student they were meeting with.

3.  Observe Child and Listen to Reading

The teacher makes note of what the child is reading and asks them how they are going. They check if the child is using the strategies that they were taught last time.

4. Reinforce and Teach

This is always started by the teacher telling the student what they noticed about their reading. The aim is to move the child forward from where they’re at without overloading them with too much information. Keep this to about one minute.

5. Practice Strategy

This gives a chance for the child to practice the strategy taught with the teacher present. This time is important for checking to see if the child understands what their goal is and what it is they need to do to improve their reading.

6. Plan

If a child has mastered a skill they can move to a new strategy. This is worked out by looking at the 4 -5 touch points and seeing if the student can do them.  They move their name to the strategy part of the CAFÉ menu board whilst the teacher records their progress. Together they decide on a plan of action and book in a meeting time on the calendar.

7. Encourage

This is the most important part. Leave the child with a positive and clear direction of where they are going next and how they are going to achieve it by the goals you have set together.

By having these shorter session, teachers will be able to meet more regularly with students, meet their needs more effectively and use their own time more productively.

My Thoughts!

I found the time guideline really helpful. This has really helped me pick up the game in terms of getting to more kids and having a quality focused time with them. 

I have found the setting of small achievable goals ideal and helpful for the kids so that they know what they need to be working on. I've used milo as a way of tracking my kids for the day. I make a certain number of milos for my kids and my aim is to, by the end of the day, have conferenced with each child. It works really well because I can just say, " Who had a milo today?" and I instantly know who I havent seen. I can also at a glance look around the room to the drinkers and know whom I'm conferencing with without disturbing them.  

I've really loved moving away from the kids coming to my desk for assessment and enjoyed lying on the floor with them or on the couch. 

How about you guys? 

What's been working for you in terms of getting to as many kids as possible?

How do you manage to do the teach and two rotations before SRA? 

What strategies have worked well for you in terms of time management??

Kelly