6-Traits Resources

The main goal of my Deep Student Thinking with the Writing Traits Workshop is to show what amazing things can happen when students take 6-trait and writing process vocabulary all the way to the analyze and evaluate level of Bloom's. The second biggest goal is to help teachers design some deep-thinking tools to introduce during those critical first weeks of a school year. Our Common Core State Standards absolutely expect our students to apply much deeper cognitive skills to their reading and writing, and a foundation for this type of thinking must begin early in the year, not late.

A Bibliography for Teachers Interested in the Going Deep Guide: In 2006, the Northern Nevada Writing Project (sponsor of this free-to-use website) published a 196-page resource for teachers: The Going Deep with 6 Trait Language Guide.

The guide features trait-specific lessons and resources designed to help all students use 6 trait language better as they explore the act of writing. Many of the guide's lessons and resources cite awesome picture and chapter books as examples of powerfully crafted text to show and discuss with students. Many Northern Nevada school libraries made sure they had all cited books from the guide available to their teachers.

Here’s where we left off (way back in March) at the end of Down the Rabbit Hole—Part I: Now, I’ve also heard teachers tell me this (“…to help students conceptualize the trait of ideas is to think of ideas as memories.”) is all great for students whose lives outside of school are filled with activities, friends, and meaningful interactions with parents. What about the students whose lives, at least in terms of experiences, happen mainly while they are at school?

This instructional video explains how to use the 6+1 Traits for Writing column on Ideas.

Narrated slides provide a basic introduction to 6-traits concepts.  Part of a series that covers all 6-traits.  Raises awareness and introduces traits vocabulary.  

Barry in a Box is a video which teaches the craft of writing directly to your students.. The 300 page book and DVD are available at www.discoverwriting.com.

The most liked Draw Something drawings submitted recently to Best of Draw Something. The Best of Draw Something exists to showcase the very best drawings in the OMGPOP game Draw Something for iPhone, iPad, iPod and Android.

This APP can be used for Idea Generation and could be the springboard to some interesting collaborative writint. 

Writing Traits: Teaching the Skills of Idea Development
teacher-created resources and lessons...all focused on skills that make up the idea development trait

Idea development is a complex trait that should be discussed, explored, and further developed every year that students learn to write in school; both kindergartners and high school seniors can be taught to think about developmentally appropriate skills that are associated with idea development. This page contains idea development lessons and resources that we consider appropriate for sharing with third graders and up. If you are working with primary writers and the six traits, be sure to visit WritingFix's 6 Traits and Primary Writing Homepage.