Building relationships with people are valuable ways to spend my time.  Speaking and listening help us to make connections with others.  Brian and Susan are in the process of teaching us traits.

The Traits of Conversation help us to connect with others through…you guessed it…conversation!  We use the Traits of Presentation to become better at not only speaking in front of others, but to present information well and read with fluency and style.  Today Brian and Susan took our whole staff through the Writing Traits and I felt great about it!  Something that I enjoyed was feeling as if I had gained some profundity on the subject.  Isn’t it great to finally have a sense of, "Hey, I think I’m actually starting to get some of this!"

Quickly, here are the 6 Traits of Writing:

1. Content and Ideas (what is the writing about?/what are the details?)
2. Organization (plan!)
3. Voice (can you hear yourself in the writing?)
4. Word Choice (are the words your using simple words, or do they show deeper understanding of what you’re trying to write about?)
5. Conventions (grammar, punctuation)
6. Sentence Fluency (how well your sentences flow together…is there variety in how your sentences begin and/or end?)

If you happen to be interested in the Traits of Writing because you’d like to see
more happen in your blog writing (or whatever) then google it.  Over 2,000,000 site come up in the search.  (By the way, it’s actually 6+1, but the +1 is presentation…I’ll write about the Traits of Presentation later).

Look through your own writing and see where you could improve. 🙂  Tonight I’m thinking about how my word choice isn’t so hot right now.  Then again, it is just about 11.30pm, I’ve been working all day, I’m tired, and I’m watching Seinfeld;)

Learn to love writing!  If you’re a parent, help your kids develop a love for writing!  The traits are just a guide to help us get there.

On a side note, one of my favorite teenagers from church called me today, primarily to tell me about his football game this Thursday.  Secondary to the grand game, he wanted me to know what classes he was taking this fall.  Within his many classes are embedded two writing classes.  With all that I’m learning right now, I told him that I’d love to try to help him implement some of the things that I’m learning how to teach!  Wouldn’t that be fantastic?  If only I can find the time in my schedule…:)