Descriptive Writing Lessons
Descriptive writing lessons can lead students on an exploration of how adjectives enhance any written work.
By Amy Wilding
When I tell my students that we are going to start a lesson about descriptive writing, I am usually met with some complaints. In my experience, unless a student spends a lot of free time writing, or is on the newspaper, or writes for a literary magazine, this type of lesson can be absolutely terrifying.
Regardless of the age group, it is possible to get students interested in expressing themselves through writing. The key is to make writing fun and accessible. Here are a couple of the mini lessons that have made my descriptive writing lessons successful.
When I first introduce descriptive writing, I start with a three step activity. I give students a sentence—I see the house. The sentence should be simple. The students begin by using one word to describe the house—I see the beige house. We then add a second and third level of description so that eventually students have a sentence something like this—I see the beige, vile, creaky house. The second step is to give them a story with specific “blanks” where adjectives are required (like “Mad-Lib” stories). Students can work on this activity individually or in small groups, and then share the stories with the rest of the class. Once students have mastered both steps, they write a story using what they learned about descriptive words. Again, this can be done in groups or individually. You can also give students a starting sentence if necessary. This whole lesson can be done in a single class period, and teaches students about a simple way to make writing more descriptive.
Another activity that I use utilizes the five senses. I call this the “mystery bag” lesson. The first step is to do the activity with the whole group. I chose an item that is familiar for students, a crayon or lollipop would work well. I then place the item in a paper bag. I explain that a volunteer will use their senses—without the sense of sight—to determine what the item is. The student must use descriptive words in the explanation. Once the students understand the process, I give each student a bag. I give them five minutes to write about their object. Finally, students read their description to the rest of the class. It’s always interesting to see what the students come up with. What follows are some lessons that would also be useful in teaching about descriptive writing.
Descriptive Writing Lessons:
This lesson encourages students to write creatively using the writing process. Students use pictures of places or animals as the foundation. This is a lesson that would work perfectly with a science lesson since it addresses various aspects of the Earth and our environment.
This lesson has students create a fictional character. The goal is to have them make their character as "round" as possible incorporating physical size, motion, smell etc. A follow up activity could be to create a society using each fictional character.
This lesson begins with students analyzing descriptive poetry. Students identify what makes the poems descriptive. The final part of the lesson is for students to write a poem of their own. I like this lesson because students practice such literary elements as metaphors and similes. Short story excerpts could certainly be substituted for poems.
Vivid Descriptions and Works of Art
This lesson incorporates both writing and pictures. Students create a description of a place they are interested in either real or imaginary. They then exchange the descriptions with a partner who in turn creates a poster based on what they read. This is a great way to see how well students have mastered this type of writing.