VOICE is the hardest part of writing to really define and nail down. It's also the hardest to teach and bring out in your students. Here are a few ideas of different activities and exercises to help!

1) Bring in a big, varied stack of recently published books (this works esp well with award winning and bestselling titles that kids may already know). Read the first paragraph of each and discuss what you can already tell about the character.

Compare openings and try to sort books by style and voice. Talk about why one book opening could never, ever happen in another book.
For ex: Read the opening of WIMPY KID and then THE BOOK OF BOY. Would Greg Heffley ever EVER talk like that?
Nooooo!!

Start writing down the things that make the feel of the opening paragraphs different.
Word choice
Tone
Style
Formality
Sentence length
Description
Rhythm

2) Make a list of well- known fairytales and another list of jobs. (Baker, doctor, teacher, scientist, musician, etc.) Have students tell a fairytale story as if the narrator were one of those people. It won't change the story, but the delivery should be totally different.

What will a doctor notice that a musician won't? How would a scientist describe something? What kind of words and tone would a teacher use?

3) Another great exercise is having students write a scene with two different people. Once from the POV of one person, then the POV of the other. For example, getting a shot from the POV of the child and then the POV of the doctor or parent.

A road trip from the POV of Mom and then Dad. A concert from the POV of the conductor and someone in the audience. How can you tell, without being told, whose POV we are in? What things in voice should change?

4) Explore the concept of tone in voice by having students write about a book they love as if they're texting their best friend about it. Then have them write about it as if they're trying to convince the principal to make it a school read. What changed? What didn't?