Reading about descriptive writing makes me think back to the "writing workshops" I had growing up in elementary school, or any other pieces I can remember writing about during my childhood years. Teachers were always encouraging students to write complete sentences, and we had to describe as much as possible when writing stories. Sometimes, we were given a specific topic to "free write" about. One topic I can remember writing about had to pertain to a "junk drawer" that we had in our house. I think the reason this was so memorable to me was because I earned a good grade on this writing, and I was also able to relate and tell the story to my best ability based on my experience having a "junk drawer" in my house.
Living with a step-brother (at the time) and having a mini-farm, there were definitely plenty of junk drawers in the house I was living in! I had to not only think about the items that were in the drawer, but if I wanted or had the time (based on when the assignment was due) I would be able to visualize and go back to those drawers to think about how I could elaborate, or write as descriptively as possible about the junk drawers in my house. There were many stories that I am sure I had to write about amongst a variety of topics, but this story stood out to me because I was encouraged to use as much detail as possible.
Although I was able to write descriptively about this junk drawer topic, I can't help but wonder what other types of stories or genres I may have struggled to write descriptively about. For instance, according to Tompkins (2012), "Poetry...depends on writers' ability to use language descriptively" (p.136). I wonder how well I was able to paint an image and use my senses to capture the minds of the readers of my stories. The reading for this week highlights the importance of helping students understand the importance of choosing specific nouns, vivid verbs, colorful modifiers, and sensory images to describe experiences and ideas effectively when communicating through writing (Tompkins, 2012). I really enjoyed reading certain selections of this chapter because I think this offers teachers great perspectives, information, and insight as to what they should be doing when teaching this genre in writing, as well as it gives helpful resources.
I could see myself teaching a descriptive lesson about a topic and using one of the examples from Mrs. Ochs's sixth grade class to make a chart using the "five-senses" to get children to evoke mood and focus about a topic-which in this case was ancient Egypt (Tompkins, 2012). The descriptive genre and reading some other peers' blogs from this class makes me also think about the writing experiences I have seen implemented in the classroom. In a second grade, integrated classroom from which I substitute, the two teachers I sub on and off for tend to use a model where there is a black and white picture, followed by blank lines. The class as a whole group talks about different objects in the picture, and the teachers or I will label the image with some of the words from the class has said from our discussion. Usually the picture is some sort of funny/silly image the kids have to write creatively about using their own thoughts and stories, such as a boat on a body of water with a sea monster coming out of the water nearby.
When I walk around the kids while they work independently on this type of writing piece, I have noticed the different scenarios they create and descriptive words they choose to put in their writing. Some students seem to really struggle with coming up with their own creative writing pieces, but I will notice some seem to manage to write fragmented sentences with some word choices that describe what is going on in the picture, such as "monster's feet were tickled" (this was not a student's exact words, but I remember working with a student who was vague but knew what message he was trying to convey about the image on the paper).
I consider myself a pretty descriptive writer and talker, especially when I am describing situations I have been in, or through phone-text conversations with my friends. But this reading has helped me to realize the different features of descriptive writing as well, such as dialogue, figurative language, and using specific information for utilization in the classroom. I could see how I would encourage my students to use certain language and writing features to truly emphasize and make the most of their writing, stories, pieces, etc. I think when I am forced to write under pressure or about something I am unable to relate to, I find more difficulty describing and elaborating about it. I am sure many students can relate to this.
In the literacy clinic I tutor in for another class, there is a student with whom I work with that I am trying to constantly encourage to write more descriptively. This has been a learning process for me because I have to reach my student's level to scaffold his learning and understanding process, but I have to continue to create positive, challenging techniques in my instruction to meet his needs to become a more proficient writer. I could definitely see myself using ideas from this chapter with my student to help myself become a better teacher and to encourage the expansion of my student's choices of words when he/she writes.
