In order to evoke emotion or mood, good writers pay close attention to details and endeavour to replicate the feelings and descriptions that will resonate in the hearts and minds of their reader. This activity provides writers with the opportunity to create images with words that portray and evoke emotion.
Strategies/Skills Used
Writing Skill 5: I carefully choose the most effective words to express my ideas.
Writing Skill 7: I use my personal style to make my writing unique.
(1) Select a piece of text to read aloud that vividly describes and portrays emotion. As you read, have students close their eyes to visualize and experience the text through all five senses.
(2) Explain to students that they are going to practice using words to create images in readers’ minds that portray and evoke emotion. They will use the following steps: (i) Select a word to describe a feeling or emotion (e.g. loneliness, elation); (ii) In any order, describe that emotion through the senses – write two lines to describe what the emotion looks like (loneliness might be described as “Dinner for one on a tray in front of the TV”), then write two lines to describe what the emotion sounds like. Continue by writing two lines to describe the selected emotion in the other senses (taste, touch and smell). Write one together as a class before having students attempt one on their own. If you wish, provide a list of emotion and sensory words for students to refer to as they write and revise (or create one as a class).
(3) After students write their own, have them re-read and revise by replacing common clichés, idioms, colloquialisms or comparisons with original descriptions and wording. Also have students revise for word choice and effective portrayal of an emotion. Give students the Editing Etiquette 2 – 3-2-1 Peer Conference Sheet to use for peer response and further revising and editing.
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