Show, Don't Tell

Model one show, don't tell rewrite aloud before students try the rest. The dialogue sheet works across two days, planning on page 1 and writing on page 2.

Rewrite 8 telling sentences, such as Ahmed was angry, to show the feeling through actions. Telling names a feeling or trait. Showing lets the reader figure it out from what a character does, says, or notices. The directions on the page read: Read each telling sentence. Rewrite it on the lines so it shows the feeling or trait with actions, dialogue, or details. Do not use the feeling or trait word. An answer key is included.

Yes, both. We made it for 6th Grade narrative writing, and the page works the same whether it lands on a kitchen table or a center rotation. At home, most families go through it together and talk the answers out loud, and that talking is where most of the learning happens with characters, settings and dialogue. In class it runs well as independent work while you pull a small group. Print one copy or thirty, whichever the day needs.

Good dialogue shows what characters are like and pushes the action ahead. Write Dialogue That Moves the Story has students plan Marcus, Jada and Mrs. Lin, then retell the scene in five spoken lines and one inner thought.

Sensory details tell what a place looks, sounds, smells, feels and tastes like. Sensory Details Organizer has a box for each sense, then a four-sentence description of a busy train station.

It is what a character thinks but does not say. On the dialogue sheet, one of the six lines must be Marcus's inner thought.