Voice Lessons: Classroom Activities to Teach Diction, Detail, Imagery, Syntax, and Tone

How does Toni Morrison make bad times seem sweet? How can Shakespeare make a character say one thing and mean another? Help your students understand how writers control voice so they can express a voice of their own.

Voice Lessons procides 100 historically and culturally diverse passages from world literature. Each sharply focused exaples targets a specific component of voice, presenting it in a short manageable exercise that functions well as a class opener. Activity pages may be reproduced.

The activities also serve as writing promprs, with space on the reproducible pages for students to respond to discussion suggestions for teachers.

Use Voice Lessons with any high school curriculum. Prepare your high school students for Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, and other examinations tha tdemand an understanding of the subtle elements that comprise an author's unique voice: diction, detail, imagery, syntax, and tone.