Stacey Abeyta’s Continued Reflection on IDR Conferences

I am always so appreciative of Stacey Abeyta! Stacey has taught and coached Collaborative Classroom programs for over 18 years. She is constantly reflecting on her practice and evolving her thinking based on her experiences working with teachers and students.

In 2017, I reconnected with Stacey’s 2010 blog on IDR conferences and asked her, what might you say differently about IDR conferences now after seven years?

• Click here to read Stacey’s original 2010 blog.
• Click here to read Stacey’s revised considerations in my 2017 blog.

I was recently scanning our implementation blogs and reread Stacey’s 2017 tips for IDR conferring. I was curious to know if Stacey had revised her thinking about IDR conferences in the past two years, so once again I posed the question to Stacey, asking the question on our Collaborative Classroom Facebook Community: What might you say differently about IDR conferences now after two more years?

Here is what Stacey had to say:

I actually have been doing some thinking about IDR and how we might more effectively use the data we gather from conferences to inform small-group and whole-class learning experiences. Something I am working on getting better at is identifying data patterns in the goals I set with readers. When I start to notice certain reading behaviors or struggles over a period of days/weeks, that tells me that I might be able to be more efficient if we engaged in the learning either as a small group or if it might be a lesson the entire class would benefit from. I used to think about each conference individually. Taking this stance keeps me from repeating the same thing over and over at the conference table.

Thank you, Stacey, for your ongoing reflection on your practice! I am wondering how others have refined their conferences. As you reflect on your conference experiences over the years, what might you add? Stacey and I would love to continue the conversation on the Collaborative Classroom Facebook Community.

If you want to learn more, Jennifer Serravallo’s blog on MiddleWeb, “Effective 5- to 7-Minute Reading Conferences,” has stimulated conversation about conferences. Check it out!