Preparation

Dry erase markers

Newspapers (an example of what one might look like is included)
Highlighters
What I Was Thinking

The rationale behind this lesson did not necessarily come from reading
student writing. At my community college, I worked in the writing center. I
remember working with students there on active voice versus passive voice. We
emphasized to the students that came in how active voice is usually preferable over
passive voice. I vaguely remember learning about this in middle school, but I think it
is an important lesson to be taught. There are lots of different directions that one
could take when teaching voice and many of them should be taught eventually. I
chose this one because I feel as if students could benefit from it and strengthen
their writing by using active voice in order to be clear and direct.
The way that I chose to present this lesson followed some strategies that I
have seen in my classes this semester. I wanted my lecture part to be very
minimal and to have the students working most of the time. By having them look at
newspapers, I am bringing in that real-world connection so that they can see how
this type of writing is used in the world around them. The newspaper articles are
meant to show students that writing is often stronger when it is in active voice. The
articles that I bring in should reflect this, showing more usage of active voice than
passive voice.
Script
What do you notice about the two sentences that I have written up on the
board? [The boy threw the ball. The ball was thrown by the boy.] Which one is
clearer? Right, the first one is. Why do you think this is? If youre having a hard
time, think about who is doing the action in the sentence. Thats right, in the first
sentence, the boy is doing the action. The boy is the subject of the sentence, and he
is throwing the ball. Is the boy still doing the action in the second sentence? Youre
right, he is. So whats different about the second sentence? Is the boy still the
subject in the second sentence? Right, this time instead of the boy being the subject
of the sentence, he is the object of the sentence. Even though he is still throwing
the ball in the second sentence, the ball is now the subject and the ultimate focus.
These two sentences are written with different voices. The first one is written in
what we call active voice, and the second sentence is written in what is called
passive voice. In active voice, the subject is the one doing the action whereas in
passive voice, the action is being done by someone. It is sometime unclear who is
doing the action in passive voice. Usually though, the receiver of the action is the
subject of the sentence. The ball, for example, is the subject of the second
sentence. The boy became the object of the second sentence.
In our writing, we want to use active voice. Active voice makes for stronger
sentences since it is clear, direct, and gets straight to the point. This is not to say

that passive voice sentences are always incorrect. They are, in fact, grammatically
correct. A situation that a passive voice sentence would be more appropriate than
active voice is in a police report. The police report might say something like, The
window was broken into. Glass was scattered all around the floor. The Johnsons
house had been robbed. In all of these sentences, we find ourselves wondering
who performed these actions. In this case, it doesnt matter, or perhaps the police
do not know who committed the crime. I wanted to show you this example so that
you would be able to see that there is a time and a place for passive voice, but in
this class we will do our best to always write in active voice. Does anybody have
any questions before we move into our activity?
Im going to group you up so that youre all in pairs. You and your partner will
be given a newspaper article. I want you each to have a highlighter out, with yours
being a different color than your partners. One of you will read the article while the
other highlights all of the active sentences. The person reading the article out loud
will highlight any passive sentences that come up. When youre finished we will
have a small discussion. Any questions? You may begin.
What did you notice as you were highlighting the articles? Which type of
sentence did you see more often? Active sentences, correct. Is this what you
expected? We know that sentences written in active voice are more direct and they
dont allow for jewelry or unneeded fluff in the sentence. This is what newspaper
articles should be since their purpose is to deliver news and get the point across as
easily and clearly as possible. Did you find some passive voice sentences? Why
dont some of you share a few of those? Was passive voice really necessary in these
situations? Could we have made these sentences stronger with active voice? If it
was necessary, then why? Ive written these questions up on the board. I want you
to take a minute or so and discuss them with your partner. I liked what I heard as I
was walking around. There are ways that we can change these passive voice
sentences into active voice sentences and it would make the writing stronger.
Hopefully you all got something out of this activity. We can see how active voice
sentences and passive voice sentences are used in real-world writing. Before you
leave, I want you all to write one sentence in active voice and two reasons why
writing in active voice is beneficial. Turn them into me once you have completed
them.

Rosa Parks: The misdemeanor that

sparked a movement
By Megan Gambino Smithsonian.com November 23, 2016

William Pretzer was 5 years old when Rosa Parks was arrested. It was
December 1, 1955. The 42-year-old seamstress lived in Montgomery, Alabama.
She was riding on a city bus. She was en route home after a day's work. She
refused to give her seat to a white passenger.
The full import of the event did not register with Pretzer. After all, he was so
young and lived more than 2,000 miles away in Sacramento, California. To be
honest, it would take time for most people to gain enough perspective to see the
protest for what it was. Today it is cited as the beginning of the civil rights
movement in the United States. Parks now is known as the movement's so-called
"mother."
Even now, as he looks over Parks' police report and fingerprints, Pretzer, is
struck by the documents. He is a senior curator at the Smithsonian's National
Museum of African American History and Culture. It is in Washington.
"There is nothing that makes this event look extraordinary," he says. "It is being
treated as a typical misdemeanor violation of the city code. In fact, that is exactly
what it was."
Yet, while police dealt with the situation just like any other altercation on the city's
segregated buses, Parks, her attorneys and NAACP leaders organized.
"Within the African American community, it is seen as an opportunity for progress
to be made, for attention and pressure to be brought to bear on the white power
structure," says Pretzer.
Parks' act of defiance inspired the Montgomery Bus Boycott. This event helped
Martin Luther King, Jr. emerge as a civil rights leader. The boycott lasted 381
days. On the 382nd day, backed by a Supreme Court ruling, the city's buses
were officially integrated.
By Pretzer's definition, Parks is a history maker.

"History makers are those that sense the moment," he says.

Pretzer studied Parks' story in detail in the early 2000s. That is when he helped
Detroit's Henry Ford Museum, where he worked for more than 20 years, acquire
the retired bus in which the incident occurred.
Explore an analysis of Rosa Parks' arrest records, based on a conversation with
Pretzer and information conveyed in Parks' 1992 autobiography Rosa Parks: My
Story.