Make Cycle 2: Engaging Expositions

Digital Learning Day Make Cycle 2: Engaging Expositions

For this make cycle, we will spend time thinking about and trying out expository writing, a type of writing that is used to explain, describe, give information, or inform.

If you look at the Common Core standards for English Language Arts, you’ll notice that writing informative texts is a genre that crosses all grade levels, moving from simple texts to more complex ones. The 4th grade standard asks that students “Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.” Often times, people expect expository writing to be a boring recitation of dull, lifeless facts, but the truth is that expository writing can be as exciting, engaging, and lively as any other kind of writing.

We will try out writing our own expository texts during this make cycle. You’ll have options for creating expository books for children, infographics, unboxing videos, news stories, historical markers, instructables, introductions, or other forms that fit your purpose and audience.

This cycle’s Mentor Texts:

• A children’s book: Judy Allen’s Are You a Dragonfly?
  • This mentor text models the use of second-person narration to invite the reader into the topic being covered.
• An ABC book: Roger Pribby’s Dinosaur A to Z
  • This mentor text uses a simple organizing protocol -- the alphabet -- as a way to expose the reader to a variety of information about the topic.
• An Instructable: Teacher Tool Belt
  • This mentor text describes an object's usefulness, and then provides step-by-step instruction for how to re-create the object.
• Some Infographics: What Heavy Backpacks Do to Kids' Bodies, Anatomy of a Primary School Teacher (UK), A Lyrical Good Time.
  • These mentor texts combine text, images, and diagrams to provide an array of information about a topic.
• An Unboxing Video: The Joker’s Notorious Lowrider (Lego set)
  • This mentor text provides information about a product, while also giving the viewer the composer's "in-the-moment" impressions.
• Some Historical Markers: Tulelake, Mother Orange Tree
  • These mentor texts, like many other texts, provide information about historic events; what makes them unique is that they are placed in the actual locations of the events being described.

We believe that the mentor texts above show some ways that expository writing can be informational, engaging, creative, and useful, and hope that they may inspire you to take up some of the techniques used in them to craft your own engaging exposition.

For this make, we encourage you to try one or more of the following options:

1. Try writing a children’s story about a process, idea, animal, or any other non-fictional topic that interests you, using Are You a Dragonfly as a model to work from. You may have to do some research to get your facts right.
2. Create an Infographic that represents ideas or processes related to an interest of yours, using an online infographic creation tool like Piktochart or Easel.ly. Your infographic could include summaries of information, quotations from people central to your topic, and relevant images to create a quick introduction to the topic for people unfamiliar with it.
3. Use the dinosaur ABC book as a mentor text, and create your own ABC book focused on a topic that interests you. Your ABC book could include a variety of text types, but because it’s a nonfiction expository text, it should be based on accurate, factual information. The Storyjumper site is a great resource for making your own digital book.
4. Identify a skill you have that you’d like to share with others, and create an “instructable” like the teacher toolbelt example, walking us through how to do or make something. If you choose this option, you might want to look through some more examples from the Instructables website to get a better sense of the genre. Then, you can create your own using the Instructables website (you can use your Google+ account to log in), and share the link with us.
5. Maybe you received an exciting gift over the holidays, or recently bought or ordered a new product that you’re anxious to receive. Consider making an unboxing video that reveals to others your reactions to opening and using your new product. Post the video to YouTube or Vimeo, and share the link.
6. Think about some of the important events that have happened to you or your family, and then consider where those events took place. Try composing the text for a Historical Marker for that location, describing the event and its importance in your or your family’s history. Then, go the #CWP #DigitalLearningDay Google Map, drop a map marker at your location, and paste your Personal Historical Marker text into the description area!
7. Have another idea for an expository text? Make it happen!