American Voices: Listening to Fiction, Poetry, and Prose

Overview

The sound of children's voices echoing through the halls or creating a cacophony on the playground is commonplace in today's public schools. The more difficult place to hear voices is in our students' writing. As a sixth grade teacher I have often neglected teaching this critical trait of writing that brings life to students' stories; instead I find myself obsessing over the mechanics and conventions of a student's written work. Many of my students are second language learners and they struggle with writing. For most of my students, Spanish is their home language. It was not until I began discussing the meaning of voice in my seminar with Professor Langdon Hammer in the American Voices seminar that I began to understand the important role voice plays in written expression. To use a southern metaphor, voice is like the roux that holds the gumbo together; without it you have unseasoned bits sitting in a pot together with no flavor just like Huck Finn's complaint about the widow's cooking, "That is, nothing only everything was cooked by itself. In a barrel of odds and ends it is different; things get mixed up, and the juice kind of swaps around and the things go better." ² We need to teach our students how to make "things go better" and emphasize the importance of flavor.

What is the origin of our voice? "Our voices are determined largely outside of our selves, according to where we live and work, what we read, and with whom we interact," explains Toby Fulwiler in Landmark Essays on Voice and Writing. ³ Voice is created in communities and through social relationships and interactions. The students in my class are predominantly Hispanic; many are bilingual or second language learners. Their heritages are based in New Mexican and Mexican-American traditions. The common links between the two cultures are language, religion, and food. Both groups are predominantly Catholic and speak Spanish or a variation of it, and the crops of the Aztecs and Mayans migrated into New Mexico, where corn, beans, and chile peppers are the primary ingredients in New Mexican cooking. However, regardless of the commonalities within these cultures, there is tension between the two groups. I hope that this unit can help begin to dissolve that tension and celebrate the commonalities shared by the groups. The themes of home, food, family and cultural identity are the focus of the readings I have selected, because my students relate to these themes and sharing them through literature will help illustrate how ethnic and cultural heritage helps create one's voice. Throughout the unit I want the students to explore their relationships to school, home, and community in conjunction with the literature we will be reading. What are the similarities between the students' cultures and the ones they are reading about? What are the differences? Why are the themes of home, food, and cultural identity important to the authors?

This curriculum unit is designed to help my sixth grade students develop a sense of pride in their varied Hispanic heritages by introducing them to African-American and Latino Culture. It is through introduction to the authors writing from within these cultures that I will teach them the importance of voice in reading and writing. The unit will focus on the relationship between images and words. We will begin with picture books illustrating voice through image, transition to poetry and how it creates imagery, and circle back to images developed alongside a personal narrative which will be written and illustrated by the students in picture book form. Students will first be exposed to picture books and poetry that are written from African-American and Latino perspectives. Since my students have limited knowledge and exposure to African-American culture, this unit will provide an excellent opportunity to discuss social issues that impact both Hispanic and African-American Culture —cultures that have often been underrepresented in the mainstream culture. I want my students to realize that by developing their voices they will have the opportunity to represent their cultures and shift this paradigm of under- representation. I want to illustrate the struggles that African-Americans and Latinos have endured in order to ensure their voices are heard in this country. I hope the students will be able to connect to the voices that sing out about freedom and oppression.

Voice amplifies not only the voice speaking, but the body that houses it. In this country children are often viewed as beings that should be seen and not heard. Children today, especially adolescents, feel a strong desire to have their voices heard, and I want to empower my students to find their voices and articulate them. My objective for this unit is to connect my students to themes that will resonate with them, themes that are close to their hearts and minds. I want the students to realize that they are not invisible, as they may feel or perceive themselves to be. I want them to experience being heard and seen and developing their own voices in oral and written expression is one way to accomplish that. I want the students to make personal connections to the poetry and literature that we read, and to reveal these connections in their written expression. Finally, I hope by exposing the students to the beautiful voices expressed in the poetry and literature of African-American and Latino culture, they will begin to embrace, value, and exhibit pride in their own cultures.