Writing for Understanding Plan:
Topic: developing voice in writing
For 5th and 6th graders
Central Ideas:
Content: identifying voices in writing and developing a voice in writing
Reading: examples of voice in short stories
Writing: essay on voice in other’s writing and student’s own writing
Focusing Question:
How is my voice in writing different from anyone else’s?
Or
How did I develop my voice in my writing?
Focus/answer:
Student’s reflection on what they did to use voice and how they have grown as a writer/compare personal voice to others’ voices
Building Content Knowledge, Understanding of Writer’s Craft:
Vocabulary/minilessons (vocabulary, syntax, pacing, energy or mood, perspective, flow…)
Turn and talk
Think-pair-share
Fiction and non-fiction examples of voice
Analyze poems
Craft lessons
Voice in media
Visually show voice (art work, picture books)
Structures:
Models (teacher written poetry examples with revisions, model for finished essay)
Templates for poetry starters “The Animal in Me” and “Self-Portrait”
Graphic organizer for defining/finding voice
Writing/Revising:
Write quickwrites/poems that touch on who they are, their personality
Revise poems to add voice
Conference with teacher and students
Share with class
Lesson Sequence:
(Daily: quickwrites in different voices)
Introduce voice with music and drawings
Model final product
Read picture books with lots of voice and discuss, reread with graphic organizer
Identify voice in poems
Write poetry with frames
Lesson on audience and purpose
Lesson on syntax and experimenting with a common phrase
Write poems/quickwrites
Conference, lesson on editing
Reflection assignment
Sharing
Assessment:
Revision process, students identifying where they added voice and how it changed the poem, students using the language they have learned from the minilessons when they analyze work for voice, participation in conferencing and giving good feedback and suggestions to classmates, and final writing assignment when they analyze the voice in their own writing and compare it to voices in other writing
Next steps:
Write narratives and develop voice in a narrative using these techniques
Hi Julie, it was a pleasure meeting you and listening to your ideas at the course. You have taken on an ambitious and challenging subject matter to teach your students. To identify voice in others' writing, and establish voice in your own writing is a meaning thought process and sophisticated skill. I'm interested in "how" you are showing by reading various pieces with your students in terms of "What is the criteria of the identifying?" How do you show that voice exists? What techniques need to be taught so that students can show their own voice. Some of it must happen naturally; but, through oral editing, small suggestions to improvement would be what? These are things that I randomly think about and process as a teacher of 4/5 grades; as well as, a teacher who would always strive to improve my own writing. I love that you have taken on this huge focus for your students. Hopefully are paths will cross again, and we can process. In the mean time, catch some sun! Again, great to have met you. deb
ReplyDeleteHi Julie, I think it's great that you are helping your students stretch to reflect on some pretty abstract ideas. I would love for my 7th and 8th graders to be able to do this! I think it's great to teach kids that all writing has voice and that different voice is appropriate for different situations. I think your unit will help your students understand not only voice, but also purpose and audience, because those ideas are linked with the voice you use. Hopefully, with this knowledge, your students will be more thoughtful and mature writers who can understand how to write for various audiences. I'd love to hear how it goes! Good luck, Meghan
ReplyDeleteThis is a difficult thing to teach. Bravo to you for taking this on. I applaud you for trying to teach this complex concept. I thought of another way to help students think about voice. What if you had students write a rap, or a poetry slam poem or video a conversation as someone other than themselves. It could be someone in the class. They could write using your voice to dictate the poem/interview/rap. How would your voice as the teacher be different from their voice? What about other heroes they have either in music, dance or in film. When they write from another's perspective or notice the details of someone else's voice, it can help them find their own style. You have some great ideas and my suggestions could help differentiate it even more. Great job!
ReplyDeleteI would love to see your list of picture books with lots of voice. Both in the text and in the illustrations. (I immediately thought of Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse by Kevin Henkes). This IS a big subject. It will be fun to pick out vocabulary and sentence structure choices in stuff they read, not to mention content. It will be so neat if they are able to distinguish their own voices in their writing. I really want to hear how this goes. Keep us posted!
ReplyDeleteHi Julie,
ReplyDeleteI have never thought about focusing on developing a voice in writing...great idea. Perhaps we assume that kids will just automatically do this on their own, which of course is not necessarily true. I bet there will be many trade books with wonderful illustrations that would lend to this. I'm curious to know which books you will choose. I like your emphasis on quick writes to develop voice.
I'm glad you thought of audience and purpose as well...depending upon the purpose, I'm guessing that the voice you develop would change. Good luck!
Michele Fay
Here is one book list recommending books with strong voice: http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=11666 Jennifer, the book you mentioned is there!
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments and suggestions, I am going to try to incorporate Stephanie's idea into it as well.
Deb, you remind me that I need to do a concrete list of ways to play with voice for the students who will struggle with this. For example, I would list these as ideas for them: varying punctuation, italicize or bold or vary word size, sentence structure (try having a very short sentence in between longer ones), and things like that. Hopefully that will help them. I will also show voice through having them listen to books/stories/poems with very different voices, and it will be interesting to see if they get it. I taught voice last year in a reading unit and they did "get" it, but I think it will be much more difficult for them to transfer the skill into their writing. I have some students who naturally write using lots of voice but most write in a very straightforward manner.
Julie,
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you are tackling voice in writing as an extension of what you have already taught in reading. I am sure it will help the kids write with voice when they have analyzed it in reading. You might consider having kids imitate the voice they find in a poem or other text maybe by doing a quickwrite of a part of the text just changing the topic but keeping the voice strategy. I'm glad I work with you so I can much some of the lessons you use. Thanks.
Hi Julie,
ReplyDeleteWhat a great and highly accessible plan for students! Voice is such an abstract concept to tackle, and I definitely appreciate that you are taking it on. My students (ELL) find voice a very secondary concern, far behind finding the words that match their intended meaning. But it is my suspicion that if they practice analyzing words for how they resonate with their writing styles, the assignment, and their personal preferences, it may actually make writing easier for ELLs, as they will have a process in place for choosing among the TOO MANY words in English that all mean similar things. This unit could help them sort the words they know and give them experience in making active decisions with words to relay set concepts.
I love that you are sure to include non-fiction. My kids love non-fiction for its concrete nature, which could give them a hook into the material: real person, real voice. This would definitely lead back to your central question of the differences among voices. I am also fascinated by your inclusion of musical and visual examples of voice…what material do you use? Finally, I wonder, what reading skills do you concentrate on to help students notice and analyze voice in pieces? Are these part of the graphic organizer for finding voice? I am truly curious, as I would love to bring your ideas into my class this year. Would you be willing to share your supporting materials with me? karmstrong@sau88.net. Inspiring, thank you for your hard work!