Writing Goals: WHY and HOW

      I am a firm believer that at any given point, ALL readers/writers/mathematicians should know what GOAL they are working towards. As educators and professionals, we are constantly setting goals for our selves and our students. Keeping those goals in mind, we design lesson plans, create centers, develop reviews and much more. For in order to obtain our set goals,  we must be always thinking about them and working towards them. The SAME must apply for our students.
        Todays classrooms are incredibly data driven. Teachers take on additional jobs as statisticians and analysts. A teacher who is effectively running a data driven classroom does not simply collect data but USES it to drive their instruction. Whether your data is  tallies on a scrap paper or carefully inputted numbers into a spreadsheet, they both are equally useless until they impact your student instruction.
        Our district utilizes Writing On-Demands which provides the classroom teachers the platform needed to most effectively design their writing mini lessons, small group work and conferences. These On Demands are simple writing prompts that directly align with the specific genre that will soon be taught. I LOVE Writing On-Demands and find them incredibly useful!
       After I administer then review the entire class' On Demands, I am able to start planning my writing lessons. I look at the class as a whole and ask: Where can they improve? What common concerns do I have? Sometimes (like when we are launching our How-To unit) I must start at square one: WHAT even is a how-to paragraph?! But in other units (such as Narrative writing) I am able to skip ahead: Most of the students understood it was a story about their lives, but not one student used dialogue. BOOM! I have the  direction of my next mini lessons.
        I begin each writing class with a mini lesson where I am modeling the piece of writing they will soon be working on independently. Within that mini lesson, I am teaching, explaining, discussing and modeling the WHOLE CLASS goal I have determined from their On Demands.  I am BLATANTLY telling them the goal, its purpose, and giving them the responsibility of focusing and working towards achieving this newly set writing milestone. ((Because remember, HOW can students work towards a goal unless they OUTRIGHT know what it is?!)) Before sending my students off to independently write, we echo the goal multiple times. 
        Once my mini lesson finishes, students begin to independently write as I conference and work with small groups.  Now let's be real: not ALL students are going to be able to obtain the whole class writing goal. EXAMPLE: If a student's handwriting is so illegible you cannot read anything on the paper, including dialogue isn't exactly my first concern. Keep in mind, the mini lesson is aimed to meet the needs of the MAJORITY of your students. For some, the goal may be too difficult. However it is vital that all students are exposed to the language and modeling of the overall targeted goal/skill. For those few students who are already independently meeting this goal, the mini lesson is a great way to remind and reinforce skills.
        As I am conferencing or working with small groups, each student has an INDIVIDUAL writing goal. These writing goals (as displayed below) are what the student MUST improve on in order to enhance their OWN writing. I write their name using a white board marker on the shield! A picture cue is also included on the frame to help those students who are also struggling readers be able to READ their goal independently. These goals are displayed in my writing center (still a work in progress in the picture..don't judge!!) In the beginning of the year the goals are often quite simple: handwriting, complete sentences, spelling etc. As the year progresses and students grow as writers, these often advance to include: adding detail, dialogue, transitions etc.
        EACH student in my (1st grade) classroom at ANY given time is able to recite what they are working on as a writer. As discussed above, this is VITAL piece to allowing your goals to drive instruction and student progress. How can they grow as a writer if they have no clue what to work on? This goal is their FOCUS. I have found that when students are provided a clear vision of what they are working on, the struggling writers become MUCH more willing to work and write. Those hesitant writers now having something concrete in front of them that they must work on and work towards.
       Before I launch each new unit of study, I take time to call students over in groups and let them know their new goal. I write their number on the shield (below) WITH them during this meeting to make it more meaningful. We talk about ways that they can work on this and I give them a copy of their goal for their writing folder AND to bring home (An easy and perfect way to keep parents in the loop!). When students are writing independently after my mini lesson, I have them sit with the students in their Writing Group because they are ALL working on the SAME goal!! I have found this becomes ESPECIALLY benefical during the last few minutes of writing class when I often stop to have students share their writing within their group OR how they worked on meeting their goal!
         The best part about goal setting is goal CRUSHING! I love when students receive a NEW writing goal! I send them home with a certificate and make a big deal to the class about moving on to a NEW goal. What I love MOST about goal setting is EVERYONE always has one: the struggling, the on level and the advanced students. Knowing that every single person in the whole class ALWAYS has something to work on and improve is a great lesson for your students.