We have lots of things to say !!

In Tautoru,  goal setting and reflection are key aspects of our programme.   We are always encouraging students to set personal writing goals that help them take ownership of their learning.  Goals focus on improving specific writing skills, such as vocabulary use or sentence structure or just being able to add as many details as they can.   There are many ages and stages of writing to be considered. We share our goals with each other and give feedback too.   Tautoru students can be writers as soon as they have something to say ! 

Goal setting needs to be taught well for it to be effective, purposeful and worthwhile.  As you know the best goals are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound and this really helps us all stay focused and motivated to improve.  You might be wondering how we do this. For us, writing is beginning to happen across the curriculum as it becomes a vehicle to express and share all kinds of learning.  Our writing programme teaches the skills to enable this.  Regular check-ins are built in and reflections help students monitor their progress towards their goals themselves and of course there is oodles of teacher support to make this happen.  We encourage students to find examples of where we have achieved our goals that day to make sure we have the ‘measurement’ .  

Here are some examples from today:

We celebrate successes after every session or two.  Successes help us build confidence that we are on the right track and it encourages a Growth Mindset because students begin to see the power of ‘YET’.  

We are nurturing a love for writing while supporting students’ individual learning journeys. Progress looks different for everyone.  It even looks quite different within a level and across levels.  What we do know is progress is being made !!  We look forward to sharing progress with you soon ! 

How can you help at home ?   -       “Writing floats on a sea of talk” 

Keep having those rich conversations,  keep reading to your children and together, talking and exploring words, creating collections of beautiful things that are a real talking point, showing gratitude and noticing those awe inspiring things on your adventures out and about and most of all let them see you being a reader and a writer.