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WritingFix: Organization...one of the 6 writing traits
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The Writing Traits: Organization
helping your students "go deep" with thoughtful structure during classroom writing instruction

This page's introduction comes from the Northern Nevada Writing Project's Going Deep with 6 Trait Language Guide (click here for details on ordering this print resource): I’ll admit it. I have oversimplified the trait of organization to both students I have taught and to teachers I have trained. It’s not my fault. I mean, have you seen my desk lately? It completely disrespects organization. I’m the writer who wrote gigantic one-paragraph essays until I was seventeen.

As a teacher trainer, I suspect I oversimplified organization because I once heard this fact: if your students have recognizable introduction and conclusion on their state writing test submissions, they will receive a passing score (3 out of 5) for the trait of organization. To get a 4 or a 5, the students also needed to use other organizing techniques (transitions, pacing, etc.), but just an introduction and a conclusion would get them to pass. I knew I could easily and quickly teach intros and conclusions, so organization was a trait I only glossed over with my students.

There’s a lot more to the trait of organization. And a lot of it takes time and is sometimes difficult to teach students. I mean, have you seen some of their desks lately?

Writing teachers debate on how to teach organization, in particular, about how to teach things like paragraphing and sequencing, which are hard, but so necessary for developing writers to explore. While some teachers use very structured techniques (the hamburger paragraph and essay, the 4-square method, the Jane Schaeffer format), others insist that organization can be taught with minimal structure. The debate centers on this question: Can students simply discover organization?

I believe both schools of thought are completely right. Structure is important. Discovery is important. It’s true that you will rarely find a hamburger paragraph in a piece of published writing. But I am the writer who would have never understood a paragraph’s purpose without an 11th grade teacher who pounded that hamburger paragraph into my head. I’m the guy who doesn’t write in hamburger paragraphs anymore, because I discovered alternatives. I understand a paragraph because of both schools of thinking.

I needed some basic structure first. Once I had it, I was able to make my own discoveries about organization. I’ve always said that, in order to teach organization really well, I wish I could be with the same students for two years. In year one, they’d get rigid structures; in year two, they’d get my permission to discover their own structures.

Teaching organization is hard. It takes commitment. It takes time. Some students already have it when they arrive at your classroom for the first day. Some students, like me, don’t get it until they’re seventeen.

I believe that teachers should plan their teaching of the writing trait organization together in groups. Teachers should commit to the half-n-half approach (half structure/half discovery), or schools should commit to certain grades being structured writing years while certain years are discovery writing years.

I have teacher friends who have almost disowned me for suggesting such a structure in schools. But how can you teach organization—the very structure of writing—without putting a planned structure in place?

I know enough about students and differentiated instruction to know that somehow both ideals need to be in place to create a truly organized writer.

WritingFix's Organization Categories
WritingFix offers resources on the following sub-skills of organization. Click a link below to see our entire collection of lessons and resources for each of these trait-based skills:

What's Organization?
A writer thinks about these bullets when working on the trait of organization:

  • There is a strong introduction to the piece of writing
  • The writing comes to a satisfying conclusion
  • Transitions are used to move the idea along logically
  • Paragraphs are written with purpose
  • The conclusion might somehow links back to the introduction
  • The piece has been titled thoughtfully
WritingFix's 6-Trait Poster Set
WritingFix's Trait Post-Its

Free Poster Resource for your Classroom:

Organization is the structure of writing. Just as a house has an entrance, an exit, hallways that connect, and a sensible layout, so too does a piece of good writing. Blueprints are drawn before a house is built; writing should be “blue-printed” too!

This set of seven posters was created collectively by Dena Harrison, Mary Dunton, Nancy Thomas, Corbett Harrison, and Vivian Olds of the Northern Nevada Writing Project.

WritingFix offers a free template of Organization Post-It sized notes. These can either be printed on blue colored paper and cut out and stapled to students' drafts, or you can--if you dare--attempt to print them on real 3 x 3 Post-It Notes.

These Post-It Notes were created by Corbett Harrison of the Northern Nevada Writing Project

  • Click here to open and print WritingFix's 7-page poster set, inspired by our "Building a House" metaphor.
  • Click here to open and print a sheet of six organization revision post-its.
  • Click here to visit WritingFix's Post-It homepage, where you can find instruction on printing our post-its on actual Post-It notes.

Building a 6-Trait Mentor Text library for your classroom or your school's library?
Six "Mentor Text" Suggestions for the Trait of of Organization
(Click here to access WritingFix's complete bibliography of cited picture books and chapter books.)
Below are three organization "mentor text" suggestions from the
WritingFix Website:
(Click the words lesson link after each suggestion below to access the lesson.)
Below are three organization "mentor text" suggestions from the
NNWP's Going Deep with 6 Trait Language Guide:
(Click here to find out how to order this awesome resource from the NNWP.)
1. WritingFix's on-line lesson inspired by Melinda Long's How I Became a Pirate is a great one for all ages. Good organization requires well-planned pre-writing activities, and students need to see how a short piece of writing's organization doesn't just happen; they need to see how it is pre-planned. What's great about this on-line lesson (as well as many of the organization lessons at WritingFix) is that it teaches that writing has parts (or paragraphs), and that those parts have a pre-determined purpose. Unlike the less-creative hamburger paragraph method, which teaches that parts in writing are predictable, this assignment shows that parts don't have to be predictable so long as a paragraph's purpose is achieved. Click on this lesson link to see WritingFix's free-to-use lesson suggestion for this mentor text.

1. Ralph Fletcher's Twilight Comes Twice is a wonderful picture book that links its conclusion back to its introduction, which is a wonderful organization technique, especially for your students who have trouble coming up with satisfying conclusions. Don't make the mistake of encouraging your students to start with "When I got out of bed in the morning" and conclude with "I climbed back in bed to sleep"; in Nevada, we call that type of organization bed-to-bed stories, and it's almost as unoriginal as starting with "Once upon a time" or ending with "I woke up and it was all a dream." Let Fletcher's beautiful language from this book--as he links his introduction to his conclusion--inspire your writers to find more originality in their organization.
2. Who'd have thought that breakfast, lunch, and dinner would make such an interesting organizational structure for student writers? Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs by Judi and Ron Barrett shows a crazy day in the land of Chew-and-Swallow that centers around breakfast, then lunch, then dinner. Ask your students to create an original day in Chew-and-Swallow (or in an original place of their own creation that has food fall from the sky). Challenge them to give an equal amount of details and sentences about each meal to show them what pacing looks like. We practically guarantee this will be one of your students' favorite writing assignments from the school year! Click on this lesson link to see WritingFix's free-to-use lesson suggestion for this mentor text. 2. The Going Deep with 6 Trait Language Guide suggests finding mentor texts that categorize bigger ideas in order to show students how big ideas and small ideas need to work together in organized writing. Norbert Wu's Fish Faces is a great book that clearly shows categories. It also is a great book to do a comparison/contrast lesson with a classic: One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss. After students compare and contrast the two texts, assign them different big topics (mammals, cars, professions, etc.) and have them create their own category books. Your stronger writers might enjoy writing poetry (like Dr. Seuss) to explain their categories; your other writers can us simpler text, like that found in Wu's book.
3. Get Tuesday by David Wiesner. Student writers love this wordless picture book. If you pose this question to your writers, "What other crazy animal (besides pigs and frogs) adventures might happen in the middle of the night?" you'll be amazed at the original writing your students will produce. First, have them draw three of four rough sketches (inspired by Wiesner's amazing pictures), then have them describe each picture with an equal amount of sentences and details. Slap an introduction and a conclusion on the writing about those pictures, and your students will have an organized story. Click on this lesson link to see WritingFix's free-to-use lesson suggestion for this mentor text 3. As suggested in the Going Deep with 6 Trait Language Guide, assigning alphabet books are a powerful individual writing task as well as a meaningful group writing task. Don't assign them without having a long talk about how organization in most writing needs to be pre-planned long before drafting, and that an alphabet book is one of the easiest types of books to understand the value of pre-planning. There are many great and creative alphabet books to bring inspiration to your classroom, but George Shannon's Tomorrow's Alphabet is one of the most creative formats for inspiring higher-level thinking from students.
Using Strong Introductions

A well-written introduction purposely grabs you by the collar and pulls you into a writer's story or essay.

It takes lots of practice to write really strong introductions.

As a quick fix for weak introductions, we often teach students to start their writing with a question or to start with a quotation or sound effect, but this presupposes that students realize the power of a good question, quotation, or sound effect, and--let's face it--most of them don't.

WritingFix began searching for quality ways to teach strong introductions in 2005, and what we've assembled so far can be found in this section of this page.

Webmaster's favorite using strong introductions resource:

The Little Red Riding Hooks Handout

I'm probably a bit biased--because my wife made this handout--but it remains one of the best tools I've ever used with students who needed to un-learn starting their writing with a meaningless question. Click on the image or title above to open and print this handout.

Right-Brained Writing Prompts:

Left-Brained Writing Prompts:

Picture Book Inspired Lessons:

Chapter Book Inspired Lessons:

Poetry & Lyric Inspired Lessons:

  • In Fall of 2008, we will be launching a new collection of poetry and lyric-inspired writing prompts. Check back with us soon.

Literature Inspired Lessons:

Linking Introductions to Conclusions

Good conclusions are hard to write. While there are many ideas and resources for writing strong introductions, there exist close to none for the conclusion.

A good strategy to start with is teaching student writers to make a link back to their introduction when writing a conclusion. Here are lessons and resources focusing on this technique.

Webmaster's favorite linking intros and conclusions lesson:

Start & Stop Adjective Challenges:

All four of WritingFix's Start & Stop Games are great challenges for writers (especially poets), but I remain partial to the adjective prompt.

Click on the image or the title above to access this writing prompt.

Right-Brained Writing Prompts:

Left-Brained Writing Prompts:

Picture Book Inspired Lessons:

  • Beyond "Bed to Bed" Writing Samples: Inspired by Ralph Fletcher's Twilight Comes Twice (undergoing revision)

Chapter Book Inspired Lessons:

Poetry & Lyric Inspired Lessons:

  • In Fall of 2008, we will be launching a new collection of poetry and lyric-inspired writing prompts. Check back with us soon.

Literature Inspired Lessons:

Pre-Planning Purposeful Paragraphs

You can teach them a hamburger paragraph, you can teach them the Jane Schaefer formula, or you can teach them the steps in Step-up-to-Writing, and remarkably the majority of our students still don't understand how to write a paragraph. Why is that?

Writing programs that teach strict formula are successful in bringing more students closer to achieving standards, but they don't help student writers excel past the standards. Wise teachers use formulaic methods alongside more genuine methods.

When we focus on teaching the parts of paragraphs instead of the purposes of paragraph, great writing does not emerge. In 2005, we began collecting lessons to share at WritingFix that showcased the teaching of how to think about paragraphs and their purposes. We share our growing collection here.

Webmaster's favorite purposeful paragraphs resource:

Purposeful Paragraphs on Memorable Teachers

My friend Carol Gebhardt shared this four-page lesson in the NNWP's print guide "Going Deep with 6 Trait Language." It's such a smart lesson. Click on the image above or the title to open and print this resource.

Right-Brained Writing Prompts:

Left-Brained Writing Prompts:

Picture Book Inspired Lessons:

Chapter Book Inspired Lessons:

Poetry & Lyric Inspired Lessons:

  • In Fall of 2008, we will be launching a new collection of poetry and lyric-inspired writing prompts. Check back with us soon.

Literature Inspired Lessons:

Sequencing and Pacing

We've all had this student: when asked to write about how he spent his summer vacation, he spends six pages describing the packing of the car and is then too exhausted to provide any more than a brief description of the actual trip to Disneyland.

Students need to be taught to plan story sequence and story pace before they start drafting.

Here is our growing collection of lessons and resources that help students pre-plan for pacing and sequencing.

Webmaster's favorite sequencing and pacing resource:

WritingFix's Floating Down a River Lesson:

When asked to do demonstration lessons in actual classrooms, this is the lesson that I have used the most. Originally proposed by a fellow Northern Nevada Writing Project Teacher Consultant--Karen Suga--I have worked with dozens of other teachers to add graphic organizers and and student response tools that help all students plan pacing and sequencing in a light-hearted (but always well-received by students) writing exercise.

The graphic organizer that comes with the lesson explicitly tells students to give equal attention to the writing assignment's sub-topics, and they do. It's a fabulous little introduction to how and why we should pre-plan a story's pacing and sequencing.

Click on the image or the title above to access the lesson on-line.

Right-Brained Writing Prompts:

Left-Brained Writing Prompts:

Picture Book Inspired Lessons:

Chapter Book Inspired Lessons:

Poetry & Lyric Inspired Lessons:

  • In Fall of 2008, we will be launching a new collection of poetry and lyric-inspired writing prompts. Check back with us soon.

Literature Inspired Lessons:

Organizing with Thoughtful Transitions

Teaching students better use of transition words impacts students' use of two of the six writing traits: organization and sentence fluency.

When organization is the focus trait, students should be taught to purposely select transitional words based on their meaning.

Webmaster's favorite organizing with thoughtful transitions resource

This is a brand new section of lessons and resources at WritingFix.

This website is in the process of gathering transition lessons that focus on organization.

If you have a suggestion for a lesson to be posted here, please send it to us at webmaster@writingfix.com.

Thanks in advance for participating in the WritingFix community.

Right-Brained Writing Prompts:

Left-Brained Writing Prompts:

Picture Book Inspired Lessons:

Chapter Book Inspired Lessons:

Poetry & Lyric Inspired Lessons:

  • In Fall of 2008, we will be launching a new collection of poetry and lyric-inspired writing prompts. Check back with us soon.

Literature Inspired Lessons:

Creating Strong Titles

A quick lesson to further develop students' organizational skills is to teach them the power of a good title.

Look at titles of published works, talk about what makes them strong or weak, then ask students to go back to their writing folders and re-title their work.

Webmaster's favorite creating strong titles prompt

The Mysteries of a Perfect Story Title

This lesson is currently undergoing revision. Check back with us soon.

Right-Brained Writing Prompts:

Left-Brained Writing Prompts:

Picture Book Inspired Lessons:

Chapter Book Inspired Lessons:

Poetry & Lyric Inspired Lessons:

  • In Spring of 2008, we will be launching a new collection of poetry and lyric-inspired writing prompts. Check back with us soon.

Literature Inspired Lessons:

   

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