Introduction to 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 will outline the six researched ingredients of all good writing— ideas, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, and conventions.

I Know the 6-Traits… Now What?

Hanging a classroom poster that identifies the 6-Traits of writing does not improve student writing. Saying the six words or singing the trait songs doesn’t do it. So… now what? This training shows teachers how to introduce the trait language to students of all ages, utilize picture books and mentor text to teach the traits within mini-lessons, embed the traits within the writing curriculum, assess writing using the traits, and more.

Assessing Writing Using 6-Trait Rubrics

Whether teachers have utilized writing rubrics for years, or never heard of the “R” word, this workshop will offer participants multiple methods for scoring writing. Additionally, teachers will learn to create “kid-friendly” rubrics, convert writing scores to grades, utilize classroom assessments to drive mini-lesson instruction, and increase scoring consistency with school-based writing prompts.

The Launch… Kicking Off Your Writing Year

This session will equip the writing teacher with classroom-tested strategies for beginning the school year. Strategies focus on writer’s workshop procedures, key lessons, ways to introduce the 6-Traits, and assessment planning.

Managing a Writer’s Workshop

Is writer’s workshop chaotic? Is keeping everyone on task a struggle? The key to a successful writer’s workshop is the management that underlies it. More than just theory or philosophy, this training offers teacher-tested strategies that work.

Delivering Dynamic Mini-Lessons in Writing

What does a good mini-lesson look like? How do you cram all the instructional points into a single mini-lesson? This session provides answers to these questions. After observing the presenter model multiple examples, participants learn to deliver dynamic mini-lessons for any grade level.

Motivating 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 for developing an effective and independent writer’s workshop where students are driving their own pieces through pre-writing, drafting, revising, editing and publishing.

Targeting the Test-Writing Genre

There is narrative, expository, and persuasive writing… but the newest genre that seems to go unmentioned is the test-writing genre. This workshop will equip teachers to prepare students for using their writing skills on demand, all in one sitting, and to a prompted topic.

Writing Across the Curriculum

When attempting to improve student writing skills, the responsibility cannot lay solely within the area of Language Arts. This workshop reveals content-area strategies that target essential first-draft writing skills and have a direct benefit on the students’ overall understanding and mastery of the subject matter.

Teaching Vocabulary Effectively

There is abundant research to show that when students understand content-area vocabulary, their reading comprehension and writing skills soar. This session will intersperse research throughout a wide sampling of instructional strategies to teach vocabulary effectively.

Connecting Reading and Writing

No one would deny there is a reciprocal nature between reading and writing, but how are they specifically connected? According to research, there are five ingredients to build a strong reader and six traits of strong writing. Learn the specific connectedness of reading and writing, and strategies to target them within the classroom.

Strategies to Improve Nonfiction Reading

Reading is an invisible process. Teachers need ways to make it visible. Learn strategies to empower students, motivate them, and build their confidence before, during and after reading.

Fluency’s Affect on Reading Comprehension

Many students struggle to comprehend what they read because of a lack of fluency. In this training teachers will learn the powerful impact fluency instruction can have, and specific ready-to-go strategies to implement within the classroom immediately.