As a parent it can be hard to determine how your child is progressing in writing. It is far more subjective than other subject areas; it definitely isn’t as obvious as maths where an answer is either correct or incorrect.
Teachers set targets or level students writing, however as a parent and not an educator one can often get confused by the educational jargon of ‘levels’ and it is often tricky for parents to determine if the targets are being satisfactorily met and to understand the progression between the levels.
Here at Education Boutique, we often get parents asking what mark or percentage their child’s writing would earn, it’s a tricky one to answer as it isn’t that black and white and of course there are different genres of writing which require slightly different skills. Teachers aren’t just looking for perfect spelling and punctuation and neat handwriting – there are so many variables: sentence structure, word types, figurative language, paragraphing, to name a few!
Children themselves may be wondering what it is they are aiming for; they are exposed to modelled pieces from published authors but can we expect that level of work from children? Of course we can’t! (That’s not to say that reading modelled texts by published authors isn’t necessary – reading plays a vital role in developing writing skills)
The best way to take onboard the feedback from schools is to look at/ask for writing targets and ensure these skills are being built upon; ensuring your child has a clear understanding of the targets and knowledge of how to apply these skills to their writing. Once teachers feel they are confident in these skills, they will set new targets.
At Education Boutique we are always listening to our clients’ needs and creating content we feel is educational, age specific and above all purposeful. That is why we have developed our Creative Writing Model and Prompt Marking Package. We send children 4 topics to write about along with modelled writing samples on the same topic. These modelled writing samples make our course unique in that the sample texts your child receives is writing at the child’s level; high quality examples of what children in their age group are aiming to produce and what teachers are looking for when informing you if your child is meeting or exceeding syllabus expectations.
Students submit their work and we follow-up by sending personalised, detailed feedback that highlights strengths and targets.
We have been delighted with the positive reviews we have received about this course from clients so far. Follow the links below to find out more:
For further information contact brooke@educationboutique.co.uk