Tomorrow is my last day at Jackson Heights Elementary, a school I will remember for its enthusiastic students and my struggle to pronounce their names correctly. It has been great fun for the students to hear my Indiana-born phonetics and cadence butchering the Indian names of Napinder and Saan.
We’ve worked to encourage voice in the student’s writing while I’ve been here. Drama has been our window into the world of creative stories with voice. In Division I our retellings of the Three Goats Gruff had teenager penguins that wore cool black sunglasses and liked to hip-hop dance! In Division II we used drama to play with ideas that became the basis for short stories about characters encountering animals that have escaped from the zoo.
I had this great epiphany today as I was explaining that including character thoughts in writing adds VOICE to the writing.
“Here, what if you think about that voice in your head that warns you or gives you witty things to say that you know it’s not appropriate to say? That’s your VOICE. It is a symptom and indication of your personality. Include the voices in your character’s heads in your writing and you’ll certainly increase the voice!”
I thought it was brilliant. I’ve been thrilled to hear the student’s writing. Oh…we also created videos of some of their drama. Kids mostly love to see themselves on the big screen!
Thanks, Jackson Heights for such a wonderful visit!
