Middle School Descriptive Essay Topics
1. Descriptive Writing Prompt
Choose an event that you have a very clear memory of, such as a sporting event, birthday, vacation or party. Describe the scene with as much detail as possible using sights, smells and sounds.
2. Cafeteria Descriptive Prompt
Picture your cafeteria. Write about the way that it looks, sounds, and smells during lunch time. Describe the placement of the people, the level of noise, the topics of conversations and the food. Try to make it clear how it feels to someone who has never been in that cafeteria before.
3. Olfactory Descriptive Prompt
Choose one of the following smells: a barbecue grill, campfire smoke, a chlorinated pool, wet leaves, hot asphalt. Close your eyes and picture the first memory that comes to you when you think of that smell. Write down everything you can remember about the memory, focusing specifically on the sense of smell.
4. Blindness Writing Prompt
a. Have someone blindfold you and lead you into a room that you have never been in before. Take 15 minutes to explore the room without taking off the blindfold. Leave the room without looking at it. Now write for ten minutes describing what you think the room looks like and what objects are in it.
b. [For a class]: Do the exercise above with every student or in groups. Have each student write down a description of what they believe the room looks like. Have the students compare their descriptions and come up with one composite description that the students agree upon. Take everyone back into the room and talk about what they were right and about and what they missed.
5. Movie Description Prompt
Pick a movie that you know well. Describe the plot and characters. Then describe the same movie as though it's a romantic comedy. Then describe it as though it is a horror film. Then describe it as though it is an action movie. What parts of the plot do you emphasize for each "type?" What kind of word choice do you use, and how do you create tone?
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Index of Writing Prompts