Painting with Words: Bringing Writing to Life

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This week’s session really opened my eyes to the beauty of descriptive and narrative writing. We explored how these two genres work hand in hand, and I gained a deeper understanding of how powerful description can be when it’s done well.

One thing that truly clicked for me was the difference between telling and showing. It’s easy to write, “The garden was beautiful,” but it’s far more captivating to make readers see the colors, smell the flowers, and hear the rustle of the leaves. Descriptive writing is about bringing a scene to life through vivid words and sensory details so readers can step right into it.

I also realized that strong descriptive skills naturally strengthen narrative writing. The best stories aren’t just told, they’re experienced. When characters, settings, and emotions are painted with detail, readers connect more deeply and feel part of the moment.

In my classroom, I plan to model this by encouraging students to use their five senses, figurative language, and familiar examples from their own lives. I’ll help them build word banks and read their work aloud to check if it paints a picture in the listener’s mind.

Overall, this week reminded me that good writing isn’t about fancy words ,  it’s about making readers feel something. That’s the kind of writer and teacher I want to help my students become.

                                 Gloria Wells

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