Becoming Writers: Session 1 Building 6 Trait Awareness – Just the Basics

1. Becoming Writers: Session 1 Building 6 Trait Awareness – Just the Basics Deb Wragge ddwragge@esu8.org ESU 8 Staff Development

2. Welcome • Overview – Session 1 • The 6 Trait Model • Qualities Teachers Look for in Writing

3. To be effective teachers of writing, we must first teach ourselves what good writing is, and then we are better equipped to teach our students. Vicki Spandel (5th edition, p. 13)

4. 10 Reasons to make 6-Traits Writing Part of your Instruction: • Provides a language for talking about writing • Keeps your assessment consistent and honest • Makes writing and revising manageable • Supports and strengthens the Writing Process • Guides purposeful editing and revising • Empowers student as partners in writing with the teacher and fellow classmates • Increases student motivation, while promoting thinking skills • A way of linking reading and writing • A foundation for real-world writing • A way of saving assessment time

5. What is 6 Traits Writing? • A shared vocabulary for teachers and students • A method of scoring and examining writing consistently • A tool for writing and using the Writing Process • A feedback system to students • A tool to guide instructionin the classroom

6. 6 Traits allow teachers to… • Use rubrics • Use samples of student writing • Help students discuss specific features • Improve student writing through the qualitiesof good writing • Incorporate a variety of lessons/activities

7. Levels of Implementation Where are you on this continuum? Pre-Trait Trait Dabbler Trait Trainee Trait Trooper Trait Master

8. 10 Reasons to make 6-Traits Writing Part of your Instruction: • Provides a language for talking about writing • Keeps your assessment consistent and honest • Makes writing and revising manageable • Supports and strengthens the Writing Process • Guides purposeful editing and revising • Empowers student as partners in writing with the teacher and fellow classmates • Increases student motivation, while promoting thinking skills • A way of linking reading and writing • A foundation for real-world writing • A way of saving assessment time

9. The 6 Trait Model • Ideas – • the heart of the message, topics supported with relevant details • Organization – • the internal structure of the piece, order makes sense: introduction, body paragraphs, conclusion, and transition are smooth • Voice – • the tone and flavor of the author’s message, text makes you feel some type of emotion: laughter, crying, anger; without voice, it is usually boring • Word Choice – • the vocabulary a writer chooses to convey meaning • Sentence Fluency – • the rhythm and flow of the language • Conventions – • mechanical correctness, spelling, capitalization, and grammar/usage

10. Qualities Teachers Look For in Writing • Clear – Makes sense • Narrow, manageable topic • Holds my attention • Sounds like writer knows the topic well • Fresh original perspective • Important, telling details that go beyond common language • Shows insight Ideas...

11. Organization... • Inviting lead, draws me in • Provides connections – detail to detail, paragraph to paragraph • Starts somewhere, goes somewhere • Fun to predict, but… … some surprises, too! • Doesn‘t just STOP, ends with purpose and closure • Satisfying conclusion – sense of resolution • No redundant summaries

12. Sounds like a person wrote it • Sounds like this writer - no one else • Brings topic to life • Punch, flair, style, courage • Makers the reader respond – cry, laugh, smile, get chills • Sense of involvement Voice...

13. Word Choice... • Simple language used well • Strong verbs • “Just right” words & phrases • Memorable moments, vivid images • Creates word pictures, movies in the mind • Minimal redundancy • Minimal slang, jargon, inflated language • Not just correct - precise

14. Sentence Fluency... • Carefully crafted sentences • Varied sentence length and structure • Varied purposeful sentence beginnings: Now, After a while, Because of this, Nevertheless, As a result, Consequently, However, Therefore… • Rhythm, cadence; easy to read aloud and with voice

15. Conventions... • Looks clean, edited and polished • Most things done correctly, no BIG, GLARING errors • Easy to decode, decipher, comprehend, & follow • Easy to focus on ideas, voice, organization

16. The 6 Trait Model • Ideas • Organization • Voice • Word Choice • Sentence Fluency • Conventions

17. Assignment: Build a Personal Vision of Writing Instruction in Your Classroom To Include: • Incorporate process and product, as well as classroom culture • Help students to understand your expectations. This increases their chances of success. • Share examples, share examples, share examples of strong and weak examples. • Model, model, model.

18. Sample: My Personal Vision of Writing Instruction in My Classroom • I will • be a writer, myself • set aside 15-20 minutes of direct writing instruction, if not daily, no less than two sessions per week • teach, model and implement the Writing Process • implementing, modeling, monitoring and adjusting lessons and techniques • teach and guide students to interpret and use the language of writing and scoring guides through the use of examples and non-examples • incorporate writing into all subject areas

19. “When students write more frequently, their ability to think, reason, analyze, communicate, and perform on tests will improve. Writing is critical to student achievement.” Douglas Reeves, Ph.D.

20. Becoming Writers:Up Coming Sessions… • Session 2 (Each mode will be its own Session 2) • Rubricsand the Writing Process: • Tips on using Rubrics and learning to assess what’s important • Using the Writing Process and connecting the Traits to • Narrative • Descriptive/Explanatory • Persuasive • Informational/Explanatory • Session 3 • Using samples, samples and more samples as exemplars to increase student success • Session 4 • Prompts: Tips on selecting, creating and writing to prompts

21. Becoming Writers: Session 1 Building 6 Trait Awareness – Just the Basics Deb Wragge ddwragge@esu8.org ESU 8 Staff Development