6+1 Traits of Writing (3/28)

This week, we read the 6 + 1 Traits of Writing from Education Northwest's website. The six traits are: Ideas, Organization, Voice, Word Choice, Sentence Fluency, Conventions, and Presentation. See? 6 + 1. I enjoyed this reading. It was short, sweet, and to the point. Maria and I are co-teaching on this for class on Tuesday as well, so it was nice to have an article that was clearly written.

I hadn't thought about some of these traits while writing before. Presentation was one example. I had never thought about how my words appeared on the page before. I believe that this trait is useful for papers that are handwritten. Presentation would matter a lot in this case. You would want the reader to understand your writing first and foremost. But I believe that the writer could add in their own style with the way they write. This would allow the presentation of their paper to take on a new light. It would be another way for the writer to express themselves along with their ideas.

I liked the description of word choice as well. The article states that, "Strong Word Choice is characterized not so much by an exceptional vocabulary chosen to impress the reader, but more by the skill to use everyday words well." I thought this was a great way to put it. You don't want to bore your reader by using extraneous, superfluous, nonessential, supplementary language. You want to speak naturally and use everyday language.

These traits will help many students grasp the idea of writing better. If they have a checklist to go by they can organize their thoughts clearly. Everyone can benefit from using these traits in fact. They're a great strategy if you're thinking of what to write or have writer's block. I know I will use them in my future writing.

This video shows an example of the 6+1 Traits in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23af-ASifr4