Learning Center
writing
See the 6 Traits within the College and Career-Ready ELA Standards
february 6, 2024
The 6 Traits are simply six categories. The greatest advantages of teaching with the trait language is that it helps teachers:
- To establish a common understanding of what is “good” writing.
- To plan their writing instruction, prioritizing the most important skills first.
- To offer precise feedback when assessing student writing.
The power in the writing traits is that they can organize dozens of writing skills into one of six categories. This helps streamline all facets of writing instruction and assessment.
However, the hard part is knowing which skills go with which traits. Here’s a resource that may help. Download a breakdown of the K-12 writing standards, sorted by the Six Traits of Writing. Within each page of the download, the skills (as noted in grade-level standards) are listed that correspond with the particular writing trait, identified at the top of the page. (How to read this document.)
- Common Core State Standards | Color-Coded by Traits | Organized by 6 Traits
- California Common Core K-5 Standards organized the by 6 Traits
- Florida B.E.S.T. ELA Standards color coded for the 6 Traits (Google Docs)
- Indiana 2023 Academic Standards color-coded by the 6 Traits
- Kentucky K-8 Language Arts Standards by the 6 Traits
- Massachusetts K-12 Language Arts Standards by the 6 Traits
- Ohio K-12 Learning Standards organized by the 6 Traits
- Tennessee K-12 Writing Standards color coded for the 6 Traits
- Texas TEKS K-8 Writing Standards color coded for the 6 Traits (Updated 2020)
- Wisconsin Standards Color-Coded by Trait (2022)
For those of you working to weave the 6-Traits language into your writer’s workshops, this will give you a guide as to which trait to label each skill and where to fit the skill within your yearlong bulletin boards.
Would love 6-8 Six-Traits Standards for Kentucky
Brendan,
Thank you for inquiring about the 6-8 standards for Kentucky. They’ve been updated in the list.