Student Writing Skills 101: 'Show Me, Don't Tell Me'

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Jasmine hurt her leg is a boring way to tell readers about the time that the curious preschooler climbed atop a barn when no one was looking.  Telling not only bores readers, but it also omits details that are important. 

This PowerPoint compares and contrasts showing and telling.  There are also a number of examples included that can be used with students to allow them to practice turning these less-than-inspiring “telling” examples into motivational, inspiring, and thought provoking details. 

Included with each “telling” quote is a “showing” example that shows just how easily one can expand on the condensed detail with elaborated sensory details that relate to relevant memories.  Making the connection to one’s senses is a key component of transitioning from “telling” to “showing” readers!

Click here to download the Presentation

Tips for writing great introductions to narratives

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Choosing an appropriate hook and then deciding what else to include in the introduction of a personal narrative can be a difficult task for students. 

After brainstorming is complete, and it is time for drafting to begin, the introduction is the first step.  Since this is the section of one’s personal narrative that gives readers the all-important first impression, special care and consideration must be provided to make sure this paragraph makes a lasting impression that motivates readers to keep reading. 

Examples and various techniques are included to provide clarity to what the introduction of a personal narrative should contain.  Click here to download the presentation.

Tips to improve your students editing and revision skills in writing

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Your students have just completed the brainstorming process and now has a rough draft. for a narrative.   There is a temporary sigh of relief and then…revising begins. 

Revising is the step in the Writing Process where the author reflects on his or her rough draft and strives to make it better.  The presentation below details specific techniques to target when revising rough drafts.

Your students writing should evoke emotional responses and make readers feel connected to the author.

This can be done through thoughtful, well-developed snapshots, appropriate thought shots. as well as the use of dialogue.  View the examples below to see just how powerful these revisions can be when added to a rough draft.   Click here to download

How to add more detail to your students writing

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Nonfiction writing is a primary focal point for language arts classes across the United States.  Students are no longer expected to just write creative short stories or basic poetry.  Instead, students are expected to pen informational feature articles, argumentative speeches, and other forms of nonfiction writing. 

Teachers will collectively agree that the best authors make use of a variety of detail types.  By using statistics, facts, historical examples, personal examples, amongst other detail types, one’s main idea can be accurately developed to reflect far beyond just an apprentice writer.

Click here to download the lesson plan about details in writing.

 

Click here to download the assessment tool around details in writing.

How to write a well developed paragraph

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Breaking the monotony of five sentence paragraphs can be challenging.  Students get in the habit of checking off their topic sentence, three supporting details, and conclusion sentence with a sigh.  Unfortunately, what these students do not realize is that as they age, their paragraphs should too! 

By encouraging students to use a variety of detail types in their writing, they will excel to new heights in their composition of a well-developed paragraph.  When practicing using these detail types, keep in mind that you may need to encourage students to make up believable statistics, quotations, etc.  The focus is NOT on research; the focus is on constructing paragraphs that are well-developed and break the elementary style of five sentences and being done.  This is a great lesson to use following the “Detail types to strengthen nonfiction writing” resource that is also available on edgalaxy.com.

Click here to download the resources and lesson plan.

Classic radio recordings to help students with reading

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There is a wealth of great media at your fingertips if you scratch a little and today I came across a couple of classic audio recordings I remember hearing as a child around Christmas time which you simply do not hear these days.

These recordings would make for an excellent listening post on an iPad or something similar. 

You could get your students to listen to these and draw an image they can see whilst listening to the story and then maybe put together a piece of writing explaining how their picture fits in with the message of the story.

Maybe students could examine why so much effort was put into creating these great audio stories during the 1940's.

The options are rich - just as the two recordings I have which were first broadcast live on Christmas eve 1944.  I hope you enjoy them.  There are plenty more to be found on Youtube

Bing Crosby reading 'The Small One' from 1944 - Excellent Christmas story

Orsen Welles and Bing Crosby reading 'The Happy Prince'

Free Christmas wordsearches, puzzles and crosswords

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Provided here is a word search puzzle that includes some key symbols of the Christmas season.  Students will have fun searching for these key words.  There is also a crossword puzzle provided that gives sixteen clever clues that gets kids thinking about American traditions and symbols of the Christmas season.  These fun classroom resources will provide great filler for time when one-on-one remediation or other small group work needs to be completed.  Students can work independently to complete the word search, the crossword puzzle, or both.  Best of all, they will be smiling because of the pleasant reminder that Christmas is near!

Click here to download these activities

Christmas Vocabulary Challenge Game

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With the Spirit of Christmas in the air, students are bound to think about the holidays, right?   This fun game allows students to use their spelling, writing, and reading skills to compete in a friendly vocabulary game.  There are various categories and different challenges that appeal to different thinking skills  Everyone is sure to enjoy the team efforts that these five rounds combine.  Let’s get the combination started to see which team emerges as the victor in the Christmas Spirit Showdown.