Conferences with students are purposeful conversations that scaffold the reading comprehension strategies that guide a reader`s progress, and ultimately, create independent readers. This powerful book argues that the benefits of conferring are well-worth the effort of learning to do it well. It sets out to show teachers how to overcome all the obstacles, and make the somewhat intangible aspect of conferring tangible.

Conferring begins by explaining what conferring is and what it`s not, and then explores the essential components of the process: intimacy (the social context), rigor (the cognitive context), and inquiry (the analytical context). It then works through the guiding principles of conferring — including goal setting, instruction points, listening, rapport, challenges, and teacher learning — and provides questions that lead teachers through a reader`s conference from start to finish.