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Rationale:
===As students begin elementary school, they most often lack the knowledge and skills necessary to write with content/development, organization, voice, word choice and conventions, which creates interest and fluency in their writings. The problem we are focusing on is the fore mentioned base components of writing in an elementary setting. If a student fails to gain the appropriate knowledge and skills in an elementary setting, the skills tend to remain lacking as they progress through middle and high school. Some students find writing to be “a chore.” Teaching students the 6+1 Traits, is a way of offering support and encouragement to young writers which will hopefully help to create positive attitudes about writing. The book will discuss and illustrate each of the 6+1 traits of writing, which are Ideas, Organization, Word Choice, Sentence Fluency, Voice and Conventions. The 6+1 Traits teach educators and students a common language to communicate about the characteristics of writing. The traits give a clear vision of how students can achieve “effective” writing. ===

The goals of our book are:

 * ===For students to explain each of the 6+1 Writing Traits ===
 * ===For students to determine effective writing by analyzing writing samples ===
 * ===For students to apply the 6+1 traits in their own writings. ===

Group Members & Roles:

 * ===//Leslie// - Content Expert ===
 * ===//Erin// - Graphics Designer ===
 * ===//Katie// - Assessment/Evaluation ===
 * ===//Kayla// - Production Manager/Proofreader ===

About Our Team:

 * ===Leslie has taught for 12 years, first and second grades. She loves integrating technology into learning. She enjoys painting, reading, traveling and spending time with her husband and daughters. Recently, she hiked ten miles on the Appalachian Trail in the North Carolina mountains -- what beautiful scenery. Her daughters are ages 15 and 11. She is a coffee and chocolate addict and also loves to bake. She has a few pets -- a lovebird, a hamster, a bunny rabbit and two dogs. She looks forward to learning more about technology throughout this class and program. ===
 * ===Erin graduated from the College of Charleston with a degree in Elementary Education (2004) and has taught for the past 7 years in many different grade levels (2nd, 3rd, 5th and computer lab). Recently, she accepted a position as a SMART curriculum writer for her district, in which creates SMART board lessons that are shared district wide and integrated through the curriculum. This summer, her love of the SMART board and technology led her to become a certified SMART trainer. Erin is married to a firefighter named Matt and has a 3 year old son named Cooper, who always keeps her on her toes!! ===
 * ===Katie graduated with her Undergraduate Degree in Elementary Education from USC Aiken in December 2010. She began the program to obtain her Master's of Educational Technology in May 2011 at USC Columbia. She decided to pursue a Master's in Educational Technology because technology is growing everywhere, especially in the classroom. She is excited to learn new and exciting things about technology during the course of this program. Currently, she works as a substitute teacher while she searches, hopes and prays for a teaching job to become available. She is 23 years old and lives in North Augusta, South Carolina. She loves spending time with her family and friends. She has one child...he is a Yorkie named Rascal. He is spoiled rotten and never does anything wrong!! During her free time, she loves reading books, watching movies, and playing with her dog. She is a HUGE USC fan and loves going to the football games, go Gamecocks! ===
 * ===Kayla graduated from Clemson University in 2009 with a Bachelor of Arts in Elementary Education. She currently works for the YMCA as a Director of an After-School Program. Last summer, she was given the opportunity to work for a company, Money Cents for Kids, where she taught children about Financial Literacy. Last year, she tutored struggling students in Math, substitute taught, and worked in an After-School Program with 4th and 5th grade students. In addition, she has volunteered in numerous schools over the past several years because she enjoys helping children and ultimately making a difference in the world. Kayla enjoys technology, reading, exercise, learning new things, going to movies and spending time with her family and friends. ===

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