Education World – Keith Lambert
“Elementary teachers set the foundation for the work. Middle school teachers begin to build the framework to master structure. High school teachers work to support students to go beyond frameworks and truly discover their personality on the page. Each of these steps are critical to an emerging writer’s journey to finding their voice. But voice is a tough battle to fight. We all know what it looks like when a student is stuck to a rote structure. That robotic voice and stiff flow, as a student does their best to replicate writing formats they have been taught to follow step-by-step. We know that’s not them; not writing that comes from the heart. It’s a student completing a task to please their teacher. But how do we encourage students to explore their own writing style when they are still struggling with internalizing the basics of organization and writer’s purpose? Today, Education World examines teaching the elusive “voice”: ways to explore it with students, some strategies for teaching it, as well as some helpful resources to extend the work.”(more)