Oh, Those Wonderful Words

We have been talking a lot about word choice lately, and how it can make your writing much more effective. As you are reading today, look for specific examples of how the author uses his/her words effectively. Today's blog response has two parts:

1. Tell what is effective about the author's word choice. Specifically! For example... uses strong verbs, uses unexpected but appropriate words, is not over the top, but not too boring either, uses detailed sentences without stacked modifiers, etc.

2. Give an example of a specific sentence in which the author uses a strong verb instead of a weaker one, or where the text is made colorful by word choice.

Great Expectations, technologically speaking that is...

With the new 1-to-1 laptops set to roll out next August, it is a very exciting time for learning at Valley. Here are a few questions for you to respond to about the new technology access coming your way:
1) What do you think is going to be the most beneficial part about having your own laptop for the school year?
2) How do you think it will affect your writing?
3) What software/program do you think you will use the most?
4) Are there any downloads/installations that you would like to see on all student laptops -- Office for Mac, GoogleEarth, etc. will be on them, what else do you need?
Please answer all!

Good Catch . . . or . . . Catch and Release?

With the recent passing of author J.D. Salinger, I am reminded of the mixed reaction that his book The Catcher in the Rye has had with many of my students. It seems that anyone that has read that book either REALLY loved it or REALLY didn't. It is interesting to me how some books can bring such different reactions to their readers. I know we usually talk about books that you like, but let's switch things up a bit and talk about a book you really didn't like for some reason. Make sure you include why you think you didn't like it so much. Be truthful, but fair.