Teaching Writing Fast and Effectively!

Organization: The Most Important Trait for Elementary Students

A pioneer of Six Traits writing was Paul B. Diederich. His “traits” were a little different than the current “Six Traits of Writing” however they did include both “ideas” and “organization.”

For Diederich “ideas” and “organization” were the most important of the traits and received greater weight.

Middle school teachers I have talked with believe that middle school success comes easier and is much more likely if students arrive with a FIRM MASTERY of the organizational structure of good writing.

Organization: The Hardest Trait for Elementary Students

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.

Students’ True Understanding of How to Organize Writing

Teachers are often surprised to discover what their students’ real understanding of a concept is. They believe they have done a great job teaching something, and then a student says something which lets them know that their understanding is not what they had thought it was.

I have found this to be VERY true with student understanding of the organizational structure of good writing. It seems even good writers are “complying” more so than really understanding.

It can be very eye-opening to ask students what a “main idea” is. Likewise topic sentence, paragraph, introduction, conclusion, paragraph form…

Organizational Skills are Important in Writing, as Well as Across the Curriculum!