Hey it's me again. I'm going to tell you about the Six Traits of Writing. I want to tell people about them because they've helped me with my blogs by helping with organized paragraphs.They are:
Ideas and Contents: It is the first trait and step of writing. It's when you think about your topic and jot down your ideas. And then think about a way to get them organized.EX.
Read the story below -
I went on vacation this summer. It was a lot of fun. We camped at night and hiked during the day. It was exciting to be in the woods and I hope that I go again next year.
Was this an interesting story? Write down any questions you have after reading.
Example questions:
- Where did the writer go?
- Who else went?
- What made it fun?
- What was the weather like?
- What is the most memorable event?
Organization: This is when you organize your sentences/details to make it faster and easier to read your paper. Also if you don't organize your paper will look like a pig pen.EX.
Read the story below.
Jack used the money from the golden eggs to help his family. He crept inside only to find a scowling giant holding a hen that laid golden eggs. A huge beanstalk grew to the sky. Luckily, Jack reached the bottom first. They all lived happily ever after. When Jack got to the top, he spotted a beautiful castle. He started chasing after Jack. He waited until the giant took a nap and then snatched the magic bird. Jack was so excited, he climbed up to the top of the beanstalk. So, Jack raced to the beanstalk and began to scurry down to safety. The giant climbed down after him. The giant woke up! Jack decided to steal the hen. Jack grabbed an ax and chopped down the beanstalk. Once upon a time Jack planted some magic beans. The giant fell and was never heard from again.
Did you have trouble following this story? It is not organized effectively. The writer's ideas are not in order.
Voice: Is the type of style/flavor in your writing. It's like people can hear your voice in your writing.EX.
Read the two stories below and decide which author grabs and holds your attention.
I went canoeing with friends. They brought their dog. It was hot outside. The water felt good. The dog liked to play in the water with us. We all got wet. It was fun!
One sizzling August afternoon my friends and I cruised down the Wisconsin River on a bright red canoe. Their energetic golden retriever, Paddington, rode along with us. Whenever one of us would shout, "Switch sides," Paddington would jump up and dance around. One time he leaped so high, he tipped the bouncing boat. We all flopped into the water splashing and laughing like baby seals. What fun!
Which story was more fun to read? In the second story you could hear the writer's voice. The author's enthusiasm made it easy for readers to imagine what was happening.
Word Choice: It's when you use exciting,exquisite words not just boring old ones.EX.
Read the following paragraph.
The big bear stood by the water. He looked at his shadow in the big lake. He thought that he looked nice. He went to take a drink of water. A fish went by. The bear wanted to eat the big fish. He ate up the fish and went away.
You probably noticed that the author used words that were not that exciting.
Sentence Fluency: When the sentences of your paper are different lengths and not all the same making the paper more exciting to read.EX.
Read this next paragraph aloud.
My horse is white. He has one blue eye and one brown eye. He is friendly. He likes when we brush him. He snuggles his nose into us when we brush him. He is fun to ride. He is my horse and I am glad.
You probably noticed that most of the sentences started the same way. Think of some different ways to change these sentences to make the story easier and more fun to read aloud.
My friendly horse, Flash, has one blue eye and one brown eye. This majestic white creature loves when I brush his soft coat. I can tell because he snuggles his nose into me and whinnies. He also loves to race through the corn fields behind our barn. Whoosh! Flash gallops through the stalks like a Nascar racer flying around a speedway. I clutch his mane and shriek with laughter. He is a wonderful horse!
This story had different sentence beginnings and added a bit more detail. It made the story more interesting for the reader.
Conventions: When you check over the paper to make sure that there are no errors.EX.Spelling,Peculation,Capitalization, and Paragraphing and Grammar.EXX.
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Read the paragraph below. i went to the beech this sumer with my friends? we brout our towls and a piknik lunch we had fun swiming to the dok and makeing sand castles the best part of the day was wen we saw the ice cream cart we all got an ice creem sandwich. it was a great day at the beach Rewrite this paragraph editing it for spelling, punctuation, spacing, grammar and capitalization. Add your own title. Your edited copy will be much easier for others to follow! And those are the 6 traits of writing. I hope they will help you! Was there anything I missed? |
Awesome with exercises and examples.
You remind me of Stephen Fry's The Ode Less Travelled.
The Traits of Writing come in very usefully for poetry as well as book reviews.
"I went to the beach this summer with my friends. We brought our towels and a picnic lunch. We had fun swimming to the dock, and we made sandcastles. The best part of the day was when we went to the ice cream cart and got an ice cream sandwich. It was a great day at the beach!"
And exquisite is a very good way to describe your word choice, Jason! I can think of other words too like elegant, graceful, unobstrusive and so on.
Posted by: Bronwyn G | April 27, 2006 at 05:23 PM
Jason,
I give you a standing ovation for this piece of writing! Excellent!
Mrs. Davis
Posted by: Anne Davis | May 04, 2006 at 11:54 AM