Let Your Voice Be Heard

Margaret Woodwardroonbatgirl@aol.com

Santee Wateree Writing Project 2011

Research & Theory• “The writer’s voice…will illuminate, extend and

sometimes even contradict what is offered in the essays about teaching writing.” (Ray XV)

• “You should avoid using the passive voice because it makes your writing sound weak and awkward. Using the active voice helps make your writing direct and forceful.” (Holt, Rinehart, Winston 199)

• “Voice is the author’s fingerprint on the page.” (http://so024.k12.sd.us/voice.htm)

• “Don’t tell readers what to feel. Show them the situation and that feeling will awaken in them.” (Goldberg 75)

Rationale

• Students’ voices are always heard orally but not in their writing.– Encourage students not to be afraid to let their voices

be heard but let their true selves shine through.– Allow the students’ feelings and opinions to erupt as

if they were talking.• Students assume their writing is filled with

wondrous words; however, when they hear someone else reading it, they obtain a new perspective.

Active vs Passive

Don’t let someone else speak for you; let your voice be heard.

http://voxvocispublicus.homestead.com/Index.html

Bibliography• “Active vs Passive Voice.” Purdue Online Writing Lab. 2011. Purdue University. 17 June 2011

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/539/02/• “Extended Response Scoring Rubric.” South Carolina State Department ofEducation. 23 Oct 2008. 17 June 2011.

http://ed.sc.gov/agency/Standards-and-Learning/AcademicStandards/documents/Finalrubric102308.pdf• Goldberg, Natalie. Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within. Boston: Shambhala Publications Inc., 2005.• Holt, Rhinehart, Winston. Writing Workshop, Third Course. New York. Harcourt, Brace &Company, 1995.• Oltmanns, Stacey. “Voice.” Mrs’s Oltmanns’ Web of Knowledge. Nd. Hanson School District. 17 June 2011

http://so024.k12.sd.us/voice.htm• Peha, Steve. “Student Writing Samples.” Teaching That Makes Sense. 2003. 17 June 2011

http://www.ttms.org/PDFs/03%20Writing%20Samples%20v001%20(Full).pdf • Ray, Katie Wood. Wondrous Words: Writers and Writing in the Elementary Classroom. Urbana: NCTE, 1999.• Ray, Katie Wood., and Lester L. Laminack. The Writing Workshop: Working Through the Hard Times (And They’re All

Hard Times). Urbana: NCTE, 2001.