Highlighting Strong Word Choice

Here’s a simple and intentional way to focus on word choice with little effort and minimal time.

Try targeting exact language in writing utilizing my purple highlighter trick. Since purple highlighters are a more obscure color to find, I know most students don’t have access to them. So I use this to my advantage. For every great word or word-phrase I notice in student writing (journal, writer’s notebook, homework, assignments, any writing at all), I highlight it in purple. I tell the students this is my way of signaling to them, “You used the right word in the right spot, and I noticed! Keep it up!”

If all the teachers in your building or team use the purple highlighter, students quickly realize they need to be more selective in their writer’s word choice in order to obtain some strokes of purple.

Order your own purple highlighter by visiting The Literacy Store.