The 6 Traits of Writing: Planning for Assessment

1. The 6 Traits of Writing:Planning for Assessment Presented by Jen Kohan, Minnetonka Writing Coach Go ahead and get started on the GREEN SURVEY. . .

2. Introductions THINK about your assessments WRITE down the TOP THREE qualities you look for in a final product PAIR up to determine the top three qualities assessed SHARE your name, content/grade level, and top three assessment categories

3. Essential Vocabulary Writing Process Audience Content Organization Style Conventions Assessment Rubric

4. The Six Traits: A Brief History Originated in Oregon in the 1980s Vicki Spandel, NWREL researchers, and 17 teachers Purpose: to develop a consistent vocabulary for defining good writing/writing instruction; to create an assessment rubric to be used across all grade levels Evaluated thousands of papers (all grade levels) and identified “common characteristics of good writing” Those qualities became the “six traits”

5. Writing and Communication Routine and structured discussions Prerequisite skill to writing Engaging: no passivity allowed Provides non-threatening practice Teaches discussion etiquette

6. Prediction Paragraph Example: My teacher has asked me to make predictions/form hypotheses about ______________. The things I see in the photographs include _______________. (Add a few sentences of description and/or tell what you think it is.) I think we are going to study this because __________________. I would also like to learn about _______________________. These are my initial predictions/hypotheses.

7. Traits of Good Writing

8. Why Use the Six Traits? It provides a common language for teachers and students to use in teaching and learning about the craft of writing. It provides consistency in writing assessment and a shared vocabulary for giving feedback to students. It provides a guiding focus for writing instruction and the tools students need to revise their own writing.

9. Why is the 6+1Trait Model an Effective Teaching Tool for Writing Instruction? Defines good writing in a specific way for the teacher and the student Provides a way to delineate areas of individual strengths and areas of challenge Allows for greater consistency and accuracy in assessment Provides a common vocabulary for vertical and horizontal alignment of instruction Develops all of the traits evaluated in state assessment Provides a clear link between reading and writing Enables students to become self-assessors

11. Principles of Quality Assessment Has clear criteria Demands self-assessment Allows opportunities for revision and assessment Sensitive to student developmental needs

12. Quality Writing Assessment Clear criteria shared with students before writing Models of writing that exemplify criteria Process and product oriented Authenticity Formative tasks before summative tasks

13. I always did well on essay tests. Just put everything you know on there, maybe you’ll hit it. And then you get the paper back from the teacher and she’s written just one word across the top of the page, “vague.” I thought “vague” was kind of vague. I’d write underneath it “unclear,” and send it back. She’d return it to me, “ambiguous.” I’d send it back to her, “cloudy.” We’re still corresponding to this day ... “hazy” ... “muddy” ... ~Jerry Seinfeld, SeinLanguage

14. Principles of Effective Feedback Timely Specific Corrective Consistent Accurate

15. The Traits and Assessment The 6-Trait rubrics can be used by: Self, peer, teacher To assess: A single trait, a group of traits, all the traits The 6-Trait rubrics can also be used as: • A tool for vertical and horizontal curriculum alignment • An instrument for grade-level, school, or district measurement Assessment is not the end of the writing process. • It is the bridge to revision. • 6-Trait Writing is all about revision!

16. What do we value? Read your sample: • What do you notice about this student’s writing? • Identify its major strengths and weaknesses. • Share your observations with a partner. • Discuss what advice you would give this writer. • What grade level is this writer? What was the prompt?

17. The grading dilemma: if I assign more writing, don’t I have to do more (ugh) grading? • Philosophical response: • View writing as not only a way to assess, but as an aid to learning – as part of the path from the assign to the assess. • We shouldn’t be graded for taking the time to flesh something out, to experiment, to conjecture. Mistakes are an essential part of learning! (think: learning to ride a bike, to knit, to parent, to teach) • Ask how you can hold accountable without grading extensively. • Do athletic coaches or music teachers grade the practice efforts?

18. The grading dilemma: if I assign more writing, don’t I have to do more (ugh) grading? • Practical response: • Grade one paragraph of a rough draft • Sample 10 learning logs one week, 10 the next, etc. • Ask students to choose their three best entries (without warning) for spot-grading • Give a + for a thoughtful response in a blog, a – for an apathetic response, a 0 for no response

19. “If the amount kids write is limited by what teachers have time to grade, there’s no way they’ll write enough to learn curriculum content.” -William Strong

20. For discussion at your tables: What is our current practice? What can we STOP doing? What should we do MORE of? Who needs to do what? (responsibilities) By when (timelines and deadlines) What resources are needed?

21. Break

22. Closing the Implementation Gap • Important Element of Assessment • Conferencing – the challenge is . . . The goal is . . . • Proficient: Five minute conferences with each student once per month AND I record needs for class mini-lessons • Progressing: Five minute conferences with each student once per month AND I keep track of needs in a systematic way • Does Not Meet Standards: Conference with students once per quarter, conferences are informal and do not address specific needs • Exemplary: Regular cycle of conferences (2x/month) with needs tracked by both me and student. Feedback/corrective teaching connects directly to specific student work. We also communicate in between F2F conferences digitally.

23. Backwards Design Identify desired results Determine acceptable evidence Plan experiences and instruction

24. Setting Goals for Assessment Material studied during unit, but unlikely to be emphasized beyond this unit Material related to what student know and should be able to do as a result of unit (facts, concepts, principles, skills) Big ideas and abstract concepts within key curricular areas that students will revisit again and again

25. “Good assessment always begins with a vision of success.” ~Richard Stiggins, Student-Centered Classroom Assessment

26. Identify Desired Results When we understand we: Can EXPLAIN Can INTERPRET Can APPLY Have PERSPECTIVE Can EMPATHIZE Have SELF-KNOWLEDGE

27. Academic Vocabulary Analyze Classify Compare Contrast Define Describe Discuss Evaluate Examine Explain Identify Illustrate Interpret Justify List Outline Reflect Refute Review State Summarize Support Trace

28. Determine Acceptable Evidence Think like an ASSESSOR What would be sufficient and revealing evidence of understanding? How will I be able to distinguish between those who really understand and those who don’t (though they may seem to)? Against what criteria will I distinguish work? What misunderstandings are likely? How will I check for these?

29. Monitoring and Assessment  Informal  Formal  Formative  Summative  Conferencing  Rubrics

30. Continuum of Assessments

31. “We must constantly remind ourselves that the ultimate purpose of evaluation is to enable students to evaluate themselves.” ~Arthur Costa

32. Nuts and Bolts of Rubrics • NOT a checklist of required elements • Analytic • Scaled descriptors: • Should indicate what the student work looks like • Should use specific language – what does “adequate” mean • Consider weighting categories • Fewer than 5 categories (assessed) is good . . . • 3 is better.

33. What should it look like? Try putting the rubric puzzle together . . . What do we notice?

34. Using Rubrics Provide students with the rubric BEFORE they write Spend time practicing with descriptors Balance your point values (consider using a Marzano scale) Practice scoring with models and non-models in class Ask students yes/no questions as they look at the rubric

35. “Assessment is not the private property of teachers. Kids can learn to evaluate their own writing. They must take part in this . . . it is central to the growth of writing. Even before they write, they need to know about what makes writing strong or effective. And they need to know the criteria by which their own writing will be judged.” ~ Marjorie Frank

36. Break

37. Content Area Writing Strategies Writing to Learn Quickwrites (diagnostic + expressive) Metacognitive Logs Paraphrasing Summary Digital Communication R.A.F.T. Writing in the Disciplines Content-specific products (labs, recipes, stories, dialogues, etc.) Structured Paragraphs/Essays: analysis comparison persuasion Quiz/Test Responses

38. Let’s Review the Traits of Good Writing

39. Teaching Ideas For students to arrive at good content, we must help them: • Select an idea (the topic) • Narrow the idea (focus) • Elaborate on the idea (development) • Discover the best information to convey the idea (details)

40. “When I was in school I thought details were just extra words to add in a story to make it better. I thought detail was decoration or wallpaper . . . Details are not wallpaper; they are walls.” ~Barry Lane

41. Narrowing the Idea: R.A.F.T. • R.A.F.T. stands for . . . • Role of the writer • Audience for the piece of writing • Format of the material • Topic or subject of the piece of writing • Example: You are Jerry Spinelli, author of the delightful novel, Stargirl. Design a three-part advertising campaign that will assist you and your publisher to convince one of the major movie studios to buy the movie rights and make a feature film based on the book.

42. Teaching Organization Strategies for effective organization include: • Beginning with an inviting and focusing introduction • Providing thoughtful links between key points and ideas • Employing a logical, purposeful, and effective sequence • Controlling the pacing • Closing with a satisfying conclusion

43. Sequencing: Mix It Up Choose a short piece of text—a poem, a magazine article, a short story, etc. Cut the text into pieces so students can move them around like a puzzle. Ask students, in groups, to put the parts in order. Which comes first, second, third, last? How do you know? If students disagree, discuss the different ways students have organized the parts. Are they logical and effective?

44. Teaching Voice • Voice emerges when the writer: • Allows the writing to sound like him/herself • Shows that he/she really cares about the idea • Writes with energy and enthusiasm • Writes with the reader in mind • Takes risks to make the writing memorable • Matches the writing to its audience and purpose

45. Teaching Voice Voice In, Voice Out: Give students a piece of text that lacks voice (instruction manual, textbook, memo, etc.) and invite them to add as much voice as possible. Read the two versions aloud and discuss the differences. Try it the other way, too—have students remove the voice from a strong piece of writing.

46. “The difference between the almost-right word and the right word is really a large matter—it’s the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.” ~Mark Twain

47. Sentence Fluency “Writing is hard work. A clear sentence is no accident. Very few sentences come out right the first time, or even the third time.” ~William Zinsser, On Writing Well

48. Sentence Stretching Ask each student to write a simple sentence of 4-5 words at the top of a sheet of paper. (Example: Matthew ate a pizza.) Students pass the paper to the next student who must add or change one element to make the sentence more specific and interesting. After the paper has been passed to 10-12 people, it is returned to the original owner. Students write their revised sentences on the board for all to see.

49. Teaching Conventions Teaching students the correct use of conventions includes lessons that focus on: • Spelling correctly when publishing work • Applying basic capitalization rules with consistency • Using appropriate punctuation marks to guide the reader • Using appropriate grammatical structures to communicate ideas clearly and convincingly

50. Tips for Teaching Conventions Get a good sense of what students know and what they still need to learn. Teach the skills that are developmentally appropriate for students to add to their repertoire of conventions. Allow for plenty of practice, time to experiment, and opportunities to apply the new skills in their writing. Hold students accountable for the specific skills for which they have an understanding. Use wall charts and mentor texts.