Vicki's Voice

Do you miss your elementary school teacher and how nice she was? Well I think I found her, and her name is Vicki.

I would like to dedicate this blog post solely to the voice I hear when I read Vicki's blog. Vicki legitimately sounds like she could be my teacher. She just sounds like a nice person, but with a sense of authority that you want appeal to. One of the coolest things about Vicki is that she makes me feel smart because I can read through her posts really fast, even though I'm naturally the slowest reader ever. And the best part is that after I read a post, I feel like I just had a really kind person tell me really nice things. And it's not like she uses any sort of special grammar or punctuation or anything... that stuff just confuses me. I love her voice because I feel like she's talking to me in a very simple, yet meaningful way. So check this out for example:

I just want you as the teacher to know that "x" or "y" or "z" or whatever the advertiser or magazine says you HAVE to have to be a great teacher is a lie. You have all you need to be a great teacher, right there inside of you.

It is what you DO every day. It is WHO you are. It is your CHARACTER in doing the right thing when no one is looking. The best teachers teach like crazy whether admin is in the building or not..

"You Don't Need Another Gadget to be a Great Teacher."

Vicki tends to capitalize a lot of her words, which I find really effective because it makes it sound like a motivational speech in my head. You know when a really powerful speaker cranks up the volume on certain words and then those few works speak to you? What better way to emphasize certain powerful words than by capitalizing them? I also found out that Vicki often speaks at conferences, and can bet that she also emphasizes certain words during her presentations.

I mean, Vicki could have capitalized way more words, but then the capitalizing would have lost its effect. I decided to experiment a bit to see what that would look like:

It is your CHARACTER in doing the RIGHT thing when NO ONE is looking. The BEST teachers teach like CRAZY whether admin is in the building OR NOT.

Now it just sounds like Vicki is insane and needs to take multiple chill pills... and be locked away in a padded room. But since she doesn't actually write like that and keeps her capitalization moderate and effective, I can really envision her character as being an enthusiastic woman who is passionate about her job but not way overzealous. And you know what? That's the kind of person a teacher ought to be.

I also want to highlight this particular excerpt from her post, "Advice to presenters and teachers: All You Have is Enough," because it gives me a really good sense of how she feels. 

Ending a conference [or presentation] feels just like ending school. I get this feeling. I want closure. Somehow I want to know that I've done enough. I want to know that today made a difference. I want to know that it was worth this unique, special day -- the only October 18, 2012 that I will ever live. I don't really know what I want to confirm that. I don't know why the kind compliments about the keynote this morning or other words of encouragement just weren't enough. But they never are.

There's nothing really that fancy about it, which is what I like. I hate reading something that makes me have to think hard. As I read it, I could feel myself nodding with each sentence, thinking in my mind, "Yeah I feel you.." Each sentence was short enough to add a bit more in a provocative way. And then when she ended it with the bold lettered four word sentence, that got me. I was like, "YEP."

I also chose that particular excerpt because it contrasts from the first excerpt I quoted. Instead of being all fired up and motivating, it's bit more low-key but grabs your attention in a sympathetic (empathetic?) way. She uses "I" a lot so that her readers can identify with her as a real human being. She writes, "I want to know ___" several times with each one building on the last and catching the reader in that momentum. I also want to know ___.

Vicki's writing style takes you along and sucks you in. Not because it's highly stylized or anything, but because it's plain simple English that has just enough tweaks to spice it up a bit. Stuff like capital and bold letters and a bit of parallel structure here and there. She also uses short sentences a lot which I really like since I have this tendency to forget the beginning of a sentence once I get all the way to the .... wait what?

Nah just kidding, but seriously. Vicki makes me feel smart. I wish she was my teacher!