Descriptive Writing Exercise

March 26, 2012

My students are working on descriptive writing right now. I asked them all to come up with very simple sentences. I collected them and then redistributed them at random. Kids had to come up with creative and descriptive replacements for the simple sentences. Some of my favorites were these:



The boy ran.

The naked boy quickly ran across the cold highway to escape the wrath of his girlfriend's father. Oh, seniors...one wonders sometimes how much of this comes from actual life experience. I'm not sure I want to know.

The puppy barked.

The chocolate brown puppy barked excitedly at the little girl when she opened the lid to the box he was in on Christmas morning. Aw...how adorable!

The monkey climbed.

The hairless, rabid, rabies-infested monkey climbed to the very top of the palm tree while being chased by Animal Control. When I was a kid, I wanted a pet monkey. Not this kind, though. This monkey is the kind they use in horror movies.

I feel dumb.

I immediately feel dumb after I put all my laundry in the freezer after I was specifically told not to do that again. This one is so random, and probably my favorite. Makes me wonder if this kid has ever, in real life, put his laundry in the freezer. At the very least, I'll bet there were inexplicable 'science experiements' in his home growing up. He probably makes his mom's life very interesting.

I'm tired.

A week of late nights, venti Starbucks coffees, and an overdue thesis has transformed me into a zombie, yet instead of brains, I merely desire the embrace of a deep rest. I have a feeling many of my kids could relate to this one, especially around finals time.

I hate Jim.

Jim needs to be boiled in his own gravy as he slowly realized that I hate his living guts because he likes to do the conga. Poor Jim. The sacrifices one makes for the love of the dance...