Quantifying Voice
Something triggered in me when I was posed with the question of why I don't just create a rubric to use to teach voice to my students so they have a concrete understanding of it and then they can do it and show it in their writing.
Though this suggestion would seem like the obvious thing to do if I am trying to have my students increase their voice, it did not settle with me very well. In fact, it triggered something in me that was both a feeling of sadness and fury.
And so as I try to process why I felt this way, I think I am beginning to get a grasp on it...
Can I create a rubric that is broad enough where students can maintain a certain level of creativity in fostering their voice? Possibly.
However, once something like voice is taught explicitly with a weighted rubric attached to it, it becomes the means to an end. [I will use voice to get a good grade.]
But this goes against what I want to see in my students...which is an organic understanding and discovery of the power of their voice such that they choose when and how to use their voice in a way that is empowering to themselves and others.
So what does this mean? I feel like I have been teaching this implicitly throughout the year and infused it in our learning and our writing and projects throughout the year...
SO,
maybe it is a matter of WHAT I am looking at (I was looking at a random set of writing assignments as my data source)...maybe I need to look at writing that invites voice more or provides more opportunity for voice.
At the same time, I need to continue to pinpoint what voice is...as it continues to grow in its meaning as I study it in my class with my kids.
Though this suggestion would seem like the obvious thing to do if I am trying to have my students increase their voice, it did not settle with me very well. In fact, it triggered something in me that was both a feeling of sadness and fury.
And so as I try to process why I felt this way, I think I am beginning to get a grasp on it...
Can I create a rubric that is broad enough where students can maintain a certain level of creativity in fostering their voice? Possibly.
However, once something like voice is taught explicitly with a weighted rubric attached to it, it becomes the means to an end. [I will use voice to get a good grade.]
But this goes against what I want to see in my students...which is an organic understanding and discovery of the power of their voice such that they choose when and how to use their voice in a way that is empowering to themselves and others.
So what does this mean? I feel like I have been teaching this implicitly throughout the year and infused it in our learning and our writing and projects throughout the year...
SO,
maybe it is a matter of WHAT I am looking at (I was looking at a random set of writing assignments as my data source)...maybe I need to look at writing that invites voice more or provides more opportunity for voice.
At the same time, I need to continue to pinpoint what voice is...as it continues to grow in its meaning as I study it in my class with my kids.
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