Learning Center
writing
Discover 6-Traits resources for the secondary teacher
february 8, 2010
Ruth Culham, also known as The Trait Lady, published a 6+1 Traits of Writing book specifically for the secondary teacher. Traits of Writing: The Complete Guide for Middle School includes the same components as the companion books for primary and intermediate grades–definitions for each trait, anchor papers for each trait, mini-lesson ideas per trait, scoring rubrics per trait, picture book ideas per trait, and more!
A second favorite resource for the MS/HS teacher is Teaching Literary Elements with Picture Books, by Susan Van Zile. It targets key skills including point of view, theme, voice, imagery, simile, metaphor, personification, irony, satire, hyperbole, onomatopoeia, etc. Not only does this book give great mini-lesson ideas and activities, but, for every skill, the author suggests picture book titles that would be fabulous mentor text examples.
Additional trait-based middle school resources written by Ruth Culham include:
- 100 Trait-Specific Comments: Middle School
- Using Benchmark Papers to Teach Writing With the Traits: Middle School
- Using Mentor Texts to Teach Writing With the Traits: Middle School
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Introduce “good” writing by defining the 6 Traits
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Include publishing: The +1 of 6+1 Writing
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