A few weeks ago I posted about attending a teacher only day at Southwell School and listening to a presentation by Lynden Cook about how he sets goals with his students for writing and how he runs his writing program. Over the last few weeks I have been trailing something similar to the goal boxes he shared and his ladder of success. I have found that this has been going really well in my class.
Firstly, students now understand much more explicitly what the purpose for their writing and what type of writing they are doing. This is because before we look at what our goals are, and what writing we are doing, we discuss who will read our writing and what we want them to understand after they have read our writing (purpose). We then discuss why our writing focus (genre) will meet this purpose best. I have found that in being more explicit with the purpose, students have become more aware and focused on the fact that someone else will be reading it, and so they need to make sure their writing and easy to read.
Having space to include two goals on the same box helps to get everything central. The goal ladder to the side has become extremely useful as well. The ladder helps students to be reflective about how they have gone with their two writing goals. It enables them to have options to show how they have achieved their goals - meaning they don't just have to select either achieved or not achieved - they can show that they are on their way to achieving the goal. They then have the chance to select this goal for the next piece of writing to continue working on it.
I'm enjoy using this, and starting each writing piece completing this process.
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