A while back I was having some rather annoying dental issues. My dentist, Dr. Karen, had all sorts of ideas. She was saying, “Well, we could try this procedure or we could try that procedure…”

In the end I explained to her that my bottom line was, “I want it fixed. The truth is… I don’t want to do anything if it’s not going to fix it. I want the problem solved.”

She laughed and said, “You are such a guy.”

Teaching Writing Creatively

She’s right, I am. In fact, my teacher credentialing program (many years back) was a bit of a paradigm shift for me with so many new and creative ways of engaging students. In fact it was a seemingly endless sea of creative ideas and creative ways that one could be creative in creating creative lesson plans.

When I began my teaching credential program I had already been substitute teaching for a year and had been quite successful. My philosophy (if I had one…) was kind of old school. School like it was when I went to school. My teacher credentialing program was an eye opening learning experience. It was quite the opposite of what my “current teaching philosophy” was. It was really, really… creative.

Initially, I thought all these wild and creative ideas were the secret keys to student success. True breakthroughs! As I gained experience, I started to move a little bit back in the other direction… to the way I am with my dentist.

I began to hear exciting and enticing ideas and think, “Sounds great… but wait a minute. I want something that’s going to work. I have a lot to cover and I would need an extra hour every day just to get in everything that I want to get done. Now is this thing going to work? I want a guarantee!  It sounds good… but is it going to work?  Will it be AT LEAST somewhat practical and somewhat time efficient in a classroom of 30-36 students?

A Compromise

I like the Six Traits of Writing model. Makes sense to me! It lets me clearly see what I’m teaching in my writing instruction. But at the end of the day I’m not sure I really look at whether I have been successful at teaching the Six Traits of Writing. I look at my students’ writing and the state standards to determine if I have been successful teaching my students to write.

Here are just a few of the questions I ask:
1. Do I clearly understand what my students have written?
2. Do I like what they are saying?
3. Is what they have written enjoyable to read?
4. Do I like the way they have said it?
5. Have my students met the standards?

Now much more than ever I determine if the writing instruction has been successful by the students’ reactions to their own writing. I expect students to be thrilled and blown away with their own progress. (If you haven’t heard by now… Pattern Based Writing…Quick & Easy Essay…)

Teaching Writing Videos

Here are two videos on the Six Traits of Writing. One is on organization and the other is on ideas. I find the videos interesting. In fact I find them fascinating. Mastery of teaching writing is always fascinating to me.

However, the part of me that was a frustration to my dentist is also saying, “Look, I want something I know is going to work. What exactly have you said that my students need to understand in order to write well? And how exactly am I supposed to make them understand this?”

After you watch these, compare them to this video on the five paragraph essay that I have posted here. This is the video from Ashworth University that is designed for high school students.

Pattern Based Writing: Quick & Easy Essay is kind of like “The Six Traits Lady” meets “The Ashworth University Lady.” (Actually, it’s a much more visual and kinesthetic version of the two…)

(UPDATE: The videos in this post seem to have been removed from YouTube. Please watch the other video at the link above.)

The New York Times published an article by Alan Finder in January 2008 entitled, “Giving Disorganized Boys the Tools for Success.” The article addressed the educational achievement gap that is growing between boys and girls. These days it is girls who are having more success in school. The major premise of the article is that the lack of organizational skills may be holding boys back.

The article quotes Judith Kleinfeld, a psychology professor at the University of Alaska as saying, “The guys just don’t seem to develop the skills that involve organization as early.” The article then goes on to explain how certain $100 per hour tutors are getting these boys organized.

But before you go out and spend $100 per hour on an organization tutor, here are a few links to help you understand the organization of information, as well as how to get students organized:

1. The Six Traits of Writing – Organization and Ideas
2. How to Get Students Organized: The Student Notebook System
3. Pattern Based Writing: Quick & Easy Essay Homepage

While Pattern Based Writing: Quick & Easy Essay’s main goal is not to develop organizational skills, it does do just that. It develops organizational skills that can be used across the curriculum. Pattern Based Writing develops a way of thinking about how one organizes information.

Organizing Information

You may be aware of some of these common organization techniques that help with learning information:

• Previewing the structure of a chapter, section, book etc.
• Skimming and scanning to get an overview
• Reviewing the information
• Connecting the information to what came before and what will come next
• Creating outlines
• Creating timelines

With all of these, a main purpose is to help students understand how the information they are learning is organized. Understanding how the information is organized helps students retain the information. It helps create a filing system of sorts.

In a way, Pattern Based Writing reverses the process. Pattern Based Writing teaches the organization of information in order to use that organized information for a purpose. In a nutshell, because of what Pattern Based Writing achieves, the above strategies for learning information become much more effective. Students and teachers come to understand them in a more purposeful way. As such, all of the strategies above stop being busy work. Learning information and writing about that information become two sides of the same coin… finally!

The Organization of Information and Teaching Across the Curriculum

Much of what we teach (and of what we learn) deals with the organization of information. Have you ever thought about how much of the school day involves classifying and categorizing information? I’m sure it could be argued that at least half the day involves the organization of information. I will admit, we often don’t think of it as having to do with the organization of information; however, if one takes a closer look and thinks about it a little differently, they may be surprised.

In short, thinking about the organization of the information you are teaching, and then teaching that same information in an organized manner will improve student learning of that information.

Please don’t get me wrong, there is more to learning than the organization of information. In fact, a premium should be placed on the application of information for problem solving, as well as having the ability to make connections. Guess what? The organization of information helps in both of these areas. We organize information so that we can use that information. Organization brings control. Unorganized information is not easy to use. Unorganized information is a lot like trivia. It’s interesting, just not purposeful.

Pattern Based Writing: Quick & Easy Essay is a writing program, and as such it teaches students how to write well organized essays and reports quickly and easily. However, it is MUCH MORE than a writing program. It teaches students how to organize information using many breakthrough methods. Click Teaching Elementary and Middle School Writing to learn how!

A pioneer of Six Traits writing was Paul B. Diederich. His traits were a little different than the current Six Traits of Writing; however, his traits did include both organization and ideas. In fact, for Diederich organization and ideas were the most important traits and they received greater weight.

Pattern Based Writing: Quick & Easy Essay agrees with Paul B. Diederich. Did you know that Pattern Based Writing guarantees that students will be able to get ideas, organize their ideas, and then write a complete essay based around those ideas… quickly and easily? It does. Click Organization and Ideas in Writing to learn more.

It’s not that organization and ideas are the only traits; but once students have mastered these two traits, everything else in teaching writing become easier. The truth is, it is easy to layer the other traits on top of great ideas and effective organization. The reverse is not true! Here’s why…

Organization: The Hardest Trait

Organization is the hardest trait.
K-12 Student Writers Across America

Not only is organization one of the most important traits, but it is also one of the hardest traits for students to master. I have seen the above quote many times over the years. I’ll admit, I’m not sure exactly who “K-12 Student Writers Across America” is; however, my experience teaching writing has me agreeing with them.

Do Students Understand Organization in Writing?

Have you ever been surprised to discover what your students’ understanding of a concept was? Sometimes teachers believe they have done a great job teaching a concept, and then a student says something which lets them know that their students don’t understand the concept at all!

I have found this to be VERY true with students’ understanding of the organizational structure of good writing. It can be very eye-opening to ask students what a main idea is! Whatever you do, don’t ask your students what a topic sentence, a paragraph, an introduction, a conclusion, or paragraph form are. You may be shocked.

Actually, I’ll be quite frank here; it doesn’t really matter what your students’ answers are. Being able to explain what these concepts are is not important. When it comes to the skill of writing, that’s not how you show understanding. In fact, being able to explain all of these organizational concepts could be considered the booby prize. The reason this is so is because writing is a skill. Let’s face it, a homerun hitter doesn’t need to understand how to hit a homerun; they just need to be able to hit one.

The truth is we want our students to understand these concepts so that they will be able to apply these concepts to their writing. When students understand organization in writing, they will demonstrate their understanding by applying organizational concepts to their writing. In other words, their writing will be nicely organized.

There are aspects of Pattern Based Writing: Quick & Easy Essay that are traditional; however, there are many parts of the program that simply rely on pattern. “Just do this. Follow the pattern. What do you think?”

Does this method work? Yes! When it comes to getting ideas and organizing ideas… you will have a classroom full of homerun hitters!

Click Essay Writing Success to find out how!