Introducing Voice through Picture Books
I will begin the unit by defining voice through identification. In order for the student to understand what voice is, he must first be able to identify it. It is important for the student to identify and distinguish authors' voices, so that when he is asked to express his own or create his own he will have many models from which to draw. Examining the author's voice in model texts is one of the best techniques to use with students. 14 We will conduct this examination as a large group. I will ask a question and model my personal thought process to the students as I try and answer the question.
The first book I will use in this unit will be Eve Bunting's Smoky Night, illustrated by David Diaz. The story is told in the first person by a boy living in a big city and witnessing rioting in his neighborhood. In the middle of the night he and his family have to evacuate and move to a shelter. The themes of family, community, and ethnic and cultural identity are evident throughout the story. The main character and his family exhibit compassion and acceptance in the face of adversity. The first page begins
Mama and I stand well back from our window, looking down. I'm holding Jasmine, my cat. We don't have our lights on though it's almost dark. People are rioting in the street below. 15
After reading this page I will ask the students several questions: Who is the speaker? Can you describe him? What words in the passage help you identify the speaker? Once the class has discussed these questions in the large group setting, I will continue reading. After each page I will repeat the three questions. When we have finished the book, I will ask the students to think about all the voices that are portrayed in the book. The students will generate a voice chart (see example below) and then we will re-visit the story to look for important words and phrases that helped us identify each voice that appeared in the story. As the students identify the words, I will write it on the chart. This activity is a mini-lesson on parts of speech and although students will be likely to pull words from the text that do not help identify voice it will still help identify parts of speech. The identification of the voice may come at the end of the chart rather than the beginning. I will allow students to experiment with naming the voice before and after we fill in the chart. The words italicized will be the ones to focus on for voice identification. This chart will remain on the wall to use as a reference later when we compare voices from another book by Eve Bunting.
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