Tuesday, July 16, 2013
Thursday, July 11, 2013
Teaching Voice to Primary Students by Margaret McKanna
Guest Post by Margaret McKanna
When it comes to effective teaching and learning, my inclination is to keep it whole. This is especially true in areas of literacy for students whose skills are still developing. Vicki Spandel asks the question:"So why do we study the traits if they're all part of a whole?' and then she answers: "Concentrating on a particular trait helps us see writing through a certain window...helps us appreciate how that trait connects us to others."
I'm all for celebrating voice in writing. Primary students understand this trait in a visceral way. Naming the trait of voice and celebrating it is critical to the development of young writers. Supporting voice while "opening windows" to other traits is also essential. It seems to me that voice has a unique relationship to the other writing traits. While ideas, sentence fluency, organization, word choice, and conventions are definitely where the rubber meets the road, I think voice is the fuel that sparks the engine and moves the writing forward.
Here's an analogy I find useful. As children learn to ride bikes, we support them as they practice the essential skills for bike riding: pedaling, braking, steering, and balancing on two wheels. We support these emerging bike riders by holding on to the seats of their bikes as they sharpen these skills and consolidate them to achieve proficiency. We coach on the side, offer tips for one skill or the other. The learners are completely engaged in the act of riding and I wonder how much our words contribute to their success. We hang onto the bike seats knowing there is so much more to learn. Meanwhile, the young riders are pleading for more independence, a chance to test their own measure. At some point, we need to get out of the way; we need to let go.
In Chapter 8, Teaching Voice within Writing Process*, Vicki Spandel has an excellent collection of lessons and strategies for teaching voice. My hope is to use this resource sparingly; a little will go a long way. Our instruction in writing ought to be slow, deep, and wide with one strategy. Then we must let go. Young writers need the time to experience writing, the pure satisfaction of it. They need time to share writing, the pure joy of it. They also need time to assess their own writing, the undeniable challenge of it!
Margaret McKanna is an experienced teacher participating in the online professional development class, Teaching and Assessing Writing with the 6-Traits.
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When it comes to effective teaching and learning, my inclination is to keep it whole. This is especially true in areas of literacy for students whose skills are still developing. Vicki Spandel asks the question:"So why do we study the traits if they're all part of a whole?' and then she answers: "Concentrating on a particular trait helps us see writing through a certain window...helps us appreciate how that trait connects us to others."
I'm all for celebrating voice in writing. Primary students understand this trait in a visceral way. Naming the trait of voice and celebrating it is critical to the development of young writers. Supporting voice while "opening windows" to other traits is also essential. It seems to me that voice has a unique relationship to the other writing traits. While ideas, sentence fluency, organization, word choice, and conventions are definitely where the rubber meets the road, I think voice is the fuel that sparks the engine and moves the writing forward.
In Chapter 8, Teaching Voice within Writing Process*, Vicki Spandel has an excellent collection of lessons and strategies for teaching voice. My hope is to use this resource sparingly; a little will go a long way. Our instruction in writing ought to be slow, deep, and wide with one strategy. Then we must let go. Young writers need the time to experience writing, the pure satisfaction of it. They need time to share writing, the pure joy of it. They also need time to assess their own writing, the undeniable challenge of it!
Margaret McKanna is an experienced teacher participating in the online professional development class, Teaching and Assessing Writing with the 6-Traits.
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Thursday, July 4, 2013
Sunday, June 30, 2013
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Monday, May 6, 2013
"The Essay Map is an interactive graphic organizer that enables students to organize and outline their ideas for an informational, definitional, or descriptive essay.
Expository writing is an increasingly important skill for elementary, middle, and high school students to master. This interactive graphic organizer helps students develop an outline that includes an introductory statement, main ideas they want to discuss or describe, supporting details, and a conclusion that summarizes the main ideas. The tool offers multiple ways to navigate information including a graphic in the upper right-hand corner that allows students to move around the map without having to work in a linear fashion. The finished map can be saved, e-mailed, or printed."
Dennis T OConnor's insight:
Using systems that break the writing process into steps helps guide students through to a first draft. Guidance builds confidece. Well worth a visit and possible wide scale use in your classroom.
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Online Class: Teaching and Assessing Writing with the 6-Traits
EDUC 744 3 ONLINE graduate credits
100% Online: June 17 - August 9, 2013
EDUC 744 920 Elem (PK-4) 3 graduate credits
EDUC 744 909 Middle School-Adult 3 graduate credits
(voice, ideas, word choice, organization, sentence fluency and conventions). Learn to use the 6-Traits with the writing process to teach revision strategies. Help learners meet higher standards and improve test scores.
What students are saying:
"I began this course thinking of myself as something of a blank slate with regards to the teaching of writing. I felt that writing was often a hit or miss proposition in my classroom. Today I see that while there are certainly holes in my second grade writing instruction, I'm actually doing more then I thought. I'm not starting from square #1. Today I'm able to categorize and organize what I'm already doing, plus add new things, using the framework of the 6 traits."
"I feel very fortunate to be taking a course like this so early in my teaching career. Someone mentioned to me recently that while there are many great ideas within the 6 trait model, it's easy to slip back into one's old ways of doing things. Perhaps I'm lucky in that I have no old ways to slip back into."
"I've had several important realizations as a result of work we've done these past weeks. The first is the specific connections that I now make between reading and writing. Naturally I was always aware that a connection existed. I knew on some level that reading to my kids was beneficial to their writing development. But too often the reading was undirected and without a plan. Today I have an arsenal of literature with which I can model, discuss, and teach specific traits in a focused way. And I don't have to teach writing alone. I now have the great authors of the world to help me. I can point to a piece of literature and say to my kids, "Take a look at what this author has done. We can do something similar in our own writing."
I've been teaching this course online for almost ten years. It remains my favorite course because I get to help teachers from around the world transform their thinking about teaching writing. Join us! It's a remarkable experience in community, sharing, and new learning! ~ Dennis O'Connor
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Cynthia Rice on Voice
Final Reflection for Teaching and Assessing Writing with the 6-Traits by Cynthia Rice
As a reluctant yet aspiring writer, I approached this course with some ambivalent anticipation. My position as resource teacher requires me to know something about all academic areas, maybe quite a lot actually. My lack of experience in teaching writing with the 6-traits propelled me to take this course. My own schooling did not provide any inspiration for how writing could be taught so that students could discover their own creativity. I did have an excellent model, however, when I supported a child in the grade 2 class last year. The teacher implemented Writers’ Workshop with astounding results. This model gave me a vision of how writing could be taught and illuminated some excitement in me.
Our first trait, voice, was total immersion. Voice is the trait that I understood least. I was delighted to read Spandel’s chapter on voice. Her writing is a demonstration of how voice can be heard even in a textbook. Reading the chapters on voice was a refreshing change from texts that present material with a distinct lack of voice. I enjoyed reading her material; the examples illustrated clearly what she was conveying. Her writing drew me in and the pages seemed to turn themselves as I read. The quality of her writing did not diminish for me over the course and I now own three of her textbooks.
As the course progressed I realized that voice is supported by all of the other traits. The choice of ideas, the organization, the construction of sentences, the effectiveness of word choice, and the use of conventions all work to either produce and highlight the author’s voice or disguise voice. Even very young writers who have not mastered the alphabetic principle can write with strong voice. Indeed, their early voice is usually very loud and the distinct job of the educator is to nurture voice as the child grows. Struggling readers and children with limited skills with the mechanics of manipulating a pencil can have voice represented through the 6-traits. I work with a boy in grade 3 who has only begun to master the very basics of reading and writing. When he has authored a piece he writes his by-line “by Joey!” Nothing could be more demonstrative of Joey’s voice. He has to work ten times harder than any of his peers to write even one word. I smile everytime I see this exclamation.
The course as a whole has made me intensely aware of voice in all kinds of literature. On PEI our phone book is an excellent example. How could a phone book have voice? Well, ours did. All Islanders eagerly awaited the delivery of the newly published phone book each May. The cover was a main attraction. A particular aspect of Island life was always portrayed. One year there were images of about 50 kids engaged in various activities. People took great delight in trying to identify how many of the kids they knew and where they lived. In one community there are so many people with the same names that most people go by their nicknames. The nickname often pointed to an idiosyncrasy of the person. A phone book was published using nicknames so people could find them more easily. Eventually, the Island Telephone Company was swallowed by a larger company and then as the fish in the sea do, the larger was again swallowed by an ever-larger company. No one takes notice anymore of the publication of the phone book. Someone in Toronto designs it. Voiceless…
The other traits are tools to communicate what the author has to say. Rating each trait was an adventure in itself. I enjoyed discovering how each trait has potential to enhance or deaden the message. Through the reading and even more so through the ratings I found myself discovering the potential of each trait. The author has the power to shape the reader’s experience and perception through the traits. An artist uses form, color, composition, light, and line to communicate in a similar way that the writer uses ideas, sentence fluency, word choice, conventions and organization. Or the musician can use tempo, dynamics, phrasing, melody choice, instrumentation, and vocals to speak through music. The artist can vary brush strokes, use line in novel and unexpected ways to provide a visual experience. So the writer can use word choice and sentence fluency to take the reader on a journey. These tools have so much potential as part of a whole effect.
It was through rating students’ pieces that I gained the most insight into how these traits can be effectively used. When reading a master’s piece the elements are not as obvious to me. I experience the whole piece and its aftermath as a whole. When looking at developing writers it was easier to see how the individual traits can be used, sometimes when the young author neglected to use them. In examining how a piece could be improved, I was able to focus on the impact of a trait. I had never thought of the effects of sentence length on the attention and feelings of the reader. An abrupt change in sentence length can act to alert the reader, make them more attentive. Using long, descriptive sentences can lull the reader into feeling complacent. As for convention, I was aware of the effect of using proper conventions but now I am aware of how conventions can be used to make a piece explode with voice.
Last summer, I traveled to Toronto with 2 boys who happen to have autism to pick up 2 of my grandsons and drive back to Prince Edward Island to spend the summer together. We stopped in Kingston, a city known for its university and maximum-security prison. We stopped to meet up for the afternoon with one of my Canada World Youth participants whom we all knew and loved. He attends university in Kingston and had planned activities for us. To my surprise, he had planned to take us to the prison museum. We all approached with caution. The tour of the museum turned out to be one of the most meaningful events of a densely packed summer. In the museum there was a gallery displaying work of the inmates, mostly visual art. There was one piece of writing displayed. All of the traits carried a voice that pierced me. It was a full biography. Presentation, conventions, sentence fluency, idea, organization, and word choice combined to bear the weight of a powerful voice. The piece was displayed with dignity beside a wonderfully rendered drawing of birds in flight. The piece was written on a broken hunk of Styrofoam with paint that had dripped down the sides. It read “I wish al parints had to aksept there children the way thay ar..”
The course has given me the tools to teach writing effectively and to evaluate students’ writing so that they grow as writers. No doubt, the main objectives of the course have been achieved. In addition, my desire to write has been awakened and now I am working writing into my day. Writing can give me moments of reflection within the current, even the rapids, of my life. The question was posed for discussion consideration: Must a teacher be a writer to be effective at teaching writing? Perhaps not. However, I think that any teacher who is truly inspired by teaching through the 6-traits will be compelled to be a writer.
Reference
Spandel, Vicki. (2012). Creating young writers. Boston: Pearson.
As a reluctant yet aspiring writer, I approached this course with some ambivalent anticipation. My position as resource teacher requires me to know something about all academic areas, maybe quite a lot actually. My lack of experience in teaching writing with the 6-traits propelled me to take this course. My own schooling did not provide any inspiration for how writing could be taught so that students could discover their own creativity. I did have an excellent model, however, when I supported a child in the grade 2 class last year. The teacher implemented Writers’ Workshop with astounding results. This model gave me a vision of how writing could be taught and illuminated some excitement in me.
Our first trait, voice, was total immersion. Voice is the trait that I understood least. I was delighted to read Spandel’s chapter on voice. Her writing is a demonstration of how voice can be heard even in a textbook. Reading the chapters on voice was a refreshing change from texts that present material with a distinct lack of voice. I enjoyed reading her material; the examples illustrated clearly what she was conveying. Her writing drew me in and the pages seemed to turn themselves as I read. The quality of her writing did not diminish for me over the course and I now own three of her textbooks.
As the course progressed I realized that voice is supported by all of the other traits. The choice of ideas, the organization, the construction of sentences, the effectiveness of word choice, and the use of conventions all work to either produce and highlight the author’s voice or disguise voice. Even very young writers who have not mastered the alphabetic principle can write with strong voice. Indeed, their early voice is usually very loud and the distinct job of the educator is to nurture voice as the child grows. Struggling readers and children with limited skills with the mechanics of manipulating a pencil can have voice represented through the 6-traits. I work with a boy in grade 3 who has only begun to master the very basics of reading and writing. When he has authored a piece he writes his by-line “by Joey!” Nothing could be more demonstrative of Joey’s voice. He has to work ten times harder than any of his peers to write even one word. I smile everytime I see this exclamation.
The course as a whole has made me intensely aware of voice in all kinds of literature. On PEI our phone book is an excellent example. How could a phone book have voice? Well, ours did. All Islanders eagerly awaited the delivery of the newly published phone book each May. The cover was a main attraction. A particular aspect of Island life was always portrayed. One year there were images of about 50 kids engaged in various activities. People took great delight in trying to identify how many of the kids they knew and where they lived. In one community there are so many people with the same names that most people go by their nicknames. The nickname often pointed to an idiosyncrasy of the person. A phone book was published using nicknames so people could find them more easily. Eventually, the Island Telephone Company was swallowed by a larger company and then as the fish in the sea do, the larger was again swallowed by an ever-larger company. No one takes notice anymore of the publication of the phone book. Someone in Toronto designs it. Voiceless…
The other traits are tools to communicate what the author has to say. Rating each trait was an adventure in itself. I enjoyed discovering how each trait has potential to enhance or deaden the message. Through the reading and even more so through the ratings I found myself discovering the potential of each trait. The author has the power to shape the reader’s experience and perception through the traits. An artist uses form, color, composition, light, and line to communicate in a similar way that the writer uses ideas, sentence fluency, word choice, conventions and organization. Or the musician can use tempo, dynamics, phrasing, melody choice, instrumentation, and vocals to speak through music. The artist can vary brush strokes, use line in novel and unexpected ways to provide a visual experience. So the writer can use word choice and sentence fluency to take the reader on a journey. These tools have so much potential as part of a whole effect.
It was through rating students’ pieces that I gained the most insight into how these traits can be effectively used. When reading a master’s piece the elements are not as obvious to me. I experience the whole piece and its aftermath as a whole. When looking at developing writers it was easier to see how the individual traits can be used, sometimes when the young author neglected to use them. In examining how a piece could be improved, I was able to focus on the impact of a trait. I had never thought of the effects of sentence length on the attention and feelings of the reader. An abrupt change in sentence length can act to alert the reader, make them more attentive. Using long, descriptive sentences can lull the reader into feeling complacent. As for convention, I was aware of the effect of using proper conventions but now I am aware of how conventions can be used to make a piece explode with voice.
Last summer, I traveled to Toronto with 2 boys who happen to have autism to pick up 2 of my grandsons and drive back to Prince Edward Island to spend the summer together. We stopped in Kingston, a city known for its university and maximum-security prison. We stopped to meet up for the afternoon with one of my Canada World Youth participants whom we all knew and loved. He attends university in Kingston and had planned activities for us. To my surprise, he had planned to take us to the prison museum. We all approached with caution. The tour of the museum turned out to be one of the most meaningful events of a densely packed summer. In the museum there was a gallery displaying work of the inmates, mostly visual art. There was one piece of writing displayed. All of the traits carried a voice that pierced me. It was a full biography. Presentation, conventions, sentence fluency, idea, organization, and word choice combined to bear the weight of a powerful voice. The piece was displayed with dignity beside a wonderfully rendered drawing of birds in flight. The piece was written on a broken hunk of Styrofoam with paint that had dripped down the sides. It read “I wish al parints had to aksept there children the way thay ar..”The course has given me the tools to teach writing effectively and to evaluate students’ writing so that they grow as writers. No doubt, the main objectives of the course have been achieved. In addition, my desire to write has been awakened and now I am working writing into my day. Writing can give me moments of reflection within the current, even the rapids, of my life. The question was posed for discussion consideration: Must a teacher be a writer to be effective at teaching writing? Perhaps not. However, I think that any teacher who is truly inspired by teaching through the 6-traits will be compelled to be a writer.
Reference
Spandel, Vicki. (2012). Creating young writers. Boston: Pearson.
Sunday, April 21, 2013
Modes of Writing
"Modes of writing, forms of writing, types of writing, domains of writing. Whatever you want to call them, there are different categories for writing. Each mode has a specific purpose. There are four basic modes, descriptive, narrative, expository, and persuasive. For the intent of this page, I have added a fifth mode for creative writing. These basic modes can then be broken down into subcategories. I have tried to list subcategories here as well, but I am still in the process of collecting them. If you have some ideas or suggestions, please send me an email message." ~ Kim's Korner
Six Traits Posters from the Mesa Public Schools
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I've assembled this material for everyone's use. Posters are essential in any writing classroom. I also hope that these posters will be useful to the student in my Online Class: Teaching and Assessing Writing with the Six Traits.
Sunday, March 3, 2013
Outlining: Before or After? - Choice is the answer~
"One method I use to teach organization is outlining the paper after the first draft. I ask students to write an outline of their paper if it is poorly organized and if they don’t see the lack of organization. "
~ Kathleen Sommers - Teaching and Assessing Writing with the Six Traits, Spring 2013
I responded to Kathleen's post:
Your method of outlining after the first draft makes a great deal of sense. My Eureka Moment is that I (as a student) never experienced this approach. Instead I was always required to write the outline before my first draft. This never worked for me and permanently put me off outlining. Consequently I never really required/or taught outlining as a teacher. I was a bubbling brainstorming kind of writer and that's what I taught (although I told my kids that if they preferred to outline or list go right ahead.)
Your simple and common sense approach honors the writing process and amplifies the traits approach.
I'm amazed that after all these years this method didn't occur to me. I think had too much scar tissue because of the early demands for outlines before I'd properly generated my ideas and drafted a first splash at the topic.
Anyone else have a similar experience?
This post triggered a cascade of agreement from other writing teachers who struggled with outlining. The simple fix of using an outline after the first draft suddenly seemed self-evident.
Kathleen added a great concluding insight to the conversation:
"I do think it depends on the writer. There are many writers that need to start with the outline first. These writers would be very frustrated if told to write and then outline. It appears the more I learn about writing, the more I am aware there are as many ways to approach writing as there are writers."
I came back with an extension of the idea that wrapped up a very solid discussion.
Kathleen, You make a good point about the need for choice. Offer your students the opportunity to outline before or after the first draft. Let each writer develop their own process. The writing process shouldn't be a lock step formula, it's more of a path to help us find our words.
This same approach could be used with any graphic organizer: give the writer a choice, before or after. Building in this bit of organization during the drafting stage is what we are all after. These ideas make the abstract concrete!
Dennis
*Images courtesy of the WriteatHome blog.
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Mode + Audience + Voice = Organization
The problem with rote memorization of a writing organizational formula is that it has no context. The kids don't understand why they are using the form. They just memorize the basics and stumble on. This usually means they know they need five paragraphs: 1 intro 3 body 1 concluding. Hardly a universal formula for organizing writing. But that's what is usually taught (and often nothing else.)
Organization is dictated to a large degree by the mode of writing we are pursuing. Letters, Poetry, narrative, research, persuasive... all of these modes have forms of organization that we should recognize.
More importantly, the mode is determined by the audience for the writing. A reporter isn't going to write a poem about a traffic accident. A research paper isn't going to follow the 5 paragraph format.
Also, keep in mind that the audience and mode also predict the kind of voice a writer will use.
IF our students understand the concepts of voice, audience, and mode, they will have context for the kinds of organization they need to bring to their writing. This takes a conceptual understanding of writing, rather than rote memorization of an organizational form.
Can we teach this? You bet! We are right now!
Does it make sense? ~ Dennis
Saturday, February 23, 2013
Academic Writing
Watterson, B. (1994). Homicidal Psycho Jungle Cat. Kansas City, MO: Andrews and McMeel.OWLs Online Writing Labs
College and high school writing teachers might want to Online Writing Labs: bookmark these sources!
owl.english.purdue.edu Purdue's online writing lab is one of the best.
http://www.uccs.edu/writingcenter/revisedowl.html Colorado Springs
These writing resources carry some extra clout with students since the come from main line colleges.
Dennis
Friday, January 4, 2013
6-Traits and the Common Core
How the Traits relate to Common Core Language.
page 26
Creating Writers 6th Edition, Creating Writers
Clearly students who are taught to assess their own writing using the 6-traits approach will be be doing the kind of thinking, reading and writing promoted by the Common Core Writing Standards.
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