Do You Hear What I Hear?

Assisting Students to Write With A Sense Of Voice

Alan j Wright

Developing voice in your writing requires awareness and diligence. Emerging writers, need
teachers to assist them to explore that inner voice. They need teachers prepared to work
to ensure that a sense of voice remains intact when the writing goes public. Every child
requires a writing teacher willing to play the role of mentor across this critical area of their
writing.

Voice in writing is connected to capturing your personality on paper. We can support this
by encouraging students to select authors they admire and then write something imitating
that writer’s voice. Such challenges will assist developing writers to add to their repertoire
of strategies. Like fingerprints, voice is unique to each writer. If harnessed, it is a tool with
the power to take readers wherever the writer wants them to go. Now that’s worth
pursuing!

The inexperienced writer frequently skates over important details. Opportunities to

promote voice are therefore lost to the reading audience. Its as if the air has escaped the
balloon. The goal should be to slow down the writing so that each thought, or idea
receives its due attention. The writing should be given the chance to settle into a
comfortable stride. That way, the voice of the writer begins to find its way into the writing.
Hopefully, it will bubble to the surface. It will not be denied.

For this to occur, young writers need the opportunity to write regularly, for sustained
periods. Stamina for writing is just as important as stamina for reading.

Voice will develop if the young writer is alerted to the value of reading their writing
ALOUD. Doing this allows the writer to gain an appreciation of how the writing actually
sounds to a reader. Young writers should be taught to revise for voice.
 Does it sound like you, the writer?
 Can you hear yourself chatting to a friend?
 Is your voice present in the words?
 Do some parts sound stiff and formal?

Voice in writing is connected to an awareness of the reading audience. To encourage a

greater sense of audience, young writers should be encouraged to publish their writing
beyond the walls of their classroom. Writing should not be viewed as something we just
do at school, or for our teachers. The questions of how and where are important during
the publishing phase of writing. Broadening the concept of audience is central to
supporting writing development.
When a writer demonstrates a sense of voice, they usually write close up to the topic.
There is an intimacy to the writing. Sadly, as children grow older they often lose their
writing voice. They become more self critical of their writing and what their peers, parents
and teachers may perceive it to be. Coupled with increased demands from the outside
world such as assessments and tests, it frequently results in writing that sounds stiff and
formal. The energy has been squeezed out of the words. What emerges on the page is
writing that has yielded to the pressures applied to it. The writer begins to take less risks
and the writer’s voice suffers accordingly. It fades to a barely audible whisper.

Ralph Fletcher says that writing with voice has the same quirky cadence that makes human
speech so impossible to resist listening to. It includes dark humor, cryptic asides, and
terrific endings. We must recognize it in the writing of students and the quality literature
we surround them with. Such writing oozes energy. Our goal as teachers of writing is to
retain this energy in the writing students produce.

Furious
One night when I finished my reading, I asked my Mum to sign it.
She said, ‘Not now.’ So, I started yelling and yelling and yelling
until it reached the point that meant she would sign and… she did.
So she asked me, ‘Are you happy now?’ And I said, ‘Yes.’
Wilfrid, Grade 2

My Commitment To My Notebook
Let’s make a deal. I’ll show you the path to my world, you receive
my words. I‘ll show you life, you show me how to write! I’ll give
you company, you give me pride.
Bhavesh, Grade 5

If voice is to emerge in student writing they must be afforded choice in topics and genres,
when choice is central to a writing program, we see increased engagement. Ownership lifts
and greater responsibility is taken for the writing. Revision is then approached with greater
purpose. Without choice, voice will struggle to emerge.

Choice begins when choosing a suitable notebook for writing. It is important to allow
students to choose the shape and form of their own writer’s notebook. Standardization of
notebooks is easy for teachers, but it sends the wrong message regarding choice. It shows
a distinct lack of respect to the emerging writer. I choose the notebook that works for me.
Student writers should be able to do the same.

The notebook should be a place to feel safe as a writer. It is a place to experiment, to make
discoveries and wonder. It is a place to find your own particular voice. As Desire, a Grade 5
writer noted:

‘A writer’s notebook doesn’t have a voice. The words you write in the notebook give it a
voice.‘
Choice and voice are inextricably linked. The more teachers attempt to control the writing,
the less likely it is that voice will be in evidence on the page.

SOME WAYS TO IMPROVE SENSE OF VOICE AMONG STUDENT

WRITERS
 Inform students that you are going to play a listening game. All students will be
asked to close their eyes. You walk around and tap one of your students on the
shoulder. That student says, "Hi, it's me!" At this point the other students open
their eyes and try to figure out who was tapped by the sound of the voice. Play this
several times. Tell students that writing can have voice too and sometimes you can
tell who wrote something because their writing has a special voice.
 Introduce the strategy of ‘Show Don’t Tell’ to add emotional impact to writing. This
will inject feelings into the writing.

 Make students aware of the fact that voice changes. It shifts in response to our
writing intentions and audiences. Writing is affected by our language patterns, our
experiences and our interests.

 Encourage the use of the senses in writing to convey stronger imagery.

 Use the writing strategy of ‘outside/inside’ to inject a sense of tension. It will add
emotional energy to writing. Encourage students to write a sentence about the
physical world (outside) that surrounds the writing and then balance this by adding
words that involve the writer’s emotional state (inside).

 Sell the idea that writers’ opinions matter. Opinions give us our voice as writers.

 Write about a range of feelings. Writing is about the mud and the flowers…

 Encourage student writers to view writing from different angles and present the
view with which they are most comfortable. Humor, sarcasm, seriousness or
mystery will project a differing sense of voice to the subject.

 Being yourself will make it easier to write with a sense of voice. After all that is the
voice you know best. Write like you talk. Simply say it aloud and then write it down
as you say it.

 When writing, think about a conversation you would have with a best friend and let
that be your guide. That will give your writing a more personal connection.

 Writing is entertainment. If a student’s writing sounds somewhat stilted or wooden

for the reader, encourage them to go back and find their voice!
 Study writers who have a strong sense of voice. Get their voice into your ear by
reading their work aloud. Imitate their style. It is an important part of developing
your craft as a writer. Write under the influence of trusted authors.

 Keep a notebook or journal to explore writing ideas for yourself. Share your writing
voice with students. Seek feedback from readers about those parts of your writing
that made them see, hear or feel something.

 Encourage writing that is important to the writer. Write about those things closest
to your heart. It will create a stronger connection. Don’t write about things to
which you have little, or no connection!

 Encourage the use of strong action verbs to give the writing more impact and
precision.

 Use ‘read aloud’ times as a performance opportunity. Use your voice as a tool to
engage the listener.

 Encourage ‘storytelling’ in your classroom. Real, passionate, animated storytelling!

 Encourage students to note the presence of voice in the texts they are reading.

 Collect samples from children’s literature where the voice of the writer can be
clearly heard in the text.

References:

Ralph Fletcher Breathing In, Breathing Out –Keeping A Writer’s Notebook, 1996
Heinemann

Thaisa Frank & Dorothy Wall Finding Your Writer’s Voice: A Guide to Creative Fiction,
1994, St Martins Griffin

Alan j Wright Igniting Writing - When A Teacher Writes 2011 Hawker Brownlow

Jack Heffron The Writer’s Idea Book, 2002, Writers Digest Books

Ralph Fletcher What A Writer Needs, 1993 Heinemann

Katy Wood Ray What You Know By Heart How to Develop Curriculum for Your Writing
Workshop, 2002 Heinemann

Natalie Goldberg Writing Down The Bones Freeing the Writer Within, 1986, Shambala
 Peter Elbow Writing With Power Techniques for Mastering the
Writing Process, 1981, Oxford University Press

Alan Wright is an education consultant and author. His latest book,

Igniting Writing - When a Teacher Writes, (Hawker Brownlow Education)
is a passionate portrayal of the journey teachers go on when they decide
to write for and with their young writers. The book explores the approach
of modeling and demonstrating writing for students as they develop and
learn. Since 2008 Alan has maintained the blogs ‘Living Life Twice,’ and
‘Poetry Pizzazz’ supporting teachers of writing with practical suggestions
for effective writing instruction.

Blog: http://livinglifetwice-alwrite.blogspot.com.au/
http://alanjwrightpoetrypizzazz.blogspot.com.au/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/alwriting
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Living-Life-Twice-173468106064434/