SHOW DON’T TELL

1. SHOW DON’T TELL Students will be able to show the characters’ feelings.

2. Show Don’t Tell furious anxious miserable excited frightened surprised

3. How do writers show characters and their feelings? It was time for the play to begin. Freddy waited backstage with the fifth and sixth graders who were in the play. They looked at him and smiled. He tried to smile back. But the smile wouldn’t come. His heart started to beat faster. His stomach bounced up and down. He felt the sweat dripping down his forehead. Then Ms. Matson leaned close to him. She said, “They’re waiting for you Freddy.” Freddy walked on stage? (The One in the Middle Is the Green Kangaroo by Judy Blume) How was Freddy feeling? What evidence from the text shows how Freddy is feeling?

4. How do writers show characters and their feelings? Jean was stomping her feet when she walked down the hall. Her arms were folded across her chest. She felt heat coming to her face. How was Jean feeling? What evidence from the text shows how Jean was feeling?

5. Using dialogue to show a character’s feeling.Which paragraph shows that Fern is upset? Fern was in the kitchen when she saw her father go by with an ax. She wondered what he was doing with it. Her mother told her he was going to do away with a pig that had been born too small. Fern was upset because she didn’t think a pig should be killed just because it was smaller than other pigs. “Where’s Papa going with that ax?” said Fern to her mother as they were setting the table for breakfast. “Out to the hoghouse,” replied Mrs. Arable. “Some pigs were born last night.” “I don’t know why he needs an ax,” continued Fern, who was only eight. “Well,” said her mother, “one of the pigs is very small and weak, and it will never amount to anything. So your father has decided to do away with it.” “Do away with it?” shrieked Fern. “You mean kill it? Just because it’s smaller than the others?”

6. How do writers show action in their writing? I was going to feed my mother’s horse a section of hay. Before I got in the stall, the door slid open and the horse walked out and accidently knocked me over. I opened the stall slowly to feed my mother’s horse a section of hay. The big, brown horse wobbled out while I charged in. We hit! My head hit his chest. I fell to the concrete flat on my stomach. Max walked right over the top of me.

7. The kids in Room 207 were misbehaving. The kids in Room 207 were giggling and talking during story time. Spitball stuck to the ceiling. Paper planes whizzed through the air. They squirmed and made faces.