Staff at Annieville spent the year, last year scanning to understand what it is that our Learners need most.  We looked at students’ work, did student surveys, and spent lots and lots of time considering these three important questions:

1. What’s going on for our Learners?
2. How do we know?  (What are the things that we hear and see that lead us to this understanding about what’s going on for our Learners?)
3. Why does this matter? (Will focusing our teaching on this area help improve students’ learning?)

We see a need to focus on trying to improve students writing and so for at least this year, possibly more, we will work on this school goal:

Students from Kindergarten to grade 7 will develop their writing skills and build a positive mindset about writing.

How We Landed on Writing

We want to focus on writing and students’ attitudes about writing because…

• We see inconsistent development of writing skills as students progress through the grades.
• We have a hunch that differing methodology and language in teaching the different types of writing, from grade to grade, maybe negatively impacting students writing skills.
• Students aren’t where we want them to be in their writing skills, as they progress through the grades (CSL reports, FSAs.)
• We often hear students saying they aren’t good at writing, they don’t like to write, or seem reluctant to write.

The ‘Why’

We want to focus on developing writing skills because…

• Creative and Critical Thinking Core Competency relies heavily on writing to convey one’s thinking.
• In the First Peoples’ Principles of Learning, Learning is embedded in memory, history, and story and writing is one great way for anyone to share their story.
• Writing is part of the curriculum, in every grade.
• “Create stories (K-3,) texts (4-5) and engaging literary and informational texts for a variety of purposes and audiences (6-7.)”
• Writing is an essential life skill.

We’re excited to share how things progress with you all throughout the year.