Warm-Up for Definition Essays
Words let you think. When you don't have a word for something, you can't think very effectively about it. For example, you might think very little about the pencils you use, but having terms for different kinds of pencils can awaken your thinking:
- Hexie: a pencil with six flat sides
- Rounder: a pencil with a round bore
- Flatty: a carpenter's pencil, made not to break in a pocket and sharpened by whittling
- Dentcil: a pencil that has been chewed
- Penstub: a pencil that has been sharpened too many times; a golf pencil
- One-shot: a pencil with no eraser
- Mulligan: a pencil with a large eraser
- Fakecil: a pencil that won't sharpen correctly, with a tip of wood that doesn't write
- Lightsee: a #3 pencil that doesn't write darkly enough to be easily read
- Smudgie: a #1 pencil that writes like a crayon and smears
- Spock: a mechanical pencil
- Horseleg: an oversized pencil that doesn't fit in a sharpener
Check your pencils.
Check your backpack or locker to see how many of each type of pencil you can find. How many pencils fit more than one term? (For example, a chewed pencil with no eraser would be a dentcil one-shot.) What other words could you invent for different types of pencils? Which of these made-up terms interests you most and why?
What Is a Definition Essay?
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A definition essay deeply explores the meaning of a term. It includes dictionary definitions (denotations), but goes far beyond, providing examples, etymology, synonyms, antonyms, and other details. Instead of defining the term narrowly, a definition essay seeks many connections and applies the term in many contexts.
The poet William Blake once noted that one could "see a world in a grain of sand," which is what you'll be doing when you write your definition essay. One interesting word, like a grain of sand, can lead you to many connections with the much wider world. To warm up your thinking, you can start by explaining a school-appropriate slang term to an older person.
Thinking About a Slang Term
Every generation has its own slang—words used in special ways that are generally not understood by people in the older generation. If you use a slang term in the presence of an older person, you may be asked what the term means. For example, the term "woke" in its modern slang usage has a very specific meaning:
Term: woke or #woke
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Definition: to be no longer ignorant, to be enlightened about a key issue, to be vigilant against cons and conspiracies that deceive others
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Connotation: socially aware, transcending others, possibly arrogant
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Example: I am woke to the importance of voting. Gerrymandering and voter suppression continue. #staywoke
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Origin: from "awoken" and used in the same way but without the "a" and "n"; suggesting the person is no longer unconscious of key issues but instead awake to them
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Usage: used as an adjective to describe a person; used with a hashtag to indicate socially conscious content; used sarcastically to poke fun at self-important people
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Synonyms: enlightened, conscious, aware, understanding, transcendent
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Antonyms: ignorant, unconscious, unaware
Define a slang term.
Think of slang terms that you and your friends use. Choose a school-appropriate term to explain to a person from an older generation. Write the term and provide its definition, connotation, and so on. Ask friends for help in providing details, and conduct Internet research as needed.
Teaching Tip
This warm-up helps students activate their thinking by starting with terminology familiar to them. They become the teachers and you and other adults become the students. Later, when students develop their definition essays, they will research more formal terms but discover many of the same types of supporting information.