How to Use Metaphors to Teach Expository Writing

Exposition is based in fact and accuracy, but may be taught through metaphor.

Expository writing is used to provide accurate, factual descriptions. Used both in fiction and nonfiction, this style of writing exposition answers the journalistic questions of who, what, when, where, why and how. Just because some exposition might sound dry, such as an essay on soy bean growth, that doesn't mean that you can't spice up the learning process by using a bit of metaphor to teach students how to think before writing in this style.

Instructions

1. Assign students distinct perspectives for observing an object or place. For instance, if you tell a student to "be the eye" of the viewer, that student is allowed to describe things only in terms of visual facts. If you assign someone the role of ear, that student is allowed to describe things only through sound.

2. Give students time to observe where they are or what they're experiencing in terms of their roles. Five minutes or so should be enough.

3. Have the students write their observations according to the roles they were given. Even as they recount their experience through the metaphor of their roles, this exercise teaches students to think and explain in terms of fact and hard descriptions. The method helps studens focus on what can be experienced and written as fact, rather than using vague language for their expository writing.

Tips & Warnings

• This exercise is akin to the fable about the three blind men, all trying to describe an elephant but all failing because they experience only part of the creature and can't create a whole.

• You can vary the exercise of using metaphor by assigning students other types of roles to give them different insight into the fact-gathering process. For example, have some students wear "drunk goggles" -- safety glasses that have been altered to create an experience that resembles intoxication. Those students' experiences would yield a different set of descriptions and facts than those of students not wearing the goggles, or those of students who keep their eyes closed. Don't be afraid to get creative, as long as the exercise helps students focus on the facts required for expository writing.

References

• Stanford: What is Expository Writing?
• K.12.ny.us: What is Expository Writing?