Six Traits Intro PPT Yes

Introduction to Six Traits
• What is it?
• Who developed it?
• What is its purpose?
• Which Six Traits model
are we using?
• How does Six Traits fit
with Calkins?

What is Six Traits?
Six Traits is
• an assessment tool
• “a method of looking at the main characteristics of
writing and assessing them independent from one
another.” R. Culham, The 6 + 1 Trait Model
• “an assessment tool that works in concert with the
curriculum.” It was “never intended to be the writing
curriculum.” R. Culham

The most common method of assessing
writing is holistic assessment. Typically, a
composition is read, evaluated according to a
list of criteria, and assigned a number on a
scale estimating its quality relative to the
criteria.

Holistic Assessment
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fourth grade paper, might be
given a 3 on scale of 1 to 4,
suggesting that on the whole
it is a fairly good paper for a
student this age.
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Analytic Assessment
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Six Traits is an analytic
assessment tool. That means
that each characteristic of a
piece of writing is evaluated
separately. For instance, in
an analytic model we might
look first at organization:
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Organization
Focus
√ Central idea clearly stated in introductory
paragraph
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Development
√ A single example illustrating main idea is
developed in depth over several paragraphs
√ Lots of details give the reader a clear picture
of the action
√ The narrator includes his reaction
Analysis
√ Writer generalizes lesson / assigns larger
meaning to this experience
Focus
√ Central idea restated with added twist.
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Organization
and conclude that that this paper
is well organized.
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Similarly, in an analytic
assessment we would look at
other characteristics, such as
• Idea Development
• Word choice
• Voice
• Sentence fluency
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• Conventions

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and make a determination about each
of the other characteristics.
Generally speaking, the information
we get using analytic assessment is
much more detailed and useful than
that gleaned from holistic assessment.
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Where did Six Traits come from?
The Six Traits model was developed in the 1980s by a
group of researchers at the Northwest Regional
Educational Laboratory (NWREL)in Portland, Oregon.
It is derived from the work of Paul Diederich, Alan
Purves, and other writing researchers who studied and
wrote extensively about the characteristics of writing
beginning in the 1970’s.

NWREL researchers focused on the notion of empirical
evidence observable evidence within the composition
itself as the basis for useful analytic assessment.
They focused on six specific characteristics or qualities
of writing:

Ideas
The content of the piece of writing the heart of the message.

Organization
The internal structure of the piece, the thread of meaning, the
logical pattern of the ideas.

Voice
The singular style that the writer brings to bear in the piece,
revealing his or her feelings and convictions toward the
subject matter.

Word Choice
The words, phrases, and expressions the writer incorporates
into his or her writing. We often think of word choice as
“rich,” “colorful,” “precise,” or “evocative.”

Sentence Fluency
The flow of the language, the sound of the word patterns the
way the writing plays to the ear, not just to the eye.

Conventions
The correctness of the piece… the extent to which the writer
uses grammar and mechanics with precision.

What is the purpose of Six
Traits?
Ultimately, by adopting a common assessment tool we hope to
• Develop a shared understanding of what “good” writing
looks like
• Use a common vocabulary across grades and across
disciplines to describe qualities of writing
• Practice assessing with consistency and accuracy
• Provide meaningful feedback to students
• Align assessment with instruction to enhance our
teaching of writing.

Which Six Traits Model are we
Using?
A number of iterations of Six Traits have developed
over the past few years. We are using the most widely
used version, the version that was developed by
NWREL manager Ruth Culham and published in her
two books

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The rubrics and the descriptors we are using in Newton
are Culham’s rubrics and descriptors.

How does Six Traits fit
with Calkins?
The simple answer is, it fits beautifully. Ruth
Culham is a fan of Lucy Calkins’ and quotes
her frequently in her books. She is very clear
that the Six Traits analytic assessment tool is
meant to complement not displace the
writing workshop model.

A few critical things to
know …
• When Culham refers to “6 + 1 Traits of Writing.” She
is referring to Presentation as the additional trait. We
are not using this trait in our model.
• In grades 35, we have added Author’s Craft the
deliberate use of narrative or expository techniques to
enhance storytelling or the delivery of information to
our rubric.

• We have changed Culham’s language slightly in grades
K2. Our five categories of progress are
1 2 3 4
5
Ready to Begin Exploring Developing Expanding Soaring

4. The K2 rubric is a threeyear developmental
continuum. That is, we expect most students to
advance across the rubric over three years. Most
students in kindergarten would not be expected to
advance past the exploring stage by the end of
kindergarten.
1 2 3 4
5
Ready to Begin Exploring Developing Expanding Soaring

5. By design, the 35 rubric has 5 categories
1 2 3 4
5
Beginning Emerging Developing Effective Strong

but descriptors for only categories 1, 3, and 5
1 2 3 4
5
Beginning Emerging Developing Effective Strong

This is to give
teachers added
flexibility in scoring
a piece for a given
trait. If a particular
trait seems to be
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above level 3 but
does not match the
language of level 5,
we will call it a 4.

The 35 rubric is the
same for each grade, but
is meant to be a measure
of gradelevel
sophistication. Over time,
we will develop specific
anchor papers and
exemplars to represent the
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level of sophistication for
each grade.
We would expect most
students to perform in the
4 or 5 band for most traits
by the end of the year.

Finally,
• When scoring student work in the classroom, it is acceptable, even
advisable, to shade the difference between two categories as you feel
necessary. That is, you may assign a score of 4/5 or 4+ to a paper that
seems to be not quite a 5 but fairly close for a given trait. After all,
the purpose of this tool is to give accurate, differentiated feedback in a
positive way.
For the purposes of today’s workshop, we would ask that you assign
only whole category scores to each paper for each trait. That is, for
today’s training session, please assign a score of 3 or 4, not a 3/4.
Talk over discrepancies with your colleagues and try to make a
decision.

Introduction to Six Traits
The End

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Six Traits Intro PPT Yes

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