Writing Resources

            Students will be creating their personal resource book this year in a 3-subject notebook. All printed materials handed out, as well as notes taken will be placed in their own spirals.

Brainstorming

The student brainstorms, including:

¨       Determining the parameters of the writing assignment

¨       Individually, in pairs or in groups, listing potential ideas

¨       Narrowing down ideas to one, strong topic

Prewriting

The student pre-writes, including:

¨       Organizing ideas using thinking maps, outlines, or other graphic organizers

¨       Students must also be given several opportunities to choose their own organizational structure/structures and to respond to prompts.

Drafting

The student writes a 1^st draft.

¨       Student focuses on one or more (not all) of the "Six+1 Traits" rubric elements to make revisions for classmates' writing (peer revision conference).

SIX +1 Traits Writing Assessment

The student evaluates his/her composition using the "Six+ 1 Traits" rubric.

¨       Ideas

1.       Quality- builds upon ideas to develop depth

2.       Clear sense of purpose

3.       Details that matter

4.       Appropriate narrowing of topic

5.       Clarity and control

6.       Focus and coherence – flow within individual paragraphs and composition as a whole

7.       A sense of completeness

8.       Interesting to read

9.       Fresh and original

10.   Substance and accuracy

¨       Organization

1.       Unforgettable leads

2.       Progression of thought smooth and controlled

3.       Logical sequencing

4.       Meaningful use of transitions

5.       Pacing is under control

6.       Blending ideas /combining paragraphs

7.       Satisfying conclusion (so what?)

8.       Organizational strategy/strategies enhance ideas

¨       Voice

1. Suits audience and topic
2. Strong interaction with the reader
3. Engaging
4. Authentic and original
5. Individual, unique
6. Honest, committed, responsive

¨       Word Choice

1.       Precise language

2.       "Just the right word"

3.       Strong and powerful words, especially verbs and nouns

4.       Visual and other sensory language

5.       Literary devices and figurative language

6.       Original and deliberate choices that fit smoothly

¨       Sentence Fluency

1.       Rhythmic flow and natural cadence (easy and natural to read aloud)

2.       Smooth phrasing

3.       Well-built sentences

4.       Variety of sentence structures

5.       Sentence length enhances meaning

6.       Words, phrases, sentence structure enhances effectiveness

¨       Conventions

1.       Consistent command of spelling, capitalization, punctuation, grammar/usage, and paragraphing (indenting)

2.       Control enhances effectiveness of idea and brings out style

3.       Shows more than just the “basics”

4.       Experimentation works well

¨       Presentation (+1)

1.       Overall effect on the viewer/reader

2.       Visual impact as a page, website or PowerPoint

3.       Use of white space and arrangement

4.       Layout, formatting: margins, fonts, type size, headings

5.       Effect of pictures, diagrams, illustrations

6.       Handwriting

Revising

The student revises the draft based on his or her evaluation using the 6+1 Traits (above)

¨       Adding, elaborating, deleting, combining, and rearranging text.

¨       Checking for coherence, progression, and logical support of ideas.

¨       Participating in peer conferencing, teacher conferencing.

Editing

¨       Student edits the revised draft by correcting errors in conventions (punctuation, grammar, capitalization, and spelling), with an emphasis on the grade-level non-negotiable conventions.

¨       Selects and uses reference materials and resources as needed for writing, revising, and editing final drafts

¨       Uses one or more of the Six+1 Traits rubric elements to edit and make revisions for classmates' writing (peer editing conference)

¨       Student evaluates his/her final draft using part of or all the Six+ 1 Traits rubric.

Publishing

¨       Student publishes the final draft for various and specific audiences.

¨       Student may publish in a variety of formats and mediums.

RATIOCINATION CHECK LIST FOR EDITING

1.  Highlight all the “to be” verbs.  Put the number of the verbs at the top of the page and eliminate half of them.

2.  Box the end punctuation in red.  Combine at least one sentence.  Look for sentence fragments and run-on sentences.

3.  Circle each misspelled word.  Read the paper backward to check spelling.  Use the dictionary and write the correct spelling on the line above the misspelled word.

4. [Bracket] each sentence beginning.  Change at least one sentence.  Example: start the sentence with a prepositional or introductory phrase.  Check your grammar book for examples.

5. Place a wavy line under repeated words (three times or more).  Reword the sentence, use synonyms or a Thesaurus to replace the repeated word.

6.  “X” out: a lot, kind of, sort of, get, got, very, really, things, and stuff.  Replace these

words that have precise or exact meanings.

7. Put “pronouns” in a triangle.  Check for the antecedent (the noun which the pronoun “it” refers to) to make sure they agree.

8.  Underline all proper nouns (specific people, places, things, and ideas) and check for capitalization.

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