Professional Documents
Culture Documents
• 2. Baxter Black
– A Cowful of Cowboy Poetry. Coyote
Cowboy Company, 2000.
• 3. Emily Dickinson
– The Poems of Emily Dickinson.
Harvard University Press, 1951.
• 4. Erma Bombeck
– If Life Is a Bowl of Cherries, What Am
I Doing in the Pits? Fawcett Books,
1990.
And it’s more than just fingerprints or flavor.
A. The writer speaks directly to the reader in a way that is individual, compelling and
engaging.
B. The writer crafts the writing with an awareness and respect for the audience and the
purpose for writing.
C. The tone of the writing adds interest to the message and is appropriate for the purpose
and audience.
D. The reader feels a strong interaction with the writer, sensing the person behind the words.
E. The writer takes a risk by revealing who he or she is consistently throughout the piece.
G. Narrative writing is honest, personal, and engaging and makes you think about, and
react to, the author’s ideas and point of view.
What is voice again?
1. Style
2. Flavor
3. Tone
4. Commitment
5. Sincerity
6. Reflection of the
writer
7. Interest
8. Connection (not only
between writer and
topic, but also writer
and reader)
9. Others
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Variety of Voice
• Abstract – Ambiguous – Analytical – Anecdotal – Angry – Austere –
Bland – Boring – Cinematic – Classical – Colloquial – Concise –
Confessional – Contemptuous – Conventional – Cool – Cynical –
Decadent – Derivative – Dreamlike – Dreary – Earthy – Elegaic –
Emphatic – Epigrammatical – Evocative – Experimental – Fashionable
– farcical – Fatalistic – Flamboyant – Gimmicky – Heavy – Heroic –
Hysterical – Incoherent – Ironic – Irreverent – Journalistic – Juvenile
– Lyrical – Melodramatic – Metaphorical – Metaphysical – Minimalist
– Monotonous – Mournful – Mystical – Nostalgic – Objective –
Obscure – Ominous – Parody – Philosophical – Poetical – Poemical –
Political – Pompous – Pragmatic – Precious – Pretentious – Profound
– Psychological – Puritanical – Realistic – Repetitious – Rhythmic –
Romantic – Sarcastic – Sardonic – Satirical – Sensuous – Sentimental
– Sharp – Stilted – Sophisticated – Stark – Subjective – Subtle –
Superficial – Surrealistic – Symbolic – Trite – Urbane – Vague –
Venomous – Whimsical – Witty – Wordy
Of course, the writer’s voice
needs to be appropriate to the
content.
• Mary Shelley’s
Caddyshack?
(screenplay)
• Not the
appropriate
voice!
Stephen King’s Shakespeare in
Love?
vision
and revision
How can we help students to
understand voice?
We might start with interesting
literature that exemplifies strong
voice.
– Something they’ll like
– Something that will grab their attention
– Something that will get the idea across
fast
– Something we can discuss with them in
the terms on their rubrics
– Something that will hold their attention
while I take attendance and put out the
slip.
Does it have to be a major literary work?
• It can be, but it doesn’t have to be.
• It could be a passage from their reading for
class.
• It could be a passage from something they’re
familiar with.
• It could be something they haven’t seen
before but will easily understand
• It could be any genre: a passage from a novel,
a poem, a letter, an article from a magazine or
newspaper, a greeting card, an advertisement
(ooh-there’s a good one), a menu, anything.
• It just needs to show the trait of strong
voice and fit the students’ age/ability.
• Start a collection of pieces that exemplify
voice.
Then we could give them a
hands-on activity.
• To help them
understand what the
trait is.
• To help them identify
it in literature
• To help them
understand how to
improve it in their own
writing.
Next we could guide them through the
analysis of anonymous sample papers.
• Anonymous, because they
will feel no risk in being
critical.
• We can help them to apply
the terms in the rubric.
• They can begin to
understand the process of
evaluation that precedes
revision.
• (We seem to be moving up
Bloom’s taxonomy.)
They have been introduced to the trait through interesting
literature, they have done an activity to further their
understanding, they have analyzed anonymous sample
papers to help them see what strong voice looks like in
writing from people their age.
Now what?
• TIME TO WRITE!
• Any ideas?
Only magic or amazing talent can
make that first draft good enough
to consider a finished project.
• Veteran teachers know
there is no magic here.
(Although they do
often have some pretty
good tricks up their
sleeves)
• What happens next
takes hard work.
Although the next steps in the writing process can help
students to improve not only individual papers but also their
writing skills, they have often proven to be
difficult in the past.
• Arranging for feedback
that students understand
and can use.
• Getting students to do a
meaningful revision
• To peer assess.
• As a guide for
revision.
Teachers can also use the Six-
trait rubric for voice
• To make revision
suggestions
– In a conference with the
student.
– On a written revision sheet.
• To keep track of a
student’s improvement in
a specific writing skill.
Suggestions for Further Reading
• Bishop, Wendy, ed. (1999). The Subject is Writing.
Portsmouth: Boynton Cook.
• Burke, Jim. (2003). The English Teacher’s Companion: A
Complete Guide to Classroom, Curriculum, and the
Profession. Portsmouth: Heinmann.
• DeMaria, Robert. (2002). The College Handbook of
Creative Writing. Boston: Thompson.
• Diogenes, Marvin & Moneyhun, Clyde. (2001). Crafting
Fiction: In Theory, In Practice. Mountain View: Mayfield.
• Estess, Sybil & McCann, Janet. (2000). In a Field of
Words: A Creative Writing Text. Upper Saddle River:
Prentice Hall.
More suggestions…
• Fulwiler, Toby. (2004). The Working Writer. Upper Saddle
River: Prentice Hall.
• Knorr, Jeff & Schell, Tim. (2001). Mooring Against the
Tide: Writing Fiction and Poetry. Upper Saddle River:
Prentice Hall.
• Lane, Barry. (1993). After THE END: Teaching and
Learning Creative Revision. Portsmouth: Boynton Cook.
• Macrorie, Ken. (1980). Telling Writing: 3rd Edition. US:
Hayden Book Company.
• Murray, Donald M. (1985). A Writer Teaches Writing. US:
Houghton Mifflin Company.
The end.
• Spandel, Vicki. (2005). The 9 Rights of Every Writer: A
Guide for Teachers. New Hampshire: Heinmann.
• Starkey, David. (1998). Teaching Writing Creatively.
Portsmouth: Boynton/Cook.
• Steele, Alexander. (2003). Gotham Writers’ Workshop
Writing Fiction: The Practical Guide from New York’s
Acclaimed Creative Writing School. New York:
Bloomsbury.
• Stepp, Carl Sessions. (2000). Writing as Craft and Magic.
Lincolnwood: NTC Contemporary Publishing Group.