IntroductiontoSixTraitsWhatisit? Whodevelopedit? Whatisitspurpose? WhichSixTraitsmodel areweusing? HowdoesSixTraitsfit withCalkins?

WhatisSixTraits?SixTraitsis anassessmenttool amethodoflookingatthemaincharacteristicsof writingandassessingthemindependentfromone another.R.Culham,The6+1TraitModel anassessmenttoolthatworksinconcertwiththe curriculum.Itwasneverintendedtobethewriting curriculum.R.Culham

Themostcommonmethodofassessing writingisholisticassessment.Typically,a compositionisread,evaluatedaccordingtoa listofcriteria,andassignedanumberona scaleestimatingitsqualityrelativetothe criteria.

HolisticAssessmentQuickTime and a TIFF (LZW) decompressor are needed to see this picture.

Scoredholistically,this fourthgradepaper,mightbe givena3onscaleof1to4, suggestingthatonthewhole itisafairlygoodpaperfora studentthisage.

QuickTime and a TIFF (LZW) decompressor are needed to see this picture.

AnalyticAssessmentQuickTime and a TIFF (LZW) decompressor are needed to see this picture.

SixTraitsisananalytic assessmenttool.Thatmeans thateachcharacteristicofa pieceofwritingisevaluated separately.Forinstance,in ananalyticmodelwemight lookfirstatorganization:

QuickTime and a TIFF (LZW) decompressor are needed to see this picture.

OrganizationCentralideaclearlystatedinintroductory paragraphQuickTime and a TIFF (LZW) decompressor are needed to see this picture.

Focus

Asingleexampleillustratingmainideais developedindepthoverseveralparagraphs Lotsofdetailsgivethereaderaclearpicture oftheaction Thenarratorincludeshisreaction

Development

Writergeneralizeslesson/assignslarger meaningtothisexperience

Analysis

QuickTime and a TIFF (LZW) decompressor are needed to see this picture.

Centralidearestatedwithaddedtwist.

Focus

Organizationandconcludethatthatthispaper iswellorganized.QuickTime and a TIFF (LZW) decompressor are needed to see this picture.

Similarly,inananalytic assessmentwewouldlookat othercharacteristics,suchas

QuickTime and a TIFF (LZW) decompressor are needed to see this picture.

IdeaDevelopment Wordchoice Voice Sentencefluency Conventions

QuickTime and a TIFF (LZW) decompressor are needed to see this picture.

andmakeadeterminationabouteach oftheothercharacteristics. Generallyspeaking,theinformation wegetusinganalyticassessmentis muchmoredetailedandusefulthan thatgleanedfromholisticassessment.

QuickTime and a TIFF (LZW) decompressor are needed to see this picture.

WheredidSixTraitscomefrom?TheSixTraitsmodelwasdevelopedinthe1980sbya groupofresearchersattheNorthwestRegional EducationalLaboratory(NWREL)inPortland,Oregon. ItisderivedfromtheworkofPaulDiederich,Alan Purves,andotherwritingresearcherswhostudiedand wroteextensivelyaboutthecharacteristicsofwriting beginninginthe1970s.

NWRELresearchersfocusedonthenotionofempirical evidenceobservableevidencewithinthecomposition itselfasthebasisforusefulanalyticassessment. Theyfocusedonsixspecificcharacteristicsorqualities ofwriting:

IdeasThecontentofthepieceofwritingtheheartofthemessage.

OrganizationTheinternalstructureofthepiece,thethreadofmeaning,the logicalpatternoftheideas.

VoiceThesingularstylethatthewriterbringstobearinthepiece, revealinghisorherfeelingsandconvictionstowardthe subjectmatter.

WordChoiceThewords,phrases,andexpressionsthewriterincorporates intohisorherwriting.Weoftenthinkofwordchoiceas rich,colorful,precise,orevocative.

SentenceFluencyTheflowofthelanguage,thesoundofthewordpatternsthe waythewritingplaystotheear,notjusttotheeye.

ConventionsThecorrectnessofthepiecetheextenttowhichthewriter usesgrammarandmechanicswithprecision.

WhatisthepurposeofSix Traits?Ultimately,byadoptingacommonassessmenttoolwehopeto Developasharedunderstandingofwhatgoodwriting lookslike Useacommonvocabularyacrossgradesandacross disciplinestodescribequalitiesofwriting Practiceassessingwithconsistencyandaccuracy Providemeaningfulfeedbacktostudents Alignassessmentwithinstructiontoenhanceour teachingofwriting.

WhichSixTraitsModelarewe Using?AnumberofiterationsofSixTraitshavedeveloped overthepastfewyears.Weareusingthemostwidely usedversion,theversionthatwasdevelopedby NWRELmanagerRuthCulhamandpublishedinher twobooks

QuickTime and a TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor are needed to see this picture.

QuickTime and a TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor are needed to see this picture.

TherubricsandthedescriptorsweareusinginNewton areCulhamsrubricsanddescriptors.

HowdoesSixTraitsfit withCalkins?Thesimpleansweris,itfitsbeautifully.Ruth CulhamisafanofLucyCalkinsandquotes herfrequentlyinherbooks.Sheisveryclear thattheSixTraitsanalyticassessmenttoolis meanttocomplementnotdisplacethe writingworkshopmodel.

Afewcriticalthingsto know WhenCulhamrefersto6+1TraitsofWriting.She isreferringtoPresentationastheadditionaltrait.We arenotusingthistraitinourmodel. Ingrades35,wehaveaddedAuthorsCraftthe deliberateuseofnarrativeorexpositorytechniquesto enhancestorytellingorthedeliveryofinformationto ourrubric.

WehavechangedCulhamslanguageslightlyingrades K2.Ourfivecategoriesofprogressare

1234 5 ReadytoBeginExploringDevelopingExpandingSoaring

4.

TheK2rubricisathreeyeardevelopmental continuum.Thatis,weexpectmoststudentsto advanceacrosstherubricoverthreeyears.Most studentsinkindergartenwouldnotbeexpectedto advancepasttheexploringstagebytheendof kindergarten.

12345 ReadytoBeginExploringDevelopingExpandingSoaring

5.

Bydesign,the35rubrichas5categories

12345 BeginningEmergingDevelopingEffectiveStrong

butdescriptorsforonlycategories1,3,and5

12345 BeginningEmergingDevelopingEffectiveStrong

Thisistogive

QuickTime and a TIFF (LZW) decompressor are needed to see this picture.

teachersadded flexibilityinscoring apieceforagiven trait.Ifaparticular traitseemstobe abovelevel3but doesnotmatchthe languageoflevel5, wewillcallita4.

The35rubricisthe

QuickTime and a TIFF (LZW) decompressor are needed to see this picture.

sameforeachgrade,but ismeanttobeameasure ofgradelevel sophistication.Overtime, wewilldevelopspecific anchorpapersand exemplarstorepresentthe levelofsophisticationfor eachgrade. Wewouldexpectmost studentstoperforminthe 4or5bandformosttraits bytheendoftheyear.

Finally, Whenscoringstudentworkintheclassroom,itisacceptable,even advisable,toshadethedifferencebetweentwocategoriesasyoufeel necessary.Thatis,youmayassignascoreof4/5or4+toapaperthat seemstobenotquitea5butfairlycloseforagiventrait.Afterall, thepurposeofthistoolistogiveaccurate,differentiatedfeedbackina positiveway. Forthepurposesoftodaysworkshop,wewouldaskthatyouassign onlywholecategoryscorestoeachpaperforeachtrait.Thatis,for todaystrainingsession,pleaseassignascoreof3or4,nota3/4. Talkoverdiscrepancieswithyourcolleaguesandtrytomakea decision.

IntroductiontoSixTraits

TheEnd

Writingminilessondebriefing

QuickTime and a Cinepak decompressor are needed to see this picture.