When is enough, well - enough?
Teaching students to write succinctly is difficult, especially when their vocabulary is limited. The author of this New York Times piece, Andy Selsberg, teaches Freshmen English at John Jay College in New York. Professor Selsberg believes that a lot can be said with few words, if the word choice is correct. Teaching students to write captions, descriptions of clothing posted on eBay, or original hooks for You Tube videos requires critical thinking beyond that required for the five-paragraph essay. Getting one's point across in 140 characters or less is a difficult skill, and developing that skill through expansion of a student's grasp of the English language could tax even the master teacher.
Activities that Professor Selsberg suggests may help students increase their vocabulary by forcing them to use descriptive language with limits on the content. Lessons in vocabulary development will increase their skill level, as will practice, especially when challenging others to describe similar objects or events. I can see applicability to language development in students with language deficits to those born with the gift of proficiency in language fluency. In mastering the art of clarity, careful selection of adjectives and experimentation, students should become better writers of all genre.
I like the experiment.
