Reshana Britton

"When Words Begin to Move: My Growth from Descriptive to Narrative Writing”

The  buzz of morning chattering filled the classroom as I opened my computer and waited for the lesson to begin. The chill of the air condition in the room filled every tiny air space, touching the edge of my page like paint. That moment felt ordinary, but as our lecturer began speaking, it became something more. Today, we were continuing our work in descriptive writing and suddenly I began to see writing not just as words on paper, but as a doorway into experience.

As we discussed sensory details, I realised how much power there is in slowing down and paying attention. When I describe the bustling of the Victoria bus stand in the Terminal at a rush hour on evenings, I am not simply naming things I am transporting the reader. I learned that description is about helping someone feel what you felt, as if they were standing with you in that exact moment. Words can make the page breathe  if we let them. I quickly thought of my students in my classroom, all the possibilities of how  I could let my them describe a familiar object from their lunch bags a mango, a bun, a soft drink  and show them how description begins in the simple and ordinary. From there, we build voice.

Then came the shift from describing moments to telling full stories. Our lecturer guided us into narrative writing, and I felt that same excitement rise again. Narrative writing adds movement, characters, and purpose. It turns a moment into a journey. I learned that narratives could be true or imagined a story from my grandmother’s childhood in De Villa, or a made-up tale about a talking parrot saving a fisherman at sea. That sense of possibility reminded me that stories help students reflect, invent, and make meaning.

The framework of narrative writing made sense to me immediately. The plot gives shape. The characters give life. The setting gives colour. The theme gives the lesson. I pictured myself using this in my classroom maybe by letting students draw “story maps” of their ideas, then turning those maps into written adventures. It felt exciting to imagine their pride when their stories come to life.

As I reflect on this week, I see more clearly that descriptive and narrative writing are not separate skills they are two sides of the same craft. Description paints the scene. Narrative gives that scene breath and direction. One shows, the other moves. When they work together, writing becomes not only meaningful, but memorable.

When I closed my computer at the end of class, the sunlight was still there glowing just as it did in the morning. And I realised that is exactly how writing works: a bright idea might begin small, but with the right guidance, it can light up the whole page.

 

 

 

Reflection

This activity helped me grow as a writer and as a future teacher. Before this experience, I believed writing was mainly about putting sentences together in a correct way. Now I understand that writing is a process of crafting images, shaping meaning, and guiding the reader through emotion and experience. I also realised how much descriptive techniques strengthen narrative, because strong stories are built on clear pictures and vivid details. This growth will influence my teaching practice, because I now see the importance of modelling both descriptive language and narrative structure in meaningful ways for my students.

 

How I Would Teach This In My Classroom

In the classroom, I would introduce descriptive writing first by letting students describe familiar Caribbean objects and experiences, such as a mango, a rainy afternoon, or a beach in Grenada. After building this foundation, I would then guide them into narrative writing by allowing them to turn one strong descriptive image into a full story. For example, if a student described the taste of a mango, they could then write a narrative about how they climbed the tree to get it. This approach will allow students to see the natural link between descriptive showing and narrative telling, while building confidence and imagination step-by-step.