One of the most frustrating things to writing teacher who read a newspaper that just less style. When
all the research has been completed and inserted into the paper
correctly and all the sentences that are well structured, but paper
doesn't have the pizazz of some, it could be boring class. Similarly,
when you know the student has a great personality, but that does not
appear in his writings, it can be frustrating to know that your students
are able to do so, so much better. If you are looking for ways to help students find their voices, try to step back from the analytical paper. When they write about themselves, sounds students often shine.
Who Are You?
One of the most difficult questions for students to answer is: "who are you?" Of course, they could provide the name, age, date of birth, and all sorts of other relevant biographical information. However,
when it gets to the nitty-gritty stuff about what motivates them and
make them tick, this can be a difficult question to answer. Ask your students to explore who they are and what makes them unique. In
doing this, through writing, students will begin to see their
personalities are different and, hopefully, can add a little flair to
write them. In addition, you can have your students take different, silly personality in their writing. If they are animals, would they? If they were a book, would they? Doing this can help your students break their comfort zone and think about their personalities are different.
Dear John
Writing a letter is a great way for students to explore the passion of writing them. Do they write for famous people they always admire, and then the one they really hate. Explore how their language has changed between the two letters. Ask them to write to family members or teachers. Talk about what the language differences that they see as a change in their audience. When students know their audience, it is much easier for them to add the type of audience they want to see personalities. When you have them write a term paper, and then, they determine who they write for before they even start. Then, reference letters they wrote to give an idea of what sound to use.
What Matters to you?
When students write about what is most important to them, they will often provide the best writing you will ever see. Responses are typically Passionate response is well written, and you'll get people when you ask a question that hit home. At
least, when the students have something to say about a given topic, it
can be easier for them to get their ideas down, then work on their
writing style.
Get words on paper, and then edit them
The most valuable lesson that students are able to learn to write first, and edit later. Often, students think that, if the words don't come out perfect the first time, then they shouldn't even write it. More
dangerous, students sometimes think that whatever comes out on the page
for the first time, is the end result of term paper writing. To help with this, ask students to write nonstop for five minutes about their topics. If they can get their ideas down on paper, it's 90% of the battle. After that, have them fix the ideas into the introductory paragraph is really strong. This can help them realize that, once they have the ideas down, the rest is just fine tuning. Once they have mastered this concept, it is very easy for them to start adding their own personal voice to their letters.
