Write Dialogue That Moves the Story

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.

Plan the characters in The Missing Cash Box, then rewrite the scene as six lines of dialogue. Good dialogue shows what characters are like and moves the story forward. The directions on the page read: Read the scene. It has no dialogue. Then fill in the Step 1 chart to plan what each character is like. You will write the dialogue on page 2. 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.