Show Don't Tell

  A friend and colleague was looking for books to use as she taught her students the craft of showing without telling in writing.  Our online conversation, got me thinking. I first heard Ralph Fletcher talk about "show don't tell," years ago and have always shared that chapter from his book, "A Writer's Notebook, Unlocking the Writer Within You," as I introduced this skill.

   These are some of my favorites to use as mentor texts for students.  I think this is one of the hardest skills to teach, and one of the most powerful ones, as we strive to help students craft well written pieces, pieces that grab the reader and define characters and settings.

    Like these favorite mentor texts, there are many more out there.  I think the key to helping kids use this skill of "show, don't tell," it's in immersing them in great literature, talking about the lines that grab us as readers, having them lift lines from the books they love. Here's a great interview from a podcast on Choice Literacy with Franki Sibberson and Ralph Fletcher http://www.choiceliteracy.com/articles-detail-view.php?id=994 addressing mentor texts.

  I heard this quote before. I can't remember who said it, or where I heard it but it's stuck with me,

"Trust the books. Trust the books and get out of the way."