Module 1: Introduction
Getting Started With Traits - Introductions, Community, Perspective (Pdf Version)

Objectives:

• Post an Icebreaker to the Discussion Forum
• Download and review the 6+1^TM Traits Rubric
• Read the text to gain an overview of the traits
• Share reading reactions with your colleagues
• Engage with colleagues in the Discussion Forum

"Writing is easy; all you do is sit staring at a blank sheet of paper until the drops of blood form on your forehead." ~ Gene Fowler

Introduction:

It's been said there are two kinds of writing teachers: those who assign it and those who teach it. Putting pen to paper (or finger to key) can be the start of an inspiring and complex process, or it can be a painful exercise in frustration. Writing efforts might lead to a poem, play, story, or shopping list, or there might be a trash can full of crumpled first drafts. This course is designed to help you and your students write well (rather than crumple)!

As teachers, you have all had dark moments chained to a desk piled high with un-graded essays, wading through papers that were dull, error ridden, or off topic. Some were so muddled you just didn't know where to start. Many times students feel "muddled" about every writing task they are assigned. When asked to write a short autobiographical story, they shut down, helpless and clueless. Mass amnesia can infects the classroom. "Nothing's ever happened to me," is the common response. These potential writers are struggling for ideas. As you will see, well-developed and detailed ideas are essential traits of good writing.

As a teacher trained in the Writing Traits, you will know how to help your students organize and articulate their experiences. Using a traits-based approach you will show them the way, step by step, to good writing.

Exemplary Attributes of writing from NWREL's 6+1 TraitsTM rubric: Voice: the passion, personality, and style of the writer ignites meaning and connects with the intended audience for the piece Organization: the correct fit of theme, structure, and pace in a piece of writing Ideas and Content: the detailed, insightful, fresh description of a carefully focused topic Word Choice: crafting vivid and precise wording that shows (rather than tells) the reader what is being communicated Sentence Fluency: the ability to modulate and vary the length and cadence of sentences to insure smooth oral reading Conventions: writing with mechanically correct grammar, usage, spelling and punctuation Presentation: handwriting, word processing, or page layouts that enhance the readability and message of the piece.

This course, Teaching Writing with the 6-Traits, is designed to help you improve your process based teaching of writing. You won't have to give up any of the methods that you are currently using. However, by learning the vocabulary of Traits, and teaching it to your students, you will be able to better communicate the essential concepts of writing and more clearly explain how strong writing works. In the third edition of our 4-16 text Creating Writers Through 6-Trait Writing Assessment , Vicki Spandel says "What you can assess, you can revise." If you teach your students to become assessors of their own writing you will be delivering the tools for meaningful, independent revision.

The rubrics describing the essential Traits or qualities of good writing were developed by classroom teachers seeking a comprehensive, manageable, and consistent approach to evaluating and teaching writing. After thousands of hours of work by classroom teachers, these strong descriptions were created. During our time together we will master this new vocabulary.

Once you have a feel for these concepts, you will see how they apply to your own writing and that of your students. Upon this 'common ground' of understanding, what can you build? A year's worth of writing instruction? Certainly. A way for students to understand their own process? For most. A fair, consistent, and clear way to assess student writing? Absolutely!

Here's what you do!

Our first steps on this journey start right now here in our word dominated online environment.

• Go to this week's Activities. You will always find a comprehensive list of the Module's work on the Activities Page. (Notice the links at the top and bottom of this Page?)

Feel free to e-mail me with questions or comments, or Post your questions to the Discussion Forum Q&A topic. I look forward to hearing your voices!

Dennis O'Connor
Instructor