Introducing 6 Traits into Our Writing Helping to Make Our Writing More Complete

Isn’t reading student writing fun? Thomas Jefferson, a Virgin, and Benjamin Franklin were singers of the Declaration of Independence. Franklin discovered electricity by rubbing cats backwards and declared, “A horse divided against itself cannot stand alone. Franklin died and is still dead.

What about these gems? Miguel Cervantes wrote Donkey Hote. The next great author was John Milton. Milton wrote Paradise Lost. Then his wife died. And he wrote Paradise Regained. Voltaire invented electricity. Gravity was invented by him. It is chiefly noticeable in the autumn when the apples are falling off the trees. Louis Pasteur discovered a cure for rabbis. Charles Darwin was a naturalist who wrote the Organ of Species. Madman Curie discovered radio. Karl Marx became one of the Marx brothers.

The Dreaded Writing Assessment………. What are the Keys to Higher Writing Scores????????

Key to Higher Writing Scores….. Write daily. Integrate writing with content areas. Require students to do more than one draft. Model writing. Save student work in portfolio or folder. Strive for school-wide continuity of instruction. Follow a checklist for best practices.

What are the 6 Traits?

What are the 6+1 Traits? Voice Word Choice Conventions Sentence Fluency Organization Ideas Presentation 3. 1. 2. 5. 4. 6.

Ideas Start with the ice cream. What’s a sundae without the ice cream? The main idea or topic sentence is essential and begins the piece. 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.”

Word Choice Something more to go on that sundae? Bananas, candies or chopped nuts also enhance the sundae. There are many types of add-ons (word choice) to compliment your sundae (main idea).

Voice Hot fudge, strawberries, pineapple, enhance the ice cream. Toppings add individuality to the ice cream (main idea). We don’t all like the same things on our sundaes, do we? Without toppings, ice cream is just too blah!

Sentence Fluency Will there be anything else to go on your sundae? How about some whipped cream to help the toppings “flow along?”

Conventions & Presentation 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 fool the stomach! And now… grab a spoon and enjoy!

Ideas and Content Classroom Bank or List Journal Page Realia Literature Experience What else? http://www.madison.k12.wi.us/tnl/langarts/pdf/6traits/ideas.pdf

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.. ~ For more ideas, see Connie’s Write On Sentence Stretchers. http://jc-schools.net/write/stretching_files/frame.htm

…And There’s More Avoid repetition. Make sure to use words correctly. 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. Unless you are Hemmingway or Hawthorne, be concise.

Sample Strategies for Teaching Word Choice Use cartoon bubbles. Peer edits– circle 5 words in your partner’s paper that could be stronger. During teacher read-alouds point out concrete examples of strong language. (Toad) Post word lists around the room. Use specific parts of speech. Encourage use of a Thesaurus. (How many words for “blue” are there?) Encourage students to use senses to describe an object. Use colored pencils to underline sensory words. ~ adapted from http://6traits.cyberspace.net/strat6.html

Let’s Give it a Try!

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.

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 Words Sparkle Words pretty good so a lot said terrifying ear-splitting squishy scrumptious copious ~Encourage your students to add to the lists. http://jc-schools.net/write/Shining-Words_files/frame.htm http://www.madison.k12.wi.us/tnl/langarts/pdf/6traits/word_choice.pdf

Teacher Read Alouds for Teaching Word Choice Maniac Magee, Spinelli The BFG, Dahl A Wrinkle in Time. L’Engle Anne of Green Gables, Montgomery Lizards for Lunch, Storad Half a Moon and One Whole Star, Dragonwagon Toad, Ruth Brown

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.

What else should a good writer do? Vary sentence lengths. He wore a red shirt. He had on brown slacks. His jacket was wrinkled. He wore a wrinkled jacket over a red shirt with brown slacks. Vary sentence beginnings. I like to sing. I like to play the piano. I like to sing. Playing the piano is my favorite pastime.

Anything else? Try different sentence structures. The cow jumped over the moon. The dish ran away with the spoon. The cow jumped over the moon. Did you see the dish run away with that spoon? What an incredible sight! http://jc-schools.net/write/I-Trouble.ppt http://www.madison.k12.wi.us/tnl/langarts/pdf/6traits/sentence_fluency.pdf

Ideas to Teach Sentence Fluency Read examples of good fluency and poor fluency. Stress to students that sentences need to flow. Avoid choppy sentences. Make sure students know the difference between a phrase and a sentence. Have students tell their story into a tape player. Writing is a way of speaking on paper.

How about a little Faulkner? Frenchman's Bend was a section of rich river-bottom country lying twenty miles southeast of Jefferson. Hill-cradled and remote, definite yet without boundaries, straddling into two counties and owning allegiance to neither, it had been the original grant and site of a tremendous pre-Civil War plantation, the ruins of which —the gutted shell of an enormous house with its fallen stables and slave quarters and overgrown gardens and brick terraces and promenades—were still known as the Old Frenchman's place, although the original boundaries now existed only on old faded records in the Chancery Clerk's office in the county courthouse in Jefferson, and even some of the once-fertile fields had long since reverted to the cane-and-cypress jungle from which their first master had hewn them. ~ The Hamlet, William Faulkner

Teacher Read Alouds to Model Sentence Fluency Sarah, Plain and Tall, MacLachlan The Van Gogh Café, Rylant Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe, Lewis Stealing Freedom, Carbone

Moving on to Voice Always write from your heart and share your feelings with the reader. Avoid using “you.” Try not to sound like an encyclopedia.

Tell me more…. Invest yourself in what you write. Proudly take ownership. Connect with your audience. Give the reader a glimpse at the person behind the pen.

Strategies to Teach Voice Rewrite a popular story from a different character’s point of view. (The Real Story of the Three Little Pigs). Read stories with vivid images. Have students close their eyes and draw what they “see.” Read segments of dialogue and have students guess who is “speaking.” (Charlotte’s Web) Do some Author Studies to compare voice. What is the voice behind Stephen King? http://www.madison.k12.wi.us/tnl/langarts/pdf/6traits/voice.pdf

Teacher Read Alouds for Voice Bridge to Terabithia, Paterson Tuck Everlasting, Babbitt Ramona Forever, Cleary Charlotte’s Web, White Tales of a 4th Grade Nothing, Blume Treasure Island, Stevenson

Bringing new voices into the classroom.. Solomom had three hundred wives and seven hundred porcupines. Socrates was a famous Greek teacher who went around giving people advice. They killed him. Socrates died from an overdose of wedlock. After that his career suffered a dramatic decline. Ancient Egypt was inhabited by mummies and they all wrote in hydraulics. They lived in the Sarah Dessert. The climate of Sarah is such that inhabitants have to live elsewhere.

For more information: Kim’s Korner for Teacher Talk 6 Traits Homepage http://www.angelfire.com/ks/teachme/ideasdescriptors. html 6 Traits Homepage http://6traits.cyberspaces.net/ 6 + 1 Trait Writing http://www.nwrel.org/assessment/ 6 Trait Lesson Plans http://www.kent.k12.wa.us/staff/LindaJancola/6Trait/lessons.htm#Word%20Choice A GREAT Site!! http://www.madison.k12.wi.us/tnl/langarts/sixtrtcrsmtrl.htm