STAAR Essay Writing

Writing The Expository Essay

Yaye - we are going to write an essay!

What is an expository essay?

It is an essay that explains a topic.

I know that writing an essay isn't your favorite thing to do. But here is what I can do to make it not as painful

• 8 Sentence Essay

• Help you think of two go-to sources for your examples

Did you say 8 sentences?

Yes. Yes I did. So let's get into it.

Multiple Select

What are elements (the parts of) an expository essay?

• Thesis

• Example/Evidence

• Conclusion

• Explanation / Analysis

• The part where I say I don't know

Steps to writing a STAAR essay

• Black out/ ignore unecessary information

• Turn the prompt into a question

• Answer the question with a strong reason (thesis)

• Think of two strong and specifc examples

• Explain how the example proves your thesis

Open Ended

How are feeling about this? What are your questions? If nothing tell me your favorite color.

Notice that the only thing left is the actual prompt - it tells us what exactly we are writing about.

Now that we are looking at just the prompt we need to plan

• Turn the prompt into a question

• Answer the prompt in a complete sentence

• Think of one clear and specific example

• If/ Then/Because

Follow along with me as we work through planning the essay

Open Ended

Prompt: Write an essay explaining the importance of making time for both work and play

Turn the prompt into a question.

Why is it important to make time for both work and play?

Open Ended

Now Answer your question in a complete sentence

It is important to make time for both work and play in order to include joy in life for a better quality of life.

Examples are hard... So use HELPS to think of a good one

• History

• Expierence

• Literature

• Pop Culture / Politics

• Sports / Science

Open Ended

Give me a specific example of when it was important to balance work and play.

In the film Good Deeds, the main character is a workaholic, who doesn’t make time for play or joy. When he meets a woman who works for him and her child, they showed him that joy is something he needs to improve his quality of life.

Multiple Select

What parts of the essay have we completed so far?

• Thesis

• Conclusion

• Evidence

• Hook

• Explanation

Now we need to explain our example. The best way to do this is to use If/then/ Because

• If (what)

• then (what)

• However because (what)

• Then (what)

This is the hardest part of the essay. Here is my example -

If Mr. Deeds would have not met the woman who works for him, then he would not have had elements of joy introduced in his life. However, because he did meet the lady, he started to have fun and laugh and experience joy. This joy helped increased his quality of life.

Multiple Select

What parts of the essay have we completed so far?

• Thesis

• Conclusion

• Evidence

• Hook

• Explanation

So here is where you go to your One Note in our Team, and work on an essay.

I will be here every step of the way. I also PROMISE this essay is 8 sentences.