Today I did a writing lesson on voice with my students. Each of the members of my Professional Learning Community (PLC) decided to choose a trait from the 6 +1 Traits of Writing and teach a lesson as a way to become more familiar with the traits. I chose voice because I find that while it is the easiest of all the traits to identify it is the hardest to teach. The lesson I used came from the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory (NWREL) www.nwrel.org. NWREL is the developer of the 6 + 1 Traits of Writing. Although I am very familiar with the 6 traits and have used them with my students and in my work with teachers over the years, I do not rely on the 6 rubrics to determine my writing program. At the same time, I find that the language of the 6 traits can help children assess their writing and those of their classmates. Of course, it's not necessary to use this particular language but it is important to develop terminology with your students so that when you talk about t...
This blog is a place to ruminate on the problems of teaching. If I am thinking thoughtfully, my posts will hopefully raise more questions than answers. By problematizing teaching we reflect on those questions that are constantly behind, in front, and at center of everything we do in the classroom. Feel free to comment. I'd love to hear what other teachers are thinking about on these and other issues. Cheers! Elisa