Improving Writing at KS3 Knowing Your Target

Objectives In this lesson you will assess what your strengths and weaknesses in Writing are You will understand what Level 5 writing looks like! You will find out your targets to improve your Writing which will help you to work independently on them and in future lessons which your teacher will plan for effectively.

What’s My Target What are our strengths and weaknesses in writing? What might some of these areas of writing be? Spend 1 minutes discussing with your partner, then write down one sentence which outlines what you think your target is.

Individual Task You are now going to look at a text with lots of errors. You should write out the correct version, thinking about the things you might need to do to get to Level 5.

Mr barton asked why is it important to know your target He shouted: “Knowing your target is the most important thing in english ” i know that by setting myself a traget I can undestand how I can improve. this will enable me to know what examiners want me to do in English furthermore i will be able to write more effectivly in other subjets. However if I dont always write for my audients use the features of that style or write in the correct format I wont ever improve.

Let’s Evaluate Evaluating means reflecting or looking back on our work. This is not a test – there are no marks, no prize or merit for the person that got them all. Your partner will circle each one you missed! What you will get though is a real target that you can work on improving until you feel you have mastered it. Firstly though, let’s think about if there was anything else we need to know when writing. Can you think of anything?

What else do I need to know? Another thing you should know is what type of text that was: What was it’s purpose. It was saying why I needed to know my target. It was an example of writing to: You should also think about audience. It was written as a report that I would read, therefore, it’s language should have been _______. Can you give any examples?

The Ten Commandments of Writing at Level 5 Effective paragraphing (indenting and using connectives) Capital letters and full stops Using speech marks correctly Using question marks Accurate spelling of interesting words (adjectives, adverbs) Creating complex sentences Using connectives Using commas Using apostrophes correctly Understanding the features of the writing style, your audience and the type of text you are creating.

Let’s Mark…. Who would like to come up to the board and tell us what this person missed out on? With so many errors, what level do we think this person is currently writing at? Let’s swap books and get a different coloured pen ready!

2) Capital Letters 3). Colon 5) Question mark 1) Paragraphing 4).Speech marks Mr barton asked why is it important to know your target He shouted: “Knowing your target is the most important thing in english ” i know that by setting myself a traget I can undestand how I can improve. this will enable me to know what examiners want me to do in English furthermore i will be able to write more effectivly in other subjets. However if I dont always write for my audients use the features of that style or write in the correct format I wont ever improve. 6) spelling 7) Comma to create complex sentence 2) Full-stop 8) commas 9) Apostrophes 1) Connectives

How Do I Find Out My Target? Copy down the ten commandments of writing. Find out which numbers you made the errors on! Put a tick in the ten commandments next to each one you missed and is circled by your partner. Mr Barton will now put the real text on the board to help you. This will allow you to know your targets! Count your ticks and the write down your: MAIN TARGET: (the one with the most ticks) SECONDARY TARGET:

Class Evaluation What are our targets? Let’s go around the class and do a whole class survey (in the form of a tally chart) of how we can all improve! This will allow Mr Barton to plan activities to help you to improve your writing which will have an effect in all of your subjects! It will also allow you to do something about your own writing. You could even take responsibility and log onto www.heartlandsenglish.wikispaces.com/links to play grammar games to improve the areas that you unsure on!

The Ten Commandments of Writing at Level 5 Effective paragraphing (indenting and using connectives) Capital letters and full stops Using speech marks, Using question marks Spelling of interesting words Creating complex sentences Using connectives Using commas Using apostrophes Knowing the features of the style, your audience and the type of text you are creating. Class:

Plenary – what have we learned? What has Mr Barton learned? What will I do now? Write your answer on the post-it note and come and stick it to the board!