1. Thursday, January 26

2. What details are used to describe the girls?
“The classroom smelled of pencil shavings, whiteboard marker, old food and young bodies. Teenagers filled the rows of desks. The girls at the front of the room typed into their phones with agile, furious thumbs. They wore tasteful makeup, blouses with skinny jeans, or logoed fleece jackets with yoga pants. The boys were in the back. They had windswept hair and polos and boat shoes, or buzzcuts and hoodies and giant sneakers. Their eyes flashed up at the teacher, questioning whether [he] had anything remotely interesting to offer.” Lindsey Lee Johnson, The Most Dangerous Place on Earth
What details are used to describe the girls?
What details are used to describe the boys?
What is the one trait shared by all the students?
Which of the following terms can be used to describe the word “buzzcut”?
A: onomatopoeia b) irony c) simile d) allusion

3. Why We Read

4. 10 Reasons Why We Should Read

5. 1) To Help Develop Verbal Abilities
Those who read tend to have a more varied range of words to express how they feel and to get their point across.
The more reading you consume, the higher your vocabulary
Why would you not want to be well-versed in a particular topic?

6. 2) To Improve Focus and Concentration
Unlike blog posts and news articles (or texts and Snapchat), sitting down with a book takes long periods of focus and concentration
At first it could be hard to do
Being fully engaged in a book involves closing the outside world off and immersing yourself in the text

7. 3) To Enjoy the Arts and Improve the World
People who read for pleasure are many times more likely to:
Visit museums, attend concerts, see comedians
Perform volunteer work, give to charity
Engagement is critical to individual and social well-being

8. 4) To Improve Your Imagination
You are only limited by what you can imagine
If I say something now, you’re going to think about it
You will expand your understanding of what is possible through reading
Unlike in movies, tv, or video games, which place the image in front of you, you have to create your own images
World building

9. 5) To Make You Smarter
Books offer a wealth of learning at a much cheaper price than taking a course (but please: still take classes, go to college)
Big readers tend to display a greater knowledge of how things work, who people were in history, and why things happen

10. 6) To Make You Interesting
Having a head full of information that you’ve picked up from non- fiction will come in handy in conversations
You’ll be able to hold your own and add to the conversation, rather than excuse yourself (“Oh no, I forgot to feed my cat!!!”)
You will be able to engage a wider variety of people

11. 7) To Reduce Stress
Studies show that reading silently for at least six minutes slows down the heart rate and eases tension
In fact, some people – in a study performed in the U.K. – had all- time low levels

12. 8) To Improve Your Memory
Scientists studying reading have proven that if you read more, you have more time to think.
Reading gives you a unique pause button for comprehension and insight – sort of a pause button

13. 9) To Discover and Create Yourself
Books are a fast track to creating yourself
With the endless amount of perspectives and lives we can read about, books can give us an opportunity to have experiences that we haven’t had the opportunity to and still allow us to learn life skills

14. 10) For Entertainment
All of the above are bonuses to one: it’s entertaining
If you think it’s a chore hopefully we can turn that around this semester
A good book (story/poem/etc) can keep you amused while developing life skills