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The Six Traits of Writing is a framework used to assess and teach writing skills. It focuses on six key qualities (aka traits) that are essential to effective writing: 1) Ideas, 2) Organization, 3) Sentence Fluency, 4) Word Choice, 5) Conventions, and 6) Voice.<\/p>\n
In case you are wondering, the ideas<\/em> are the content<\/em> of a piece of writing. Are ideas important? Yes. Ideas are the most essential component of writing.<\/p>\n Paul B. Diederich is known for his work on writing pedagogy. In fact, Diederich\u2019s 1961 Traits Model is a precursor to the Six Traits of Writing model and is considered one of the earliest systematic approaches to assessing writing. Diederich\u2019s five traits were 1) Ideas, 2) Form, 3) Flavor, 4) Mechanics, and 5) Wording.<\/p>\n Diederich emphasized \u201cideas\u201d as a fundamental aspect of writing. His traits model stressed the importance of originality, clarity, relevance, and depth of ideas presented in the text. Diederich believed that strong writing begins with strong ideas and that writers should strive to develop their ideas clearly and engagingly.<\/p>\n Once again, ideas are the most essential component of writing. According to Diederich\u2019s research, it\u2019s also what readers value most. Furthermore, Diederich thought that ideas and organization were the two most important traits, although readers valued mechanics above organization.<\/p>\n \u00bb<\/span>\u00a0<\/span> <\/strong>It became quite clear that the largest cluster (of readers, drawn from all six occupational fields) was most influenced by the ideas expressed: their richness, soundness, clarity, development, and relevance to the topic and the writer\u2019s purpose. \u2014 Measuring Growth in English (1974) by Paul B. Diederich<\/em><\/p>\n Diederich explains that despite Ideas being so important, many teachers fail to teach students about ideas, and some even choose not to teach students about Ideas. Teachers provided two reasons:<\/p>\n \u00bb<\/span>\u00a0<\/span> <\/strong>First, they hold that ideas are the product of Godgiven intelligence which teaching cannot alter; teaching can only help students express whatever ideas they may have more correctly and effectively. \u2014 Diederich<\/em><\/p>\n \u00bb<\/span>\u00a0<\/span> <\/strong>Second, they believe that students have an inalienable right to express any ideas or opinions they have, and any indication by the teacher that some are better than others, and hence deserve higher grades, borders on censorship. \u2014 Diederich<\/em><\/p>\n Diederich did say that some teachers believe that they can help students improve the quality of their ideas:<\/p>\n \u00bb<\/span>\u00a0<\/span> <\/strong>Other teachers reply that one can do something about the quality, development, and support of ideas in student papers by paying attention to them, raising questions about them, challenging them, and focusing attention on them in class discussion of selected papers. \u2014 Diederich<\/em><\/p>\n Furthermore, these teachers reported that their students liked it when teachers paid attention to their ideas:<\/p>\n \u00bb<\/span>\u00a0<\/span> <\/strong>Students like it better when teachers take their ideas seriously and react to them than when they confine their attention to errors in expression. \u2014 Diederich<\/em><\/p>\n Based on my experience, I\u2019ll put it even more strongly: Students love their ideas! Even students who create rambling messes of stream-of-consciousness writing love every idea they put forth. In fact, even when the writing is unintelligible, it\u2019s difficult to convince these writers that their ideas lack control and quality.<\/p>\n Rules are objective, but ideas are personal. In a sense, ideas are who we are. And while students don\u2019t enjoy being critiqued for the quality of their ideas, they prefer it over their ideas being ignored.<\/p>\n Writing teachers may wish to consider these two quotes when they examine their students\u2019 writing:<\/p>\n \u00bb<\/span>\u00a0<\/span> <\/strong>Seek first to understand, then to be understood. \u2013 Stephen Covey (1932-2012)<\/em><\/p>\n \u00bb<\/span>\u00a0<\/span> <\/strong>People don\u2019t care how much you know until they know how much you care. \u2013 Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919)<\/em><\/p>\n In short, if you don\u2019t care about your students\u2019 ideas, they won\u2019t care what you have to say about the rest of their writing. How do I know this?<\/p>\n I began teaching at the end of a bilingual debacle when the writing was truly terrible. As I learned to teach writing, I learned to read and understand the ideas and content of what amounted to chicken scratches. Years later, a frustrated teacher showed me a piece of student writing that she didn\u2019t know what to do with. Her jaw dropped when I began to read it aloud to her. She exclaimed, \u201cHow can you read that?\u201d<\/p>\n Admittedly, I learned to read this kind of writing because I had taught third and fourth-grade ELL students at the tail end of a failed bilingual program. I explained to her that I also learned to read this kind of writing because I believe what students say is important. The point is that teachers are sometimes so biased against errors that they don\u2019t \u201cSeek first to understand.\u201d<\/p>\n By the way, these two programs are extremely helpful in getting students to create clear, organized, thoughtful, creative, and logical writing. Take a look!<\/p>\n \u00bb<\/span>\u00a0<\/span> Pattern Based Writing: Quick & Easy Essay<\/a><\/strong> is the fastest and most effective way to teach students to get ideas, organize ideas, and create clear and organized multi-paragraph writing. That\u2019s its purpose!<\/p>\nDo Teachers Teach Students About Getting Good Ideas? Can They?<\/h2>\n