Conventions

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Conventions

• The 6th Trait

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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

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Learning the Conventions is a Challenge Because

• Students dont see the power of conventions
• Dont 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 dont 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 writers editing
  tools that need to be used for the ultimate goal
  of good writing.

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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.
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Teaching Conventions

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

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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. Its a balancing act
• Be patient. Learning to use conventions well
  takes time
• from Ruth Culhams 61 Traits of Writing

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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 didnt have traffic conventions.
  Relate their responses to writing and what
  happens when we dont have conventions or use
  them correctly. This general understanding can
  guide your instruction.
• 61 Traits of Writing, Culham

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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

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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

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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