Strategies for the Writing Teacher

Introducing the 6 Traits of Writing

Is this good? Am I done? Is this what you want? If the student doesn’t know what “good” writing is, he doesn’t know how to achieve it. This session outlines the six researched ingredients of all good writing— ideas, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, and conventions. During this training, teachers see the traits come alive in student writing samples and are able to draw connections between the traits and their state standards and writing rubrics.

Getting Started with the 6 Traits

Although the teacher may know of the 6 Traits, it is necessary to establish this common language with students, too. The power of the 6 traits is that it provides a common writer’s language between teachers and students. This training provides a strategy for rolling out the trait language in the classroom, including how many days to spend on each trait, the order of introduction, ways to incorporate related picture books, ideas for starting and maintaining environmental resources, and more.

Kicking Off Your Writing Year (The Launch)

This workshop will equip the writing teacher with a road map for the beginning of the school year that outlines a powerful "First 20 Days of Writing," including procedures to set the tone for writer independence, methods of introducing writer’s notebooks, strategies to introduce the 6 traits of writing, and more. During this training The Launch will come to life through documented photos, original instructional materials, and authentic student artifacts from the classroom. Teachers leave with their first month of writing instruction planned.

Managing a Writer’s Workshop

The key to a successful writer’s workshop is the management behind it. More than just theory or philosophy, this training offers teacher–tested strategies that work. Participants will learn procedural lessons that establish the tone of an effective writer’s workshop. These strategies include ways to handle the “needy” spellers, the “I’m done” writers, and the “I don’t have a topic” kids. Not only will teachers learn ways to make their writers more independent, but there is also a heavy focus on managing writer conferences.

Delivering Dynamic Mini-Lessons in Writing

Everyone says they teach “mini-lessons,” but what are they really? And what do you do during a mini-lesson? What does a good mini-lesson look like? How long is a mini-lesson? How do you cram all the instructional points into a single mini-lesson? And how do you keep all these lessons organized? This training offers practical tips on creating and delivering dynamic mini-lessons for any grade. In addition, teachers will receive numerous mini-lesson ideas that can be used immediately with their own students.

Modeling Live Classroom Mini-Lessons

It’s one thing to hear about delivering effective mini-lessons. What teachers really want is to see an effective mini-lesson modeled with real students in a live classroom setting. With this training model, teachers observe as a Smekens consultant conducts a 10-15 minute writing mini-lesson addressing a skill of the teacher’s choice. Following the lesson model, observing teachers debrief with the consultant for a few moments to ask questions and make comments about the lesson itself. During the debriefing the consultant also discusses what she would do next with this group of writers to continue targeting the skill in future lessons. NOTE: The day’s schedule can be created to include numerous lesson models conducted back-to-back in order to increase the quantity of lessons teachers can observe in one day.

Guiding Students through the Writing Process

There is no one way to build a writer. Instead, teachers need multiple strategies to teach, support, and encourage writers. This workshop focuses on classroom-tested methods to troubleshoot key writer weaknesses. These methods include increasing the effectiveness of students’ pre-writing skills, their peer conference conversations, their focus on revision, and their self-editing skills. Teachers will also acquire ideas to make conferences more manageable and publishing less cumbersome.

Weaving the 6 Traits into the ELA Curriculum

Once teachers have dabbled with the traits in their writing classrooms, a new question emerges – How do I organize the 6 traits within my English–language arts curriculum? In this workshop, teachers learn how to embed the traits within the writing curriculum and the different writing units they cover (e.g. narrative writing, persuasive writing, letter writing, etc.). For K-1 teachers this training is similar, although the discussion is on how to weave the traits into the developmental stages of drawing, labeling, listing, sentence writing, etc.

Using Picture Books to Teach Writing

Utilizing a picture book or excerpt from a novel is not an uncommon practice when teaching writing. It is powerful to show students examples of mentor texts that exemplify the skill being taught. However, it can be overwhelming to decide which text to use and how to logistically incorporate it into a 10-minute mini-lesson. This training reveals the four-step process for dissecting any text to target grade-level writing skills, along with organizational strategies that make this process manageable.

Assessing Writing in the 6-Traits Classroom

Whether teachers have utilized writing rubrics for years, or never heard of the “R” word, this workshop will reveal how easily rubrics can be incorporated into the writing classroom. Additionally, teachers will learn to create “kid-friendly” rubrics, ways to revise the rubrics as writers grow, methods to convert writing scores to grades, and how to use the scores to drive future mini-lesson instruction.

Targeting the Test-Writing Genre

Preparing students for standardized testing requires a standards-based instructional approach. But when it comes to the writing portion of the test, how can you get them ready? Writing to a prompt requires students to apply all their writing skills in one sitting on demand. Helping students bring their best to the writing part of the test requires specific classroom instruction. Learn how to target the Smekens Top 10 list of test-writing essential skills with this one-day workshop.

Developing an Effective Data Collection Process

Many districts are utilizing all-school/all-district writing prompts to track student writing growth. However, establishing such a process requires careful consideration to the frequency of prompting, the selection of rubrics, a method for establishing scoring consistency among teachers, a purpose for the data collected, and so much more! Our consultants walk hand-in-hand with writing committees or staffs to develop a strong local-assessment piece to support an academic improvement plan.

Customize Your On-Site Workshop

Director of Professional Development Brady Smekens is ready to help match your school with the consultant who is best qualified to meet your unique professional development needs.

Call Brady toll free: 1-888-376-0448.

Meet Our Consultants

Kristina Smekens

Teachers feel empowered and encouraged after working with Kristina. She is an expert at developing practical ways for K-12 teachers to apply research-based literacy strategies.
Learn More About Kristina | Email Kristina

Courtney Gordon

Known both for her enthusiasm and expertise, Courtney is a dynamic presenter whose practical strategies resonate with teachers across the K-12 spectrum.
Learn More About Courtney | Email Courtney

Kristi McCullough

A passion for teaching and learning is what drives Kristi, who consistently leaves teachers both excited and well-equipped to apply new literacy ideas in their PK-6 classrooms.
Learn More About Kristi | Email Kristi