Judith J. Katz
There are five essential questions I want students to ponder during this unit. Essential questions one relate to the students' prior knowledge of how voice works in the world. Essential questions two help students begin to connect their prior knowledge of voice to the literary elements we will be studying in the work of the master writers. Essential questions three help the student connect everything they have learned to an in-depth creative writing piece in which they will use the literary elements studied to create their own authentic voices. Essential questions four are a reflection on what we've learned.
Through the students' short writings, the teacher will be able to assess how well each student is, in fact, able to understand and make connections to the variety of elements they are studying. The four essential questions appear in order below. The number of each question is related to the number of each lesson plan:
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1. What is the sound of a voice? How or why do people say: "I would know that voice anywhere"?
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2. Who is this Master writer speaking to? Who is his/her audience? How do you know? What elements is this Master writer using and how do they affect me? Make me feel? Think?
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3. What elements of a Master writer (pick one we've studied) do I want to apprentice myself to? Borrow? Imitate? Make my own?
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4. What can we as writers learn about voice by reading a Master writer?
