Conferring and Goal Setting Made Easy

Jaimie Howe contributed today's thinking.

Last month I wrote about the potential of implementing the Lucy Calkins Units of Study for Teaching Reading in the district I currently teach in. In preparation for this potential implementation and also for use during this transition time, the district purchased all teachers (classroom, SPED, ELL, and more . . .) The Reading Strategies Book by Jennifer Serravallo.  

Until I came into this district I had never even heard of Serravallo and little did I know that she has done a ton of work with Lucy and The Teacher’s College Reading and Writing Project as well as written numerous other texts that support the implementation of a Reader’s Workshop model.   

The Reading Strategies Book makes conferring, goal-setting, and strategy groups so EASY.  Serravallo says:

“For years I’ve been getting emails almost daily asking, 'Isn’t there a book of the strategies themselves?' Now there is. Strategies make the often invisible work of reading actionable and visible. In The Reading Strategies Book, I collected 300 strategies to share with readers in support of thirteen goals-everything from fluency to literary analysis. Each strategy is cross-linked to skills, genres, and Fountas and Pinnell reading levels to give you just-right teaching, just in time.”

Recently I began coaching in a fifth grade classroom, supporting the teacher with the initial work of setting up a reader’s workshop.  A big hurdle to overcome was getting the routine in place in order to make time for meaningful conferring. Once this happened and we began conferring last week, the bigger question became, “How do I know what goals to set with students?” and “How do I know if it is the right one?” This is where Serravallo’s The Reading Strategies Book comes in.  Each of the thirteen goals within the text has a chapter with a brief, but detailed explanation about who the goal would be best suited for.  With this information in hand and the thirteen goals on a list right next to us when conferring, we were able to very easily select a goal with the student based off of the student’s oral reading behaviors and our conversations. We then recorded each student’s goal on a class list and organized them based on the goal. With the ease of the way Serravallo’s book is set up, we will easily be able to select the strategies we need to teach in order to achieve the goals and will be able to get started right away. 

I highly recommend, any teacher of reading, check this book out.