3 Tips for a Successful Reading Interview

The key to a successful reading interview is proper preparation. If you plan your activity thoroughly and choose your materials carefully, you can properly assess your students without any hiccups.

Here are a few helpful things to do in the weeks before the interview:

• Plan an activity for the other students to do while you’re interviewing.

• Create a bank of questions to ask. 

• Create a simple interview rubric.

• Decide whether you will interview one student or multiple students. 

• Ask for support from a colleague (student teacher, librarian, resource teacher, etc.)

Another important element to consider is the atmosphere during the interview. For meaningful, enriching conversation to flourish, you need to create a pleasant, low-pressure atmosphere.

Here are a few things you can do to set your students up for success:

• Choose a quiet, distraction-free environment  for the interview (hallway, library, empty classroom next to yours, etc.).

• Choose books appropriate for the student’s reading level.

• Choose books that align with the student’s interests.  

• Give the student enough time to read the text, if applicable, and to answer your  questions without feeling rushed. 

• Focus on the student, not the rubric.

• Provide helpful, specific feedback to the student (encouragement, successes, challenges, strategies to adopt, etc.). 

Your choice of questions can make or break your reading interview. Asking a variety of engaging questions not only allows you to get a more complete picture of students’ reading skills, but it also helps solicit longer, more authentic responses from students.

Here are a few things to consider when planning your questions:

• Ask questions that address the four dimensions of reading.

• Prompt students when their answers are too brief. (Why? What makes you say that? Could you point me to a clue in the text that would lead you to believe this? etc.)

• Don’t ask every student the same questions.

• Personalize the questions. (Which character is most like your best friend? Which character would you most like to see join your field hockey team? etc.)