6+1+Trait+Writing

=Sharing ideas and strategies about 6+1 Trait Writing=

Faculty and staff use this space to share your most successful strategies for teaching writing. Include links to your favorite sites, scoring rubrics, and helpful hints.

This is a **great** link to help you with 6+1 Writing: http://www.nwrel.org/assessment/

Ideas
Use a graphic organizer, such as a web, to help organize your thoughts and ideas. [|The Writing Fix] is a great place to get ideas for ideas. This site is so vast there is something for every teacher to use with their students. It is also organized by traits so you can use it for more than just ideas. The site has outgrown its server so it is experiencing some technical difficulties, but don't give up on it as the reason it has grown so it because it is so awesome.

Word Choice
Record the first word of every sentence and see if you are using the same words repeatedly. Use vivid words, "words you love."

Replace a noun to be more specific. Replace a verb to show more precise action. Replace an adjective to be more lively.

Students use 'dead' words in their writing until they are made aware of which words should no longer be used in their formal writing. A great way to do this is to have a 'funeral' for the 'dead' words. Create a tombstone for each of the words that will be buried. Include on the tombstone words that have survived. These are words that will be replacing the ones buried. Post each tombstone on the wall so the students can use the unique word wall to help in their word choice. I've used this in my classroom many times and the students love it. The really use the 'dead' word wall to help them with their word choice.

Voice
Does it sound like you?

Name the voice that you hear in your writing. (Is it funny, annoyed, frustrated, mysterious?) Is that the best voice your can use?

Organization
When beginning to write, narrow your topic by using a tree diagram. Starting with a broad topic at the top (football) then breaking football into two smaller topics such as Professional and College. continue down the path that most appeals to you. This method will keep you focused so you don't ramble when writing. [|Inspiration software] is a great tool to use when creating an organization chart. It is also handy because it can be changed from a web style layout to a more traditional outline with categories and sub-categories with the click of a button. Great to help the more visual learners.

Refer back to your graphic organizer to see if your sequence makes sense.

Read the writing aloud. Is it in a logical order? Does it need transitions? Does one idea build on the next?

Sentence Fluency
While writing, re-read what you last wrote before you write the next sentence. This way you think about what will sound best next. It also helps with conventions as you are editing as you do this. Be careful to read only what is written, and not what you know it should say.

Have a friend read your paper aloud for you. This will very quickly show you any flow issues that exist as they don't know what the paper is supposed to say. They only read what is written on the page.

Conventions
Search for one error at a time. For instance, first edit your piece for ending punctuation. Then read it again checking for capitalization rules. Use your teaching station or overhead to color code the editing. Have students count the number of words in each sentence and write that number in blue over the ending punctuation. Then have them use green to circle words that are used more than a couple times. (word choice) Now use purple to locate dead words like said, nice, big, etc., and cross them out. Continue like this will all the conventions you are covering. Use another color to check for action verbs. Students should replace penny verbs with dollar verbs. This process is called Ratiocination, and can be very effective in helping students see areas that need improvement. (Ratiocination idea came from Diana Hara)

If your students have word processed their writing, use [|track changes] and notes feature of Word to proof. This way, the student can use the original document to edit. They don't have to write 3 or 4 versions so the time investment is much less. Students love editing this way, and you can even approve or reject the changes made. When the paper is acceptable, it is printed without the track changes notations.