SIX-TRAIT WRITING

GRADES K-3

Presented by: SUSAN STUROCK, M.A.

http://teachertutor.blogspot.com/

THANK YOU FOR YOUR PATIENCE

We are waiting for a microphone. As soon as we get one, we will begin!

(Isn’t writing just a wonderful concept?!)

AGENDAMORNING

Building Bridges: Real Kids/Real Classrooms Where Reading and Writing Begin: Oral Language Writer’s Workshop: Time and Organization The Traits

Ideas Organization Voice

AFTERNOON Word Choice Sentence Fluency Scoring Papers

Building Bridges

“We believe that when children first

come to school, they have already started learning to

write.”

Katie Wood Ray

Lisa B. Cleaveland

“…preschoolers in professional families talk more and use more complex language than do adults in the poorest families…”

Meaningful Differences in the Everyday Experiences of Young American Children

Betty Hart and Todd Risley

Writing Goals & Sources

High Stakes TestsRuth CulhamLucy Calkins

We are born with a brain. A mind is developed.

Words are the bricks and mortar

used to develop the mind.

The more words we have, and the earlier we have them, makes ALL the difference.

The reciprocal nature of the language arts

G

Effective teachers

are actively

conscious of the

relatedness of these

skills.

Listening Speaking Viewing Reading Writing

THINKING

“The listening vocabulary is the reservoir that feeds the speaking vocabulary, the reading vocabulary and the writing vocabulary all at the same time. Consider the word “enormous.” If a child has never heard the word, he is unlikely to say the word. And if he’s neither heard it or said it, imagine the difficulty when it comes time to read it or write it.

The Read Aloud Handbook

Jim Trelease

When we grow our capacity in one of these areas, it enriches all of the areas.

Letter Callersto

Word Callersto

Meaning Makers

Phonology•Identify Rhyme

•Syllabicate•ID Beginning &Ending Sound

IntentionalDevelopment of Oral Language

Physical Fluency

Teaching Writing in Grades K-

3

Phonics•Sight Words

•Pattern Words•WORD STUDY

Good First Teaching

Oral Language Capacity Book experience Story experience Phonology Phonics Writing experience

Small muscle development Hand-eye coordination Letter/Sound

Because we know

our children…

Good First Teaching

Anchor Charts for Behavior Writing paper format Writer’s Workshop: Time &

Organization Portfolio Organization

Because we know

our children…

Behavior/Procedure Anchor charts

EXPLICIT INSTRUCTI

ON and CONTINUED SUPPORT in Writer’s Workshop format and

student behavior.

Writer’s WorkshopWriter’s GatherNotebook’s Open/Pencils

ReadyWriting Folders closed but on

our desk.Eyes up front.Listening for Focus Point.We all attempt Focus Point.Good writers keep on writing!

Your Job Until 10:00 a.m.

Critical elements of successful

writing instruction

. Not attending to them

may well sabotage your best

efforts during

instructional time.

Shape of Writer’s Workshop (include times).*

Anchor Chart for Behavior Portfolio Goals for First Quarter

*Page 21 of hand-out provides an outline of Writer’s

Workshop format.

Essential Questions

What are the traits? What is the purpose of common

language? Who uses this language? Does this approach really work?

Overview of the Traits

1. Ideas2. Organization3. Voice4. Word Choice5. Sentence Fluency6. Conventions

Presentation

Why use this language?

Common language = shared understanding.

Performance Informs Instruction

The three primary purpose for reading and grading students’ papers are:

to improve their writing to build their confidence with editing and revision;

and to inform you (the teacher) of the writing

instruction they (the students) need.

SUPER!!!

Who uses this language?

First the teacher, then the kids.

Tools. Tools. Tools.

Modes of Writing

1. Descriptive2. Narrative3. Imaginative4. Expository5. Persuasive

Six-Structures

• Sequence• Compare/contrast

• Cause/effect• Question/answer

• Problem/solution and• Description

Non-fiction writers use:

“…six basic structures to inform, show, describe and explain information (Alvermann and Phelps, 19989; Harvey, 1998: Robb, 2004; Vacca and Vacca, 2000).

All modes reflect allSix-Traits

Common Characteristics of Effective Instruction

Focus on academic achievement Clear curriculum choices Frequent assessment of student

progress and multiple opportunities for improvement

An emphasis on nonfiction writing Collaborative scoring of student

work

Instructional Strategy Impact

Grammar -0.30 negative

Models 0.217 small

Sentence Combining Systematically search for sentence forms that suit writing purpose.

0.35* strong

Scales Criteria to evaluate work. (6-Traits)

0.36* strong

InquiryGood thinking = Good writing. Learning strategies for transforming raw data into usable information. APPRENTICE MODEL.

0.57* very strong

Free WritingWriting whatever interests the student.

Research on Writing Composition. George Hillocks, 1986. NWREL

0.16 weak

The 6-Trait Writingapproach

KNOWS this.

The Apprentice Method

Three Ways to Read

•Literal Comprehension•Inferential Comprehension

•Analytical Comprehension: Reading Like a Writer

“When teachers immerse students in reading and studying the kind of writing they want them to do, they are actually teaching at two levels. They teach students about the particular genre or writing issue that is the focus of the study, but they also teach students to use a habit of mind that experienced writers engage in all the time.”

“Language Arts” January 2006, pg. 242

The Ideas Trait

Selecting an idea (topic) Narrowing the idea (focus)

Elaborating on the idea (development) Discovering the best information to

convey the idea (details)

Idea: Getting Your Students Involved

Selecting an idea: Notebooking:

What’s an idea? Draw-Label-Caption Making Lists Questions Storytelling: The Personal Narrative The Relatives Came

Notebook Know-How. Aimee Bruckner

Illustrating precedes formal writing production.Teach me to draw and label.

DRAW, LABEL, CAPTION

An Experience

DRAW FIRST; LABEL SECOND; CAPTION THIRD

DRAW, LABEL, CAPTION

An Experience

TURN LABELS INTO SENTENCES; SENTENCES INTO STORIES

How is problem solved?

Setting

Characters

Problem

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Sequence of Events

Narrative Retelling

Lesson Learne

d

SETTING CHARACTERS

PROBLEM SOLUTION

WHO (did)WHAT WHEN

WHY WHERE HOW

BASIC SIGNAL WORDS

Expository Retelling

PERSONAL CONNECTION: __________________________________________________________

Title ____________________________________________________

Setting

ConflictProblemDecision

IssueDilemmaConfusion

Pleasant MemoryQuandryWorryScare

Embarrassing Moment

A sadness

Characters

Narrowing the Idea

Strategies:Seeds Not WatermelonsTime-linesSix-Boxes

TITLE OF STORY FIRST NEXT

THEN AFTER THAT FINALLY

TITLE: ____________________________________________

My name is India Opal Buloni and last summer my

daddy, the preacher, sent me to the store for a box of

macaroni-and-cheese, some white rice and two tomatoes

and I came back with a dog. This is what happened: I

walked into the produce section of the Winn-Dixie grocery

store to pick out my two tomatoes and I almost bumped

right into the store manager. He was standing there all

red-faced screaming and waving his arms around.

“Who let a dog in here?” he kept shouting. “Who

let a dirty dog in here?”

Because of Winn Dixie

Kate Di-Camillo

•school was just out•I had just finished the 3rd grade•my mother had finally gotten to

sit down! for the evening•my teacher had let me help her clean

her supply closet•I had LOTS of papers

•the whole front room was layered in paper

•my mother was finally reading her paper•neighbor, Mr. Syriani, came to the

screen door•strange dog bounded in, started

jumping all over“Please, get your dog!”

“That’s not my dog - I thought that was your dog!”

Elaborating an Idea

The Magic Camera Snapshots

Thoughtshots Spinoffs

Building a Scene

Building a Scene

VISUALIZING

“We hadn’t seen my dad in years and years because he was drinking but whenhe came back he was with us kids allthe time.”

Excerpted from 4 pages of writing by a 7th

grader on the prompt of “A Hero to Me”

Able coaches of writing are EXCELLENT LISTENERS

They had an old station wagon that smelled like a real car, and in it they put an ice chest full of soda pop and some boxes of crackers and some bologna sandwiches, and up they came – from Virginia.

They left at four in the morning when it was still dark, before even the birds were awake.

“You’re right,” Eva said, wishing Mr. Morley would one day find the poetry in his pudding. Taking his advice, she tried to think up a new way to describe the look of Mr. Morley’s mousse. Smooth and dark as midnight. Or maybe more like a mink! Yes, that was it! Eva thought, writing in her notebook.

But Elmer himself wasn’t happy. “Whoeverheard of a patchwork elephant?” he thought.“No wonder they laugh at me!” One morning,Just as the others were waking up, Elmer slipped away.

Response to Literature

Dear David,

Our class thinks you should know

about these rules. We hope you have a

better day tomorrow!

•If you need something, ask for• help to get it.

•Take your shoes off before you come in the house.

The Organization Trait

1. Organizing student thought Beginning, Middle and End Sequencing thought

2. Organizing text structure Basic Signal Words Summary Writing

How is problem solved?

Setting

Characters

Problem

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Sequence of Events

Narrative Retelling

Lesson Learne

d

TRANSITION STATEMENTS

Just when we finally thought it was done….FirstNextThen

FinallyAt long last..Although..Suddenly…

Eventhough…Eventually

The last time we spoke…Several hours passed…Many hours passed…

WHO (did)WHAT WHEN

WHY WHERE HOW

BASIC SIGNAL WORDS

Expository Retelling

PERSONAL CONNECTION: __________________________________________________________

Title ____________________________________________________

SETTING CHARACTERS

PROBLEM SOLUTION

Voice, Word Choice & Vocabulary

Reading like a writer.

The Voice Trait

Voice is the heart and soul, the magic,the wit, along with the feeling ofconviction of the individual writer

coming out through the words.

Books can’t have light.

If books could have more, give more, be more, show more, they would still need readers, who bring to them sound and smell and light and all the rest that can’t be in books.

The book needs you.

TWO STARS and a WISH

PRAISE

PRAISE

WISH

TAG

Tell something you liked.

Ask a question.

Give a WISH

The Word Choice Trait

Word choice is the use of rich, colorful, precise language that moves and

enlightensthe reader.

“Vocabulary is background knowledge revealed.”

Marzano, 2005

Tiers of Vocabulary(Beck & McKeown)

TIER I TIER II TIER III• Common nouns and verbs; have to teach to ELL and poverty kids.

door, turn, raise your hand,

• Words of sophisticated language user.

bruise, fragile, frustrated, beside, under, favorite, confused

•Domain specific; concepts; words of high stakes tests.

circle, line, square, beginning, middle, end, problem, main character

Word Choice Strategies

“Sheep weep….” Visualization

Sparkle Word Board Expando!!

In the fall of 1777, Philadelphia sat twitching like a nervous mouse. The British were goingto attack, but no one knew where or when.Congress had fled inland to York. The Liberty Bellwas secreted to Allentown. Folks thought the year resembled a hangman’s gallows and took it as aa bad sign. Now, all the church bells were beingremoved to keep the British from melting themdown into firearms.

The Scarlet Stockings Spy Trinka Hakes Noble

Prologue

Long, long ago a king arrived in the North. They called him theRed King because he wore a scarlet cloak and his shield was

emblazoned with a burning sun. It was said that he came out ofAfrica. This king was also a marvelous magician and each ofhis ten children inherited a small part of his power. But whenthe King’s wife died, five of his children turned to wickedness

and the other five, seeking to escape the corruption thatsurrounded their evil siblings, left their father’s castle forever.

Midnight for Charlie BonesJenny Nimmo

Brokenhearted, the Red King vanished into the forests that covered the kingdoms of the North. He did not go alone, however, for he was followed by his three faithful cats –leopards to be precise. We must never forget the cats!

The manifold and fabulous powers of the Red King were passeddown through his descendents, often turning up quite unexpectedly

in someone who had no idea where they came from. This is what happenedto Charlie Bone and to some of the children he met behind the grim,

gray walls of Bloor’s Academy.

Midnight for Charlie BonesJenny Nimmo

The Sentence Fluency Trait

1. Establishing flow, rhythm, and cadence

2. Varying sentence length and structure

3. Constructing sentences that enhance meaning

The principal followed the trail of sand, and when shearrived, Miss Deaver was teaching the hula to some kidsnear the front of the room, and a tall, thin, shirtless boywith chestnut hair was just spiking a Nerf volleyballover a net made from six T-shirts tied together.

The third-grade trip to the South Seas ended. Suddenly.

Frindle. Andre Clements

Mending

Judith Viorst

A giant hand inside my chest Stretches out and takes

My heart within its mighty graspAnd squeezes till it breaks.

A gentle hand inside my chest,With mending tape and glue,

Patches up my heart untilIt’s almost good as new.

I ought to know by now thatBroken hearts will heal again.

But while I wait for glue and tapeThe pain!The pain!The pain!

Strategies for Sentence Fluency

Phrase-Cued Reading Reader’s Theatre

The Poetry Assignment

The Conventions Trait

We know this one!

Modeling*

Morning Message Shared Writing

Response to Literature

*Inquiry Trait…most effective

Salutations!

It’s Wednesday, a joyous day of success! By 9:10 this morning,you should have:

• the four math problems below completed and ready for correcting,• your Social Studies text on your desk along with last night assignment,• your permission slip for tomorrow’s field trip on your desk.

Also, in case you forgot, we dismiss at 12:15 p.m. today.

Yours until Niagara Falls,

Mrs. S.

Our Motto: Busy hands are happy hands!!

R.A.F.T.S.An acronym for:

R – Role of the writer

A – Audience for the piece of writing

F – Format of the materialT – Topic of subject of the piece

of writing.

S – Strong Verb

Scope and Sequence

All grades, all Traits Teach explictly, use globally

Adopt K-12 Focus on informational writing

Putting the Traits to Use

Essential Questions: How do I use the 6-Traits to score a

paper? How does this information drive my

instruction? Will using the 6-Traits method interfere

with my students’ state assessment performance?

The Benefits of Writing Scoring

Writing strengthens understanding and fosters critical thinking*

Drives classroom instruction Aligns professional PD

*The strongest writing instruction!

Data Pictures

Individual Instruction Whole Class Instruction

Scheduling Writing Assessment

Write to a common prompt Fall, Winter, Spring

Intra/Inter-school

3, 2, 1...

In your notebook –

3 - Connections you’ve made between

content and writing 2 - Ideas you plan to try in content

area writing

1 - Challenge you think you might

face in implementing your plan(s)

“It can change the world, your writing.” Shelly Harwayne, Principal The Manhattan School