As a writing teacher I work with seventh graders all year to help them find their voice as writers. I actually ordered a custom quote from Wallwords™ that says Find Your Voice to post in my classroom. Every day when I walk to school, those words in matte brick red, greet me. The words remind me that before my students learn any of the ins and outs of language they must first understand they have unique experiences, thoughts and ideas to share with the world.
This spring one of my students from the previous year approached me after an assembly. “I really want to thank you for that,” he said pointing to the words on the wall. “Finding my voice has changed my life,” he said. As I listened to my former student share how finding his voice, not only in his writing, but also in his education, changed his life I started to wonder if I needed to define my voice as a teacher. As we celebrated his new outlook I came to realize that I too needed an avenue for sharing my thoughts, ideas and insights.
It was shortly after this exchange that I was asked to join a group of teachers around the state to blog about issues in education. “It’s time,” I thought, “to find my voice as a teacher leader.” Of course, this decision comes with many fears like what if no one reads or, even worse, cares about my thoughts. I am somewhat consoled by the knowledge of the therapeutic benefits of writing about personal experiences. Apparently, according to Wikipedia anyway, research shows that writing about personal experiences has many positive benefits including improving memory and sleep.
As teachers, our experiences, thoughts and ideas need to be heard. Finding our voice as a profession is an important, often overlooked, task. As I join this blogging group, I look forward to writing and improving my memory and sleep and, with a little luck, hearing from others in the field who, like me, want to improve what we offer our students. As I share stories from my classroom I invite you to share your stories and start a dialog about what works best for kids in your classroom, what you would like to see changed and what to do when policy changes don’t work for kids.
Shelly, it’s so rewarding to hear a student come back and acknowledge your efforts in the classroom. Especially cool because it was from an 8th grader; many think those thoughts but fewer act on them. As you find your voice as a teacher leader, I applaud your courage to reach out on this educator network. It’s exciting to think the passion of “chatters” will help move me forward in the classroom with my 7th grade kiddos. Thanks for sharing.
In my class I teach a lesson that focuses on the “there is no writing gene” concept. I actually use the term “writing gene.” So when I read your post I wondered, “How did Travis know I said that to my kids.” When my former principal observed this lesson, highlighting some of the hidden systems, he commented, “I wish I had heard that when I was in seventh grade. Thinking that some people could write and other couldn’t gave me permission not to try.”
I am reminded of the unique opportunity we have to help our students develop their own voices so they can sing, write and share their gifts with the world.
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I teach English class for simply this reason. I did not have a voice in my junior high experience. I, perhaps because of my own construction, not necessarily that of the teachers, figured that great writing (or even good) could only be composed by those who were gifted at birth with a writing gene, right next to the brown-hair gene. I did not like to write because it was always pushed as this arty thing that you either had or did not have. No one shared the hidden systems that govern the writing world, the openings or closings, the well placed one-word sentence.
I am please that you are sharing your voice and getting those voices in your classroom to come out.
As a middle school music teacher, it’s been one of my professional goals to help kids get past the shyness of using their voices to sing. Strange, isn’t it? In many cultures, singing is a part of everyday life–everyone from the bus driver to the coffee barrista sings, all the time and unembarrassed, in South Korea. But in America, children are taught that only those with a “good voice” should sing. And saying that someone does not have a good voice is like saying someone does not have a good face–your voice is part of who you are.
I am looking forward to reading thoughts written in your voice. And here’s hoping you get more sleep, as well…