Show Don't Tell

    During part of our revisions in our Small Moment writing unit, we teach the the concept of "show, not tell." This concept is a bit abstract and can be a little tricky for first graders. After giving many examples of how writers show their emotions, without just coming out and saying them, I noticed that many of the students were able to identify what the emotion was, but were still having a hard time using this in their own writing.  So I brought in a little improv to help them gain a better understanding of this concept.
   I had the students sit in a circle and there was one person who was the 'guesser'. The 'guesser' had an emotion taped onto their back (they did not know what it was). The guesser would walk around the circle slowly so that everyone else could see the emotion. The other students in the circle would raise their hand and show what the emotion was without saying the actual word. At first we started out by just using facial expressions, but since I wanted the students to apply this into their writing, I told them that they had to use words or scenarios to explain the emotion. The students did a great job and the guesser was able to guess the emotion word every time. I have also seen a significant increase with 'show don't tell' in their writing!