Standard 8: Independent Reading and Writing

Students will read and write for a variety of purposes including, but not limited to, academic and personal.

Student Actions 

Teacher Actions 

• Students will determine a purpose and audience for a writing task

• Teachers models:

• selecting the purpose and audience for a writing task

• selecting a text structure (description, problem/solution, cause/effect, compare/contrast, sequence)

• using the writing process

• Teachers provide opportunities for students to write independently over various lengths of time.

• Teachers provide feedback and allow students to reflect on their own writing in order to revise and edit.

• Students will determine the text structure needed to communicate to a specific audience and purpose. 

• Students will develop a topic to reflect the writing task, audience, and purpose.

• Students will use the writing process independently to complete a writing task over an extended period of time.

• Students will reflect on and evaluate writing.

• Students will complete a writing task. 

Supporting Resources 

Teacher Insights 

Teaching Elementary Students to Be Effective Writers  pgs. 16-26 (PDF)

• Purpose refers to the objective a writer is trying to achieve. There are three basic purposes that writers use: persuade, inform, and entertain. Each purpose has various genres that can be used to help writers structure their writing.

• Audience refers to the reader for whom the particular piece of writing is intended.

• A classroom can encompass students from all the stages of writing development.

• Students should be writing daily. It can be a daily journal entry, writing center, or formal writing assignment.

• Students should not be expected to complete the entire writing process for every piece of writing.

Due to recursive nature of the standards, it is essential that teachers are aware of how all objectives within and between strands work together for optimal instruction.