Voice Lessons. Understanding the Power of Language. Nancy Dean

Transcription

1 Voice Lessons Understanding the Power of Language Nancy Dean

2 Voice: The Color and Texture of Communication Voice stamps expression with the indelible mark of personality. It is the fingerprint of a person s language.

3 The study of voice encourages students to become fully literate. It teaches them to read between the lines.

4 Teach the vocabulary of voice to encourage higher order thinking skills.

5 Why Teach Voice Connecting with text Reading between the lines Deep reading Learning text tip off s that lead to understanding both content and style Understanding the different demands of fiction and non-fiction Improved writing

6 Using Art to Teach Voice Conscious Choices of the Art

7 What does it say? How do you know? How does he/she do that? Conscious Choices of the Artist

8 Using Art to Teach Voice Color Shading Line Background/foreground Detail Degree of abstraction Angle Movement

9 Using Music to Teach Voice Volume Timing Rhythm Instrumentation Register

10 What does it say? How do you know? How does he/she do that? Conscious Choices of the Artist

11 What about Language? The little pink fishes swam upstream and died. Does it make you want to cry?

12 The little pink fishes swam upstream and died. Take the sentence and make it really sad. How did you do it?

13 Elements of Voice Diction Detail Figurative Language Imagery Syntax Tone

14 The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug. Mark Twain

15 Diction (word choice) Should be clear, concrete, and exact Depends on topic, purpose, and occasion Includes connotation and denotation Imparts freshness and originality

16 Twenty bodies were thrown out of our wagon. Then the train resumed its journey, leaving behind it a few hundred naked dead, deprived of burial, in the deep snow of a field in Poland. Elie Wiesel, Night

17 Diction: Choice of Words Strong Verbs

18 I caught a big fish. Get rid of the adjective (big). Put the power in the verb. Add an appositive (fish, Moby Dick s first cousin) or a subordinate clause (fish, which.) (fish, as I.)

19 How can I use this? Talk about strong verbs as you read Make a list of perfect words you and your class discover Make a list of forbidden words Have students read each other s work and highlight words they like Have students act out strong verbs Other.

20 How can I use this in math? Have students re-write word problems with precise verbs Have students describe their procedures for solving a problem using precise verbs Other.

21 How can I use it in science? Bring in examples of good science writing and examine the use of strong verbs Have students describe an experiment using strong verbs (model this first) Other.

22 How can I use it in art and music? Have students sketch an action and label it with strong verbs Have students analyze the lyrics of songs, searching for strong verbs Other.

23 Detail Facts, observations, incidents, reasons, examples, elaboration Creates a precise mental picture Brings life and color to description Shapes the reader s attitude Makes an abstraction concrete, particular and unmistakable

24 She s this wrinkled old bat with bad breath, so kids avoid her. I tried to sit downwind of her breath, but it was right after lunch and she kept burpin little bursts of garlic. Sharon M. Draper, Tears of a Tiger

25 Figurative Language Metaphor Simile Personification Hyperbole Symbol Irony

26 Frantic, Cole struggled to fly, but he couldn t escape the nest. All he could do was open his beak wide and raise it upward toward the sky, the action a simple admission that he was powerless. There were no conditions, no vices, no lies, no deceit, no manipulation. Only submission and a simple desire to live. He wanted to live, but for that he needed help; otherwise his life would end in the nest. Ben Mikaelsen, Touching Spirit Bear

27 Imagery (verbal representation of sense experience) Includes sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell Depends on diction and detail Can be figurative or not

28 Something warm was running across the backs of her hands. She saw with mounting horror that it was mixed slime and blood running from the dog s mouth. Stephen King, Cujo

29 Syntax Sentence structure Word order Sentence elements Sentence length Sentence focus Punctuation

30 I m clean, Carlito, I m not using. My voice dropped to a whisper. I m not using. And oh, God, I found my mind thinking, Wonder what it would be like again? Wonder what it would be like again? Wonder what it would be like again? Wonder... Piri Thomas, Down These Mean Streets

31 A perfectly healthy sentence, it is true, is extremely rare. For the most part we miss the hue and fragrance of the thought; as if we could be satisfied with the dews of the morning or evening without their colors, or the heavens without their azure. Henry David Thoreau

32 Tone (expression of attitude) expression of the author s attitude toward his/her audience and subject matter. expression of the speaker or narrator s attitude toward his/her listener or subject matter. a little of both

33 What I like in a good author isn t what he says, but what he whispers. Logan Pearsall Smith There are as many different tones as there are feelings.

34 The Navy guy and I told each other we were glad to ve met each other. Which always kills me. I m always saying Glad to ve met you to somebody I m not at all glad I met. If you want to stay alive, you have to say that stuff, though. J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye

35 Writing Voice Questions High order thinking Not comprehension questions Focus on the element of voice you want to teach

36 Thank You! Nancy Dean