cyborgsdodance

The 6 Traits of writing has become a widely used terminology in the world of writing instruction.

I know that the Minnesota Writer's Project (MWP) is a big advocate of the traits. I myself do not know yet how I feel about them. My first reaction was to view them as commerical curriculum in a box. However, I realize now that some of that had to do with the poor quality of presentation of some of the websites I was viewing and not actually representative of the 6 Traits. My current take on the traits is more positive. I now see the uniform terminology as helpful for students to lable features of writing so that they have a sense of where to engage with revisions. The traits also provide a set of criteria for teachers use during assessment.

The 6 Traits are very similar to what I have been doing in my writing instruction the past 5 years. I just wasn't using the same key terms. I still have much to learn, but I look forward to learning more as I work with the Culham and Spandel texts I plan to use in a course I am teaching this semester.

Helpful 6 Traits links:

NNWP (Northern Nevada Writer's Project):
http://www.writingfix.com/Traits.htm

6 Traits Space (collaborative blog with listing of texts to use when teaching 6 traits)
http://6traits.blogspot.com/

Dennis O'Conner's blog devoted to resources for the 6 Traits
http://6-traits.blogspot.com/

Other 6Traits Resources:
Rubric -- Download file