6+1 Writing: Web Resources by Trait: Organization

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"I think a title is like a magnet. It begins to draw these scraps of experience or conversation or memory to it. Eventually, it collects a book. " Louise Erdrich (1954 -) US-American Indian Chippewa writer, poet .

6+1 TRAIT Writing Education Northwest (The original home for the six traits still has some good resources!)

Chris Meeks on Organization (Internet Gold from the Wayback Machine)

• Structure: A framework for your words by Christopher Meeks
• Seven Steps to Your Second Draft by Christopher Meeks
• More Better Writing Part 2 Ten tips to better writing by Christopher Meeks

The Writing Traits at Writing Fix: 6 + 1 Good Info on all traits, including organization.

WritingFix: Teaching the Skills of Organization The WritingFix is the best!

Stoplight Writing: Graphic Organizers for Paragraph Structure

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Outlining: Before or After? - Choice is the answer~

"One method I use to teach organization is outlining the paper after the first draft. I ask students to write an outline of their paper if it is poorly organized and if they don’t see the lack of organization. "

~ Kathleen Sommers - Teaching and Assessing Writing with the Six Traits, Spring 2013

I responded to Kathleen's post:

Your method of outlining after the first draft makes a great deal of sense. My Eureka Moment is that I (as a student) never experienced this approach. Instead I was always required to write the outline before my first draft.  This never worked for me and permanently put me off outlining. Consequently I never really required/or taught outlining as a teacher. I was a bubbling brainstorming kind of writer and that's what I taught (although I told my kids that if they preferred to outline or list go right ahead.)

Your simple and common sense approach honors the writing process and amplifies the traits approach.

I'm amazed that after all these years this method didn't occur to me. I think had too much scar tissue because of the early demands for outlines before I'd properly generated my ideas and drafted a first splash at the topic.

Anyone else have a similar experience?

This post triggered a cascade of agreement from other writing teachers who struggled with outlining. The simple fix of using an outline after the first draft suddenly seemed self-evident.

Kathleen added a great concluding insight to the conversation:

"I do think it depends on the writer. There are many writers that need to start with the outline first. These writers would be very frustrated if told to write and then outline. It appears the more I learn about writing, the more I am aware there are as many ways to approach writing as there are writers."

I came back with an extension of the idea that wrapped up a very solid discussion.

Kathleen, You make a good point about the need for choice.  Offer your students the opportunity to outline before or after the first draft. Let each writer develop their own process.  The writing process shouldn't be a lock step formula, it's more of a path to help us find our words.

This same approach could be used with any graphic organizer: give the writer a choice, before or after. Building in this bit of organization during the drafting stage is what we are all after.  These ideas make the abstract concrete!

Dennis

Mode + Audience + Voice = Organization

The problem with rote memorization of a writing organizational formula is that it has no context.  The kids don't understand why they are using the form.  They just memorize the basics and stumble on. This usually means they know they need five paragraphs: 1 intro 3 body 1 concluding.  Hardly a universal formula for organizing writing. But that's what is usually taught (and often nothing else.) 

Organization is dictated to a large degree by the mode of writing we are pursuing.  Letters, Poetry, narrative, research, persuasive... all of these modes have forms of organization that we should recognize. 

More importantly, the mode is determined by the audience for the writing.  A reporter isn't going to write a poem about a traffic accident. A research paper isn't going to follow the 5 paragraph format.  

Also, keep in mind that the audience and mode also predict the kind of voice a writer will use.

IF our students understand the concepts of voice, audience, and mode, they will have context for the kinds of organization they need to bring to their writing.  This takes a conceptual understanding of writing, rather than rote memorization of an organizational form. 

Can we teach this? You bet!  We are right now!

Does it make sense? ~ Dennis

Organization: Ruth Culham

A poem about Organization from the 6 + 1 traits of writing: the complete guide By Ruth Culham

Organization

Ideas with focus and details galore. . .

In your head, on paper, on the computer, and more.


Time to think about order, how to get it down right,

There are so many options, you can get writer’s fright.

The ideas need purpose, direction and shaping,

Decisions on how will be all to your making.


Reason and logic, compare and contrast,

Detailed analysis or present to past,

Information you’ve given in just the right doses,

Events proceed logically – no hocus pocus.


Organization is the name of this trait,

From beginning to end and a middle, top-rate.

Transitions, pacing, sequencing, too,

There’s plenty to think out, lots of writing to do.


Five-paragraph themes may seem ever so neat,

But as a way to organize, they’re hardly complete.

Formula writing is nothing so hot,

Try writing with insight, freshness, and thought.



If you think that it’s easy, we’ll just see about that,

Getting it right is like herding cats.


The ideas are out there-now grab them and shake,

Good organization takes skill and imagination to make.

Free Tools for Thinking, Researching, Writing

Intel is creating great tools for educators. You'll find real treasures on their education website.

Here's a link to Intel's Thinking Tools:

http://www.intel.com/education/tools/index.htm?iid=teach+tools

Here is the Education Site Map that provides access to all of their resources:

http://www.intel.com/education/site_support/contents.htm

Bookmark these pages if nothing else. This is an amazing free resource.

I recently reviewed Intel's Technology Literacy Curriculum for alignment to ISTE NETS-S standards.

http://www.intel.com/education/technologyliteracy/

If you're looking for a carefully designed curriculum to teach research and writing skills, this is it. Again this is a free resource. In my opinion it is more than detailed enough to work at the college level. These could be the basis for a very strong semester of instruction.

The curriculum was written for kids 11 -15 years old. Don't let the Technology Literacy title throw you. This is about how to research and write using online and traditional sources.

Dennis

Where writing and music connect...

I wanted to share some ideas about the relationship between writing music and writing prose. This was written by Michael McHugh, a muscian, composer and educator currently working in Japan. Mike is also currently taking my online 6-traits class. (Thank you Mike for letting me post this for everyone!) ~ Dennis

***

It continues to amaze me, as we progress through this course, how many techniques for crafting a great paper can be related to similar techniques for writing interesting pieces of music. The lead, or even the title, of a narrative or essay can make a reader hungry for the story or message that will follow, just as a beginning melody will "hook" a listener within the first few measures of a piece. What follows, of course, will determine whether or not the reader or listener STAYS engaged.

I always tell my IB students not to attempt to title their music compositions--even if they already have a pretty comprehensive idea of where it's going to go--until the piece is at least near completion. They sometimes surprise themselves with where they actually end up in their impressions, and how they finally choose to encapsulate the piece with those few words at the top. And when their peers go to listen to the pieces, there seems to be a sense of intense curiosity about how the title applies--what's going to happen here?

What kills me is that I have never asked any of my students writing their experiential papers on their outside musical activities to attempt to do the same. There is a huge amount of character--"voice"--in much of their work, yet there in the top corner of all of the papers is the same stale "name, due date, assignment name" that I told them to put there, absent any kind of focus or hook to give the reader (which is only me at this stage) that initial jolt of anticipation. I dare say that some students might actually produce more engaging works if they believed they had the choice of giving their papers a more narrative flare (another revelation that I need to make sure to employ this semester).

Roundaboutedly related to the above, I do have a question about leads. Can they be like titles, in that sometimes a student really can't come up with a good one until they have a clearer idea about the direction of their paper? Or should a lead be a part of the student's organizational process from the beginning, as a focusing tool? Is there necessarily a right or a wrong?

Thanks much,

Mike@Kobe, Japan

Six Traits Search Engine

Try this Six Traits Search Engine I built using a social search system called Swicky. You can vote for your favorite materials and suggest sites you'd like included in the search results. Go to the site and click on the keywords in the tag cloud. See what you think! ~ Dennis

Recommended books for Organization

During the Organization Module in the Fall 07 online 6-Traits class, we discussed the importance of leads, titles. One of the best ways to build traits concepts is with examples from great books.

Jeanette, a primary teacher from Alaska posted the following.

On page 8 of Creating Young Writers (Spandel, 2004) it states "A good lead (beginning) is vital." On page 9, Spandel goes on to say, "Skilled writers know that the way you wrap up a piece of writing determines the final impression you make on a reader and often determines whether the piece as a whole has believability." I decided to look at the recommended books for organization on 180 and see how the authors decided to begin and end their stories. If you haven't read some of the recommended books I really suggest you do. They are great. After reading some of them I understood better what makes a great beginning and end. And middle, too.

Brown, Margaret Wise. 1949. The important book. New York: Harper Trophy.

Every year in the halls of the school I taught at there would be "The Most Important Thing" poem display. I always read the poems written by the students, but I never read the book until yesterday. The book is a collection of poems that begin and end with the same statement, "The important thing about a _________ is _________________."


Fleming, Denise. (1997). Time to sleep. New York. Henry Holt and Company.

The story begins with "Bear sniffed once. She sniffed twice. "I smell winter in the air," said bear." What a great statement. I can't wait to ask my students what winter smells like. I'm sure the answers I get from my students in Alaska will be way different than the answers from students in Florida. The ending reminded my of the old tv series The Waltons with all the animals saying "good night" to each other.


French, Vivian. (2003) Growing Frogs. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick Press.

What a lovely book! The first sentence is definitely an eye catcher, "Once, when I was little, my mom read me a story about a frog that grew bigger, and bigger and bigger. The story ends with a similar sentence, "I like having frogs jumping around getting bigger, and bigger and bigger!"

St. George, Judith. (2002). So you want to be an inventor? New York: Philomel Books.

This story begins with a question. The story goes on to tell about different people and what they invented. The story is both entertaining and educational.

Wallace, Karen. (1993) Think of an eel. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick Press.

The story begins with "Think of an eel. He swims like a fish. He slides like a snake." I like the way the author engages the reader with the first sentence.

After reading these books I decided I am definitely going to use them in my classroom. The suggested writing activities are very good.

I am now very aware of the beginning and ending of a story. I know organization is all about the middle too. But what really struck was how you can engage a reader with just one or two lines. Here are a few more books that I particularly liked the opening sentence.


Knowlton, Laurie. (2006). A young man's dance. Pennsylvania: Boyd Mills Press.

This book begins with "Grandma Ronnie isn't home anymore." That is the only sentence on the page. The next page goes on to say, "There's no smell of baked cookies, no music jitterbugging through the rooms. " The story is about a young boy that is having a difficult time adjusting to his grandmother living in a nursing home. My eyes were watering by the time I finished this book – guess that's a sign of good Voice.

Brown, Margaret Wise. (1938). On Christmas Eve. Harper Collins.

How someone would be able to put down a book and not finish it when it begins, " It was the middle of the night. And night of all nights it was Christmas." is beyond me.


Sendak, Marice. (1970) In the night kitchen. USA: Harper and Row.

Okay. This was one of my favorite books when I was little. It begins, "Did you ever her of Mickey, how he heard a racket in the night and shouted QUIET DOWN THERE!"

Organization: Where do you find the best leads?

Michael LaCerra: If you think about it, whenever a student read a novel, s/he has probably read a half-way decent lead about it---where? The back cover.

So, in helping students lead the reader into the body of their writing, I actually focus on reading. For part of the school year, students write their own leads for the independent reading they have finished. They put presentation touches on them, too, and then they go in a big 3-ring binder in my room where others can reference when looking for a book to read.

By using this process at the beginning of the year (with reading), I am usually able to quickly transfer these concepts over to writing instruction during Q2. Ongoing, students reinforce these skills by turning their leads into podcasts. Our school's server is being updated at the moment, so I cannot share an example--sorry.

In the end, students are learning effective writing strategies almost without even realizing it until we focus on it--kind of funny.

In teaching 8th graders, the far more challenging aspect is helping students improve their endings. So many of the strategies are the same as leads, but I have never been happy with my instruction or the students products. Any ideas? Thanks.

And lastly, I primarily focus on having my students use sophisticated transitions as opposed to "first, second, last". I have used this in the past for: VOICE, transitions, dialogue, and word choice.

http://mrbraiman.home.att.net/page13.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwyj78FpYt4

Start at the 35 sec mark...or have students re-inact it...just a thought.--mL

Writing classroom tips...

A conversation between Peter and Paul about writing workshop:

Hi Paul, I appreciate the insightful process that you're following with your students. What level do you teach? It sounds like you've developed a strong workshop approach with your students. Do you introduce and teach one trait at a time?

From your feedback, it sounds like your curriculum has a good sense of continuity? How do you get there?!??! Also, I'm interested in using the white board in my classroom. My sense is that it would facilitate sharing and contribute an invaluable visual component to instruction. How have you used it in your classrooms? Obstacles? Successes? What is the ultimate learning curve? Thanks for any help you can offer. Cheers, Peter

--------------------------

Peter, I teach Language Arts and Geography to 7th graders. Last year I was tasked with starting an 8-week "Creative Writing" elective for them. I had no idea what to do other than try to follow Nancie Atwell's In the Middle*, so that's what I did. Most activities I've discussed here come out of that class.

Setting up the class takes time each quarter, which is frustrating since it ends pretty quickly. On the other hand, I get to learn from my mistakes and start over 3 times in one school year. Halfway through my 7th quarter now, I'm getting the hang of it.

The luxury is that I don't have to fit this stuff in with all the other Language Arts content, since that's a separate class. So the kids have 100% freedom of choice on topic selection. And I don't always have to force a schedule on them (and me) like I do teaching Lang.Arts. Organization is NOT one of my strong points, so I like that the structure can be fairly loose. It doesn't get chaotic since the class size is only 15-16 kids.

I intended to start teaching the traits this year, but I haven't felt like I knew the concept well enough to teach it well. So to answer your question, I haven't introduced the traits at all. BUT, since this online class has started, I can't resist working with things that I'm learning. I'll try to do a complete 6-trait delivery for the 4th quarter.

The interactive whiteboard is fantastic for all content areas, particularly with the Internet. Tomorrow, if my writing class needs help with leads, I can have Dennis's lecture and examples up on the board in seconds. One day while reading, a student asked what a rumble seat was. 30 seconds on Google Images, and they see photos from multiple angles, assorted car models, even a Norman Rockwell print.

I'm fairly neutral about technology, neither Supergeek nor Luddite, and I'm totally comfortable using it. And we have a great ET at the school who makes life bearable for the real technophobes. I don't use it as much as many teachers, but I'd hate to go without it. For me the challenge is to keep adding to my skills and creativity with it, and I confess I've been lazy about that lately.

Have I answered what you were asking? As my students know, I can spew out a lot of words without delivering much. I often finish a response to them by saying, "Is that the longest way you've ever heard someone say, 'I don't know' ?" ~ Paul

(This conversation from the Spring 2007 session of Teaching and Assessing Writing with the 6-Traits was used with the author's permission. )

*For more great books about writing see my Writer's Bookshelf!

Strong Leads: 6 Ws (Who, What, Where, When, Why and How)

On the topic of organization and strong leads, Adam offers us some wisdom based on work in journalism:

I've taught several writers how to write leads for newspapers and have used the lesson below to show beginning writers how to shape leads to write in inverted pyramid style.

The 6 Ws are used with a different lead emphasis depending on what the writer feels is the most important aspect of a story.

By focusing on the 6 Ws (Who, What, Where, When, Why and How) students will have something quick to grasp if they're stuck. After they've defined what the 6 Ws are they can determine which is the most important or dramatic.

How is the most difficult W of them all – that's why it's W comes at the end instead of the front -- to write because it's hard to get someone to explain the real reasoning behind things.

WHO #1 – Baskin Robins owners will increase the cost of a single scoop ice crime by nearly double Wednesday across the city because of rising milk costs.

WHO #1 – Consumers have until Tuesday before they begin paying nearly double the amount for a single scoop ice cream before a plan kicks in by Baskin Robins to avert a crisis forced by the rising cost of milk.

NOTE: By showing two examples you can also show that there's not necesarily a single answer or approach to a lead emphasis within newswriting.

WHAT – Ice cream will cost almost twice as much across the city beginning Wednesday as Baskin Robins owners will nearly double their prices because of rising milk costs.

WHERE #1– Across the city, ice cream will cost nearly twice as much Wednesday at Baskin Robins 31 Flavor stores as owners cite the rising cost of milk as their reason.

WHERE #2– At Baskin Robins 31 Flavor stores , ice cream will cost nearly twice as much Wednesday as owners cite the rising cost of milk as their reason to hike prices across the city.

WHEN – Tuesday will be the last day single scoop ice cream at Baskin Robins 31 Flavors stores will be sold at its current price as owners plan to implement a price hike across town they say is due to the rising costs of milk.

NOTE: Look for subtle differences -- here it's Tuesday instead of Wednesday -- that will set your writing slightly apart from others and make it unique.

WHY– The rising cost of milk will cause the cost of a single scoop of ice cream to nearly double Wednesday across the city Baskin Robins officials announced today.

HOW – By doubling the cost of single scoop ice cream beginning Wednesday Baskin Robins officials say they'll be able to remain open across the city and avert an ice cream crisis in the wake of rising milk costs.

After explaining the differences in lead emphasis, rip a newspaper apart and ask students to work in small groups with a couple of pages of the newspaper (Sunday edition works best) and decide what the lead emphasis of new stories on pages handed to them are.

This exercise helps "reveal how the sausage is made" and shows them how writing in everyday life can apply to them. They quickly discover that most news stories begin with what or who.

After this, I have the group rewrite a lead using a different lead emphasis. If they pick a Who emphasis lead, then they have to write a lead with an emphasis besides who.

Because all of the facts and materials are provided, nobody can honestly say they couldn't come up with something. This also builds their ability and confidence in editing others work.

For example, "You're lead emphasized who -- Baskin Robins officials -- when the most important news is really the what -- Ice cream costs will double. What has the most effect on people? Maybe that's what you should lead with.

Teaching the six Ws is applicable in a variety of things, police work, emergency services, lawyers, journalist, report to share holders because like the 6 traits for writers the 6 Ws are the basic elements needed in writing.