Choice is Important to Creating Student Voice

Writing is very a individual skill that all students need to learn. The problem is, I find many writing programs teach a formula… but is that what’s best for creativity? My students are able to “begin with a bang”, use interesting describing words, and vary their sentence starters. They can write a paragraph with a strong opening and closing sentence. But when do we teach kids to be creative? When do we teach them to add their voice and personality?

I have a student in my class and his writing is dripping with personality. He is humorous, concise and uses amazing vocabulary. When I read a stack of writing, I know his right away because it is just so… him 🙂

How do we teach that?

Students need to know how to write a proper sentence and knowing how to join ideas into a paragraph is important. But so is voice. How do we help students develop their own style?

One strategy that I have tried is to give students choice. On Thursday, the students in my class wrote about what life would be like as a settler. I told students they just needed to explain what it would be like. Some students wrote letters, others wrote stories, some wrote paragraphs. Because they were given choice they were able to let their personality to come through.

For example, one student wrote:

“ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I don’t want any more farm torture!” I uttered. I wish we’d have just stayed in Boston. Now I have to do farming. I can’t believe we live in a dirt house and we don’t even have a bed yet! “Why did the sheep run away.” ”oh no the cattle are fighting again and the horses just joined in!” Sadly I do not get enough allowance for this. ”Finally it is dinner time, noooooooo beans!”

He totally understands what life would be like, and it’s interesting and entertaining to read.

Another student wrote:

“Dear Christina,

I’ve been on the train for 3 days now. I’m heading from Iowa to Curlew. I don’t know how many days we will be on the train for. I just hope it’s not for 10 days( my neighbor is getting a bit stinky every…single…second!!! ). The bathroom had been occupied for hours. I can’t wait for my turn in the kitchen! I’m starving!

your truly,
Annemarie”

She understands what a settler would go through, but she did it in a way that make sense to her.

Allowing students to have choice is so important to creativity. When a student can create something, in the way they understand, it allows them to add a personal touch, and seeing each child for their own amazing individuality is why I became a teacher in the first place. The more we encourage our students to be themselves, the better we all are.

3 comments to Choice is Important to Creating Student Voice

  1. Yvonne Thevenot says:

    Wonderful article! What you describe is what common core-designed curriculum is supposed to be, so that our young scholars use their writig knowledge to demostrate their understanding of the lesson through the use of their critical literacy and social lens. Thank you.

  2. Chris McMahen says:

    What a terrific article! As a teacher of writing for many years, having students develop their unique voice is something that is so incredibly important, yet so often overlooked. Thanks for recognizing this important element of writing.

    • pbrimacombe says:

      Thanks for the comment, Chris! How do you help facilitate the development of voice in your classroom?

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