No voice? What message are we sending our young writers?

Posted on Mar 11 2009 at 9:54 AM

The stack of state-writing-test booklets stare at me from the corner of my desk, flaunting their power. I scowl back.

Picking up the top one to glance over prompts and format, I freeze when my eyes catch the scoring chart: 6 boxes, a numerical judgment of the student’s mastery in each of the six writing traits—ideas, voice, word choice, organization, sentence fluency, and conventions. But wait, what is this in fine print? Voice and word choice do not count?! Conventions are counted twice? No. There has to be some sort of mistake. What exactly are we expecting from our young writers? What message does this send them? No voice… No word choice… Says who?

Shocked by such a skewed scoring system, I realize I cannot sit here, faking a smile, and be a part of it. I must act—write a letter, make a visit—do something to ensure that the ways we are teaching and assessing our students is indeed in our students’ best interest. I continue to stare at the sheet in front of me in disbelief, horror. We (teachers, administrators, school board members, politicians… anyone and everyone who plays a part in the creation and implementation of these state writing assessments and who cares about the needs and success of our students) need to stop and take a good long look at what it is we’re saying here on this scoring chart. To me it screams, “We value structure, we value order, we doubly value correctness in adhering to the rules.” But is this really all we want from our aspiring authors? Let me ask you this: when you browse the library shelf to pick out a novel, scan a list of top-sellers to make a recommendation for your book club, decide which articles in newspapers and magazines are worth your time, or pick out certain online reviews, blogs, letters to delve into and absorb… are you drawn to the piece with perfect punctuation? Do you set down that article and think, man, that structure and sequence just make we want to read it again and again; the clear, logical order… I just couldn’t put it down!

If this is not the kind of writing we love and value, why do we so boldly tell our students it is? Ripping them of their voice, their creativity, their style… telling them this doesn’t count, this doesn’t matter. It’s a crime; it must stop now. Writing without voice is not writing to be read. Because voice is the “it” factor. It’s what grabs us, delights us, challenges us, inspires us. Voice is the essence, the energy, the essential ingredient of our writing. Never should we tell a student voice does not matter. Voice is the fundamental matter; it’s what brings our writing to life.

As I speak passionately to the need for voice and word choice in our students’ writing, I am not disregarding the other crucial components. I acknowledge and support the need for teaching and assessing all aspects of writing, a holistic approach. But the notion of separating out these traits, and then failing to count some of the vital ones… I am sorry, but this does not cut it. It’s time we ask ourselves: what do we really value in writing, what do we expect of our young writers, what matters? Then we can design and implement effective models for instruction and assessment. Then we can tell our students, “Yes, your voice matters!”

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Comments

What's easy to measure gets measured! By Unknown on Mar 12 2009 at 9:35 AM
The No Child Left Behind emphasis on testing leads to such inanities as stressing mechanics over voice or word choice. It's easy to measure and report mechanics and everyone understands what punctuation is. Word choice and voice leave more room for interpretation, and there isn't much room in the black-and-white educational testing world for nuance. Keep revolting! What can we do to help change this policy?

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