Literacy Targets
Improving your literacy skills
• You use reading, writing, speaking and/or
listening skills in every single lesson so it’s
important to continue improving these skills
at all times, not just in English.
• To help you improve your literacy skills across
all your subjects, you should to identify one or
two areas that you know you need to develop
further
Literacy Targets
• On the following slides there are lots of
suggestions for targets you may want to work
on in particular this term
• You are welcome to set yourself a target that
is not on this list if you already know what you
need to develop further, but there are lots of
ideas here to choose from if you need some
help in making the right decisions
Writing Targets
Spelling, punctuation and grammar
• I must ensure that I use full stops and capital letters
accurately at all times.
• I should attempt to use a wider variety of punctuation
in my writing.
• If I make a spelling error, I need to write it out correctly
three times and make sure I spell the word accurately
in all future work.
• I need to ensure that I check and spell accurately the
key words shared in all my lessons.
• I should proofread my work after every piece of
extended writing I do, checking in particular my
spelling/punctuation/grammar.
Writing Targets
Text Organisation
• I must make sure that I divide my work up into
paragraphs every time I compose a piece of
extended writing.
• I need to use connectives more frequently in
my writing to link my ideas together more
clearly.
• I must try to use a range of simple, compound
and complex sentences in all extended writing
tasks.
Writing Targets
Composition and writing for effect
• I should vary my sentence structures to create effects
in my writing.
• When writing non-fiction texts, I should identify the
form, audience and purpose first and make sure that
the language I use is appropriate for the piece I will
then write.
• I need to develop my vocabulary and should try to use
the best words I can in my writing at all times.
• I should try to add more detail to my writing, using
adjectives and adverbs to enhance my descriptions.
Reading targets
Developing my reading and understanding
what I have read
• I should read my book for at least thirty minutes,
three times per week.
• I need to develop my skimming and scanning
skills by highlighting/annotating a text I am
reading with key words that sum up what the
writing says.
• Each week, I should use a dictionary to look up at
least one word I have read that I do not recognise
and attempt to use the word in a piece of my
own writing later that week.
Reading Targets
Reading for meaning and analysing texts
• I need to practise my use of PEE/PEAL paragraphs to
ensure that I explain my ideas in lots of detail in every
essay I write.
• I must always use evidence from the reading I have
done to support each point I make.
• I should use key phrases for analysis (e.g. ‘this
suggests’, ‘this highlights’, ‘this illustrates’...etc) when
explaining my understanding of a text I am analysing/I
have read.
• I should use comparison connectives when I need to
compare two sources/texts.
Reading Targets
Reading for information
• When doing research, I must make sure that I
read the information I find about the topic
and write three/five/ten sentences that sum
up what the information says to show that I
have understood it.
• I should attempt to research one topic I am
studying each week to find out more about it.
Speaking and Listening Targets
• I should try to answer at least one question every
lesson during group/class discussions.
• I should try to make at least one contribution to
every class discussion we have.
• I must listen carefully during group tasks and take
other people’s ideas into consideration when
making my own contributions.
• I need to make sure that the language I use
during discussions is always appropriate for the
situation.
Use your target!
• Once you have chosen your target and written
it in your planner, make sure you check it
regularly and try to incorporate it into your
work whenever you can, in any lesson where
it is relevant
• Share your target with all your teachers and
they will be able to check that you are
meeting it and improving your work when
they assess your work