In classes I was told no. Don’t use contractions. Don’t share opinions. Don’t use sarcasm in your writing. And don’t exaggerate. Basically, I have been told to hide my voice and be as objective as possible in my writing because that’s what makes writing good. This pattern started early on in middle school and it wasn’t until I got to college that I was able to use my own voice again, only to discover that I had nearly forgotten how I’m actually supposed to express my ideas while acknowledging that they are actually my ideas. Thus, the idea that all academic writing needs to be objective is to me the most devastating bad idea about writing that I have heard so far. While there may be a time and place for objective writing, how boring would it be if all academic writing was devoid of personality? After all, as an English Education major, writing is of the utmost importance to me, and I believe that writers must first recognize the importance of their own voice and perspective before they can produce good writing.

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When considering what is good writing, I am most concerned with whether writing fulfills its purpose, whether it meets my expectations, and whether or not it is thought provoking and clearly communicated. I believe that all these objectives can be met while a writer also uses his or her own life experiences within a paper along with his or her own unique voice. This idea of focusing more on voice and idea rather than grammar was expressed in the article “Good Writers Always Follow My Rules” when Monique Dufour and Jennifer Ahern-Dodson state, “When we acknowledge that many of our rules are in fact techniques, [...], we can focus on expressing ideas worth sharing and become the kind of readers and writers who are in a position to listen” (135). One of the ways in which I hope to encourage my future students to explore their life experiences and voice freely is through the use of a writer’s notebook. I think that a writer’s notebook is a powerful tool that will enable students to recognize that they have valuable things to say. I know that in my experience, I spent a lot of time in high school only writing to answer predetermined questions, none of which inspired much creativity or motivation. This type of objective writing can be discouraging to students, and often the feedback that students receive about this writing tends to stress adherence to grammar and writing conventions that can limit a student’s imagination and willingness to take risks in their writing.

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I have been fortunate so far this semester to read a lot of academic writing that has not been confined to being completely objective. In other words, the authors have mattered! In my English textbook and Teaching Writing textbook authors like Elizabeth Wardle, Doug Downs, and Penny Kittle use their own experiences in life and in the classroom to show how to become a more impactful teacher and how to teach students different ways to improve their writing. In the book Write Beside Them, author Penny Kittle also discusses the importance of helping students discover their own voices by saying, “All writing that soars begins with something to say. It doesn't begin with an assignment [...], but with something the writer feels is important and wants to work out by naming and exploring it in writing” (19).  Kittle talks about encouraging her students to find their own voice many times throughout this book and one of the ways she does this is by discussing memoirs and how students could write about events from their lives. Another thing that stuck out to me in this book is how Kittle ends each chapter by reflecting on some of the ways in which she has failed to reach students and how she would change things. I love to read teachers talking about their own failures because it’s like getting advice from a friend rather than instructions from a textbook, and I could never experience this with an objective text.

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I think that encouraging writers to be subjective will actually enable for more credible and genuine writing. When students can bring their own background into an academic setting, not only does their writing become more personal and engaging, but they are also able to learn how to write with authority and confidence. I know that in my future classroom I will always strive to remind my students that their voices matter.