Improving Student Writing Skills - cse crafts

Teaching Using the Traits of Good Writing
One of the dangers in using the Traits of Good Writing is
in the potential for each student to receive a hodge-podge
of lessons, without a focused goal. On one assignment, a
student may show the need for help with Organization,
which you give as part of a small group lesson. On the
next assignment, it looks like the student could use
significant work on Word Choice, which you find time
to offer individually. In large group lessons, you insert
grammar and writing process strategies. Certainly, the
student is consistently receiving quality instruction, but
how can you ensure that the instruction is affecting the
student’s skills? A simple solution is to monitor the evolution
of trait-based assessment scores throughout the
year (Hoover, 2001).
The Seven-Trait Progress Chart on page 120 can also help
you stay organized. Keep the Seven-Trait Progress Chart
on hand while assessing students’ completed work. Note
their scores on the progress chart and refer to it as a master
list. If administrators, parents, or support staff have
questions as to a student’s relative level or growth as a
writer, you can easily refer them to the progress chart.
In addition, you can use the chart to demonstrate classroom
levels as a whole. The Seven-Trait Progress Chart
provides a visual representation of your entire class, and
as such is a good tool to use when planning mini lessons
and small group lessons. Pinpoint your students’ difficulties
and teach mini lessons on these topics.
Also, by noticing students’ scores across a number of
assignments, you will get a clear picture of which traits
each student consistently scores high and low on. Perhaps
you will choose to target Ideas rather than Conventions
with a lesson based on a student’s score history, even
though the scores for these two traits on the most recent
assignment are the same.
However, the chart brings with it the possibility of
influencing assessment scores. Despite our best efforts,
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