Personalised Writing Goals

Setting personalised writing goals for the children in your class will help them become better writers. It is that simple. John Hattie, in his extensive research, found goal setting and providing success criteria rank among the top ten strategies highly effective teachers use in the classroom.

Effective teachers set goals with the children that are both achievable and challenging. Having a specific writing goal, helps children commit to their learning and allows them to see the next steps to becoming successful writers. When children have personalised and achievable writing goals, they become self-motivated and use their writing goal to self-monitor and make progress in their writing.

How to Start Setting Personalised Writing Goals in the Classroom

The first step in helping a child to set a personal writing goal is to assess the child’s writing. I do this by carefully looking over a current writing sample. This can be done individually with the child but getting through the whole class one-on-one can be difficult. I will share with you how I manage it.

We have a consistent daily writing time every day. We call it Quiet Writing Time. I play the writing music (the same soft relaxation music every day) and the children write. Each child has a lined A4 exercise book which they write in each day. We regularly look over these writing books throughout the year to celebrate our writing progress.

High expectations are set at the beginning of the year around our quiet writing time. If the writing music is playing, the children write the whole time (no chatting), they stay in their spot (no following the teacher) and if a child needs anything, they must raise their hand.

During quiet writing time, I conference with individuals. This short writing conference gives me the opportunity to discuss the individual child’s writing progress and to set a specific and achievable writing goal with them. I can usually manage to work through the whole class over a fortnight.

At other times, I will collect writing samples in the form of pre-tests for an upcoming English assessment. These writing samples can often guide and inform the setting of specific writing goals for each child too.

How to Record Personalised Writing Goals for Your Students

When a personal writing goal has been decided, the next step is to clearly present it to the child so that he knows exactly what his focus needs to be.

I use pre-printed writing goal sheets. You can download the printable sheet from my FREE Resource library HERE or click on the pic below. The free download includes writing goal sheets in all the Australian fonts as well as a generic elementary school font.

I secure a writing goal sheet to the front cover of each child’s writing book with tape. Having each child’s personal writing goal on the front cover of their writing book ensures the goal can be easily found and referred to.

I hand write each child’s personal goal onto their sheet. Sometimes I will also draw a little relatable graphic as a prompt to help the non-readers remember their goal.

How to Monitor Student’s Personalised Writing Goals

At the beginning of our daily Quiet Writing Time, I remind all the children to check their writing goal before they start to write. This gives a purpose to their writing time and increases the likelihood of their goals being demonstrated and achieved.

While the class is writing, I take the opportunity to conference with individuals about their writing. During the short individual conference, we revise the personal writing goal and look for evidence that the goal is being demonstrated.

I often begin the conference by asking the child what their writing goal is and if they have remembered to use it in their writing that day. The children are usually very keen to bring my attention to the evidence in their writing where a goal has been demonstrated. If not, they will quickly grab an eraser to rectify the forgotten goal!

If I see independent evidence of goal achievement in the child’s current writing and not from my reminder and subsequent erasing, I stamp their writing piece exactly where I see the evidence. I also stamp the writing goal sheet on the front of their book.

When a child receives 3 stamps on the writing goal sheet at the front of their writing book, they receive a small reward (a sticker or certificate) and together we set a new writing goal. I like to see repeated evidence of the goal in their writing as it is then more likely the goal has been achieved. To record the children who have received their reward, I tick each stamp and initial the written goal on their writing goals sheet.

We have whole class learning intentions (goals) for writing displayed on the wall of our classroom, but I have found the strategy of setting and tracking personal writing goals to be much more effective in moving individuals along the writing continuum. I have been implementing this method of setting and tracking personal writing goals for many years. It is highly effective and very easy to manage. I am all for effective and efficient management strategies in the classroom!