Voice is YOU coming through your writing. It's what gives your writing  personality, flavor, style - a sound all its own.  Only you can give your writing this special touch because no one else sees the world quite the way you do.  Pretty neat, huh!  Your voice is as distinctively yours as your fingerprints.

Honesty is important to create voice in your writing.  You must say what you truly think and feel - not what you think someone else might want to hear.  This takes courage.  You must write from the inside out -- from that part of you that's in touch with your feelings.  This means you need to know yourself, listen to yourself, and trust those thoughts and feelings.  Sometimes, the very act of writing will help you discover what you truly think and feel.  It's risky, a bit scary, and exciting, too!

Think about your reader as you write.  Write directly to that person just as if he or she were standing there talking to you.  Be yourself.  Don't try to impress the reader.  Readers will respond to your sincerity, honesty, and conviction.

Are you doing a paper on sea urchins? Bungee jumping? Geometric shapes? Lightning? Dancing?  Write with confidence, as if you know what you're talking about  and it is utterly fascinating; your enthusiasm will be contagious and will draw the reader into your writer's web of ideas and feelings. 

HOW THIS LOOKS AT THE PRIMARY LEVEL....

Individuality! Sparkle! Love of writing, drawing, life itself.  Exuberance.  Humor.  Playfulness.  Emotion on the faces of characters.  The extraordinary.  These are the signs of voice.  At the primary level, voice is first noticeable in speaking, oral storytelling, and art.  It is individual expression, independence, liveliness.  In art, it may show up as a kind of energy in the work.  It may reveal itself through facial expressions or pictures that create tension or a sense of anticipation in the viewer.  Writers/artists with strong voice find their own paths, through pictures and later, through text.  Their work tends to look different or sound different from that of others; it gets our attention.  It often makes us say, "Oh, I know whose picture writing that is."  The something that tells you is voice.

Scoring Criteria

Voice

5. Writing is honest, engaging, and compelling.  The writer shines through.

4. Writing reveals writer's personality, engaged in the topic.  Personal Tone is evident.

3. Writing is sincere, but doesn't fully show personality of the writer.  Uses generalities.

2. Writing lacks consistent engagement, but attempts to develop personal tone.

1. Writing is indifferent, uninvolved, distanced from the audience, mechanical.