VOICE

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VOICE
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Voice

• obvious person behind the words
• writer is committed/ involved with topic
• reaches out/ connects to audience
• energetic, lively
• consistent tone
• definite point of view

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Voice is the imprint of the person on the
piece As writers compose, they leave their
fingerprints all over their work.
Donald Graves Virginia Stewart Write from the
Start
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Voice

• Personal stamp

• Express writers true feelings

• Reader feels engaged

• Writer is sure of what she/he is doing

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• Writers leave a signature that is identifiable
• Primary Colors anonymous book
• Critic found the style matched that of columnist
  Joe Klein

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Voice
Voice separates writing that is read from
writing that is not read
Voice is the writer revealed.
Donald Murray
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Voice
Good writing is supposed to evoke sensation in
the reader. Not the fact that its raining, but
the feel of being rained upon.
E.L. Doctorow
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Voice

• Most difficult aspect of writing to teach

• Traditionally, we reward conformity

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Voice is...
Personality
Individuality
Sparkle
Liveliness
Emotion
Taking chances
Unusual
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Key Question

• Would you keep reading this piece if it were
  longer? MUCH longer?

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Teaching VOICE to Students
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Voice
Literature
Step 1...
Study

• Read . . .
• Picture Books/Stories Tough Cookie by David
  Wisniewski, Caves and Lightning by Stephen
  Kramer, Rattlesnake Dance by Jennifer Owings
  Dewey, The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara
  Kingsolver..
• Sample student papers
• Look at discuss rubric

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Voice
Step 2...
Work on Writing
Activities
Examples...
Rewrite story
A.
1.
No Voice Tom Sawyer
Using another voice
2.
Cinderella
a
b.
Three Little Pigs
B.
Writing from another point of view
C.
Tough Cookie
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Focus of the Lesson

• From the Voice Rubric
• The tone of the writing adds interest to the
  message and is appropriate for the purpose and
  audience.

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POSSIBLE VOICES

• Impatient
• Sarcastic
• Hostile
• Add to the list

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CREATING TONE

• What is the tone of this book?
• Why is it effective?
• How did the author create the tone?

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VOICELESS WRITING

• Rewrite Tough Cookie using a flat, lifeless
  voice.
• Have you really removed all traces of voice? Is
  that possible?
• What happens?
• Why is voice important?
• What other tones (voices) might be appropriate to
  tell this story?

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Voice
Using Jargon
1. Read Captain Abduls Pirate School
2. Individually make a list of all the pirate
jargon you can think of share with group and
expand list.
3. Write a letter home in the voice of a pirate
recruit.
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Pirate Jargon
Ahoy
Matey
shiver me timbers
Walk the plank
buried treasure
Jolly Roger
Davey Jones locker
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Voice
Writing from another point of view-
1. Using a sad voice, write about your last day
of school.
2. In a sarcastic voice, write about how you
appreciate your mothers advice.
3. Feeling horrified, write about the time you
lost your swim trunks skiing.
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Voice
Step 3...
Use Sample Papers
Look at and discuss rubric
A.
Evaluate anonymous student papers
B.
Read story together
1.
Evaluate individually, then as small group
2.
Share score with large group
3.
Discuss the reasoning for the score
4.
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Runaway Ralph
The object that means the most to me is a book
called Runaway Ralph. I picked this object
because its a very neat book and read it a lot.
I also really liked it. I think its a really
neat book because I think its a whole lot of fun
to read. It has a real nice and colorful cover
that really appeals to me. Runaway Ralph is all
about a little mouse and his motorcycle that
runaway together. Since this book has a mouse in
it, and I really like mice, especially little
white ones. I thought it was a really great book.
The book was also good because of the number of
pages. It wasnt to long and it wasnt to short
of a book. I read this really great book a lot
because its not only exciting but interesting.
Runaway Ralph was the first book that I ever red,
liked, and not only exciting but interesting too.
This book is all the things listed above and
more, like fun to read I thought with all the
excitement and interesting parts in the book that
it was fun to read. It
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Runaway Ralph
was also a very good book. With all that stuff
going on its hard to say that its a bad book.
Therefore, in general, its a very good book. I
also read it a lot because I get it for my 8th
birthday. I re liked it too. Its the best book
I have ever read. The book was not too hard to
read yet it wasnt too easy either. Reading this
book really improves my reading skills. In
conclusion I think this publication is a very
good learning book its also a very fun book to
read
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Zeena
Zeena, I know just how you feel. I love
chocolate covered marshmellows too! But let me
tell you what happened to me. My mom came home
from the store one day and let me have a
chocolate covered marshmellow. It was love at
first bit. So lite, fluffy, chewy and slipped
down my throat like a small piece of heaven.
Just thinking about it makes me want to have
another one until I recall what happened when I
finished my last bag of those squishy
delights. My mom told me I can help myself to
few and before I knew it the whole bag was gone.
My mom called me to dinner, and you know, the
last thing I wanted, or even cared about was
dinner, but you know how mothers are.
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Zeena
I had to sit down and take one bite of
everything. And after that I had diaria, diaria,
diaria. But I was convinced it wasnt the
marshmellows. Last fall my mom bought me all of
these cute clothes for my birthday, shorts,
jeans, skirts, so when the weather got warm and
I went to put on my new clothes, they didnt fit
to my amazement and not because I had grown to
tall, just because I couldnt even zip them up.
But it couldnt be the marshmellows, their too
lite and fluffy infact a whole bag of
marshmellows doesnt weight as much as one
orange. One day, when I put the tight clothes
out of my mind, I grabbed myself some chocolate
covered marshmellows, when I was biting down on
one, a sharp stabbing pain
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Zeena
went up my tooth and the side of my head. And
when ever I ate, my teeth hurt. So my mom took me
to the dentist, and let me tell you it was not a
pretty picture, I had seven expensive, painful
cavities. So Zeena, you can keep popping those
marshmellows into your mouth, but before you do,
remember not everything about chocolate covered
marshmellows is sweet.
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Voice
Step 4...
Peer Response/
Edit
Apply rubric to Tough Cookie rewrite.
Step 5...
Teacher Assesses Paper
Word choice