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Smiley Face Tricks are a great way to get
students to think and write more creatively. Use these examples and
exercises to give students a few tools to enhance their writing.
1. MAGIC 3—Three examples in a series can
create a poetic rhythm or at least add support for a point,
especially when the three items have their own modifiers (any
word or word group that limits or qualifies the meaning of another
word or word group. Modifiers include adjectives and adverbs as well
as words, phrases, that act as adjectives and adverbs).
A. "She pushed her lightened hair back from her forehead, rolled her
mascara heavy eyes and sighed before she spoke."
B. "I'm afraid to jump," said one chicken.
"Oh, " said the others.
"Me too."
"Me three."
"Me four."
"What if we can't jump that far?"
"What if we fall in a ditch?"
"What if we get sucked into the mud?"
The chickens tutted, putted, and flutted. They butted into
themselves and each other until... (Helakoski)
Exercise: Write a paragraph about a farm animal using
the Magic Three to describe the animal's actions.
2. FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE- Non literal comparisons such as similes,
metaphors and personifications—add "spice" to writing and can help
paint a more vivid picture for the reader.
"When the teacher asks us all to hold hands
and Wyatt reaches for mine, this jolt of electricity floods out of
his fingers and ricochets through my whole body like I'm this human
pinball machine and Wyatt's the ball."
(Sonya Sones)
Exercises:
Make Your Own Similes and metaphors
That girl was as skinny as________________________.
The chickens were as nervous as__________________.
Grandma's hug was as warm as__________________.
The librarian was wound as tightly as_______________.
He was as skittish as___________________________.
Her stomach growled like________________________.
The howl ripped throught the air like a______________.
The breeze from the window was like_______________.
Fear crawled over him like_______________________.
Practice Personification: Personify extreme Hot or Cold. Write about
what the heat or the cold does to you. Try doing so without using
the words hot or cold.
3. SPECIFIC DETAILS FOR EFFECT—Instead of general, vague
descriptions, specific sensory details help the reader visualize the
person, place, thing or idea.
The smell rushed at me as soon as I stepped
inside. The hallway had that mama-don't-cook-nothin-without-onions
smell. It lingered on top of musty cigarette smoke, the kind that
never quite comes out of the carpet, no matter how long ago the
smoker left. My arms rippled with goose bumps. I'd been here
before."
Exercise: Describe a place in a barnyard or in a city you have seen.
Use specific details and appeal to at least 3 of the 5 senses as you
describe the scene.
4. REPETITION FOR EFFECT-- writers often repeat specially chosen
words or phrases to make a point, to stress certain ideas for the
reader.
" The veranda is your only shelter away
from the sister in bed asleep, AWAY FROM the brother that plays in
the tree house in the field, AWAY FROM your chores that await you. "
(Leslie)Excercise: Write a paragraph about your typical
school-day morning. Use repetition to emphasize a particular
thought or idea.
5. EXPANDED MOMENT—Instead of "speeding" past a moment, writers
often emphasize it by "expanding" the actions....their chicken ears
heard a noise in back of the cave, and they grew very quiet.
Four dazed chickens listened to a long, low
growl. "I'm afraid of growls," said one chicken.
"Ohh, said the others. "Me too. Me three. Me four. What if it's a
big animal? What if it's a big, hairy animal? What if it's a big,
hairy, chicken chomping animal?
Something crawled from the back of the cave. It was big. It was
hairy. It looked at the chickens and licked it's lips... (Big
Chickens)
Exercise: Write a scene where you wake up in a dark house after
hearing an odd sound. Expand the moment to build suspense.
6. HUMOR—Professional writers know the value of laughter; even
subtle humor can help turn a "boring" paper into one that can raise
someone's spirits.
"And you—yes, you, Justin—were the guilty
party who, after I took off my shoes to enjoy the hot pavement in
early spring, put a frog in them. Of course, I didn't look at the
shoes when I put them back on; it was the squish that gave your
prank away." (Liz)
Exercise: Write a paragraph that
places a character in an environment or situation you wouldn't
expect him to be. Example: A city boy in a ballet class or a
pig in a chicken coop. Exaggerate the circumstances to create
humor.
7. HYPHENATED MODIFIERS—Sometimes a new way of saying something
can make all the difference; hyphenated adjectives often cause the
reader to "sit up and take notice."
"She rolled her eyes at her mother and
turned her hose up with a "god-I-can't-believe-you-actuall-said-that
sniff."
Exercise: Write your own hyphenated modifiers.
1. Mom and Dad went in the back room for one of
their_________________________________talks.
2. The most popular girl in school threw me one of
her_________________________________looks.
3. The dog had a_______________________face.
4. His fingernails were of the____________variety.
5. She put her feet into the _____________shoes.
8. FULL-CIRCLE ENDING—Sometimes students need a special ending,
one that effectively "wraps up" the piece. One "trick" is to repeat
a phrase from the beginning of the piece.
Beginning: "One day four big chickens peeked out the coop window and
saw a wolf sneak into the farmyard.
The chickens pwocked, flocked and rocked. They knocked into
themselves and each other until one by one they tumbled out of the
cop. The door slammed shut and the chickens ran into the woods to
hide."
Ending: "...The chickens picked, pecked and pocked. They ruffled,
puffled, and shuffled. They shrieked, squeaked, and freaked,
until...the wolf ran out of the cave."
(Big Chickens)
ASSIGNMENT: A 300-400 word descriptive narrative essay
about a time in your life when you made a choice that did not make
you feel good. You may want/need to embellish (to improve by adding
details; often fictitious details.) the story a bit. The idea is for
you to tell a story that is both descriptive and entertaining.
Use 5-7 Smiley Face Tricks in your essay. Have fun with this.
Remember, the first step in writing an essay is to BRAINSTORM.
Methods of brainstorming: stream of consciousness writing and
list-making
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