Writing Techniques (Cont.)

Continue to lead your students through the techniques, defining each, providing an example, and expecting students to create their own versions.

You might want to draw special attention to the last technique on the previous page and two related ones on this page. Exaggeration, hyperbole, and overstatement are three favorite forms of expression for teenagers. Challenge your students to come up with really strong (and funny) examples of each.

• Exaggeration: His head is as big as a bowling ball.
• Overstatement: He drives with the window open because his head can't fit in a car.
• Hyperbole: His head has its own gravitational field.

Then challenge them to discern how the three techniques, though similar, are different. Which is the mildest version (exaggeration). Which is the most extreme (hyperbole). Help them connect the word hyperbole (gross exaggeration) with the math term hyperbola (an open curve with no ends). Help them understand the word hyperbolic (relating to exaggeration or an open curve) comes from the Greek words "over" and "throw." Both a hyperbole and a hyperbola throw over their target. They don't circle one specific thing, but instead make a curve around it to take in everything above it.

Writing Terms

This page and those that follow include many terms that describe different aspects of writing. Because these are not techniques, students can't practice them as easily as they did with the material on the previous pages. Instead, use this glossary of writing terms as a source of information for students as they work through writing projects.

You can teach this section the way you would teach any vocabulary or spelling material. Read through each term and definition. Then have students use the term in a sentence. Then give them a quiz, asking them to define each term. The sooner they grab hold of these terms, the sooner they can use them as they write and discuss writing with each other.

Also direct students to the "Language" section in the Almanac (pages 559–562).

Writing Terms (Cont.)

Continue to teach these terms as you did those on the previous page.

The terms idiom, jargon, and loaded words provide some interesting opportunities for discussion. All young people are conversant in idioms that the previous generation does not understand. That's part of the fun of an idiom: It marks the user as someone who is in on something, rather than someone who is out. Idioms function as passwords, helping the user gain entry to a special social group. In fact, as soon as you (the teacher) learn and use the idioms of your students, they will abandoned them for new passwords to make sure that they can keep their group exclusive.

Jargon functions in much the same way, but it relates to a specific field of expertise. You know all kinds of grammatical jargon, including predicate, infinitive, and participle. These words describe important concepts in writing, but they are not generally known. Indeed, all of the writing terms on these pages are examples of jargon. Those in the know need to master these terms to be conversant, but they are specialized language that excludes the general public.

Finally, we have loaded words, which are important because they seem to dominate our national discourse. Instead of describing and explaining events using objective language (which used to be the standard of journalism), much writing now unabashedly uses loaded words to express opinion. You can demonstrate this by selecting three articles on the same subject by three different news sources and having your students underline loaded words in each. Then discuss the words they found and what emotional freight they carry.