How to Guide Readers & Writers to Set Reasonable Goals

Tanya
Sep 1, 2022
4 min read

Updated: Jan 13

Assessing a reader’s or writer's progress and tracking their growth means getting to know your learners AND your learners seeing themselves as readers & writers.

Reading & Writing Profiles

Creating a learner's profile is not just a task that is required by a school district. It's essential to tracking growth.

When you work with your readers & writers to curate authentic pieces of work to include in a literacy portfolio, you are empowering them to see the kinds of readers and writers they can become.

Learners need to see where they have been and how far they have come.

So, just what is a reader or writer profile?

A Learner's Profile paints a visual picture of each reader or writer that documents growth and change throughout a school year.

Profiling a learner doesn’t have to take a large amount of time.

Profiling a learner simply means gathering a few reading and/or writing artifacts (work samples) from the learner and assembling some quick notes.

This can be done any time throughout a school year. Actually it’s an ongoing process.

Assembling a Learner's Profile

Consider various artifacts to profile your readers and writers, such as their responses in stop and jots or longer writings, reading interest surveys, and reflections on reading progress.

Use tracking charts to show reading levels over time, notes on engagement during independent reading or discussions, and conferring notes.

Running records, both formal and informal, provide insights into a reader's strengths and challenges.

Additionally, student reflections on their writing and published pieces highlighting their best work are valuable.

I’ve Created Learner Profiles, Now What?

Help your learners see their own reading & writing profile to drive the goals they set for themselves as readers and writers.

Once you have built a profile, you get the privilege of sharing with your reader & writer all of the success and progress made up to that point.

Then you get to guide your learner into setting new reading or writing goals based on all the work & progress.

Literacy portfolios, reader/writer profiles and walks through student reading & writing work should not be conducted alone and filed away in a file cabinet.

Empower Your Learners

Setting goals can be a daunting task for young learners (and older learners too).

How do you empower your learners to set their own learning goals?

Help your learners review their work to drive the goals they set for themselves as readers & writers.

👉 Readers & writers need to see their successes and struggles.

👉 Readers & writers need to reflect and think aloud about their work up to that point.

👉 Readers & writers will see what they can accomplish when they reflect on their work to set new goals.

👉 Learners need to determine what they are doing as readers & writers and the kinds of readers & writers they want to become.

When learners engage in reflection and goal setting, they feel more empowered to demonstrate progress and move closer to achieving the reader and writer vision they have set for themselves.

Steps for Setting Reasonable Goals With Readers & Writers

Have learners review their reader or writer notebooks and literacy portfolios to assess their work. They should note observations and questions about how they can improve in reading or writing.

Discuss with your learner their current self-perception as a reader or writer. Ask them:

1. What kind of reader or writer do you want to be?

2. How can you achieve that?

3. What steps are necessary to become that reader or writer?

Share your vision of the reader or writer and what kind you believe the learner can become. Then, ask how these visions are similar or different.

Determine a reasonable goal to help readers or writers progress towards their desired skills. Consider their observations, aspirations, and future visions.

Choose one goal to focus on now.

Some readers may aim to improve reading volume, stamina, or interpretive skills, while others focus on character analysis.

Writers might want to increase writing volume, enhance descriptions, or craft better introductions. A reasonable goal aligns with the learner's focus for the coming weeks.

Create a goal using this template:

I will ____________ by _______________.

Reading goal examples:

Read longer by tracking minutes read with a bar graph.
Note observations using “The author wrote…, so that makes me think….”
Reread when losing track of a character to gather more information.

Writing goal examples:

Write longer to increase notebook entries.
Create 3 different leads for more options.
Revise 3 places for more description.

Collaborate to identify small action steps the learner can take to achieve the goal.

Ask:

1. How will you meet your goal?

2. What steps will you take in the next few weeks?

3. What must you do to meet your goal?

Document these steps for easy access, such as in a notebook.

Review the goal and action plan as a team. Place a copy in the student’s literacy portfolio and have the student add one to their Reader’s or Writer's Notebook.

In about 4 weeks, review the goal to either determine new action steps or celebrate its achievement and set a new goal.

Creating a learner's profile is not just a task that is required by a school district. It's essential to tracking growth. When you work with readers & writers to curate authentic pieces of work to include in a literacy portfolio, you are empowering them to see the kinds of readers and writers they can become.