Six Traits Writing An Overview

The Six Traits Model has an easy to understand, practical vocabulary that can be adapted to fit kindergarten through high school in a variety of modes and genres of writing.

Studies show that most teachers spend a superhuman number of hours scoring writing. To help students improve, it would help to have a common vocabulary that everyone was familiar with: students, teachers, support personnel….everyone!

Some history… In the early 80’s a group of teachers in Oregon worked with NWREL (Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory) to identify the common characteristics of good writing. They used study findings by Paul Diederich from a 1974 article: Measuring Growth in English. Simultaneously, teachers is Montana, Florida and other parts of the country were creating similar approaches to assess writing. Vicki Spandel & Ruth Culham are two of the original team members to develop the Six Traits.

Findings “Using the language of the traits, beginning in kindergarten (and building on each trait throughout the next five years) gave students the opportunity to ‘talk’ about writing. This talk was extremely important and eventually became part of their writing vocabulary, just like hypothesis and data were important words to a science experiment.” Jarmer, D., Kozal, J., Nelson, S., & Salsberry T. (2000). Northwest Regional Education Laboratory

Why Six Traits? Common language grade to grade, year to year Consistency in assessment Learn the elements of ‘good’ writing Gives students the strategies they need to revise (not “work on your organization” BUT “how might you enhance your conclusion to bring your writing to a satisfying end?”)

(from Creating Writers by Vicki Spandel) “Writing by nature is holistic. An analytic approach simply makes revision more manageable.” (from Creating Writers by Vicki Spandel)

Six Traits Furniture/Fixtures  CONVENTIONS Neighborhood  SENTENCE FLUENCY Landscape/Paint  WORD CHOICE Home Design  VOICE Floor Plan  ORGANIZATION Foundation  IDEAS From Webteaching.com

Ideas and Content “The heart of the message, the content of the piece…all the details that enrich and develop the theme.” NWREL.org

Complete and well developed Ideas and Content Clear and controlled Focused and relavent Fresh and original Complete and well developed

Organization “Organization is the internal structure of a piece of writing, the thread of central meaning, the pattern.” NWREL.org

Thoughful transitions Organization Inviting beginning Logical sequencing Thoughful transitions Conscious closing

Voice “Voice is the heart and soul of the writing, the magic, the wit, the feeling, the life and breath.” NWREL.org

Voice Connects you to your reader Expresses feelings Varies according to audience and purpose Is unique as a fingerprint

Word Choice “Strong word choice clarifies and expands ideas….moves and enlightens the reader” NWREL.org

Word Choice Uses a variety of descriptive words Paints a picture for the reader Is specific to audience and purpose Promotes clarity with precise language A lesson learned from Joey Tribbiani: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9s0LqZMsfTQ

Sentence Fluency “Sentence fluency is the rhythm and flow of the language.” NWREL.org

Sentence Fluency Strong, well built sentences Varied sentence lengths Natural rhythm and flow Varied sentence beginnings

Conventions “Conventions are the good table manners of writing.” NWREL.org

Conventions Capitalization Punctuation Spelling Grammar When they are there, they are invisible. When they are missing, it sticks out like a sore thumb.

Students need more than a score to improve their writing Students need more than a score to improve their writing. To improve, students must: Know what good work looks like Compare their work to the standard Understand how to close the gaps Know how to use purposeful revision and editing strategies to enhance their own work (life-long learning)

Teachers who use the model acknowledge improvement in: Their own confidence in the accuracy of their scoring Their tools for explaining grades to student writers Their ability to make suggestions for revision Student ability to assess and revise

To Teach the Traits… Introduce the trait by teaching the concept first. Provide examples through authentic literature. Use quality literature to exemplify the traits. Write- model writing, link writing activities & mini lessons to the traits. Help students understand what the trait is and how to improve it. Analyze anchor papers! Share strong and weak examples from written work. Provide plenty of modeling and practice.

You’re Probably Teaching the 6 Traits NOW! Do you…. Brainstorm? Do research? Make lists? Do interviews? Ask questions? Work on making the message crystal clear? You are teaching ideas!

You are teaching organization! Do you… Organize information? Group things together that go together? Look for patterns? Write more than one lead? More than one conclusion? Work on transition words like next, therefore, after a while? Think how order helps make information more interesting? You are teaching organization!

Do you… identify the audience? Think about what the audience already know? Wants to know? Adjust the voice/tone for the audience? Help students find their individual voice? Leave their personal mark on a piece of writing? Make sure the voice/tone matches the purpose (e.g., business letter vs. narrative)? You are teaching voice!

You are teaching word choice! Do you… stretch your students knowledge of word meanings? Explore how words are used in the literature you have read? Keep lists of favorite and least favorite words? Brainstorm alternatives for ‘Tombstone Words’? ‘$100 Words’? Explore adjectives and adverbs? Use sensory details? You are teaching word choice!

You are teaching sentence fluency! Do you… read aloud to students? Read often- and from a variety of sources? Encourage students to read their own work aloud? Check sentence beginnings for variety? Show students how to vary sentence length by combining or detangling sentences? Work on tips for good sentences? You are teaching sentence fluency!

You are teaching conventions! Do you… ask students to proofread their work? Use dictionaries, spell check or other resources? Teach students to use copy editor symbols? Post editor symbols for quick reference? Provide students an opportunity to practice editing text that is not their own? Model editing using your own writing? Practice editing daily? Post the 100 most frequently used words for easy spelling reference? You are teaching conventions!

7 Helpful Tips 1. Be a collector: Look through… newspapers, greeting cards, cookbooks, brochures and pamphlets, advertisements, catalogs, postcards… Look for… moments of voice, good or weak word choice, details, imagery, phrasing that works—or is overdone, mechanical slips and glitches, good read-aloud passages you can share.

2. Be a Reader: Identify favorite books and mark passages to read aloud. Also encourage students to identify their favorites and share.

3. Form a Network: Work with colleagues to save sample papers that would be good for scoring discussions—strong in fluency, weak in organization, etc. Trade.

4. Fill your room with trait language: Even if you aren’t teaching the 6-Traits directly, chances are you will be talking about well-developed ideas, sound organization, smooth flowing sentences, word choice and the rest. Right?

5. MODEL: Be a writer yourself and don’t be afraid to create junk. Junk is good! It gives your students an opportunity to help you revise for ideas, organization, etc.

6. Use the Literature: start collecting books to introduce the traits. Share these authentic samples with students and let them copy from the professionals!

7. One at a Time: Remember that golf swing! Your students can only really focus on one thing at a time. Try to distinguish each trait from the next and worry about the rest later.