Standard: 6.W.4 – Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. (Grade-specific expectations for writing types are defined in standards 1-3 above.)
Grade level: Grade 6
Subject: English Language Arts
Domain: Writing
Teacher Overview
This standard emphasizes the importance of producing writing that is clear and coherent, with appropriate development, organization, and style for the given task, purpose, and audience. Mastery of this standard is crucial as it lays the foundation for effective written communication in various contexts. Students should understand basic sentence and paragraph structure, as well as the purposes of different types of writing such as narrative, informative, and persuasive.
After mastering this standard, students will be able to further refine their writing through revision and editing, and adapt their writing for different audiences and purposes across various formats.
Common Misconception 1
A common misconception is that all writing should follow a single, rigid structure. This is incorrect because different writing tasks and audiences require different structures to be effective.
Intervention 1
To address this misconception, provide students with diverse examples of writing structures and engage them in activities that involve identifying and using different structures for various writing tasks.
Common Misconception 2
Another misconception is that style is unimportant as long as the content is accurate. This is incorrect because the style of writing significantly affects how the content is received and understood by the audience.
Intervention 2
To remediate this misconception, demonstrate the impact of writing style by comparing well-written and poorly-written texts with the same content, and discuss how style contributes to clarity and engagement.
Prerequisite Knowledge
Students should have a basic understanding of sentence structure, paragraph organization, and different writing purposes such as to inform, persuade, or entertain.
Subsequent Knowledge
Students will develop the ability to refine their writing through revision and editing, and to adapt their writing for different audiences and purposes across various formats.
Instructional Activities
- Peer review sessions to provide feedback on writing
- Writing workshops focused on different structures and styles
- Group discussions analyzing various writing samples
- Individual writing assignments with specific audience and purpose
- Using graphic organizers to plan writing
- Role-playing different audiences to tailor writing style
- Revising and editing drafts to improve clarity and coherence
