Show Me, Don't Tell Me

As part of a study of narrative writing, young story tellers are asked to revise 20 telling sentences and create showing ones.

The written word has a magical way of evoking the most descriptive images in one's mind. Encourage scholars to write descriptively with a activity that challenges young writers to show, not tell, what traits make up a character. 

One of the most famous short stories, Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart," is the focus of this resource. Learners read the story, respond to several text-based questions, and brainstorm ideas about a question relating to the text as...

It's grammar time! Class members practice telling time in English with a series of clock illustrations. They then use the prompts to discuss the time of day, including English colloquialisms, with partners or group members.

For this writing skills worksheet, students read the story Pushing Up the Sky and use the graphic organizer to convert the telling statement into a descriptive showing statement. Students list examples of the details from the story....

After each of three viewings of a 45-second video, aspiring writers employ vivid adjectives and precise, strong verbs to "show, don't tell." First they compose a single sentence, then three, and finally a five-sentence paragraph. Repeat...

Clarify your kids' writing with a video about pronouns, specifically me, myself, and I. As kids watch the short video, they see cute robots demonstrate the proper use of each pronoun, as well as the definitions of reflexive and intensive...

A game show style lesson prompts young writers to use descriptive language in their writing. Parts of speech include specific nouns, adjectives, and strong verbs, all of which they need to know in order to master the game. They then...

Students review the Show Don't Tell method of writing haiku poetry. They practice distinguishing poetic language from academic language and create poems based on images, not explanations.

Show, don't tell! Pairs work together to change a list of telling sentences into showing sentences using picture words that create vivid pictures in the readers’ minds.