11/15/17

I have found that the more I read about teaching writing and the more reps I actually get in the classroom, the more I see it as an artistic craft and less as a learned skill. When I view writing from this perspective, it makes the process of teaching it more exciting and less daunting. I feel as though being a writer makes me an artist by consequence and I also feel as though I have a strong grasp on the craft (or art) of writing. The more I see writing as an art and myself as an artist, the more I begin to see my students as budding artists. Now, when I begin to think about how to teach an artist, it is about equipping them with the tools of the craft and showing them how to approach creating the art in a way that will allow them to be most successful. Of course, it is tricky, because if my instruction is too static and formulaic, I'm inhibiting their creativity, but if my instruction is too vague and lacks a certain structure, they will never grasp the craft enough to create in the first place.
The artistic, creative, and emotional aspect of English is what drew me to the concentration. I hate math and science because I hate formulas and their inflexibility. So, I say all that to say this: that the 6+1 Traits didn't seem overly formulaic and reading them felt like something one might read if looking at "Components of a Quality Painting." Each "trait" was something that should be included, but left room for personal choice and interpretation, aside from the "Conventions" trait, which isn't fun to think about teaching, but is important and unavoidable. But the other traits were artistic traits, so much so that I think they could be applied to something "traditionally" viewed as artistic, such as painting, and that made them appealing to me.
Ideas, Organization, Voice, Word (Stylistic) Choice, Fluency (Flow), Conventions, and Presentation are all things that you can teach individually. Once learned, these qualities become checkpoints for students during the writing/revising process, that is to say that students are encouraged to be cognizant as to how these elements operate within their writing. "How is your word choice? Do you feel like your voice is present? Is your flow, clunky or smooth?" When I consider structures vs formulas, these traits seem to epitomize what an effective structure should look like.
One thing I would add to this list of traits would be something about the "type of writing" and how these elements are adjusted depending on the task. Are you writing a narrative? Poem? Essay? Letter? Periodical? What are the components? " The "conventions" trait sounds like it would address this, but I don't see the language. I think a trait like this would help students think about intentionality, purpose, and audience, which I believe are huge factors that influence how we write. Otherwise, I think these traits are useful.