Ten Steps to Teaching Expository Essay Elements

Posted by maria. .

Expository teaching can be confusing, but this is an easy-to-understand-and-implement example of how to write expository essays with expository samples. Here are the steps for making sure you cover all of the expository essay elements for children’s writing assignments for use in your expository lesson:

1. Begin by showing examples of expository writing. Find expository essay topics where children have prior knowledge such as biographies of famous Americans, rocks and minerals lessons, magnet lessons, etc., and relate the topic to the writer’s experiences.

2. Explain how to use media resources such as the internet, encycopedias, and biographies to research their topic. Follow this by giving students a list to choose from that has several ideas regarding their topic. Examples for writing about a country would be: climate, national anthem, leaders, landforms, flag, language, foods and culture. This helps a child learn how to highlight or bookmark these items in their research.

3. Give a written prompt such as: Use your nonfiction topic to write an essay that explains to the reader, in an interesting and detailed way, the highlights of your subject. Make sure you have an interesting lead sentence, underlined phrases above sub-topic paragraphs, and a closing that connects to your introduction. Use a thesaurus and dictionary to have purposeful and correct writing. End by publishing your report.

The elements that follow are for students who are writing about a biography they’ve read.

4. The first paragraph should introduce the topic with a ‘hook’–an interesting lead sentence that makes the reader want to continue. This could be a question, or a personal statement that links the topic to the child’s experiences. The next 3-5 sentences should extend the personal connection.

5. The second paragraph should be focused on one aspect of the topic with an underlined phrase above it. For example, when writing about a famous American, a student could put, “The Early Years” above paragraph two. That paragraph would then go on, in 3-5 sentences, to tell about that person’s beginnings, when they were born, and how experiences began to shape their life’s path.

6. The third paragraph should have a title of another part of the person’s life, such as “Major Contributions” which would have several sentences about how this famous American contributed to society and for what they are known, to which groups and societies they belonged, etc.

7. The final paragraph could be titled, “Honors and Tributes” which would be at least 3 sentences that describe awards, statues, tributes to that famous American. This paragraph should end with 1-2 sentences that summarize the essay and connect to the first paragraph, in a personal way.

8. Children should then edit the rough draft of their expository essay by using a thesaurus to find higher-level vocabulary to give their writing specificity. They should use a dictionary to check spelling, and finally, make sure they have capital letters and end marks.

9. Students enjoy using the computer to publish their reports, which would be followed by reading them aloud to their classmates. This is a good time to practice oral presentation skills.

10. Finally, make sure you display their essays, as children are very proud of their hard work!

Teaching students writing skills in any genre can be fun and easy. Doris TheSaurus will definitely improve your students’ essays in a fun and student-centered way.