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I really enjoyed reading about the different strategies to use for students to be aware of their disengagement and how to get back on task. Two that I liked most are the sticky note strategy where students place a sticky note on a page and their goal is to read to that specific page before they can take a break and the other is for students to have a "break" book that is an easier leveled text for them to read when they need a break from their other book. In my classroom when it comes to comprehension, I complete a lot of stop and jots. This is a quick and easy formative assessment that I use to gauge my students comprehension on a certain topic/book. I also have students a weekly reading log where they log the amount of time they read, how many pages they read, and they have to write a summary (3-5 sentences) about those pages, since that is what we are learning about in third grade, and for the last day (Thursday night's homework), they must infer what they think is going to happen in their book.    -Catherine Taylor

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I like the idea of "reading stacks" especially for my lower readers who can tell me what the title is, who the author and illustrator is, what a dedication page is but, just don't quite get how books work or that we can get information or enjoyment out of them.  During our group meeting this week, I am going to ask them to start thinking about what kind of books they want to read or something they want to learn about.  Then, I will make one of our stations a stop our classroom library.  We usually make it through three rotations of stations during the week, so they will have plenty of time to look through the books and find a topic they are interested in or find a group of books they want to read. Then when we have those books, we can move to the next step of setting goals for reading.  I provide reading logs to the students where they receive a pizza from the Pizza Hut reading program plus other small incentives to obtain their goals.  This group of students love Now and Then, and hearing about famous people. So, I like to give them examples of famous people who read a lot and tell them how much they read. We also talk about how people entertained themselves Then by reading. I can assess how much these students are reading by the advancement of their reading skills I monitor during individual reading time. I can tell the students who read with their parents or older siblings.  I need to do more to encourage parents to take time each day to read with their child.  Maybe pizza for them, too?

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Serravallos small group strategies for supporting student self-monitoring through self-assigned reading goals could be helpful in so many areas.  Of course many teachers may use for a handful of students who never seem truly engaged in their reading in class.   I think I would use these strategies to prepare students for reading over the summer.  I feel that because my Intervention students are already struggling readers, that I have to encourage them even more to read over the summer.  I sort of already do something, but not just like Serravallo's.   Every year, ALL of my RTI/LLI students receive a summer packet that I put together.  I fill it with a Reading Log, a few free books, a writing journal, and helpful tips for parents to use to build comprehension and vocabulary.  My biggest goal for each student is that they maintain the progress that we have made during the school year.   Meaning, If they are reading at a level H, my hope is that they will at least maintain a level H through the summer until they return in August.  To do that, I stress that they MUST read SOMETHING every day during the summer.  I share the reading log with them and how to document what they are reading with parents and where parents can sign.  I share how to look up books online and how to check out books from the local library.  I also show them how to use the writing journal as an avenue to jot down their thoughts about the books before, during, and after reading.  I also show them the pamphlet that shares websites and helpful tips for their parents.  If the students return a completed Summer Reading Log and turn in their writing journal they are invited to an Ice Cream Celebration for Readers at the beginning of the next school year.   It may not be much, but for some, it is a little incentive to continue reading over the summer.

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Consider Serravallo’s Small Group Strategies for Supporting Student Self-Monitoring Through Self-Assigned Reading Goals on pages 85-93.
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Dawn Mitchell
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Mandy Irick
After reading through the multiple strategies that Serravallo offered, I found several that I could apply to my whole group, small group and individual student goals. Each one of these strategies connected to helping students build stamina, comprehension and fluency while promoting engagement. The strategy that I can apply in helping me reach my students driven goals would be staying focused and refocusing. Modeling for students how readers take accountability for their learning by being engaged and thinking about the texts will impact their reading stamina. Two strategies of either placing a sticky note several pages ahead or sticky note jot would be effective with my students. The students in the class that truly struggle to maintain focus on their book, the first strategy of putting a book mark several pages ahead so they can break when they reach the page would help to slowly build stamina. It would help them feel accomplished. The only thing I would love to add is if they can share either with me or a buddy some of the time to help them remember what they have read. For other students, sticky note jot would not only help with stamina as the distance increases but comprehension. It would help the students have a note to help jar their memory each day when they come back to their book and when they have both teacher, peer or group discussions or reflections. The next strategy that I found I could build off of the focus/refocus strategy would be the strategy of inferring, questioning and synthesizing. Once of they have the support provided through modeling and setting the reading goal, students should begin to interact with the material through the strategies. This would need to be modeled for the students first in whole group then branching out into small or individual. Once students are able to set reading goals using sticky notes, I would want them to think about what they are reading. The first step would be inferring about the author's word choice, dialogue or events in the story. From there it would be effective to more toward the synthesizing about how a character changes or how the themes have changed throughout the story. This could be informal where they discuss in groups, partners or with the teacher. It could also be written in a journal, chart paper, sticky notes, padlets, flipgrids or any other digital means. By having them use these strategies, it helps them become more engaged and express their thoughts in authentic ways. The final strategy that I really want to implement is the choice seminar. Once students begin to transact with the texts, they will be able to determine their needs. Giving them the choice to determine their learning needs allows them to take ownership in their learning which is the ultimate goal. At first, I would probably give topics for the students to sign up for. However, as we go through conferencing, small groups, formative assessments, hopefully students can begin to generate group needs. All of these strategies should encourage stamina, comprehension, fluency and engagement.

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Mandy Irick

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Creating a set of books would align well with the goal that I have for my small group.  Right now they do not have a book stack that helps them to be engaged in reading.  They generally go to the library to go shopping for free books but never really read them.  Creating a good set of books would help them start.  The BHH strategy might also help them to realize that reading can make a difference in their lives.  Since they are reluctant readers, it would be important for me to dig deeper to make an emotional connection to reading (and possibly writing).

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I think I can help students make plans for themselves while they are reading to help them stay focus on the book.
This would help them with their goal and monitor there reading as they try to reach their goal. For example, the strategy would be used in their data notebook and then they can color in their box once they meet the strategy.

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Stop and Jot is an engagement strategy that would be great for my Small Group! Kelli

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Teresa

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Cristin Harris  The idea of having students go back and read their sticky notes as a reflection of their reading strategies would be useful for older students.  This way they can identify the strategies they are using and also find ways to include new strategies.  Setting goals also shows them how they are improving as a reader. This is valuable because improvements don't always show up on test scores but if they are able to meet and reflect they will see their own growth.

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I liked the connect and compliment idea mentioned on p. 87. I feel as though my students do not quite understand what all it means to be a reader, so they do not know what is and is not "praiseworthy" in their learning and reading. When you start off engaging and complimenting each other, they have built that confidence and are able to understand what makes them a reader from you, and can begin to identify it in themselves and others.

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Kimberly Terry I can see where the strategy Teach by Giving an Example  and Explanation would be beneficial for all students, particularly ELLs. Allowing students an opportunity to think about what interests them and then find a collection of books from the classroom library on the same/similar to the topic will create a solid foundation and strong background knowledge. I believe when true learning and understanding takes place it ignites the 'want' to go deeper.

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I like the idea of using a genre to help students expand on the books that they may be interested in. For example, I have several that like to read the series The Puppy Place because of the animals. However, there are other fiction books that include animals as well that they wouldn't otherwise think of reading. Sarah G.

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Helping readers set process and skill-based goals--I have never really asked my students what they are doing as readers. I think this would be very interesting! Coding their thinking is a great idea and one I would really like to try. Lynette

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I like the idea of having students sign up for "seminars" based on their needs and interests.  When they are given choices to learn a new skill and then opportunities to share with and support others, they are more motivated to change habits.  I would love to see this in action! Kelli Wolfe

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Mollie Kuhn
In my own classroom, we do author studies where we highlight several different authors throughout the year. I do this in order to give my students exposure to new types of writing, new genres, and new characters. Many of them have a very limited background in their literacy exposure, so doing this helps broaden the horizons for them. I love the suggestion of taking children into the classroom library and allowing students the opportunity to share their favorites and offer each other different suggestions for their independent reading time. Most of the time, I am the one offering up suggestions or trying to steer them to find new books they might like, and I need to allow the children more opportunities to do this.

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Cristin Harris  The idea of having students have a baggie that contains a book that they can use as a brain break is a great strategy to use for students who tire easily during reading. It could even be used as an incentive for finishing a certain task since it could be a book that is easier for them to read. I could see this really improving their engagement.

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I think my students would benefit from being taught how to be engaged in books during a unit of study while having books to read for pleasure. I also love the idea of students creating list of books to read. Lyndsey Elliott

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I think I could teach some of the students how to use some basic symbols to record what they are doing/what strategy they are using when they are reading.  The strategies/symbols would have to be very simplistic.

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Sarah Smith - I like the way Serravallo teaches her students to notice  and compare their reading behaviors at home and at school. I can see how some students may only read for an " assigned" time, even if they have chosen to work on this for themselves, and how this strategy may motivate them to read to complete a chapter / section or to answer a question. We could teach them how to set a goal, by looking at headings in non-fiction books or other meaning " markers" so that they learn to summarize what they have learned and stop when they reach the end of an " idea" or event in a story.

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I like the teach by giving an example and explanation and then have the students spend time in our classroom library finding books that they want to read and making a list. I never think to let them TALK to friends about the books they have chosen and why. I think this is a super important part that I have been leaving out.   Lynette

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I liked the idea of having students take ownership over the books they were reading.  Having the students think about which types of books they like to read and then creating a list of other books that fit into that category is a great idea. I would like to do this more perhaps with a partner.  If the students are interested in the same type of books I can pair them up and they can share books they have previously read that their friend may want to read too.  -Brandi Nolan

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Katherine Malmquist
I like the idea of having students create a list of books they want to read centered around a topic.  This helps keep them focused on what they are reading and where they want to go next on their book journey; it also helps them have another book ready to choose when they may otherwise come to the library to wonder, waiting for that good fit book to jump out at them.

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Mollie Kuhn The strategies Seravallo suggests are easy to do and offer essential solutions to problems that students may encounter while reading. Setting mini goals and marking the text while reading will help students complete and understand what they are reading. How you teach these strategies is imperative to whether or not students actually get it. There are lots of these strategies I use as a reader, but I have never actually taught my students to do some of these strategies. I am excited to be able to use some of these to build comprehension and engagement.

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I love the idea of having students make a book list of types of books they enjoy.  She also discussed letting students have access to these even during a unit where they may have other books they need to read.  They can set mini goals to read the mandatory book and then enjoy some of a book from their book list.  I may could modify this by helping students make a book list by sitting with them as they choose books and writing it for them as a reference for later.  For older students, I think it would be great for them to talk about books they like.  Perhaps time for book talks so that others might could see books they could add to their own lists.

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I think my students could learn to identify what hey are doing as readers, using symbols for ideas, questions and reactions. This will help them stay engaged when they are reading favorite and assigned texts and teach them how to  increase their stamina, by helping them set and work towards their own process goals - page 90 Sarah Smith

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Serravallo offers so many great strategies to "support" student learning. I think that support system is what makes a "great" teacher. I really like Serravallo's strategy of placing a sticky note or bookmark to help support students that struggle with focusing/ refocusing. This visual aid would be an attainable goal for so many students. I also really like that she took students,who she knew struggled with focus/refocus and students that their peers thought were "good" readers, and put them all in one group. Her goal was to illustrate that all readers become distracted at some point in their reading.  Serravallo approached the group the  CONNECT- TEACH-ENGAGE-LINK method. This allowed students the appropriate amount of time to interact with specific skills. She did this again in her goal setting group. I found it interesting that she had a small group for independent goal setting, but realized that again Serravallo models that all readers struggle and group interaction leads to engagement. "Groups go a long way to helping you to accomplish these goals. Groups give children other peers  with whom to work through challenges in finding books or staying focused. Groups help you target instruction to the exact structure and teaching point that would be beneficial to each reader," (95). "Great" teachers use multiple strategies that are geared to meet individual needs, even if used in a group setting. The teacher looks at the students value in reading and creates strategies that are going to be beneficial to their success. With these strategies, students should gather the tools needed for independent reading and maintaining accountability and becoming in charge of their own comprehension.- C. Snyder

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I definitely plan to use some of Serravallo's mini lessons on how to focus/refocus for students in my class. Through my reading engagement survey, I found that many of my students cannot stay focused for very long. When this happens, they begin to distract the readers around them. I like the strategy about putting sticky notes throughout the chapter as a visual goal for students. When they get to that point, they can jot down their thoughts, reactions, or whatever other focus we had in class, and then take a short rest in their reading. I also liked how Serravallo talked about explicitly teaching students what to do when their mind begins to wander and connecting with students that it happens to adult readers too. Having them skim back to the last place they remember, and then backing up a little more, will help them get back into their reading and hopefully stay engaged for a longer period of time. I also liked how when students were setting reading goals, they were also setting a process goal. I've only thought about setting a goal about reading a certain number or type of book, not what I should be doing as a reader during that time.

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As I read through some of the articles posted from Serravallo's text I think the chart for comparing strategies was interesting and I found it to be a useful tool for looking at how I should actually have kids complete a task while reading. I think the comparison chart put things in perspective in how I could go back and review those particular concepts for my students and allow them more time to try to understand what is being asked of them. I have noticed my students love to draw and create pictures so visualizing is something that is "fun" for them and does not seem like hard work, but with that I think the tasks I am doing are too simple and using Serrvallo's ideas I think I can turn a visualizing lesson into a more productive assignment. I also thought the section about determine importance was also something that is useful and definitely a better way to have students to determine the importance, it allows them to think before they begin reading and pay more attention to what they are reading, it almost turns into a scavenger hunt!

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I love the Strategy/Not a Strategy chart as a resource. It really points out the differences between strategies we can use to help our students engage with a text, and the worksheet-type questions that they can answer with very little thought about what they're reading. My students always loved visualizing, because I'd usually have them illustrate their mental pictures, which felt "easy" to them. Questioning was always more of a challenge, because their immediate response was usually, "I don't have any questions." We always talked about how asking a question doesn't have to mean you don't understand something, but you SHOULD be wondering and wanting to know more about what you're reading. Good questions show that you do understand what you're reading and are continuing to think about it.

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I love the strategies Serravallo uses for focusing/refocusing. Using post-its to set attainable, visible goals in the text--and to jot down thinking when they get there--are simple and really effective. I also like the idea of using a "break" read as a reward for getting to a certain point in a more difficult text. I do the same thing as an adult, and that would be an easy thing to model/great way to connect with students as readers.

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