Picture worth a thousand words

There is an old saying that goes, "a picture is worth a thousand words." Today you are going to use pictures to inspire your writing. You will look very carefully at several photographs and respond in your Writer's Notebook to each one. Keep in mind that you are not just going to be describing the picture, so you will need to really study each one carefully. I want you to use each picture as a story idea. Pictures can give writers ideas in many ways. They can help you think of characters, settings, conflicts, moods, and so much more. Let's try a few really focused picture writes first, then you will have the opportunity to choose one picture to really work with in depth.

Step 1:

Look at Photograph #1: What is happening in this scene? What do you think each of the orangutans is thinking? What happened before this picture was taken? What do you think will happen next?
Look at Photograph #2: Write something about each person in the picture. How old do you think each girl is? What is the personality of each? Do you think they are related in any way? What do you think each girl was thinking or saying at the moment the picture was taken?
Look at photograph #3: Where is this scene taking place? When is this scene taking place? What town/state/country is this? What planet is this on? What year or time period is it? What details in the picture support what you just wrote?

Step 2:
Choose one of the pictures here to analyze AND write a story about. Print out "Writing to a Picture" to help you brainstorm as you continue to examine your photograph. Remember to use as many details as possible in your prewriting. This will make writing your first draft go much smoother. Have fun and be creative!

Step 3:
Be sure to utilize the entire writing process to make this a piece you can be proud of.

Step 4:
You will be sharing your story with your classmates, and I know you want them to be impressed!.Don't worry, you don't really have to write 1,000 words- though some of you might want to challenge yourself and try. Just be sure that your story has a clear beginning, middle, and end with lots of details and elaboration connecting it all. You should add your photograph to your final copy by following the directions here.

Clipart and photo credits:
Clip art liscensed from the Clip Art Gallery on DiscoverySchool.com
Photo(s) by courtesy of www.bigfoto.com.

Created by Dedra Van Gelder on May 30, 2005 SLM 521: Web Dropin #3