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What is voice in digital writing? We know it when we see it, but it’s difficult to define. In one sense, everyone has a voice, right? So shouldn’t every piece of writing have a voice?
However, we’ve all read things that touch us in a certain way. We feel like the writer is speaking right into our ears. The writer is with us all along the way.
Yesterday I had the privilege to see many wonderful authors at the Mississippi Book Festival in my home town of Jackson, MS. I’ll write more about this great day later this week. Kate DiCamillo told me (yes, me because I got up the courage to ask her a question.) that the voice of the narrator in The Tale of Despereaux carried her through the writing of the novel, and this voice carries the reader through as well.
Voice is elusive and difficult to teach. Actually, I don’t think voice can be taught. Voice needs to be discovered. My students discover voice by writing a Slice of Life every week. By writing about something personal, their personalities appear on the page. They post their Slices on our class blog at Kidblog. (Click here if you would like to follow our blog.)
This week we only had a few days together because of the extensive rain and flooding in our area. When we met on Wednesday, my kiddos were full of stories about the flooding. Jacob’s house was flooded, and he was excited that he could write about it. He wrote three and a half pages in his notebook. Others went directly to the blog to write.
Lynzee’s voice comes through in her poem.
Fearsome Flood
Half the yard gone,
Bayou is swollen,
Stranded in the house,
Some in shelters,
People afraid
Of the
Fearsome flood
And Tobie is, well, always Tobie on the page.
When my sister and I were getting dressed, we turned on the news as always, but this time, there were no commercials, no GMA, only local news. We watched a bit, getting dressed, when all of a sudden, it smacked us right in the face. We dropped dead, got buried, and stayed there until we rose as zombies. Okay, maybe I exaggerated, but we were pretty shocked. By the fact that… “Iberia Parish schools are closed,” said Dave Baker. I asked my mom what that meant, but on the inside, I knew. NO SCHOOL!! But that is bad because, well, it must be pretty bad to cancel school. For like, 4 days.
Digital writing makes an unique voice more possible. Daily blogging allows students to discover their own voices and to share that voice with others. My students are having conversations with each other. I am not the only one they are writing for. An authentic audience offers my writers a reason to write and a pathway for discovery.
Please join the conversation by posting a link to your unique voice, your own blog. Tweet at #DigiLitSunday. Google+ community here.
I love that you had such a fun day yesterday with authors. I took voice a bit into the “activist” or action role with the two examples that I used today. So great that we don’t all think exactly alike!
The beauty of our PLN is that we all think differently but have one thing always on our mind and that is what is best for our students.
I believe with all my heart that the digital piece is what makes the difference for some of our students when it comes to sharing our voices. It is elusive and hard to teach, but oh, so worth it! 🙂
You are so right. I have students who have developed into quite the writer by having access to blogging. Thanks.
Identifying voice in writing might be an easier task. Maybe we can identify it as a personality on the page. Something that gives the reader a feeling about the writer. Letting your personality shine through as you write might be a more accessible way to view the work.
I like how you said letting your personality shine through. I’m going to use that phrase.
I love your KidBlog! I was in awe when I saw you present it at NCTE! You inspired me to start using it! I do agree that student voice isn’t something we can really teach (aside from maybe modeling techniques such as all caps in a word to stress emotion).
Here’s the link to my blog post on digital voice: https://wordpress.com/post/hwlearninglinks.wordpress.com/821
How amazing that you had a conversation with Kate DiCamillo. I could just listen to her all day! When I saw your topic was “voice”, I thought of Kidblog, too. That’s where my students’ voices are heard loudest. I just sat down today, so I’m finally going to write a blog post, but wanted to visit here first. 🙂
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Margaret, your students always have such unique voices that they share with the world. I applaud you once again for nurturing their writing hearts to raise their voices in celebrations of their authentic selves. I am traveling back to Long Island from Central New York and will post as soon as I can.