ACTIVITY 4 —STRUCTURAL ORGANIZATION OF EXPOSITORY
TEXTS
The next two passages provide an opportunity for
you to explore how expository texts are organized. Exposition
is developed using a limited number of writing patterns:
- Enumeration
- Question / Answer
- General Statement / Elaboration
- Cause / Effect
- Sequence
- Comparison / Contrast
- Problem Statement.
I've included a link to the resource which
shows the ways in which these patterns are signaled and
offer some suggestions for diagramming them.
Read each of the brief articles:
- Blood, semen harbor distinct HIV mutations
- Big shocks push volcanoes over the edge
Try to identify
the writing patterns used in each piece. Next diagram
each selection.
What strategies did you find yourself using?
What questions about your own learning, reading did this
activity raise for you?
What questions about helping your students make sense
of exposition did the activity raise for you?
Self As Informant 5: Poetry
