6 Trait Information
Resources
AEA 11 Books & Professional Resources
Other Trade Books, Websites & Articles
Contact Information
Book & Lesson Database
Heartland Listservs
PowerPoint Presentations

The 6+1 Traits (TM), developed by the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory (NWREL), is an analytical writing system developed for teachers and students to instruct and assess important components of skillful writing. The traits are:

Voice: The personal tone and flavor of the author's message.
Ideas: The heart of the message.
Organization: The internal structure of the piece.
Word choice: The vocabulary chosen to convey meaning.
Sentence fluency: The rhythm and flow of the language.
Conventions: The mechanical correctness.
Presentation: How the writing actually looks on the page.

Definitions:
Click here for definitions of each of the traits.

Heartland AEA 11 is committed to providing training opportunities and resources to educators using 6+1 Traits (TM) as a teaching and assessment tool. The web pages listed below have been created to assist teachers in the classroom.

Resources at Heartland AEA 11

Children's/Young Adult Books:
Children's/young adult books are available for checkout for schools in the Heartland service area. Click on the traits listed below for a pdf minicatalog (with annotations, reading level, and interest level). You can print the minicatalog, send it as an e-mail attachment, or file it electronically for later reference. Don't forget, this is just a sampling of some of the wonderful books that are available to teach each of the traits. Many of these titles will also be available at your school or public library.

Click on the trait for a pdf minicatalog (updated 12-30-05):
Voice (125 titles)
Ideas (139 titles)
Organization (93 titles)
Word choice (98 titles)
Sentence fluency (64 titles)
Conventions (31 titles)
Presentation (26 titles)

Professional Library:
Click here for a minicatalog of professional books and inservice videos with strategies, activities, and research.

Websites and journal articles:
Click here for websites.
Click here for links to full-text journal articles on 6+1 TRAITS and the reading/writing connection.

6+1 TRAITS Data Management:
Click here for a spreadsheet that teachers can use to give scores by a particular trait. This Excel spreadsheet was developed by Mary Schmidt. Teachers will be able to:

^{Determine a student's point total per trait.
Determine a student's adjusted trait percentage by trait.
Determine a student's average adjusted trait percentage across traits to assign a writing grade for the term.
Determine class averages for each assignment within a trait and class averages for trait totals, adjusted trait percentages by trait, and overall adjusted trait percentages.
Graph individual and/or group data.}

Listserv:
Sign up for the 6+1 TRAIT listserv to share activities and resources with other teachers. Click here to subscribe.

Book and Lesson Database:
Click here for the database. This resource is designed for teachers to share the books and lessons they have used in the classroom. Teachers can do a search of the database by title, author, trait, grade level, or subject. Teachers are also encouraged to add a book and/or lesson to the database.
The database works best with Microsoft Explorer for Macintosh and Windows. To download Microsoft Explorer please click here.

Contacts:
Contact a Heartland AEA 11 consultant about 6+1 TRAITS information and/or training.

Please note: these resources are available for schools in the Heartland AEA service area.