{"id":3060,"date":"2018-10-08T10:22:35","date_gmt":"2018-10-08T17:22:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/patternbasedwriting.com\/elementary_writing_success\/?p=3060"},"modified":"2024-07-20T23:28:09","modified_gmt":"2024-07-21T06:28:09","slug":"teaching-descriptive-writing-checklist-tips-techniques","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/patternbasedwriting.com\/elementary_writing_success\/teaching-descriptive-writing-checklist-tips-techniques\/","title":{"rendered":"Awesome Descriptive Writing Checklist and Cheat Sheet for Students"},"content":{"rendered":"

What is descriptive writing? The real question is this: How do student writers use descriptive writing effectively in real writing? When teachers can answer this question, they know how to use their time wisely to teach descriptive writing.<\/p>\n

I mention this because the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) uses three text types: 1) Argument\/Opinion, 2) Informational\/Explanatory, and 3) Narrative. And another thing to consider is this: When is the last time you wrote or read an entire descriptive essay?<\/p>\n

While the CCSS does not include description as a main text type, it does mention description throughout the standards using these terms:<\/p>\n

\n

!<\/span>\u00a0 description, descriptive details, descriptions of actions, narrative descriptions, and write precise enough descriptions of the step-by-step procedures.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

In short, the CCSS emphasizes two types of descriptive writing:<\/p>\n

1.<\/span>\u00a0 Descriptive writing as a tool in narrative, expository, and argument writing.<\/p>\n

2.<\/span>\u00a0 Expository Descriptive Writing: This kind of description is really expository writing. Sometimes it\u2019s called General Description or Scientific Description.<\/p>\n

The following list focuses on the first type of descriptive writing.<\/p>\n

========================================================<\/p>\n

Descriptive Writing Tips, Checklist, and Cheat Sheet<\/h2>\n

1.<\/span>\u00a0 The writer creates vivid pictures of people, places, things, and events in the mind of the reader using description and sensory details.<\/p>\n

2.<\/span>\u00a0 The writer vividly describes experiences and events bringing them to life.<\/p>\n

3.<\/span>\u00a0 The writer effectively describes processes in detail.<\/p>\n

4.<\/span>\u00a0 The writer\u2019s description follows a logical pattern of organization: e.g., general outline or impression to specific details.<\/p>\n

5.<\/span>\u00a0 The writer creates powerful descriptions using sensory details and imagery. The writer\u2019s language appeals to the five senses: sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell.<\/p>\n

6.<\/span>\u00a0 The writer\u2019s description contains an effective use of figurative language: simile, metaphor, alliteration, personification, etc.<\/p>\n\"pencil Do you teach elementary school writing or struggling middle school writers? If so, be sure to check out Pattern Based Writing: Quick & Easy Essay on the homepage!<\/span><\/a>\n

7.<\/span>\u00a0 The writer skillfully uses description with purpose. The writer describes things that help the reader visualize and understand. The writer describes things that the reader needs to visualize in order to understand.<\/p>\n

8.<\/span>\u00a0 The writer skillfully chooses things that need description:<\/p>\n

a.<\/span>\u00a0 The writer chooses nouns (people, places, things, ideas) that need description.
\nb.<\/span>\u00a0 The writer chooses events (things that happen) that need description.
\nc.<\/span>\u00a0 The writer chooses processes (actions and steps that outline how things happen) that need description.<\/p>\n

9.<\/span>\u00a0 The writer describes things that are noticeable, memorable, important, or interesting. The writer avoids describing things that are trivial or unimportant.<\/p>\n

10.<\/span>\u00a0 The writer avoids purple-prose descriptive writing. The writer avoids descriptive writing that distracts from and breaks the flow of the composition\u2019s main purpose and main message. The descriptive writing is not too elaborate, too extravagant, or too flowery. Furthermore, the writer does not provide too much description.<\/p>\n

11.<\/span>\u00a0 Without the writer\u2019s descriptions, the piece of writing would be bland and lacking. The word pictures that the writer paints are necessary and fascinating.<\/p>\n

12.<\/span>\u00a0 The writer skillfully and appropriately navigates between using descriptive details, descriptive passages, and descriptive paragraphs. If the piece of writing is a descriptive whole composition (i.e., a descriptive essay), the writer\u2019s purpose is clear.<\/p>\n

13.<\/span>\u00a0 The writer skillfully uses adjectives, adverbs, and figurative language (similes, metaphors, etc.) to bring the description to life. The writer does not underuse them or overuse them.<\/p>\n

14.<\/span>\u00a0 The writer finds interesting and novel ways to include description:<\/p>\n

a.<\/span>\u00a0 The writer combines description with action.
\nb.<\/span>\u00a0 The writer uses dialogue as a tool for description.
\nc.<\/span>\u00a0 The writer uses quotes to describe.<\/p>\n\"pencil Need to get results teaching writing? Please check out Pattern Based Writing: Quick & Easy Essay on the homepage!<\/span><\/a>\n

15.<\/span>\u00a0 The writer uses description as an effective tool that is appropriate for the genre:<\/p>\n

a.<\/span>\u00a0 Main Genre:<\/strong> 1) argument, 2) expository, 3) narrative, 4) descriptive.
\nb.<\/span>\u00a0 Narrative-Story Genre:<\/strong> mystery, personal narrative, action-adventure story, tale (folktale, fairy tale, tall tale, etc.), historical fiction, etc.
\nc.<\/span>\u00a0 Format Genre:<\/strong> essay, story, report, article, letter, advertisement, daily school work, etc.<\/p>\n

16.<\/span>\u00a0 The writer uses description to \u201cShow, Don\u2019t Tell.\u201d As Anton Chekhov (1860\u20131904) famously said, \u201cDon\u2019t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What is descriptive writing? The real question is this: How do student writers use descriptive writing effectively in real writing? When teachers can answer this question, they know how to use their time wisely to teach descriptive writing. I mention this because the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) uses three text types: 1) Argument\/Opinion, 2) […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[457,570,456],"tags":[462,464,367,466,186,463,454,197,465],"class_list":["post-3060","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-genres","category-narrative-writing","category-rubrics-and-checklists","tag-common-core-writing","tag-description","tag-descriptive-writing","tag-literary-techniques","tag-middle-school","tag-sensory-details","tag-writing-checklist","tag-writing-strategies","tag-writing-techniques"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/patternbasedwriting.com\/elementary_writing_success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3060","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/patternbasedwriting.com\/elementary_writing_success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/patternbasedwriting.com\/elementary_writing_success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/patternbasedwriting.com\/elementary_writing_success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/patternbasedwriting.com\/elementary_writing_success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3060"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/patternbasedwriting.com\/elementary_writing_success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3060\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5214,"href":"https:\/\/patternbasedwriting.com\/elementary_writing_success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3060\/revisions\/5214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/patternbasedwriting.com\/elementary_writing_success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/patternbasedwriting.com\/elementary_writing_success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3060"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/patternbasedwriting.com\/elementary_writing_success\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}