Reveal "Good" Writing Before Students Write
Monday, March 23rd, 2009

No matter what grade-level you teach, no matter what the subject matter is, no matter what genre you are teaching -- you want to show students an example of a "good one" before they write. Besides just modeling a teacher example, reveal an actual student example or anchor paper. Give [read more...]

Writing Teacher Websites
Wednesday, December 10th, 2008

These sites have a lot to offer. Many are grade-level based for easy reference. One acts as a quick reference guide for MLA style, APA style, Judging Sources, and Research Links. There are many writing teacher resources tucked into these websites. [read more...]

Rubric & Assessment Websites
Wednesday, December 10th, 2008

K-2 teachers will love this analytic writing rubric that measures growth from pictures & scribbles to simple sentences. This site allows teachers to practice scoring K-12 student writing samples using the 6-Traits Analytic Rubric. Then, you can compare your scores [read more...]

Writing Prompt Websites
Tuesday, June 10th, 2008

Although not full-fledged prompts, this site includes a list of hundreds of writing topics. With a little revision, these could become prompts, or use them as ideas to spark your writers. Love this list of writing topics, sorted by grade-level appropriateness. Although not [read more...]

Picture Book Website
Tuesday, June 10th, 2008

This site identifies teachers’ favorite picture books for working with the 6 Traits. Each set of titles is not only sorted by trait but also identifies those better for primary or the intermediate/secondary grades. Ruth Culham has identified her favorite Scholastic picture books for teaching the traits. [read more...]

Anchor Paper Websites
Friday, June 6th, 2008

After selecting your grade-level range (K-5 or 6-8), then look for the key word “Benchmark Papers.” The anchor papers within this site are sorted by grade-level and by genre. And each set gives you a couple in the middle and a low sample all to the same writing prompt. NOTE: Conventions within all [read more...]

Mini-Lesson & Teaching Strategy Websites
Friday, June 6th, 2008

Nancy Herta has published two books full of motivating mini-lessons! Toying With Writing and Toying With Writing Two outline mini-lesson strategies that utilize children’s toys (crayons, Matchbox car, Slinky, Mr. Potato Head, etc.) as lesson triggers. The books also identify the 6-Traits [read more...]

Other Websites to Support the 6 Traits of Writing
Friday, June 6th, 2008

Scroll down this page for many trait resources. There is so much here…trait-based mini-lessons; picture books recommended for teaching the traits; anchor papers for the K-2 classroom; and much more! This site also has some links to other writing trait websites. There is even a link [read more...]