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, 15Aiv
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?

1. Have you ever wondered what it would be like to
wake up one morning to find you’re someone else?
2. There are many ways to paint a room.
3. 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.”
4. Autumn is a beautiful season.
5. On Sunday, we went to the store.
6. 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.

1. Have you ever wondered what it would be like to
wake up one morning to find you’re someone else?
2. There are many ways to paint a room.
3. 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.”
4. Autumn is a beautiful season.
5. On Sunday, we went to the store.
6. 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)
R
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:
 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:
 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)
R
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)
R
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