The document provides information about the 6 + 1 Traits writing model, including: - The model gives a common language for teachers, students, and parents to discuss writing. - Teachers developed the model by sorting student papers and identifying common traits. - The 6 traits are Ideas, Organization, Voice, Word Choice, Sentence Fluency, and Conventions. Presentation was later added as the +1 trait. - The traits can be used to provide formative feedback to help students revise and edit their writing.

1. 6 + 1 Traits
Laurie Stowell
Cal State San Marcos
San Marcos Writing Project
lstowell@csusm.edu
http://www.csusm.edu/education/outreach/smwp.html
St. Mary School
May 2, 2014

2. * Gives teachers,
students and parents a
common language to
talk about writing.
6 + 1 Traits

3. Assessment for writing
Assessment of writing

4. * K-16 teachers read and sorted stacks and
stacks of papers
* After sorting, they extrapolated what the
specifics of the papers were that caused
teachers to put them in different piles.
* Lists were compiled, descriptors created,
and common characteristics or TRAITS
emerged.
Brief history

5. “Assessment should be
used as feedback only and
not as reward or
punishment.”
-Jerome Bruner

6. * In all 50 states, Great Britain, France,
South America, China and the Middle
East
*By teachers primary through college
*By teachers in language arts, math,
science, social studies, foreign
language and special education.
6 + 1 traits are used:

7. * Ideas (details, development, focus)
* Organization (internal structure)
* Voice (tone, style, purpose and audience)
* Sentence fluency (correctness, rhythm and cadence)
* Word choice (precise language and phrasing)
* Conventions (mechanical correctness)
And now they also look at
• Presentation (handwriting, formatting, layout)
The 6 traits + 1

8. Writing is like a guitar
Guitars generally have 6 strings. Each string has
a different note or tone. Some are high and some
are low. If you were to play a song with one
string, the song would be rather dull, boring and
monotonous. However if the six strings are
played together and they are given an interesting
rhythm, the gorgeous melody floats across the
room and stirs the soul.
Writing is the same in many ways. Without
all the elements, the writing is lacking. With all
the elements, the writing can stir the soul.

9. Revision Editing
∗Ideas Conventions
∗Organization Presentation
∗Voice
∗Word choice
∗Sentence Fluency
(creating meaning) (getting things
right)
Another way to look at the traits:

10. The six traits are not a writing
curriculum!
They are a way to link effective
classroom centered writing
assessment with revision and
editing processes.

11. “Teachers ask the wrong question first…
“What do we do?” -- putting the focus
immediately on designing tasks - when they
need to ask “What do we want kids to know
and be able to do? How well? What does
quality look like?” [We] need to ask these
questions very clearly first.”
Mike Hibbard, Education Update, 38(4), p. 5,
ASCD, June, 1996
Performance Assessment

12. “We must change from a model that
picks winners to one that will create
winners.”
-Harold Hodgkinson
Michigan: The state and its educational system

13. Scoring the 6 traits way:
“The Redwoods”
And
“Fox”

14. ∗Origin of and research on the trait model
is 5 points
∗Analytic, not holistic
∗ Classroom assessment, not large scale
∗Are we ranking and sorting? (summative)
Or leading students to revise and edit?
(formative)
Why a 5 point scale?

15. ∗ Offers broad perspective
∗ Challenges us to think of writing in new ways
∗ Gives us a model for responding to students’
writing
∗ Provides vocabulary for talking with students
about writing
∗ Provides a solid foundation for revision and
editing
∗ Allows students to become evaluators
Advantages of Analytic Scoring

16. Pet Peeves
and Scoring biases

17. ∗ Use the complete scoring guide – not a shortened
version
∗ Read the scoring guide at the “5” level as a definition of
the trait
∗ Read the paper
∗ Ask yourself, “Generally stronger or weaker on this
trait?”
∗ Work from the “5” down, or the “1” up
∗ Use the full range of scores – “5” is not perfect and “1” is
not an “F”
Tips on Scoring:

18. ∗Ideas
∗Organization
∗Voice
Score for:

19. The Core Standards never mention voice outright,
But they do mention style (See writing standard
4). Style is an umbrella term that in
trait language encompasses voice, word choice,
and sentence fluency. They all work together.
Notice that standard 4 also suggests that the style
should be appropriate to “task, purpose, and
audience.” This ability to adjust style to fit
context–and to write in a way that reaches an
audience–is definitely a component of voice.
Voice:

20. ∗Word Choice
∗Sentence fluency
∗Conventions
Score:

21. ∗ How students learn the traits: Introduce 1 trait
at a time: ideas, organization, voice, word
choice sentence fluency, conventions. Upper
grades review the traits one at a time.
∗ In the beginning of the year ask them to write
pieces focused on one trait at a time.
∗ When they go back into a piece to revise, ask
them to use a word choice lens or voice lens to
make it better.
Getting started teaching the traits

22. ∗ “Getting started with the traits”
(http://educationnorthwest.org/resource/50
4)
∗ Have students help you build files of
examples of good “traits”. Find mentor texts
in their reading and their own writing. Write
them on chart paper hanging around the
room – help them read like writers.
∗ Do short practice pieces: “Describe your
morning routine, paying attention to word

23. ∗Sometimes bad examples are the best
teachers. Read good examples of writing
for a trait and then read bad examples
and talk about how to make them better.
∗Give groups of students a bad example to
revise.
Deconstructing writing

24. ∗Introduce language of the traits
∗Can be used with drawing, driting and
pictures
∗Teach ideas, organization and voice
∗Use different rubrics: See Spandel’s
rubrics in Creating Writers and Culhams
6+1 traits with primary writers.
Teaching the traits with K-2

25. ∗ Start with what is working
∗ What traits does this child have in this piece?
∗ What traits need work in this piece?
∗ Know the student and what he or she is capable
of and can handle in a conference
∗ Choose one or two things to work on in a
particular paper
Teaching writers with traits

26. Frogs are amphibians. They spend most of
their life in the water but sometimes they live on
land. They don’t have tales, they are pretty
smooth and have bulging eyes. Frogs have long
back legs so they can jump. There are many
kinds of frogs, but they all have the same basic
body structure.
The largest frog is from Africa…
Tree frogs live on all continents accept
Antartica…
-7th grade
Traits can be used with all genres.
Information writing:

27. A sticky pink tongue darts out to grab a small
unsuspecting bug and- ZAP! It slurps it down for a
mid-morning snack. Such is a moment in the life of
the frog, a common amphibian found in all shapes,
sizes and colors and in many places around the world.
In fact, about the only place you won’t find some kind
of frog is in the coldest parts of the world like
Antarctica. As a cold-blooded amphibian, the frog
cannot adapt to the year round freezing temperature of
the air and water.
A revised piece

28. From the largest African Goliath frog measuring
about one foot long to the smallest tree frog which is
only 1/2 inch, the daily struggle for survival is
great…
Did you know that many common frogs… are in
danger of becoming extinct?
It may not see important to make sure that frogs
have a safe and clean place to breed and grow, but
people need frogs for many more things than you
may think…

29. ∗ Just because there are six traits in the model,
this does not mean that you have to give
every paper six scores every time.
∗ For example: a particular writing assignment
on how species adapt to environmental
factors, you might want to emphasize clear
ideas, good organization, appropriate
scientific terms and perhaps, conventional
correctness.
Adapting the traits to fit you

30. Suppose you ask students to determine how
many different ways rectangular shapes can
be combined to create a design for a one story
building. You want them to write an
explanation of each step in their thinking.
You might choose to primarily on ideas
(clarity), organization (steps in order), word
choice (correct mathematics terminology) and
conventions (including mathematical
symbols).
Geometry

31. If you do not feel comfortable letting
go of any trait altogether, try what many
teachers have done: Weight the traits
according to emphasis.
For example if students in a group design a
newspaper that might have sold in
London in the 1800s, what is important?
Weighting

32. Let’s say the assignment is worth 100 points:
• Ideas 25
• Organization 10
• Voice 10
• Word choice 20
• Sentence fluency 10
• Conventions and presentation 25
Weight them however you want: just give
students a clear picture of what is critical.
Weight the traits

33. ∗ When students write every day, they improve.
∗ Paint-by-number isn’t art; writing to prompts
with formulas isn’t real writing, either.
∗ If you have some choice in the task, you work
harder and enjoy it more.
∗ No one fails at writing or teaching writing.
∗ We’re all learning.
Guiding Principles

34. ∗Robert Marzano's research stresses the
importance of making meaning through
comparison and contrast thinking.
∗Create a metaphor for a good piece of
writing using the traits as a guide.
The Power of Metaphor

35. Human Body:

36. Forest:

37. ∗ Using The Important book by Margaret Wise
Brown create and important book about the
traits including icons to remember them better.
∗ “The important thing about ideas is they are
they heart of the message…”
The Important Book:

38. “The key to assessment is the word itself.
It comes from the Latin verb assidire: to
sit beside. We are not ranking here. We
are sitting beside a piece of writing and
observing its qualities. We are finding a
common language to talk about those
qualities.”
-Barry Lane

39. ∗ A scientific study conducted by REL Northwest
in 74 Oregon elementary schools showed that
the 6+1 Trait Writing model caused a
statistically significant increase in student
writing scores during the year in which it was
studied.
6+1
Study finds use of 6+1 traits
produces higher scores

40. Research and resources:
Creating Writers (5th
edition)
by Vicki Spandel
6+1 Traits of writing: The complete guide grades 3
and up by Ruth Culham (Scholastic)
6+1 traits of writing: The complete guide grades K-
2 by Ruth Culham
6+1 traits of writing: The complete guide for middle
grades by Ruth Culham

41. Creating 6-Trait Revisers and
Editors for Grade 6: 30 Revision
and Editing Lessons by Vicki
Spandel
Published by Pearson
They have these books for grades
1-8

42. Two best online resources:
Northwest Regional Education Lab:
•http://educationnorthwest.org/resource/949
Writing Fix:
• http://writingfix.com/index.htm
Creator of Writing Fix site:
• ( http://corbettharrison.com/lessons.html
• http://denaharrison.com/Traits.htm)

43. • M.S. Teacher:
http://www.kimskorner4teachertalk.com
/writing/menu.html
Resources for Elementary Teachers:
http://www.smekenseducation.com/6-
traits-of-writing.html

44. • Color coded by traits:
http://www.smekenseducation.com/seeing-the-
traits-within-the-common-core-standards.html
• samples of scored student papers:
http://educationnorthwest.org/traits/ccss/sampl
es-of-student-writing
Northwest Regional Education Lab:
• http://educationnorthwest.org/traits/ccss
•
http://educationnorthwest.org/webfm_send/125
2
Common Core & 6 traits: