Review by Common Sense Editor, Common Sense Education | Updated February 2013
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Youth Voices

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Vibrant online community hosts authentic student writing

Subjects & skills
Subjects
  • English Language Arts
Skills
  • Communication & Collaboration
  • Creativity
Grades This grade range is a recommendation by Common Sense Education and not the developer/publisher.
7–12
Great for:
Common Sense says (See details)
Teachers say (4 Reviews)
Price:  Free
Platforms:  Website

Take a look inside

5 images
On Youth Voices, student ideas and writing are front and center.
Multiple channels feature writing along various topic strands.
Student posts touch on issues ranging from the environment and politics to personal narratives and video gaming.
One of the channels features writing in Spanish.
The administrative dashboard lets teachers edit or delete content and create channels.

Pros: Empowers students as writers and thinkers, and multimedia elements open the door for further digital composition.

Cons: High school writers sometimes submit questionable content as they explore personal and provocative issues.

Bottom Line: Supported student writing, collaboration, and communication make this a healthy space for kids to express themselves.

How Can I Teach with This Tool?

For teachers, the community of other educators on Youth Voices can be a powerful support group. The collective networking and thinking among the Youth Voices educators has resulted in usable classroom resources for you, including a series of writing challenges, discussions grouped along various themes, integration of art and writing, and curriculum-based documents that validate how online writing communities meet the needs of students across subject-area classrooms.

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Standards:

Youth Voices is a vibrant home for young writers seeking an authentic audience and a space to publish writing across a wide range of genres. The site is essentially a social network, so students can easily align their interests and make meaningful connections with other young writers. Students touch on issues ranging from the environment and politics to personal narrative stories and video gaming. Some students also add multimedia components like video.

Students will need to create their own accounts and set up a profile. Once they have their own space, kids can begin writing blog posts, which are designated to certain areas (such as argument, stories and poems, video conversations, etc.). A convenient place to start is to access the Youth Voices Play Challenge -- a series of activities in a game format that orients users to the site and has them walk through several challenges, including commenting on other posts. Another area has a series of "missions" for students, in which they explore specific topics as researchers and writers.

The teachers behind Youth Voices carefully built and nurtured this site over many years, and it shows. The commenting feature on posts opens up a range of discussions, and writing on the site can be very powerful.

Best of all, the site is free and remains flexible for the needs of teachers and their students. One drawback is that many of the writers on the site are high school students, so the content and subject matter can walk the line of appropriateness at times. Any questionable content centers more on subject matter than on inappropriate language. If you're considering Youth Voices, it would be wise to monitor the site over a period of time to make sure it meets your educational goals and your school's expectations.

Overall Rating
Engagement Is the product stimulating, entertaining, and engrossing? Will kids want to return?

Students will like the social nature of Youth Voices and its emphasis on putting student ideas and writing front and center. Most will recognize the feel and navigation of a social networking site.

Pedagogy Is learning content seamlessly baked-in, and do kids build conceptual understanding? Is the product adaptable and empowering? Will skills transfer?

Spanning subject areas, the activities include various challenges for student writers. In what feels like a usual social network environment, kids will be learning writing and communication skills as they share opinions.

Support Does the product take into account learners of varying abilities, skill levels, and learning styles? Does it address both struggling and advanced students?

Tutorials and resources are available for new members, but most are designed for teachers learning how to use Youth Voices in the classroom and how to validate the use of a social networking writing space.

Common Sense Reviewer
Common Sense Editor
About our ratings and privacy evaluation.

Key Standards Supported

Writing

  • W.7.6

    Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and link to and cite sources as well as to interact and collaborate with others, including linking to and citing sources.

  • W.7.1a

    Introduce claim(s), acknowledge alternate or opposing claims, and organize the reasons and evidence logically.

  • W.7.1b

    Support claim(s) with logical reasoning and relevant evidence, using accurate, credible sources and demonstrating an understanding of the topic or text.

  • W.7.2

    Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts, and information through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content.

  • W.7.3

    Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, relevant descriptive details, and well-structured event sequences.

  • W.8.6

    Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and present the relationships between information and ideas efficiently as well as to interact and collaborate with others.

  • W.8.1a

    Introduce claim(s), acknowledge and distinguish the claim(s) from alternate or opposing claims, and organize the reasons and evidence logically.

  • W.8.1b

    Support claim(s) with logical reasoning and relevant evidence, using accurate, credible sources and demonstrating an understanding of the topic or text.

  • W.8.2

    Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts, and information through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content.

  • W.8.3

    Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, relevant descriptive details, and well-structured event sequences.

  • W.9-10.6

    Use technology, including the Internet, to produce, publish, and update individual or shared writing products, taking advantage of technology’s capacity to link to other information and to display information flexibly and dynamically.

  • W.9-10.1a

    Introduce precise claim(s), distinguish the claim(s) from alternate or opposing claims, and create an organization that establishes clear relationships among claim(s), counterclaims, reasons, and evidence.

  • W.9-10.1b

    Develop claim(s) and counterclaims fairly, supplying evidence for each while pointing out the strengths and limitations of both in a manner that anticipates the audience’s knowledge level and concerns.

  • W.9-10.2

    Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas, concepts, and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content.

  • W.9-10.3

    Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, well-chosen details, and well-structured event sequences.

  • W.11-12.6

    Use technology, including the Internet, to produce, publish, and update individual or shared writing products in response to ongoing feedback, including new arguments or information.

  • W.11-12.1

    Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.

  • W.11-12.1a

    Introduce precise, knowledgeable claim(s), establish the significance of the claim(s), distinguish the claim(s) from alternate or opposing claims, and create an organization that logically sequences claim(s), counterclaims, reasons, and evidence.

  • W.11-12.1b

    Develop claim(s) and counterclaims fairly and thoroughly, supplying the most relevant evidence for each while pointing out the strengths and limitations of both in a manner that anticipates the audience’s knowledge level, concerns, values, and possible biases.

  • W.11-12.2

    Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas, concepts, and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content.

  • W.11-12.3

    Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, well-chosen details, and well-structured event sequences.

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Teacher Reviews

(See all 4 reviews) (4 reviews) Write a review
Featured review by
Jeremy H. , Classroom teacher
Classroom teacher
Fulton Middle School
Middleton, United States
A great tool to collaborate with other students on writing from around the U.S.
Youth Voices is a great platform for sharing writing and receiving feedback from other writers. I really appreciate the fact that students can connect with other students of the same age. It is simple for students to use and the set-up is not time consuming. The best feature is the research components it offers to students.
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