Conventions

1. Conventions The 6th Trait

2. Definition of Conventions • Anything a writer does to edit the text and make it ready for the reader • Spelling • Punctuation • Grammar and usage • Capitalization • Paragraphing

3. Learning the Conventions is a Challenge Because… • Students don’t see the power of conventions • Don’t always see that conventions help ensure that any reader can follow text and understand its meaning • There is no proven “best” ways to teach conventions • Teachers don’t encourage risk taking • Encourage and reward students for correct conventions, as well as for trying new techniques • Teachers put too much stock in grammar programs • Need to see conventions are a writer’s editing tools that need to be used for the ultimate goal of good writing.

4. Assessing for ConventionsA Scoring Guide 5. The writer demonstrates a good grasp of standard writing conventions (e.g. spelling, punctuation, capitalization, grammar and usage, paragraphing) and uses conventions effectively to enhance readability. Errors tend to be so few that just minor touch-ups would get this piece ready to publish. 3. The writer shows reasonable control over a limited range of standard writing conventions. Conventions are sometimes handled well and enhance readability; at other times, errors are distracting and impair readability. 1. Errors in spelling, punctuation, capitalization, grammar and usage, and/or paragraphing repeatedly distract the reader and make the text difficult to read.

5. Teaching Conventions • Wait! Have students hold off on editing until their final drafts are finished. • Set aside editing time. • Ask why. “Why did you put a period here?” “Why did you use a capital letter there?” • Model. Help students edit your work. • Keep writing tools handy. Have dictionaries, synonyms, grammar handbooks available in your room. • Look for error one by one. Have students look for one type of error at a time.

6. Four Points to Keep in Mind When Teaching Conventions • Be sure students understand that editing and revising are different • Expect correctness, but only according to appropriate developmental level and age • Value experimentation right along with correctness. It’s a balancing act • Be patient. Learning to use conventions well takes time from Ruth Culham’s 6+1 Traits of Writing

7. Conventions Mini-lessonIntroduction to Conventions • Whole group discussion • Ask students: What are the conventions of setting the table and eating dinner with your family? • A baseball game? • The school lunchroom? When they are thinking more broadly about the term, pose this question: What kinds of conventions keep traffic flowing? What would happen if we didn’t have traffic conventions. Relate their responses to writing and what happens when we don’t have conventions or use them correctly. This general understanding can guide your instruction. *6+1 Traits of Writing, Culham

8. Convention Mini-lessonPunctathlon Set Up • Have text that is punctuation heavy copied for each punctathlete team (see attached) • Write text on board with no punctuation • Divide students into groups of 4 or 5 punctathletes and give each group a copy of the text (we used “”, !, ?, ,to form our groups). Each team is assigned a different colored dry erase marker

9. Punctathlon • Have team leader pick a letter from A-M to see what team goes first (closest to teachers pick goes 1st, next closest 2nd, etc.) • Round 1 – teams come up and put one period on the text on the board and explains why. Other groups can challenge but if the teacher accepts it that team gets a point. Challenges that stand mean 1 point taken away from the challenged team and 2 points given to the challenger. The next groups then follow until there are no more periods. • Round 2 – Commas • Round 3 – Capitalization • Round 4 – Quotation marks, etc. • The team with the most points wins the Punctathlon

10. Text • I never saw this great-uncle but I'm supposed to look like him - with special reference to the rather hard-boiled painting that hangs in Father's office. I graduated from New Haven in 1915, just a quarter of a century after my father, and a little later I participated in that delayed Teutonic migration known as the Grat War. I enjoyed the counter-raid so thoroughly that I came back restless. Instead of being the warm center of the world the middle-west now seemed like the ragged edge of the universe - so I decided to go east and learn the bond business. Everybody I knew was in the bond business so I supposed it could support one more single man. All my aunts and uncles talked it over as if they were choosing a prep-school for me and finally said "Why - ye-es" with very grave, hesitant faces. Father agreed to finance me for a year and after various delays I came east, permanently, I thought, in the spring of twenty-two. - The Great Gatsby p 7