Introducing 6 Traits into Our Writing Helping to Make Our Writing Stronger

The Dreaded Writing Assessment...

Key to Higher Writing Scores….. Write daily. Get feedback from others. Do more than one draft. Read your writing OUT LOUD. Save your writings so that you can see your own growth..Use your knowledge of the SIX TRAITS of WRITING.

What are the 6 Traits?

1.Voice 2.Word Choice 3.Conventions 4.Sentence Fluency 5.Organization 6.Ideas

Ideas Start with the ice cream. What’s a sundae without the ice cream? The main idea is essential and provides your writing with a FOCUS. It’s what you are writing ABOUT—your TOPIC. All other “add-ons or toppings” enhance the ice cream (main idea).

Organization Hold it all together with the dish. The dish (organization) makes the ice cream (ideas) easier to grasp and prevents it from “melting away.” ORGANIZATION is the FORMAT and SEQUENCING of your writing. It STRUCTURES your writing and CONNECTS IDEAS logically or chronologically.

Word Choice Something more to go on that sundae? Bananas, candies or chopped nuts also enhance the sundae. The words you choose to ENHANCE and EXPLAIN and DESCRIBE your idea/topic.

Voice Hot fudge, strawberries, pineapple, enhance the ice cream. Voice adds INDIVIDUALITY to your main idea. We don’t all like the same things on our sundaes, do we? It is your UNIQUE STYLE or way of EXPRESSING your ideas. –Without toppings, ice cream is just too blah!

Sentence Fluency Do all of your toppings SMOOTHLY flow together to create a sundae sensation? Writing FLOWS fluidly from beginning to end.

Conventions What’s a sundae without a cherry to “top it off?” Polish up your dessert and add the finishing touch. It’s all in the presentation; looks CAN be important! POLISHED, FINISHED PRODUCT free of errors ready to be served to your reader.

A Closer Look at Word Choice Use powerful words that paint a mental picture for the reader. Add descriptive adjectives to enhance nouns. –The lumpy brown toad hopped quickly through the squishy gooey mud. Verbs should be strong action words. –The cows stampeded through the field. –The cows sauntered through the field.

What else? Try to use specific, rather than general nouns. –The car zoomed down the street. The 1957 Chevy zoomed down the street. Use language that is comfortable, not “flowery” or “stuffy.” –I shall not follow you. –Avoid slang and cliches. He was fixin’ to finish his homework.

Let’s Give it a Try! The _______ ________ toad __________ ________ through the _________ _________ mud.

…And There’s More Avoid repetition. –She liked to dance and she liked to skate and she liked to sing. Make sure to use words correctly. –There driving to they’re house and will arrive their by noon.

Using our senses... The old man grumbled a bit as he wiped his teary eye with the back of his gnarled hand. He could taste the salt as he rubbed his parched lips. He glanced at his silent wife standing a short distance away. She too was old, but he still saw in her wrinkled face the pretty young girl he had married. She still smelled like freshly mowed spring grass.

Using our common senses……. The old man grumbled a bit as he wiped his teary eye with the back of his gnarled hand. He could taste the salt as he rubbed his parched lips. He glanced at his silent wife standing a short distance away. She too was old, but he still saw in her wrinkled face the pretty young girl he had married. She still smelled like freshly mowed spring grass. Key: sound touch taste sight smell

Making Word Posters Tombstone WordsSparkle Words pretty good sad a lot said terrifying ear-splitting squishy scrumptious copious Can you add to these lists?

Now Let’s Examine Sentence Fluency Let your writing develop an easy flow or rhythm. Aim to make your writing ache to be read aloud. –“He moved like a slow-motion instant replay.” (Christopher Myers) Use complete sentences. –Slept soundly in the crib. –The baby slept soundly in the crib.

Moving on to Voice Always write from your heart and share your feelings with the reader. Try not to sound like an encyclopedia. Invest yourself in what you write. Proudly take ownership. Connect with your audience. Give the reader a glimpse at the person behind the pen.

ASSIGNMENT: Bring in a short piece of writing that you think is really good and be ready to tell WHY it so good. What makes it a strong piece of writing?????? It needs to be typed because you will be sharing it with the class using the document camera and projector.