Recently, I used a strategy that I originally posted about in 2013. It was a success then and proved just as effective now!
The Slow-Motion Writing Strategy teaches students to expand their descriptive writing by imagining the events taking place in slow-motion.
Students were highly engaged and remembered the strategy over the course of several weeks. The last assessment showed that student writing was much more descriptive!
The Slow-Motion Writing Strategy teaches students to expand their descriptive writing by imagining the events taking place in slow-motion.
- Ask students to write down the sentence “They sneezed.”
- Show this slow-motion video clip of several different people sneezing, while pointing out specific actions students can see happening.
- Ask students to rewrite their sentences with more detail.
- Continue the process with Slow Motion Flying Cats, Slow Motion Water Balloon, other slow-motion videos. There are dozens of them on YouTube.
- If desired, have students videotape themselves doing various actions (throwing a ball back and forth, drinking water). Then replay in slo-mo, asking students to write detailed sentences about what they see.
- Ask students to find a short sentence in their own writing that would benefit from more detail. Encourage them to close their eyes and picture the action in slow-motion, then write details into their sentence(s).
Students were highly engaged and remembered the strategy over the course of several weeks. The last assessment showed that student writing was much more descriptive!
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