Reading conferences provide a window into a student's reading processes, strategies, interests and habits. They also provide the teacher with opportunities to witness a student strengths and where improvement is needed. Reading conferences can be brief or in-depth, they can be formal or informal. The key to successful reading conferences is in the questioning.

Select a few questions to begin a dialogue. You do not need to use all of these questions. These conference questions can be put on chart paper and posted in your
classroom.

• Tell me what your book was about.
• Why did you select this book?
• Was your book hard or easy to read?
• What made your book hard or easy?
• Would you select a book on this topic again?
• Would you like to read another book by this author?
• What genre is your book? (romance, adventure, science fiction, biography,
• etc.)
• Would you say this is a good book? Rate it on a scale of 1-10.
• What makes it a good book or a poor book for you?
• Think about books you have read recently, how would you rate them
• compared to this one?
• How did the author make this book scary, funny, mysterious, etc?
• Would you recommend this book to other people to read? Why?
• Who in your class might like to read this book?
• Have you read any other books by this author? If so, how does this book
• compare?
• Who is the main character of the story? Tell me about him or her.
• Is this book similar to any others you have read? How?
• Which were the best parts of the story for you?
• Would you like to know one of the characters in the story personally? Why?
• Did you learn anything that you didn’t know before? What did you learn?
• Do you know anyone who is similar to a character in the story?
• Do you think the author had a message to teach you through this book?
• Describe the setting of the story. Have you ever been anywhere like it?

If you would like to learn more about how to use Reading Conferences at a grade specific level, please see the links below.