Individual Writing Goals in Action

There comes a point, usually around the middle of the school year, when my kindergartners find their groove with writing. Some can write fluently and legibly and they think they’ve got it mastered. Others can think of an idea and write a sentence or two and they’ve figured out that it meets my expectations for them. And there are those still struggling with forming a sentence and writing the sounds. But they know how to get the help they need and get the job done to the best of their ability. They have all found their comfort zone.

My job is to bump them out of that zone and into their zone of proximal development, as allowing them to stay in their comfort zone will result in stagnation. I must make writing challenging for them again. I do this by starting individual writing goals to force them into their zone of proximal development.

The zone of proximal development (ZPD) is the range of abilities that an individual can perform with assistance but cannot yet perform independently. These skills are called "proximal" because the individual is close to mastering them but needs more guidance and practice in order to perform these actions independently (Vygotsky, Wikipedia).

---

I teach writing whole group and like to circulate around the entire time, encouraging students and reminding them about what they’re supposed to be doing. The best thing about writing goals is that it helps me stay focused. When I look at a student’s writing and prepare to provide constructive feedback, I can focus on just that one tiny aspect of writing. Did she start with a capital? It helps me block out the messy handwriting, the scribbling in the corner when they got bored or overwhelmed, the lack of spaces, the ten run-on sentences. It also prevents me from spending too much time with any one student, trying to fix every part of their writing; it keeps me moving and keeps me teaching everyone. And I’ve been using this approach long enough to know that systematically moving students through this list will eventually take care of a lot of the not-so-good stuff as the weeks go on and that eventually their writing will look pretty amazing.

When students demonstrate their goal for three to eight consecutive days (depending on the student and the goal), I consider it mastered. There will be a few students I recognize each day for meeting their goal. I’ll put an X on the chart and assign a new goal. This ritual is just enough to keep everyone motivated and encourage them to take ownership for improving their writing.

In this video, you’ll see how I use individual writing goals to move students along the continuum of learning to write. I say I teach writing “whole group,” but really I am circulating around the classroom and teaching each student individually based on their current writing goal. If you have read this, you can fast forward to about four minutes into the video.