9 THE RIGHT TO FIND YOUR OWN VOICE

Having a voice, being heard and having someone recognize who you are and what matters to you is a part of our human fabric today, and we need to encourage it in our writers. Spandel calls voice, "the human spirit."

The passionate voices today in the Black Lives Matter Movement speak to a topic they know well. Encouraging students to write from the heart, to talk about friends, vacations, celebrations and passions that they know well, will encourage them to write with voice. When we read a piece with voice in it, we suddenly know a little bit about the person who wrote it. We hear passion and compassion, disdain and anger, humor and regret.

So, how important is it to teach voice? Most students know how to write a passing paper that skims the surface of a topic, yet covers all the main points. Voice requires a deeper investment by the writer. They actually have to understand the topic and how they feel about it. They need to decide whether this is a topic they can become personally invested in. For voice to come out, there has to be a measure of caring about the topic and a willingness to put feelings down on paper. Conferencng with students about their topics can encourage them to really think about their relationship to the topic and their feelings surrounding it. Allowing students to choose their own topics helps tremendously or giving a range of related topics to choose from helps them as writers become involved with the topic.

Asking students to write about their relationship to the topic, to think about past situations of their own that coincide with the topic positively or negatively will help spark voice. "When we honor voice, we show profound respect for what students have to say." (Spandel) As we prepare for teaching in the fall, let's not forget to include opportunities for students to use their voices, for diverse opinions to be heard and for time to let students know that what they say and how they say it matters.