This post is for all students, especially ones who are in the RTI process, ones with an IEP, and ones who need more challenge.
I bet these questions have crossed your mind a time or two if you’ve attempted to teach students to write. What do I do with a student who struggles with getting ideas on the paper? What about spelling? Fluency? Grammar? Style? Focus? Why is writing growth so hard to measure?
Here, I will attempt to simplify goal-setting, but I am going to be blunt. It won’t happen if you don’t get out of the boat. It will take some work, but the dividends will be worth it. Keep reading.
Before setting goals, let’s remember that students must first have something on the paper. If that is difficult, this may be your first goal…fluency. Students need to write DAILY for a variety of audiences and purposes. Not all writing is “graded.”
Informal writing includes, but is not limited to, writing to summarize, to solve problems, response to reading in logs and journals, and quick writes.
How much do students need to write at a time? Do not tell students how much to write, but tell them how long. Set a timer and build some perseverance. They need to get something on paper without concentrating on the length. Fluency needs to be built.
Establish a baseline. Does that sound familiar? Well, it can be done with writing. It has to be specific. A baseline may include writing prompts, fluency probes, spelling lists, and standards-based assessments.
You determine the area of greatest need: Fluency, focus, content, style, conventions, etc. The tool to be used needs to be explained to the student. Are you checking for the amount of words written? Total number of sentences? Is it based on a rubric? All of this needs to be considered when establishing a baseline.
CONTENT GOALS
This includes getting down ideas and developing/supporting them.
Examples of CONTENT GOALS:
1.Given a writing assignment, _______________will improve his score from doesn’t meet the standard to meeting in IDEAS on the school rubric.
2. Using a graphic organizer, ________________ will write a __(A number)____paragraph essay that includes topic sentences, _(A number)_____transition words, and a conclusion.
3. _______ will write a _______ sentence paragraph with a topic sentence and _________ detail sentences.
FLUENCY GOALS
Fluency goals will depend upon the level/age/grade of the students. Goals may measure letters written, words written, words written correctly, or sentences written.
- Given 5 minute timed probe, _________will increase the number of _____________ written from ________(current baseline) to ____________.
FOCUS GOALS
A writer needs to stay on topic, not confuse the reader, or give information that isn’t relevant.
- Given a written assignment at ______ grade level, _______ will stay on a given topic/stay focused and will move from level _______ to _________.
Goals can also be set for students to move from meets to exceeds.
CONVENTIONS AND EDITING GOALS
- Given a one-paragraph writing sample at the ________ grade level, _______ will correct spelling, punctuation, and grammatical errors accurately with fewer than ___________ errors.
- Given a prompt, __________ will complete ___________ sentences using correct capitalization and punctuation with ________% accuracy from the baseline of _________%.
STYLE GOALS
Teaching students to find their voices is hard to teach and difficult to measure. Be specific as to what you expect. Read to students all the time, so that they hear other voices.
- _______ will include ________ descriptive words in a given written assignment.
- Given a three paragraph assignment, _______ will vary sentence structure throughout each paragraph.
- ________ will correctly include one or more simile and/or metaphor in a written assignment.
- Given a written assignment, _________ will begin each sentence in a different way.
- Given a writing assignment, _______ will use a combination of simple and compound sentences. (Given the students/grades, they may also be required to write complex and compound-complex per their standards.)
What I have shared is a start. Make the goals pertinent to your students and schools. Use these if they work for you. Seek out more information. I am here to help.
Resources that may provide more information about setting writing goals:
- Meredith Laden
- National Writing Project
- WISE Writing Consulting
- IEP Goals and Objectives Bank