What is an Expository Essay 10/24/16

What is an Expository Essay According to TEA?

This question comes up from time-to-time and people often find it confusing in the elementary teaching world. I thought I would give a little insight into a traditional expository essay vs. the state tested expository test we prepare our students to take.

I found this generic definition online: The expository essay is a genre of essay that requires the student to investigate an idea, evaluate evidence, expound on the idea, and set forth an argument concerning that idea in a clear and concise manner

Well, in Texas, an expository essay is what I call a "personal expository". A type of informational text that clarifies or explains something. Students must explain their opinion, or knowledge, or thinking about a given topic. Expository writing is explanatory. Please read through these notes from Victoria Young, Director of Reading, Writing, and Social Studies Assessments at TEA.

Victoria Young's Discussion about Expository

• Expository essays must explain what the student thinks about a topic. The student is free to explore the ambiguities of the issue.
  
• To be focused, an expository essay must be centered around an explicit, specific controlling idea, which represents the student's take on the topic.
  
• The controlling idea must be a direct statement of what the student will explain and must give the reader a clear idea of the goal of the essay.
  
• The best development is real, based on a student's own experiences and thinking about the world.
  
• Good development can't happen without good progression, and good progression requires meaningful transitions.
  
• Student's presence in the writing itself, his personal feelings and thinking about the topic all expressed through what the student chooses to develop and how.
  
• What impedes thoughtfulness and individuality: formulaic approaches and 5 paragraph essays=lack of thoughtfulness student uses fill in the box strategy

All of our Kinder-5th grade teachers need to keep this in mind as you ask your students to do expository writing in the classroom. In 4th grade, students are required to write expository essays for STAAR, from their own experiences and thinking about the world. Introducing this type of thinking/writing earlier than 4th grade is critical to their development and success on 4th grade STAAR!

Click here to read an expository writing prompt and 4 exemplars that address the prompt differently-but very realistically for students.