As elementary school teachers, our job is take ordinary student writing and give our children the tools to spice up their papers, adding interest and excitement through word choice, suspense, and other literary devices.
Step 1 - Ban Boring Words ASAP
Tell your students that, starting immediately, certain "blah" words that pack little descriptive punch are banned. The four more important words to ban are: "good," "bad," "went," and "said." Other worthy candidates include: "nice," "walked," and "then." Basically, any boring word that is repeated a ridiculous number of times in most students' writing is an excellent one to throw out the window.
Step 2 - Brainstorm Synonyms And Use Them Instead
One by one, the students should work together to brainstorm more exciting and effective synonyms of a given banned word. Make a list of replacement words to post around the room. That way, whenever a child is tempted to use one of the "bad" words, he or she can quickly glance up and find a much more interesting word to use.
Step 3 - Watch It Work
Right away, you will see your students striving to use more creative and descriptive words in their stories. The boring old words just won't do any more. Just being aware of the importance of word choice leads to a whole new level of care and attention to each sentence.
Be careful, though! If your students are anything like mine, they will take this banning to the extreme. If anyone uses one of the censored words in conversation, the kids erupt with cries of "Oooohh! He said the g-word!" After a couple days of this tiring and frequent ritual, I firmly explain that the words are mainly banned from writing, not speech. However, it's never a bad idea to try to be more specific and eloquent in your speech as well.
Give this quick lesson a try and watch how it easily becomes more tolerable and enjoyable to review student writing. I wouldn't be surprised if some of my students avoided the banned words for the rest of their school careers! And that's not a bad thing!
