SClarke

     As previously stated in the book ,reading may seem like a quiet, isolated activity, but it should be considered a social time (p.118).  While individual reading is important, social reading has a prominent place in Reader's Workshop.  There are several avenues of social reading that students should be exposed to, including, partner reading, story chats, flexible skill groups, and guided reading.

     Reading conferences allows the teacher to understand the student's reading process and provide individualized instruction.  Some tips for teachers conferencing with students are:        (1) Teacher "randomly" wanders among students and meets a student on the student's turf, (2) sit close and on-level with student, (3) begin conference with "how's it going", and with a positive observation about the student's reading, (4) ask student to either read aloud, summarize passage, or connect to other literature or a previous mini lesson, (5) keep a record of each conference and use this information to plan future mini-lessons.