Often student writing is not held to the same high standard that student work is in many of the other subjects.

Here are a few reasons why:

1. Writing is an art. There is not an “easy answer key” for the writing teacher.

2. The way writing is taught can often seem “esoteric” to children. It seems to them that the rules of “good writing” sure do seem to change a lot. “The teacher liked what I wrote yesterday, but today they say this is not good. I don’t get it.”

3. Staying on top of student writing is hard work for teachers. As such, students have more opportunities to slack off and practice writing the wrong way.

Without a doubt “Pattern Based Writing: Quick & Easy Essay Writing” has gotten a hold of all of these issues. I will admit, the “Pattern Based Writing” program does not teach every aspect of what good writing is. However, what it completely and absolutely solves is what this video below talks about.

Elementary School Essay Writing vs. High School Essay Writing

What is shocking about this video is that it is from Ashworth University and is designed for high school students. (It’s an excellent video on the 5-paragraph essay. The teacher is very clear and concise.)

As you watch it, imagine an entire class of third graders sitting there watching this video and saying, “Yes, we can do all that. We learned that last month. We can organize and write one of those 5-paragraph essays in less than 30-minutes.”

The third graders I am talking about are from the inner city and their teacher had become ill early in the year. This began a long string of substitute teachers. I came in at the end of their school year and took them from unorganized sentences to excellent 5-paragraph essay in just 37 days.

“Pattern Based Writing: Quick & Easy Essay” solves the essay problem. Whether your students are in elementary school or middle school you can revolutionize their writing quickly and easily. This should not be an issue in high school.

Enjoy the video!

P.S. Concerned parents, ”Pattern Based Writing” is an easy way for you to get a hold on your child’s writing.

• Is your instruction geared to helping your students become the next great American novelist?
• Is your primary goal to make sure that your students never leave a dangling participle or slit an infinitive?
• Do you hope to develop a passion for writing?
• Is your goal to help develop the writing skills your students will need to be successful in middle school and high school? 

All of this is much more likely if your students learn how get an assignment… break it down, organize their thoughts and then quickly start and finish the assignment. There should be very little hesitation from start to finish. These skilled and confident writers have the ability to write fast… and get the assignment done.

Every year I teach much more than what I just described, but first I get students ready for success by creating fluent writers who can… write fast.

Writing Fluency

According to studies (among them the National Reading Panel’s report on “Teaching Children to Read”) fluent readers tend to good readers. Fluency is one of the five important areas that bring about reading success. That makes sense. In fact, it also makes sense in writing. Fluent writers will likely be good writers. My experience is that fluent writers also make happy students! So much of school… involves writing.

Portfolios vs. a Timed Writing System for Monitoring Student Growth

Portfolios have many great benefits… and I am not against them in any way. However, portfolios do not show objective apples to apples comparisons. They are apples to oranges comparisons… and often apples to hamburgers comparisons.

First, and foremost, different amounts of time allowed produce different results. Kids know this when looking at portfolios. Somewhere in the back of their mind they know these are not apple to apples comparisons… so they are not really sure exactly how much they have progressed.

You may have heard the old musing that a monkey left in a room with a typewriter for eternity will eventually type out “Hamlet.” Let’s face it… eternity is a long time. Students don’t have an eternity to get an assignment done. Students also know it makes more sense to do good work quickly instead of spending an eternity trying to get one writing assignment perfect.

Furthermore, kids don’t want to spend all day on their homework. They don’t want to be the last one finished… every single day. Show students ways to become efficient writers… and they are happy.

The timed writing system I use is a high-octane portfolio system where students see real and objective growth. It’s a simple system that quickly lets students compare apples to apples.

The Timed Writing System: Principal Approved!

Using this system my bulletin board always shows excellent and objective student progress. It was so successful that my principal once suggested (or requested) that I put it back up when I had taken it down and was maintaining the timed writings in a portfolio as compared to being displayed.

The way I use the timed writing system has changed a little with the creation of the “Pattern Based Writing: Quick and Easy Essay” system. However, this timed writing system is very effective with or without “Pattern Based Writing.”

Before “Pattern Based Writing” the progress in the students’ writing was always steady and consistent. Over the course of a year, the progress was substantial, and admirable. It was a very accurate representation of the gradual, consistent progress that can be achieved with good writing instruction, and a lot of hard work!

Now, I get the results A LOT faster. Within a month most elementary and remedial middle school writers will be saying, “I can’t even read what I was writing before.”

Of course if your students aren’t making great progress in their writing… this timed writing system will reveal that as well. If this is the case… I would suggest you get “Pattern Based Writing: Quick and Easy Essay.”

The Timed Writing System Directions

1. Students do a 5-minute prewriting and a 20-minute essay.
2. Staple each student’s first timed writing to a piece of construction paper and post them on a bulletin board using pushpins so that they can easily be removed and updated. (Most years I have students illustrate a picture that goes side by side next to the writing on the same piece of construction paper.)
3. After a certain amount time, and after a certain amount of instruction, we do another timed writing. Staple the new writing to the front of the old. Students evaluate their progress and then the writing is returned to the bulletin board. 

Simple Benefits

You may be surprised how simple the system is. You’re right, it is. I created this simple system very early in my teaching career. Teachers would ask, “Why are you timing the writing?” I can’t say I was aware of the term “writing fluency” but I did know that the students I taught MUST write faster in order to have success in school.

What I discovered was that when students see OBJECTIVE progress… progress they can see with their own eyes… without anyone having to point it out in a “manipulative” way… they begin to like writing more… and they are willing to invest more.

All teachers want their students to see growth. Quite simply, students become motivated when they see growth. However, “you telling them” is not the same as “them telling you.” Do you have a system where students gleefully proclaim the growth… without being prodded? If not, give this “Timed Writing System” a try! Also be sure to check out the complete writing program.

The most important thing about a writing prompt is for the teacher to have a purpose for the writing prompt. Many teachers don’t think a lot about what their purpose is when they put up a writing prompt.

The thought process usually goes about as far as:

• I want them to write about something that they will have an interest in.
• I want them to write about something that will inspire them.
• I want them to write about something that they will think is fun.

A Little Extra Thought and You Will Get Writing that is More Thought Provoking (Both you and your students will think so!)

The reason teachers use lesson plans is because we want to make the most of our students time. We need to know what it is that we wish to accomplish with our lesson. We want to have a goal, or an objective. If we don’t know where we are going… we will be on the road to nowhere.

Using a writing prompt is no different. We can define our purpose and objectives in many different ways, and I’ll touch on a few.

The Wrong Way to Use a Writing Prompt (a.k.a. Quick! Think!)

Be honest… have you ever gone through this thought process?

“What am I going to have the kids write about? Quick! Think! Hmm… Okay… kids… what you are going to write about today is… hmm… okay… what it is… you are going to write about… umm… what did you… or what… no… describe a time when…”

The thinking that went into your creation of the writing prompt is likely to be reflected in the creation of the writing that the students do. If you don’t think it’s that important, they won’t think it’s that important. Even if they don’t observe exactly how you created the writing prompt, students have a sixth sense for what they perceive as “busy work.” 

Here Are a Few Ways that You Can More Clearly Define Your Purpose, Goal, or Objective When You Give Students a Writing Prompt:

1. You Can Base Your Purpose on the Kind of Growth You Wish Your Students to Experience

• Write in a new and unique way. (In a way they have never written before.)
• Focus on, explore, or expand their creativity
• Break the mold of their previous writing and expand their horizons
• Focus on or experiment with structure
• Focus on or explore word usage
• Focus on or explore the imagination
• Focus on or explore their thoughts
• Focus on or explore their feelings
• Think about their own thinking along with how they learn
• Learn the subject material by writing (Writing across the curriculum)

2. You Can Base Your Purpose on Bloom’s Taxonomy

• You want them to know (facts, information)
• You want them to comprehend or understand (internalize)
• You want them to apply what they have learned or know (use the information)
• You want them to analyze information (what is the significance of this information)
• You want them to synthesis information (kind of like creating new information from old information)
• You want them to evaluate (Is this good/bad, true/false?)

3. You Can Base Your Purpose on Common Essay Structures

• You want them to compare and contrast something (compare and contrast essay)
• You want them to give information about something (informational essay)
• You want them to describe something (descriptive essay)
• You want them to evaluate something (evaluative essay)
• You want them to give the cause and effect of something (cause and effect essay)
• You want them to tell a personal story (personal narrative essay)
• You want them to tell a story that has a point of view (narrative essay)
• You want them to describe a process (process essay)
• You want them to follow a line of argumentative reasoning through to its logical conclusion (argumentative essay)
• You want them to persuade someone about something (persuasive essay)
• You want them to critique something (critical essay)

Check back to read these upcoming articles on “Writing Prompts.”

1. Easy, Fast, and Fantastic Ways to Create Writing Prompts that Will Engage Your Students
2. Teaching Writing Across the Curriculum: Remembering that a Writing Assignment in Any Subject is a Writing Prompt

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…)

The term “essay,” can be a little confusing to many students (and teachers.) What exactly is an essay?  There is also a little confusion as to when and how to teach essay writing. The truth is much of what students write in both elementary and middle school can be considered an essay.

Aldous Huxley, a famous essayist said, “The essay is a literary device for saying almost everything about almost anything.”

That’s quite a… vague, yet accurate description. Essay writing is a little easier to understand when you see what it has in common with reports and stories.

Here are Five Common Types of Writing that Students do in School

1.     Essay – From the author’s personal point of view 

2.     Report – Based on research

3.     Fiction story – Story from the imagination

4.     Short answer – Usually gives an answer to a specific question; a short answer can be anywhere from one word to possibly a couple paragraphs

5.     Poetry – Artistic use of language

There are Lots of Different Kinds of Essays

Here are just a few: Narrative essay, personal narrative essay, cause and effect essay, descriptive essay, compare and contrast essay, argumentative essay, definition essay, 5-paragraph essay, expository essay, evaluation essay, persuasive essay. A general guideline for the term “essay” is:

v An essay is written from the author’s personal point of view.

v An essay discusses, explores, describes, or analyzes one subject or topic.

v An essay is a multi-paragraph piece of writing.

Is an Essay a Story? AND Is a Story an Essay?

Let’s Take a Look:

v Personal Narrative Essay – Narrative story from the authors point of view based on the author’s personal experience

v Fiction Story – A narrative story that comes from the author’s imagination

These are both “stories.” One is a true story, one comes from the imagination. Though they are both stories, they are not both essays. Notice that the “Fiction Story” is not an essay.

Pattern Based Writing: Quick & Easy Essay does teach essay writing. However, when looking at the Aldous Huxley definition of what an essay is, I think you will find that the program greatly improves all writing that elementary and middle school students will do, including both stories and reports.

The essay is a literary device for saying almost everything about almost anything.

Aldous Huxley – Famous essayist

Since calling a bottom on the stock market on March 5th, 2009 during one of the worst financial crises in history I’ve received quite a few emails from people that read my post at “The Elementary Educator” blog. They seem to be impressed.

I’ve only brought it up in relation to “Pattern Based Writing: Quick & Easy Essay” because it’s been my passion for both teaching and studying patterns that has led to the creation and effectiveness of this writing program, as well as being able to see things clearly when our country was in a time of crises.

The “A, B, C Sentence” in Pattern Based Writing is directly connected to one of the most famous of all patterns in the stock market which is called an “A, B, C Patten.” The A, B, C Pattern simply lets you see things clearly. I wanted to be able to make my students be able to see things clearly in their writing, and the “A, B, C Sentence” worked like nothing I had ever seen before.

I bring it up because… I want people who are considering “Pattern Based Writing: Quick & Easy Essay” to know that this is a truly unique writing program that gets amazing results. It’s not what you think… and it works better than you can imagine.

When I made the post on “The Elementary Educator” blog, I had nothing to lose. If I had been wrong, who would have blamed me? But it turns out that depending on what market you look at it was within ONE or TWO days from the actual bottom.  This means ONE or TWO days from the bottom of a financial crisis that had been going on for 1 ½ years!

I’m not in the habit of making predictions, and that will likely be my “prediction of a lifetime.” Also please note that in my prediction I use the word “probably” and “probability” quite a bit. I didn’t “know,” but I felt so strongly that this was the very bottom that I knew I should put it in writing.

Basically… I’m a teacher… and I’ve created a writing program that helps kids visualize an entire essay in their mind before they even start writing.

How I Made My Call for a Market Bottom and a Brighter Future

You can find my market prediction by doing a Google search for “Paul Barger One Teacher’s Prediction.” I wrote this prediction on another teacher’s blog (mrpullen.wordpress.com) in response to their rather bleak prediction. (Scroll to the bottom of their page where I added my comment to their blog.)

For me, their bleak prediction was the first piece of the puzzle. As the weeks passed I could see continued pieces of the pattern coming together. Finally, I was quite sure that “this is the bottom,” so I went on record.

A Little Bit about Patterns

Patterns help you see and understand what is going on. Here are my favorite two examples of what I would call the power of patterns.

In the movie “A Beautiful Mind” there is a part where he looks up and points out all the beautiful patterns shining in the night sky. Most people think, “How great it would be to see the world that way! What a gift!” The truth is we all have the ability to see the world that way. We all have a beautiful mind…

By the end of the Pattern Based Writing program, students have the ability to see writing just the way that the character in the movie was able to look up at the stars and see the constellations. It’s all clear. They understand what they are doing, and where they are going in their writing. Total control makes writing fun!  

Blink- The Power of Thinking Without Thinking

In the book “Blink- The Power of Thinking Without Thinking” the author, Malcolm Gladwell’s basic premise is about how our first impressions and our intuitions are actually our amazing and natural gift of being able to instantly decode and process patterns.

Pattern Based Writing leads to writing in an organized and beautiful nature without really even having to think about it. It’s kind of like what Malcolm Gladwell describes.

It’s like teaching an artist some patterns, and then watching them create new patterns using those patterns. (Pattern Based Writing does not lead to “rote writing.” It actually gives students the control to do to their writing what Picasso did to his painting. And they do!)

Patterns in Language and the Stock Market

I learned patterns in both NLP (neuro linguistic programming) and the patterns in the stock market. Between these two subjects I’ve studied just about every single kind of pattern found in science, nature, art, and in language.

I’ve read LOTS of books on patterns in the stock market and in NLP. (I’d be embarrassed to tell you how many…) NLP is VERY pattern intensive and is most famously known for it’s in depth study of visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learning styles. I have to admit that I was shocked to find the kinds of advanced language patterns found (and hidden) in language.

It’s quite amazing that you can tell by listening to the words a person is using if they are in a visual, auditory, or kinesthetic learning mode.

Language is amazing, and you can be sure that CEO’s, lawyers, and presidents have long SEEN the power of language!

Pattern Based Writing: Quick & Easy Essay is the first step in opening up a new universe for students and teachers!

Stock Market Prediction

We want our writing to flow naturally. We want our readers to feel that we know where we are headed and we are in control of our writing. This means they can just sit back and enjoy the ride!

We don’t want our readers to feel that we are jumping all over the place. As well, we don’t want our readers to feel that they are reading a list of ideas written by a robot! We want to communicate with our readers in a way that sounds natural to them.

We do this is by using transitions and sequencing to move our reader from one idea to another. We also use these “signal words” to demonstrate to our reader how all our ideas connect together. Our reader will be more likely to understand and enjoy what we have written if we show them the road signs along our path of ideas.

Here are 3 Ways to Think of Transitions:

1.     Building bridges between ideas and events

2.     Connecting ideas and events

3.     Showing the order of ideas and events

We Transition from Sentence-to-Sentence and from Paragraph-to-Paragraph

We use transitions and sequencing to move from sentence to sentence, and to move from paragraph to paragraph. We use transitions and sequencing as an artistic tool. Not every sentence must transition to another sentence. In fact, you wouldn’t want to do this. We want to “sprinkle in” these transitional signal words in an artistic and creative way. The way we transition is the true “art of writing.”

Compared to transitioning sentences, it is a little more common to transition every paragraph into another paragraph. Better though, is to show some artistic creativity! If the ways you use transitions are always the same, people see the pattern and it becomes too predictable. Predictable is not creative.

Transitions and the Art of Writing

When it comes to the “art of writing” there is little more important than the way you transition throughout your writing. You want to lead and guide your reader along a path, but you don’t want them to be overly aware that they are being led and guided. You want them to be so engaged in what you have written that they can’t see or won’t think about your transitions.

In music transitions are the sign of a true master! Have you ever heard a song that starts off slow and quiet, and later in the song it sounds it’s fast and loud? Sometimes you wonder if it’s even the same song! How did they get there? It’s all in the transitions!

Here Are Some Transitions That We Will Want to Signal Our Reader About:

1.     That we are adding new information and continuing in the same direction

2.     That we are changing directions or we are going to compare and contrast events or ideas

3.     That we are going to show the cause and effect of events or ideas

4.     That the order/sequence/time of events and ideas is important

5.     That we are going to emphasize, repeat, or give examples of events or ideas

Along with organization, ideas are the other trait that Paul B. Diederich felt deserved greater weight.

Good prewriting skills lead to good ideas. If students think the first idea that pops into their head is a good idea, it’s unlikely they will become effective writers or take great pride in their writing. Students need to understand that the first ideas that pop into their heads are just the tip of the iceberg.

Mass idea generation through prewriting makes this kind of thinking a habit. It’s not so much that students (and adults) must do prewriting for every single assignment they have, but they must be aware that they are not choosing from among just a few ideas, but that they are choosing from an unlimited number of possible ideas.

With the prewriting system I use students get in the habit of generating at least 80 unique ideas over a range of main ideas in anywhere between 5-10 minutes.

Developing the Habit of Exploring Endless Possibilities Before You Start Writing

I have a background in acting and the theater. A lot of actors will tell you that if you want to learn to act, you learn by doing theater. Acting classes are a poor substitute for real acting in the theater. Here’s why.

In acting classes you might rehearse a scene a few times, and you might perform the scene a few times. That’s it. You’re done. You think you have taken the part as far as you can.

However in the theater, you rehearse a part 4-5 days a week for 5 weeks. By opening night you have found layer upon layer that before lay hidden.

Six weeks later on closing night, you are almost embarrassed at how little you had understood both the character and the play on opening night. You realize how even on opening night you had just scratched the surface in understanding both the play and your character.

The next play you are in, right from the beginning you know that there are many, many layers that you can’t see at the moment. You know you don’t understand either the big picture or the subtle nuances that you will soon come to understand.

As such, you know to continuously seek new ideas and new interpretations. You learn new methods and new tricks for discovering different ways to uncover the hidden and complex possibilities that lay hidden in the words.

With each additional play you continue to learn how to more quickly uncover all the hidden possibilities. You learn that there are endless possibilities, some of which you will discover early, and some you will discover when it’s too late. But you get better and better, and faster and faster!

The Skill of Exploring All the Possibilities

Generating ideas is not something students should have a problem with. If they do have a problem coming up with lots and lots of ideas, it is most likely because they are not in the habit of coming up with LOTS and LOTS of ideas.

Students need to discover the “big picture” and the “fine details” early in the writing process. Don’t wait until it’s time to edit/revise to make it better. An effective prewriting system makes it better before students even start writing!

Frustrations with Prewriting

I have explored and experimented with many, many prewriting systems over the years. There are lots and lots of very creative prewriting ideas. Most of these prewriting ideas are not practical for students to use as a consistent prewriting system.

Graphic organizers are great. They are like math manipulatives for writing. However, they are rarely a practical resource that will help students get the job done. In fact, they are often more of a distraction than a problem solver. Students need a prewriting system that they can count on when they have work to get done.

Here are Eight Qualities of an Excellent Prewriting System:

1.      Quick, useful, repeatable, and practical.

2.      Improves students writing (I’ve seen prewriting systems that actually make children write worse!)

3.      A skill students can use and will use to get started writing and when they are stuck in their writing. (If the prewriting system is too complicated, students won’t use it. The prewriting system needs to be so accessible that students will naturally use it when they are stuck.)

4.      Will not distract children or prevent children from starting the “real writing.” The real writing is the part that people are going to read and for which they will be graded. (Some prewriting systems can be like an art project and prevent students from getting started on the real writing. They are fun and interesting, but not useful for everyday assignments.)

5.      Provides an opportunity for mass idea generation. (More ideas to choose from means better ideas get written on the paper.)

6.      Is easy for students to connect their prewriting to the actual writing. (There is an art to connecting prewriting to the actual writing. This art needs to be built into the prewriting system.)

7.      Helps students learn how to see both the “big picture” and the “fine details” of their subject or story.

8.      Student created. If the teacher has to “pass it out” it is not practical, and likely not allowed in many testing situations. As well, the student will not develop the self-reliance for organizing their own writing.

Pattern Based Writing: Quick & Easy Essay has a prewriting system which gets students in the habit of generating at least 80 unique ideas over a range of main ideas in anywhere from 5-10 minutes.

In teaching elementary students to write well there is “grammar” and there is “writing.” Many teachers teach A LOT of grammar because when it comes to teaching writing, they are at a loss.

What does it mean to teach “writing?” A useful model that can help elementary teachers is the “Six Traits of Writing” model. “The Six Traits of Writing” was developed in the 1980’s by several groups of researchers and teachers in order to bring about a more reliable method for bringing structure to writing.

Starting With the End in Mind: The Six Traits of Writing

The “Six Traits of Writing” model describes what good writers do. Like many breakthrough methods of instruction, this model was created by working backwards. The starting point was examining samples of excellent writing and then determining what made them excellent. The outcome of this project was these six common traits that produce good writing.

Overview of the Six Traits of Writing

• Trait #1 Ideas – The message along with the main theme and details
• Trait #2 Organization – The internal connecting structure
• Trait #3 Voice – The unique expression and point of view of common words and ideas
• Trait #4 Word Choice – Finding the right words to express ideas in a creative way
• Trait #5 Sentence Fluency – Connecting strings of sentences with rhythm and flow
• Trait #6 Conventions – Grammar, spelling, punctuation, and everything else us nitpickers love to pick over. 

The Six Trait Writing Model in Elementary School Writing

Understanding this model can be very valuable for teachers. This model can be an excellent guide and reference in planning instruction and in evaluating student writing. Most writing we teach in elementary school falls under at least one of the six traits listed above. This model puts a name and structure to what we are teaching.

The Six Traits Are Not All There is To Elementary Writing

There are many aspect of elementary school writing that are not addressed in the above “Six Traits” by name. Let’s look at some more “vocabulary words” that the elementary writing teacher must know:

Poetry, report writing, writing a friendly letter, writing with a purpose, writing to inform, writing to persuade, writing to explain, narrative writing, first person narrative, expository writing, compare and contrast writing, creative writing, journal writing, process writing, descriptive writing, the writing process, revising, prewriting, writing a summary, research papers, editing, proofreading, fantasy writing,  genres of writing, vocabulary, writing lists, writing short answers, writing a newspaper article, writing a business letter, literary response, writing a critique or review, technical writing…

The Six Trait Model is Big Picture Thinking for the Teacher  

The teacher will definitely want to be giving lessons on the above six traits. The teacher will want to keep a constant eye on all of these traits as they conference with students and evaluate student writing.

As elementary educators, we want to develop artistic writers! However, we also want to help students develop the writing skills and the writing knowledge that will help them to be successful in middle school. Fast and effective writers are happy students!

For many elementary writers, “voice” is not nearly as important as simply being able to create writing that both they and their teacher can understand and enjoy reading. Too many elementary students struggle with simply getting the job done. In fact, too many middle school students struggle with simply getting the job done.

In elementary school, some traits are more important that other traits!

The kids know that the teacher doesn’t know… Children see this kind of writing as busy work. (Moreover, they are right!)

In math, it’s much easier to see the end in mind. You can simply turn to the end of the book. You will not only see the skills they will need to know, but you will see the path leading there clearly mapped out.

Here are THREE GREAT RESOURCES for learning how to see the end in mind in your elementary writing instruction:

One is Stephen R. Covey’s “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.” Habit #2 in this excellent book is “Start with the end in mind.” Highly effective people make for highly effective teachers!

The second is “Understanding by Design” by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe. This book is an exciting new addition to understanding curriculum development though backwards design, also known as backwards planning. Start with the end in mind!

The third source for mapping out what you wish to accomplish in your writing instruction is the state content standards for “English Language Arts” and “Writing Curriculum.” They may seem a bit dry, but you will not only be able to see where your students supposedly have been, but you will see where you need to take them (and sometimes even more importantly, what can and should wait for a later age.)

Teach writing THEIR way! Wishing you total writing success!

“If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.”

Lewis Carroll

“If you don’t know where you are going, every road will get you nowhere.”

 Henry A. Kissinger

VS.

“You cannot be lost on a road that is straight.” 

Proverb