Inside Out book review chapter 6

IInside Out, Strategies for Teaching Writing

D. Kirby, D.L. Kirby, T. Liner

Chapter 6 – Different Voices, Different Speakers

This chapter starts out with this quote, “Voice is at the heart of the act of writing.  As the writer moves from talking into writing, she tries to hear clearly the flow of language in her head and capture t on the page, hoping you will hear her talking to you and be moved by what she has to say.”  Students need to be able to hear their own voice, they need to know how their voice sounds on the page.  Our job as teachers is to help students find their voice in each piece they write.  Students shouldn’t be rushed through this personal expression too soon.  Give them encouragement and guidance by pointing out in their writing when you hear their voice.

  The diversity in our classes is a source of richness.  We as teachers should tap into students’ uniqueness to enrich the conversation and then the writing in our classes.  Students need to bring all aspects of themselves into their writing to hear their voice and use it to connect with their readers.

In Tuning Your Voice the authors talk about the need for students to find the range of their voice, to learn how they can alter their voice to suit a purpose.   For students to hear their voice they need lots of opportunities to share aloud their writing, followed by open discussion about what is distinctive and interesting, moving or funny, personal and unique.  Ensuring the classroom atmosphere is supportive is essential.  It is most important to spend quality and quantity time on fine tuning students’ voices, not to produce a final product.

One of the most interesting things I learned is the variety of activities that can be used to help students develop their voice.  I have always found teaching voice to be one of the more challenging tasks, one I never felt successful in, but can see how these activities would help students “distinguish, control, and manipulate” their voice.  I also learned how important it is for students to read aloud their writing and to for me to lead class discussions that help students hear the voices in their and others writing.

Some of activities that can help students develop their voice are:  

·      Mad Talking, (loaded language, abrupt sentences, repetition of key words), think of someone or something that makes you very angry, think about it, then say in writing the angry things they feel about that person, thing, or situation. , Soft Talking (repitious, rhythmical, slower, often empathy and reassurance), Think of someone or something in need of comforting.  Visualize their subject for a few moments, then write for five minutes to comfort that person or thing.  Fast Talking (logical, strong, active or imperative verbs). Lastly. Students think of someone they want to talk into doing something.  Visualize the person and concentrate on winning them over.  For 5 minutes write their most persuasive argument to that person.  It is recommended this not be graded.

·      Talking Back to Yourself – students write a dialogue in which they say something and talk back to themselves.  Students write the paper quickly and encourage students to read aloud to class.

·      How to Say “I Love Thee”—Let Me Count the Ways – Students express the same thing in different forms and medias.  (Can say I hate you using same premise.)

·      Trying on Other Voices – Select a favorite passage from a classic work and discuss the style of the author with students.  What works?

·      Contrasting Voices  - Students write about a situation twice, as 2 different people in that situation would see it.   Finished pieces should be read aloud in groups and discuss the voices they hear.

·      Getting Into Another Speaker – Students interview someone else and then write a dialogue to capture the personality of the interviewee by catching the sound of the speaker’s voice.

·      Collecting Dialogues *– Students eavesdrop on conversations and write up their best dialogue.  It can be modified from the original language to make it more interesting.  Finished products can be performed before the whole class.

·      On the Phone* – Students collect one side of phone conversations.  Put together their best one sided monologue and read them aloud using authentic voices.

·      Who Owns the Voice* – Students write a piece using the ‘voice’ of someone known to the entire class.  They share their pieces and see if the ‘voice’ can be identified.

·      Multifaceted Self-Portraits -  Students write multifaceted portraits of themselves from the point of view of different family members.  The papers can be shared and the class can guess who the student is describing.

What I most liked about this chapter was the emphasis placed on “hearing” the sound of voice. For these activities to result in students developing their voice they need to share aloud and discuss in detail ‘what is distinctive and interesting, moving and funny, personal and unique.’