Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Learn online: Teaching and Assessing Writing with the 6-Traits








Teaching and Assessing Writing with the 6-Traits

Learn to teach and assess writing with the 6-Traits of writing (voice, ideas, word choice, organization, sentence fluency and conventions). Learn to use the 6-Traits with the writing process to teach revision strategies. Help learners meet higher standards and improve test scores. 

EDUC 744 920 Elem (PK-4) 3 graduate credits September 26 – November 18, 2011
EDUC 744 909 Middle School-Adult 3 graduate credits September 26 – November 18, 2011


What students are saying:



"I began this course thinking of myself as something of a blank slate with regards to the teaching of writing. I felt that writing was often a hit or miss proposition in my classroom. Today I see that while there are certainly holes in my second grade writing instruction, I'm actually doing more then I thought. I'm not starting from square #1. Today I'm able to categorize and organize what I'm already doing, plus add new things, using the framework of the 6 traits."

"I feel very fortunate to be taking a course like this so early in my teaching career. Someone mentioned to me recently that while there are many great ideas within the 6 trait model, it's easy to slip back into one's old ways of doing things. Perhaps I'm lucky in that I have no old ways to slip back into."

I've had several important realizations as a result of work we've done these past weeks. The first is the specific connections that I now make between reading and writing. Naturally I was always aware that a connection existed. I knew on some level that reading to my kids was beneficial to their writing development. But too often the reading was undirected and without a plan. Today I have an arsenal of literature with which I can model, discuss, and teach specific traits in a focused way. And I don't have to teach writing alone. I now have the great authors of the world to help me. I can point to a piece of literature and say to my kids, "Take a look at what this author has done. We can do something similar in our own writing."

Our Six Writing Friends: Animated posters


Help Kids Write is a wonderful resource!

This site is from LaRae Kendrick, a veteran teacher and nationally know presenter on 6-Tratis.  She's created some very clever posters to help kids remember the traits.

Each page features a character who embodies the trait. Included are essential ideas about each trait. This would make a great smart-board intro to each trait!

Here's a link to Ida Ideas! You can click through all of the traits from this page.

tags: "6-traits training 6-traits"