Teach students how to write a great illustrative paragraph. Make sure to work together as a class to brainstorm interesting topics to inspire well-written paragraphs.
What is an illustrative Paragraph?
An illustrative paragraph will clarify an idea or concept, teach a lesson or use stories to support a point. They can be stand alone paragraph. In a larger essay, an illustrative paragraph provides facts and commentary to support the thesis statement.
The Components of the Paragraph
The key is to use good examples that are specific. Students should start with a sentence to “hook” the reader’s attention and it should need to be proven true. In addition, students need to have a topic sentence that tells what they paragraph is about and preview main points. There should be three examples or a narrative to support the topic sentence and a conclusion.
Example Illustrative Paragraph
To help students to understand how to write an illustrative paragraph, the following is an example:
Most would agree that mothers sacrifice a great deal for their young. This can even be seen in the spider world. Wolf spiders lug around their unborn babies in a sac under their abdomen until they hatch. The mother will even hunt with the egg sac attached. Once the babies are born, they crowd on to her back. Most wolf spiders hatch dozens of babies! The mother will then carry them on her back for a few weeks until they are ready to survive alone, making her a large target. Although human children are cared for much longer than baby wolf spiders, mama wolf spiders still give up quite a bit for their young.
Steps for the Illustrative Paragraph Lesson
Step 1: Discuss what an illustrative paragraph is and its components.
Step 2: Show students examples of illustrative paragraphs.
Step 3: Brainstorm topics. Remind students that the topic needs to be something that should be proven. Often, illustrative paragraphs begin with a quote. Or, the topic can come from interesting photos, like the example paragraph.
Step 4: Tell students to work on making an outline from one of the brainstormed topics:
- Topic sentence
- Example one
- Example two
- Example three
- Conclusion
Step 5: Assign students to write a rough draft of an illustrative paragraph.
Step 6: Have students peer-edit rough drafts and check that the writer has enough details in the examples and for writing conventions.
Step 7: Tell students to write a final copy.
This lesson will show students how to write an illustrative paragraph. The lesson follows the writing process, and students should enjoy writing about a topic they have chosen.
Note: Information about burrowing wolf spiders was found at the Wikipedia website.
Other relevant articles: Paragraph Lesson & Descriptive Paragraph Lesson
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