1. 6+1 Traits of Writing
Creative Writing

2. Ideas Process to help: Select an idea Narrow the idea (Focus)
Elaborate on the idea (Development)
Discover the best information to convey the main idea (Details)
Ideas make up the content of the writing piece.
Strong ideas = Clear and fully developed overall message and content
Students struggle with ideas because writing is complex, they think faster than they write, and they often don’t write for themselves.

3. Organization
Process to help:
Create an outline
Write the introduction
Develop the middle content with clearly linked details
Write a conclusion that is clear and satisfying
Strategies:
Organize by time
Organize by content
Organize by perspective
The internal structure of the piece, the thread of central content, and the pattern of logic.
Students often struggle with organization because there are several ways to effectively organize a paper.

4. Voice
Process to help:
Think carefully about your audience and purpose to use a tone of voice that is appropriate.
Experiment with styles to become well-rounded as a writer.
Write for a variety of purposes.
The writer’s personality coming out through words; gives the sense that a real person who cares about the message is behind the words.
Students struggle with this because it is personal and often subjective, rather than concrete.

5. Word choice Process to help: Describe rather than explain
Use precise nouns, and accurate modifiers
Make the language sound authentic
Experiment with colorful words and phrases
Use strong action verbs to avoid passive voice
Use specific rather than general words
Not only about the use or misuse of words; it is making decisions with language that both communicates with and engages the reader.
*Students struggle with this because vocabulary is often taught in isolation, or the student becomes overwhelmed with all the words available to them.

6. SENTENCE fluency
Process to help:
Establish a flow; avoid choppy, independent clauses
Vary sentence length
Enhance meaning in your sentences through strategic placement of word order
Read your work aloud – you’ll be able to hear “the flow” or lack thereof
Picture your sentences to see whether or not there is variety
Sentence fluency is marked by variety, creative phrasing, alliteration, and word order that make the reading feel and sound natural.
* Students struggle with this because they get into habits of using sentence structures and transitions that are correct, but redundant

7. conventions Spelling, punctuation, capitalization, etc.
Process to help:
Understand that revision is different than editing.
Value experimentation right along with correctness – it’s a balancing act.
Conventions take time to learn – be patient!
Practice makes perfect!
Spelling, punctuation, capitalization, etc.
Students struggle with this because they focus on being correct the first time – we all make mistakes.
Editing is the crucial step!

8. The look of the writing; how appealing it is to the reader’s eye.
Presentation (+1)
Process to help:
Handwriting = neat and easily read
Letters = accurate and evenly spaced
Font size/types = make message clear
Text = balanced with white space
Headings/bullet points = organize/emphasize ideas
Graphics/visuals = advance text’s message
The look of the writing; how appealing it is to the reader’s eye.
*This is often a struggle for students because the writing process itself is a tiring one, and many think of presentation last (when they are running out of steam).

9. Please write answers to these Two questions/ PROMPTS
1. Of the Six Traits of Writing, which one do you believe is your greatest strength as a writer? Why? 2. Thinking about the Six Traits of Writing, set two specific goals for this quarter for improvement with at least two of the Traits.