During my first year as a middle school teacher, I quickly discovered that my students had wonderful ideas for their writing, but struggled to express them clearly and descriptively. They recognized strong and specific words, but couldn’t always retrieve them on their own, and using a thesaurus was time-consuming. What they needed was a fast and easy way to find the “right” words for their writing.
I developed a list of action verbs, which led to a list of more specific movement words. Other word lists followed, and I soon had enough lists to make a small booklet for each student to use. I was thrilled with the remarkable improvements in their writing and in their confidence. They were so proud of their ability to choose their words so precisely and powerfully.
The booklet circulated to other teachers, and it wasn’t long before almost every English teacher at my school was using the booklet. Within a year’s time, the booklet began showing up with the students I privately tutored — students who attended other schools in my district. Apparently, I wasn’t the only teacher searching for ways to empower students with strong, specific words. I’m excited to share the culmination of that effort with you in this book.
Banish Boring Words — a collection of word lists containing dozens of options for frequently used (and overused) words and phrases — supports all types of writing. In some ways, it is like a condensed thesaurus. The purpose of this book is to provide students with shortcuts to finding descriptive words that will enable them to write with greater clarity and sophistication. It is my hope that this book helps students achieve their full potential as writers.
—Leilen
