Cultivating a Student’s Literary Voice
Middle school is an important time to cultivate and foster student voice, both the voice that can yell across the playground for a friend as well as the voice that speaks with wonder and substantiation. Bringing out voice sometimes means “letting go” in the classroom, having a plan but being open to a journey with students’ ideas. As John Dewey writes in Experience and Education:
“The plan, in other words, is a co-operative enterprise, not a dictation. The teacher’s suggestion is not a mold for a cast-iron result but it is a starting point to be developed into a plan through contributions from the experience of all engaged in the learning process. The development occurs through reciprocal give and take, the teacher taking but not being afraid also to give.”
For example, I often students ask to generate discussion questions for an assigned literature reading. We practice the notion of “why” questions first. (You are the leader of the class. What do you think would be most important to discuss?) Recently, we read the classic novel, The Outsiders, in which a group of loyal, working class friends clash against society while trying to find out who they are in life. These are some of students’ questions:
1. Why did Darry hit Ponyboy?
2. Why do Socs like to jump Greasrs?
3. Is it kind of like black and white and how they used to be divided?
4. Why did Cherry stand up for the Greasers??
5. Why does Pony have a connection with Johnny?
6. Why don’t Cherry and Marcia break up with their boyfriends?
7. What makes Darry so mean, when his brothers aren’t?
8. Why don’t the Socs feel emotions….like when Cherry said, “You’re more emotional. We’re sophisticated-cool to the point of not feeling anything. Nothing is real with us.”
9. Do you think Cherry will fall in love with Dally, and why is she interested in him when he was so rude to her?
10. Why was Two-Bit acting so tough, standing up to the Socs? Was he scared or no?
11. I know Darry is the parent of all the Greasers, but why did he slap Ponyboy and let the argument get that far?
Their questions mine the deepest themes of the book and become a template of meaning: about The Outsiders, about human behavior, and why.
Developing thesis is a different method of building an informed voice. I tell students that we might read the same book or passage, but we might all formulate diverse themes and meanings (as long as we “back it up”). Writing is a way of figuring out why and what you think: it’s the swamp for Luke and Yoda; it’s the dancer designing choreography after years of executing moves; it’s a moment of feeling distinct sameness or difference with another. In an assignment where 7th graders were asked to compare and contrast two characters from The Outsiders, they shared strong poetic and analytical insights:
Ponyboy is the youngest in the gang, and he is doing things based on what his brothers are doing and following their lead. Dally does what he wants to do and doesn’t follow the gang. He already fits the stereotype of the gang. Ponyboy is searching for his identity while Dally has these set rules, and he is keenly focused on sticking to them. Dally is firmly set on being tough and staying the way he is. Ponyboy is open to new things and is not trying to be like the rest of the gang. Dally and Ponyboy are very different but have come from similar situations. Allison Clay
Sodapop and Darry are extremely different, but they get along surprisingly well. Their biggest similarity is that they both try to protect Ponyboy, so that he doesn’t turn out like Dally. Unfortunately, they also have some considerable personality differences. Ever since their parents passed away, Darry became strict but soon learned how to show affection. Soda is a very upbeat person who always knows how to make someone smile, but sometimes because he seems so happy, people don’t realize he’s hurting. This book really brings out their differences, but it shows me how even though you may have differences, that doesn’t mean you can’t work together. Meg Quigley
Johnny and Pony are both main characters who make the story come alive. Johnny and Ponyboy are both alike in the way that they are kind and thoughtful. Although they are both gang members of the Greasers, they don’t want to hurt anyone when they are angry. Johnny and Pony both don’t have parents who can support them, Pony because his are dead and Johnny because his are abusive. They are best friends and are always there for each other. Johnny and Pony do, however, represent key differences. Pony represents “the gold” in the world by always being himself and never trying to hurt others. Johnny represents power by taking action: running into the church to save kids and even by killing Bob, a Soc, to save Pony. Caiden Bach-O’Donnell
Two characters, from each side of the battle, are very similar and different. Their names are Randy and Ponyboy. Randy had attacked, while Ponyboy was somewhat the victim. One thing, is that they are both caught at war, while struggling to find themselves, choosing to be themselves or be what people want them to be. Sophia Stallworth
Both Cherry and Dally deal with many things throughout the book and have to overcome challenges. Dally and Cherry, despite being completely different on the outside and in personality, face similar challenges and must show their true selves. Adam Wise
Darry and Ponyboy are two of the main people in the gang, and they have a lot of differences and similarities. Darry is a buff guy who gave up a football scholarship to college to take care of his brothers, Ponyboy and Sodapop Curtis, after their parents died. Ponyboy is a little small, sensitive boy who doesn’t use his head and is Darry’s brother. Ponyboy has a lot of book smarts and doesn’t really think things through or “use his head” unlike Darry, who is very smart, but he thinks about consequences a lot. They will both do anything for family, which is one of the things that they have in common. Andrew Gilbert
Dally and Bob were both dangerous and different from the rest of society, only difference that Dally was a Greaser and Bob was a Soc. These two people who had completely different histories and seemingly different futures both die trying to prove something for the people they love. Willow Peters
Lastly, creativity is often the real champion of voice, where students, through projects or fiction, are able to chase compelling space missions, mysterious forests, or the squirrels of their choosing (while also practicing punctuation, vocabulary usage, and sentence construction). Check out only a few of the mesmerizing fiction paragraphs of 6th and 7th grades:
“All of the sudden I feel a thousand pounds lighter. My ears are ringing like church bells on Christmas morning. After what feels like forever, everything goes back to normal. And I wake up. I had passed out. That’s when it dawns on me. I had just been thrust into the black infinity I call… SPACE. The feeling of realization is amazing. I’m one of the few Americans, no, one of the few HUMANS, who has entered space. Nobody else in 16 years has been blasted into space.
“’…You got that right, LeQhaun,’ I, Jason Key, the leader of the party and last part of the recon group, call. We are the Heroes of the Universe, a rag-tag bunch of spacemen who want to smear justice ALL over the Milky Way and beyond.” Cooper Wood
“One day, Jack is told that Thak (the caveman) is leaving to find a way out of the forest. Jack tries to help by indicating the direction he had come from, but Thak starts running in the opposite direction. Sandra explains that annually, one man is sent out to find the edge of the forest. There is no trying to stop a man once he decides on a direction.” Leah Busby
“I hated government. I hated being the chief’s son. And most of all, I hated being still. But that’s how life was for the first fifteen years of my life. I had to sit still everyday and learn how to correctly rule the tribe blah blah blah. The only happiness I ever felt was when I could sneak out on warm summer nights and hunt with my dragon clan friend Wang Jie. Technically, we weren’t even supposed to know about each other, let alone hunt together. I wasn’t even allowed to hunt. So, overall, I was breaking about 20 of my dad’s rules. I wasn’t supposed to go beyond the fence, I wasn’t supposed to mingle with other clans, I was supposed to put pleasing Ma Wang (the horse king) before all things, and I was supposed to live the most boring life of all time. I was sneaking off one night to the ancient temple of Ki Rin, the legendary white tiger, protector of the West, god of all warriors. I was bringing the buck I had shot to sacrifice to him. That’s when everything changed.” Sam Kelso
The cultivation of voice is really the cultivation of meaning and purpose, where skill and knowledge enhance a larger spirit of learning and communicating. Voice is alive and well at ESK!
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Today’s blog post is written by middle school language arts teacher Carol O’Donnell.