Ruth will be speaking at the 2008 DFW Literacy Summit, July 29-31, 2008. For more information, contact kyle@warrenin.com

At this two-day workshop, participants learn to evaluate student writing (grades 3-12) across six plus one dimensions of performance: ideas, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, conventions, and presentation.

Imagine a resource where you could actually see the traits come to life in classrooms just like yours. Imagine it was user-friendly and provided tips for managing your paperwork and organizing your classroom for writing, too. And then, imagine being able to watch professionals, just like you, read and assess student papers on each trait.

During this three-day workshop series, participants build upon their knowledge of the 6+1 Traits of Writing and extend the bridge between assessment and instruction.

Participants in this full-day session will examine how the traits of writing (ideas, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, conventions, and presentation) are core elements of the revision and editing stages of the writing process. Ideas of how to connect trait-based writing lessons to the real writing that students are doing in classrooms will be shared along with systems to help keep track of it all.

Can the language of assessment be helpful to teachers and students in K-2? You bet! This one half day or one-day workshop is designed to help primary teachers reinforce the strengths in beginning student writing and teach K-2 students how to notice and celebrate growth and change.

Using the work of popular and talented children's authors such as Pam Munoz Ryan, this workshop demonstrates how to find examples of the traits in mentor texts, and how to develop mini-lessons to teach writing with the traits using the author's works as models.

This is a one to two hour overview where we explore the history, content, and philosophy of the 6+1 Traits of Writing.

Okay, you've had the two-day introductory training and you've been working hard to implement the 6+1 Writing Traits model into your classroom.

At The Culham Writing Company, we encourage you to put the pieces of all the writing trait workshops together in the best order and combination to meet the needs of your local schools, districts, teachers, and students. We can mix and match according to your preferences; just let us know what you need and we'll build it.