3 Teacher Hacks to Get Students Writing with Detail

Getting students to write with additional details can be tricky! It’s hard for students to see what’s missing from their writing. If they aren’t including details in the first place, how can you help them understand that more details are needed? Today, I have three writing hacks that will help your students see exactly how helpful more details in their writing would be! Check out these teacher hacks for writing with detail!

Hack 1: Draw a picture.

During a writing conference, pull out one sentence/paragraph that needs more details. Tell the student to read the sentence to you, and try to draw a picture of what the sentence/paragraph says. You can make this funny and act stressed and say things like, “I don’t really know how to draw this! What kind of dog was it?? Where does he live?!” Even with the jokes, your students will understand that the lack of details makes it tough for readers to visualize what they are reading. And not being able to visualize makes it tough to comprehend!

Hack 2: Give an outline.

Some students thrive with a bit of organization. If a paragraph is lacking some details to make it flow or sound well-rounded, try this paragraph outline:

1. Topic Sentence

2. Supporting Point

3. Expanding Information/Details

4. Supporting Point

5. Expanding Info/Details

6. Supporting Point

7. Expanding Info/Details

8. Conclusion

This is likely an advanced paragraph structure for some students. But those who are writing an easy 5-sentence paragraph without stress, but could stand to improve with more details will thrive with this. I always taught my most advanced 2nd graders to add an additional detail after each main point to a paragraph. This helps the paragraphs flow and sound more conversational.

Hack 3: Color-Code

Have students write paragraphs on one topic. Cover their names with a sticky note and have them switch papers with a partner. The partner reads the paper and uses a crayon/colored pencil to underline every strong detail in the writing that did one of the following:

• made the writing more clear

• made it more interesting

• helped describe what something looked/smelled/felt like

• helped the reader understand a topic better

Collect the papers and uncover the names. Pass the papers back and let students see how colorful their pages are. Chances are, especially if this is early in the year, the papers won’t be very colorful. Have students revise their writing by writing a new paragraph with more details, and swap the pages again. Let them compare the two paragraphs and how their anonymous readers felt about them. Then, have a discussion with the students about which paragraph was more fun to read…the first one or second?

Winter Writing

Want to try one of these mini-lessons with a fun, winter writing activity? I have three mini-writing projects that are all great for winter months!