The Ninth Right of Every Writer- The Right to Find Your Own Voice

The final right was clarifying for me. I have never truly thought deeply about voice. I related in to the point of view the writing was from, not to the fingerprint it leaves from the author. I learned that voice is what makes good writing emotional and captivating. It is when the author has poured themselves so deeply into their writing you almost feel what they are feeling. It's a tool to grab and hold the attention of the reader, and it should be coached by writing instructors for it cannot be taught. Voice is writing from the heart. Encouraging students to write with their feelings will encourage the use of voice. In order for students to write in this manner, we must provide an opportunity for choice, because passion can only come from that which we are familiar and engrossed with. Coaching voice includes asking for detail, not only in adjectives and adverbs but in verbs. I had never considered this approach before. I constantly beg for adjectives, but I have never realized the power of a strong verb. Next year when I have an entire year to coach my students as writers I will focus on the use of strong verbs. Coaching voice also includes reading aloud, encouraging students to read aloud their own work as well as reading aloud professional works in order to notice the variation in voice. Voice in ultimately telling the truth in your writing, allowing your writing to be a reflection of the author.

Preinstitute Day Three

The third preinstitute day was more encouraging to me than the previous. I left feeling more confident about my demo. It was also great to see two more demos as I begin to prepare for my own. My favorite strategies from the demos were jazzing the text and found poetry. I have been using jazzing the text with my class this week. I began trying to have my students choose a sentence and a word, but this was a little overwhelming for my third graders. I altered my plan for the students to choose only a word, the most important word in the passage. When the students share I write the words on the board. Then we go back and discuss why they chose those words. My students are really enjoying this strategy and are looking forward to adding the sentence. I also enjoyed found poetry. I had heard of found poetry before, but I have never tried it. I really enjoyed it and I have planned to use it next week in my enrichment activities for PASS testing. It was also fun to experiment with the camera and editing software for our PSA. I have never used that software before, and I look forward to learning more and more.