It is time to get into the wonderful world of writing.  For alot of people it is a frustrating experience.  Sometimes they just can not think of the ideas and other times they have the ideas, but do not know where to start or how to develop the story line.

There is a wonderful book called 6 + 1 Traits of Writing.  This book is written by Ruth Culham.  If you want more indepth understanding about these traits, borrow the book from your local library.  The six traits are:
       Ideas and content
       Organization
       Voice
        Word Choice
        Sentence Fluencey
         Conventions

The six traits is not a model for the writer to follow step by step, but rather a means to help the writer create a better final result.

Ideas and content is that stage where the writer brainstorms topics in any format. 

Organization is where the writer takes all of their ideas from Ideas and content and creates a structure to the story with the ideas.  The writer uses this stage to group the ideas into the various sections of the final writing.  This is also the stage where the writer creates a thesis statement, the leads (proving the thesis) and the conclusion.  

Voice is the uniqueness of the writer - what makes it Stephen King verses Bev Ascah, or Shakespeare.  This is a hard concept for new writer to grasp and develop.  Remember it is not what is written but how it is written.  Are you a writer that makes it very first person, or someone who writes makes it very third person - as if you are writing for someone else.  No matter what kind of writer you are striving to have quality voice, will help the reader find the piece honest and sincere.  A good writer wants to strive to make sure that what they write does not sound like a list of facts. 

Word Choice  helps to develop the writers voice - are the word choices very simple or are they longer more complicated words.  The words should sound natural to the reader, helping to make an accurate mental picture.  If the writer, is writing for a young audience, and is using long complicated words, then the reader is lost and the word choice is not appropriate.  We often see this problem when students discover the joys of a thesaurus - the words may have the right meaning in the right spot, but do not make sense with the audience or even with the writers voice.  

Sentence Fluency is one I find easy to do - I read what I have written outloud.  If I find that the sentences flow easily together throughout the piece then I know I have sentence fluency.  Sentences should fit together nicely, sounding natural and making sense.  The reader should not have to re-read to understand. 
Quality sentence fluency  also includes using a variety of sentence lengths and patterns.  We do not natural speak in sentences that are all the same length, which is why when writing we need to do the same thing.  Short sentences may be used for effect - to emphasize a point.

Conventions  - good old fashion grammar.  Conventions focus on the punctuation, capitalization, spelling, grammar etc.  Good grammar allows the reader to appreciate the story or message of the writing.  Good grammar helps the understanding and flow of the piece, and  appreciation of not only the piece but also the writer.

As you are helping your student to become a better writer, make sure you have specific goals in mind.  With your student in mind brain storm a list them of goals you want to work on and exactly how you are going to work on them.  Make sure you give yourself dates to check and double check so that you stay on track.

Have fun.