You’re the Director!

This interactive writing worksheet helps students strengthen narrative writing, revision skills, emotional expression, dialogue use, and descriptive detail by practicing the “show, don’t tell” technique. Students rewrite simple emotion-based sentences by directing how a character moves, speaks, reacts, and behaves, learning how visual and behavioral cues bring characters to life on the page.

Skills Reinforced

• Show, Don’t Tell Technique – Students transform stated emotions into actions, body language, dialogue, and movement.
• Narrative Writing & Style – Learners improve storytelling by refining tone, pacing, and descriptive detail.
• Dialogue & Expression – The activity emphasizes how speech patterns and reactions reveal emotion.
• Revision & Craft Awareness – Students practice revising sentences to enhance clarity, depth, and impact.

Instructional Benefits

• Teacher-Created Resource – Designed by educators to support upper elementary and middle school ELA standards.
• Highly Engaging Format – The “director” role encourages creativity and active thinking.
• Flexible Use Options – Works well for writing workshops, independent practice, small groups, or enrichment.
• Supports Developing Writers – Provides clear starting sentences that reduce writing anxiety.
• Low-Prep Printable – Ready to use in classroom or homeschool settings.

This printable worksheet gives students focused practice with narrative revision, emotional depiction, descriptive writing, and storytelling craft. By learning to replace telling with showing, learners build stronger characters and more engaging scenes. Whether used during a writing unit or as targeted skill practice, this activity supports expressive writing, creative thinking, and confident revision skills in both classroom and homeschool environments.

This worksheet is part of our Describing Characters collection.