Activity 1.9
PREVIEW EXPOSITORY ESSAY
Concise
 To be brief and to the point
Conciseness is expressing a great deal in just a
few words.
Hint: You must be concise when summarizing
and paraphrasing.
Making Connections
 In the first part of this unit you learned about
the archetype of the Hero’s Journey, and you
wrote your own narrative depicting a
protagonist who makes a heroic journey.
 In this half of the unit you will continue
thinking about heroism and what makes a
hero; your work will culminate in an essay in
which you give your definition of a hero.
Essential Questions
1. How has your understanding of the Hero’s
Journey changed over the course of the
unit?
HINT: You might want to first think about what
defines a hero and what your understanding was
in the beginning of the unit.
Literary Terms
Academic Vocabulary
•Archetype
•Context
•Imagery
•Technique
•Details
•Concise

On
the
next
page,
re-sort
the
QHT vocabulary chart
•Setting
•Synonyms
unit, and compare the new
•Point offrom
View the beginning of the •Antonyms
•Conflictsort with your original.
•Function
•Mood
•Negation
•Protagonist
•Plot
•Pacing
•Epic
•Tone
•Diction
•Denotation
•Connotation
•Nuance
•Definition/expository essay
•Allegory
•Formal style
•Informal style
•Coherence
•Thesis
Developing Vocabulary
Developing Vocabulary
2. How has your understanding of the
vocabulary changed?
Writing Prompt #2
Later in the unit you will be asked to think about
people who deserve status as a hero from the past,
from the present, from life, or from literature. What
defines a hero? Write a multi-paragraph essay that
develops your definition of heroism. Be sure to use
strategies of definition (function, example, and
negation) to guide your writing.
*negation: to show how something is not, in order to
prove what it is.
* function: telling how something is used
Expository VS Narrative
3. How are expository and narrative writing
similar? How are they different? List your
ideas below.
Narrative
Similarities
•Creative
•Writing
•Personal experience or •Writing Process
fictional
•Use dialogue
•Entertain
•Plot
Expository
•Academic/Research
• Use quotations
•Focuses on a main idea and
details
•Informative
Preparing for Expository
Writing
You are often asked to
define vocabulary
terms and to explain
your understanding of
what something
means. Abstract
concepts, such as
heroism, can also be
defined. Practice
thinking about how to
define an abstract
concept by working in
a small group, or with
a partner, to develop a
list of words that
describe each of the
concepts below:




Freedom
Responsibility
Sacrifice
Friendship
4. Next, working with the same partner or group,
choose one of the concepts and write a short
paragraph that defines and explains the
concepts.
 Each group member must have the paragraph written
below.