Descriptive Writing Prompts 2 - FREE

Descriptive writing prompts are a great way to get a writing sample at the beginning of the year. They are also a good warm-up for a narrative essay, which I usually assign as a first essay in a basic composition class. The key is getting the students to write concrete, or sensory, detail instead of abstractions. Download this freebie for a short lesson plan and three of my new descriptive writing prompts appropriate for middle school and above:

More Picture Writing Prompts

I've been using picture writing prompts a lot lately in the classroom, and I finally put my three favorites together. They are not necessarily my favorite pictures, but these three have been the most successful in getting my students to use sensory detail. It's so easy to tell, so hard to show. Hopefully these picture prompts will help your students, too.



Click here, or on the picture to download the prompts. The packet also includes lecture notes and example paragraphs, one that "tells" and one that "shows."

Picture Writing Prompts

In the never-ending battle to get my students to write with concrete details instead of abstractions, I've found that visuals often help.

Here's a picture prompt that has been particularly effective. I ask my students to imagine themselves inside this bike racer's body. What does he hear? What does he see? What's going through his mind? How do his legs feel? I ask them to put the reader in the moment--in a sense, become the bike rider.

This probably works better than just assigning a topic because it's so focused. The students aren't trying to tap into a personal experience where there are side stories and distractions.

After they are finished writing, we find any abstractions that have slipped through ("tired," "excited," "motivated") and work on better ways to show these concepts.

Click here for a linky party where you can access a whole bunch of picture writing prompts from some pretty awesome teachers.

Concrete Details

Read any student essay, and you're likely to get abstract descriptions: The vacation was "wonderful" the food tasted "great," and the dog was "cute." When we ask students to add more detail, or be more descriptive, we often get lists of adjectives. What we really ought to be asking for is concrete detail, or sensory detail.

I use this example for the class: "If I went on a roller coaster and told you it was 'thrilling' or 'terrifying,' what does that tell you?" The students won't see what I'm getting at here. They usually think it's a fine explanation. Then I say, "What if I told you that I was holding on to the handle so tight my knuckles were turning white and my fingers went numb? I could feel sweat forming on my neck and hairline. I could taste the pink cotton candy I'd eaten earlier in the back of my throat when I opened my mouth to scream." Now they begin to get it. I pause for a minute to let them think about it, then say, "In the first explanation, I TOLD you what it was like, the second explanation let you EXPERIENCE what happened because I used sensory details. Which is more powerful?"

When talking about the difference between abstract details and concrete details, I usually explain it by asking if I can see it, feel it, hear it, taste it or smell it. If the answer is no, then it's probably not concrete detail. It's effective to make a list of overused abstractions such as wonderful, exciting, and awesome, then list how we might show this instead. During revisions, I have students identify at least three places where they could add sensory details.

Another method to help students think beyond the obvious and overused for their details is teaching them figurative language. When writing a narrative essay in the first few weeks of the quarter, I require them to use at least one of the following: metaphor, simile, hyperbole, personification or allusion. To practice this, we go over each one, and then I have students work in groups to come up with one of each for a piece of artwork to share with the class. My students are usually a little unsure of themselves in writing figurative language, but doing it with a group first makes it fun and often leads to some profitable discussions.

I knew I'd gotten through when a student started with "the singer was wearing a long yellow jacket and sang to the large crowd" and ended up with "the singer looked like a giant, sweating banana rocking out in front of a horde of hungry ants." It's not exactly Proust, but the image made me smile, and it was concrete.

A full lesson plan for the figurative language group activity is in my store here.  Here are two descriptive writing freebies to use with your class: