As we embrace the reader's and writer's workshop model at the elementary school, many teachers are turning to the Confer app to keep their conference notes organized. Confer is an iPad app that was created by a teacher in Seattle as he worked to keep his note-taking system organized and sustainable. While the cost of this app is quite high ($24.99 with the new version, although the update is free if you bought the old version), it is worth it for so many reasons. With the Confer app, our teachers can quickly and easily create a note that can include general comments, an image, as well as data for next steps, strengths, and teaching points. This app not only allows our teachers to keep their notes organized in one simple location, it also allows them to share these notes with other teachers in their classroom and helps them to sort their students into small learning groups based on data they have collected. We are still in the training process with this app, but we are getting wonderful feedback from the teachers. To read more about the Confer app, please see the Confer web page. You can also read about this app on iTunes. To learn more about using this app in the classroom, take a look at the Confer section in our training documents.
Top Reasons Our Teachers Like Confer
Clutter Reduction - No more sticky notes in piles around your classroom! Now, your notes can be easily arranged and accessed.
Easy to Use - The Confer app is surprisingly easy to use. Once you have added your subjects and students, then you can immediately start using the app. I recommend that you add some of the field data first to keep it simple and sortable, but you can also type in the field data and then it is stored and usable for another field within the same subject.
Data Sharing - You can share your subjects with other teachers in your building who also work with your students. Our teachers are sharing with their TA's and also with the ELL teachers who push into their classroom so that they can all confer with the students.
Sorting and Grouping - With Confer, you can easily sort and group your students based on their strengths, next steps, or teaching points. You can quickly scan these fields and sort your students into small learning groups.
Easily Accessible Data - With Confer, you have the data at your fingertips and you can print this data out to share with other teachers or with parents at conference time.
Top Reasons Our Teachers Like Confer
Clutter Reduction - No more sticky notes in piles around your classroom! Now, your notes can be easily arranged and accessed.
Easy to Use - The Confer app is surprisingly easy to use. Once you have added your subjects and students, then you can immediately start using the app. I recommend that you add some of the field data first to keep it simple and sortable, but you can also type in the field data and then it is stored and usable for another field within the same subject.
Data Sharing - You can share your subjects with other teachers in your building who also work with your students. Our teachers are sharing with their TA's and also with the ELL teachers who push into their classroom so that they can all confer with the students.
Sorting and Grouping - With Confer, you can easily sort and group your students based on their strengths, next steps, or teaching points. You can quickly scan these fields and sort your students into small learning groups.
Easily Accessible Data - With Confer, you have the data at your fingertips and you can print this data out to share with other teachers or with parents at conference time.