Developing your knowledge about Expository Writing

 

Welcome back again to my blog! 😊

I would first like to say I am indeed grateful to be back with you guys this week sharing all there is to know about my Lit102, especially after the TS Fiona, which thankfully had not impacted us greatly. This week’s class was informative as it added to our previous knowledge about expository writing and involved us all in participating in the steps needed to create our very own expository piece.

My piece is titled “Impacts of Land Pollution” geared to educate grade one students about Land Pollution.

What about you guys? What was your expository writing piece titled and what grade level does it bring awareness to??

 

Moving on, as we go further into expository writing identified in our topic above, let us take a look at the word ‘expository’ to aid in your understanding of ‘expository writing. ‘Expository’, defined by Cambridge Dictionary (2022), is the explaining or describing of an event or situation. Students are to be taught that expository writing consists of when, where, who, what, why, and how – questions, geared to aid students in better explaining their topic. For example, students given the topic ‘My Favorite Sport’ should be able to identify their favorite sport, explain why the sport chosen is their favorite, how it is played, who can play it, where they play it or where someone else can play, in the event that another student may want to play it as well. This would result in a very good student expository writing piece.

In my experience and I am sure you may agree, many students can describe a lot about their favorite toy, food, or game they may like orally, but may have some difficulties doing so in writing. Here are a few graphic organizers to assist your students in writing each type of expository writing.

 

Descriptive Writing

Descriptive writing gives details about any topic. Teachers introducing students to the use of a graphic organizer like the one shown above will aid students in building their expository writing for they can work in pairs  groups of more than two, or as a class to complete this table. With the completed table, students will have an easier time writing as they won't be too worried about what to write but can instead structure their sentences to include these topic-related descriptors.

 

Sequential writing

Sequential writing provides step-by-step information on any subject. Students will benefit from teachers teaching them how to use graphic organizers like the one above since it allows them to finish the table individually, in groups, or as a class, which will help them develop their expository writing skills. In the lower grades, visuals can help students organize the step-by-step procedure of their assigned topic, such as "How to cook a pizza?" or, in the upper grades, they can be given the words of the pictures so they can also be ordered. Students will find it simpler to write out each step once the graphic organizer is complete because the steps are already grouped in a set pattern.

 

Problem and Solution

Problem and solution is an expository writing style that not only identifies a problem but also explains it and looks for solutions through explanation. By teaching students how to utilize a graphic organizer like the one above, you can help them to organize and explain their problems. Each problem is stated, followed by its answer, and everything is arranged so that students may improve their expository writing by discussing each problem and its solution in one paragraph.

 

Cause and Effect

Another expository writing type is cause and effect, which explains both the cause—the reason something happened—and the effect of what happened. By employing graphic organizers like the one in the example, a teacher can help his or her students examine and group the causes of problems and their effects. As a result, students' writing pieces will be thorough and simple to understand as all the information they have obtained has already been arranged. All that is left to do is structure it into their writing piece.

 

Compare and Contrast

Another expository writing type is ‘compare and contrast, which provides details about key ideas of a given topic. Both similarities and differences are identified in this sort of writing where students, for instance, may be assigned the topic "Apples and Oranges,". Here, students will use a graphic organizer like the one above to illustrate the similarities and differences. Once finished, the knowledge might simply be turned into a writing task on the topic.

 

Implementation

Here’s an example of how you can assist your students in structuring their expository writing pieces:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5IPrxafggQ