Suzanne Borner

Explore Connecticut: Grade 6 Expository Writing: Writing to Explain Suzanne Borner

Publisher Marketing: The Explore CMT Prep writing series provides in-depth instruction and practice in the skills essential for success in the writing portion of the CMT In Part One, students first follow a guided instructional section targeted to the expectations of the CMT Writing section. They will be presented with sample prompts and concepts directly related to building familiarity with the writing section of the CMT test. In Part Two, students move on to reviewing the elements of good writing in such areas as organization, beginning a composition, interesting and descriptive language, details, proper sentence and paragraph construction, and ending a composition. They then proceed through a detailed sample exercise. Students are presented with at least ten sample exercises in which they are encouraged to recognize and critique organization, relevance, elaboration, tone, purpose, and focus, as well as correct sentence construction and appropriate use of details and dialogue. They are then given a similar writing prompt in a suitable writing genre to apply these same skills of evaluation and critical thinking to their own writing. Finally, in Part Three of the book, students are given a few additional lessons in which they are expected to read a brief composition and rewrite it, based almost exclusively on their expanded understanding of the elements of good writing as they've practiced them. They are then expected to answer questions related to their rewritten compositions, evaluating their own writing as they would anyone else's.