6+1 Traits^TM of Writing

The 6+1 Traits^TM, developed by the Education Northwest, 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; and Presentation: How the writing actually looks on the page.

Resources at Heartland AEA 11

To help promote successful teaching of writing using the 6+1 Traits^TM, Heartland Area Education Agency is offering the following resources to support educators. Please note these resources are available for schools in the Heartland AEA service area.

• 6+1 Traits Data Management
  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.
• Book & Lesson 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.
• Children's and Young Adult Books
• Journal Articles on 6+1 Traits
• Mini Catalog of Professional Books and Inservice Videos ^{_{(  28kB)}}
• Website Resources

Contact Information

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