When and Where I Found It: Dr. Jones sent us a link to the website by Education Northwest (2010) with information on the 6 + 1 Traits of writing. When I accessed the site the other day I found that one of the traits was 'voice'. I was much more familiar with each of the other traits listed than I was with this one, so I decided to explore it further and make it one of my vocabulary words.
Meaning: According to the above website, voice is "the writer coming through the words, the sense that a real person is speaking to us and cares about the message. It is the heart and soul of the writing, the magic, the wit, the feeling, the life and breath. When the writer is engaged personally with the topic, he/she imparts a personal tone and flavor to the piece that is unmistakably his/hers alone. And it is that individual something–different from the mark of all other writers–that we call Voice."
Level of Familiarity: I am familiar with the term voice when speaking and writing, but had not thought much about how vital a part of a student's writing voice actually is. I would enjoy further exploration of this method and learning mroe about developing student voice in writing.
Do I Want to Know This Word Well? Why? I do want to know this word well. It is important to be aware of student voice when evaluating written work. Each student has a unique perspective which they are coming from, and needs to be encouraged to develop this further. I would like to use the 6 + 1 traits in my future classroom, so voice is a term I want to know well.
Do I Want Others to Know this Word Well? Who and Why? Any teacher who is teaching in a school that utilizes the 6 + 1 traits should know this term well. The term voice really is a term that any teacher teaching writing should have a high level of familiarity with. The concept of utilizing student voice in their writing is an important one to consider both when teaching and evaluating writing. Additionally, students need to know the word voice well. Knowing what it looks like to use their individual voice in their writing will help students develop unique work that represents their perspective in the area they are writing.
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