Expository Writing

Warm-Up – Day 1 Grab your journals as normal and take out your independent reading book. Instead of writing this morning, we’re going to begin with 15 minutes of silent reading. You will need your journal throughout today’s lesson.

Objective(s) SWBAT brainstorm for their expository essays by completing a graphic organizer web. TEKS 13A

Exposition Exposition is writing that seeks to communicate ideas and information to specific audiences and for specific purposes. It relies on facts to inform or explain.

Traits of Good Exposition Effective expository writing reflects organization that is well planned—with effective introductory paragraphs, body paragraphs, and concluding paragraphs. In addition, good expository writing uses a variety of sentence structures and rhetorical devices—deliberate uses of language for specific effects.

Types of Expository Essays Analytical Essay Compare-and-Contrast Essay Cause-and-Effect Essay Classification Essay Problem-Solution Essay Pro-Con Essay On-Demand Writing (STAAR Writing)

The Analytical Essay An analytical essay explores a topic by supplying relevant information in the form of facts, examples, reasons, and valid inferences to support the writer’s claims. An introductory paragraph presents a thesis statement, the main point to be developed. The body of the essay provides facts about the topic, using a variety of sentence structures and transitions to help the writing flow. The concluding paragraph sums up ideas, helping readers understand why the topic is important.

How do you approach writing? What processes or steps do you go through when you write? What is involved in each step?

The Writing Process Prewriting Drafting Revising Editing Publishing

Prewriting In prewriting, you will: Explore ideas Choose a purpose and an audience Gather details Sequence ideas

Drafting In drafting, you will: Put ideas down Develop a thesis or controlling idea Structure ideas in a sustained way

Revising In revising, you will: Re-read draft to see what works and what does not Use a rubric to evaluate Analyze what you want to change or improve Make changes

Editing In the editing phase, you will: Check the accuracy of facts Correct errors in spelling, grammar, usage, and mechanics.

Publishing In publishing, you will: Produce a final polished copy of your writing Share your writing

Reflect Which of the stages of writing process do you feel you take most seriously or try your best on? Why? Reminder: The stages are Prewriting, Drafting, Revising, Editing, and Publishing.

The Value of Prewriting For ANY type of writing, planning during the prewriting stage is crucial. You’re determining your purpose and audience. You’re also coming up with topics and narrowing them down.

Prewriting Your Essay (Graded) Fill out the web graphic organizer I’m going to give you to generate ideas for your essay. Fill out ALL the bubbles for full credit. If you want to write more in a bubble than will fit, do the following: Put a number in the bubble. On the back of the organizer, put that same number and write down what you want to put in that bubble.

Warm-Up – Day 2 Grab your journals as normal and take out your independent reading book. Instead of writing this morning, we’re going to begin with 15 minutes of silent reading. You will need your journal throughout today’s lesson.

Objective(s) – Day 2 SWBAT complete an outline with complete sentences to draft out their expository essays. TEKS 13B, 15Ai-v

The Introduction & The Hook Hooking (grabbing) your reader’s attention is essential. The next slide has several opening sentences. Which of these first sentences are strong openers? Read these examples and decide which is most interesting to you. Explain why they grab your attention. Then, explain why the others are weak.

Which grabs your attention? Why? Have you ever wondered what it would be like to wake up one morning to find you’re someone else? There are many ways to paint a room. Yogi Berra, the famous baseball star, said, “You got to be careful if you don’t know where you’re going, because you might not get there.” Autumn is a beautiful season. On Sunday, we went to the store. When I woke up that morning, I had no idea it would be the best day of my life.

Rewrite a weak one with a neighbor. Have you ever wondered what it would be like to wake up one morning to find you’re someone else? There are many ways to paint a room. Yogi Berra, the famous baseball star, said, “You got to be careful if you don’t know where you’re going, because you might not get there.” Autumn is a beautiful season. On Sunday, we went to the store. When I woke up that morning, I had no idea it would be the best day of my life.

The Body and Conclusion The body of a paper develops the main ideas and details that elaborate on and support the thesis. As you tell your story or build an argument these details may include interesting facts, examples, statistics, anecdotes (stories), quotations, personal feelings, and sensory descriptions. The conclusion typically restates the thesis and summarizes the most important concepts of a paper.

Drafting Time! (Graded) Using the outline I provide, draft your expository essay. To get maximum credit, you must: Have an entry with a complete, on-topic sentence under each bulleted heading. Use evidence from the article “Adolescent Brain Development” in your first body paragraph.

Warm-Up – Day 3 Grab your journals as normal and take out your independent reading book. Instead of writing this morning, we’re going to begin with 15 minutes of silent reading. You will need your journal throughout today’s lesson.

Objective(s) – Day 3 SWBAT employ the RADaR strategy in order to revise 4 sentences in their expository essay’s rough draft. – TEKS 13C

Revising No one ever gets every single thing right in a first draft. Most people require multiple drafts. Revising means “re-seeing.” Look for ways to improve style, word choice, figurative language, sentence variety, and subtlety of meaning.

Revision RADaR R A D (and) Replace . . . Words that are not specific Words that are overused Sentences that are unclear Add . . . New information Descriptive adjectives and adverbs Rhetorical or literary devices Delete . . . Unrelated ideas Sentences that sound good, but do not make sense Repeated words or phrases Unnecessary details. Reorder . . . So that most important points are last To make better sense or to flow better So that details support main ideas

Replace Before: After: As I ran to the finish line, my heart was beating. After: As I sprinted to the finish line, my heart was pounding in my chest. How did the writer replace the overused verb ran? What other replacements do you see? How do they improve the text?

Add Before: Shadows made the night seem scary. After: Ominous shadows made the dark night seem even more sinister. How did the second sentence make you feel, compared with the first? Explain.

Delete Before: The candidates talked about the issues, and many of the issues were issues that had been on voters’ minds. After: The candidates talked about the issues, many of which had been on voters’ minds. Describe the revision you see. How did taking out unnecessary repetition of the word issues help the sentence flow more naturally?

Reorder Before: After: Which of the models flows more logically? Why? Put the sunflower seeds over the strawberries, which are on top of the pineapple in a bowl. You’ll have a delicious fruit salad! After: To make a delicious fruit salad, cut pineapple into a bowl. Add strawberries and then sprinkle a few sunflower seeds over the top. Which of the models flows more logically? Why?

Try RADaR on your draft! With a partner: Identify four sentences from your draft to improve. Work together to use each step of the RADaR strategy. R A D (and) Replace . . . Words that are not specific Words that are overused Sentences that are unclear Add . . . New information Descriptive adjectives and adverbs Rhetorical or literary devices Delete . . . Unrelated ideas Sentences that sound good, but do not make sense Repeated words or phrases Unnecessary details. Reorder . . . So that most important points are last To make better sense or to flow better So that details support main ideas

Use RADaR on Essay Now that you’ve had practice, use the RADaR strategy on your rough draft to improve as many sentences as possible. R A D (and) Replace . . . Words that are not specific Words that are overused Sentences that are unclear Add . . . New information Descriptive adjectives and adverbs Rhetorical or literary devices Delete . . . Unrelated ideas Sentences that sound good, but do not make sense Repeated words or phrases Unnecessary details. Reorder . . . So that most important points are last To make better sense or to flow better So that details support main ideas