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Week 5 · Lecture outline

Week 5 — Lecture Outline · Narrative & Expository Writing

English Composition · ENGL 1A Fall 2026 · Prof. Lindgren Fictional sample

Course: English Composition (ENGL 1A) · Silver Oak University (fictional sample) · Prof. Lindgren
Objectives covered: Objective 4 — Compose in multiple rhetorical modes (this week: narration and exposition). · SLO A (compose clear, audience-aware, thesis-driven prose)
SLOs touched: A (compose with concrete detail and a clear point) · builds on Objectives 1–3 (rhetorical situation, the paragraph, thesis)
Meeting pattern: 2 sessions × 75 min = 150 min. Segment minutes below total ~150; scale to your own pattern.

Week at a Glance
The week's big question "A story isn't just what happened — so how do I tell a true story (or explain something) in a way that shows a reader and makes a point?"
By the end of the week, students can… (1) tell narration (telling a true story to make a point) from exposition (explaining/informing) and name what each is for; (2) show, not tell — replace a flat statement with concrete sensory detail; (3) organize by chronology or by process with time/sequence transitions; (4) land the significance — give a narrative a clear point / "so what?".
Key vocabulary narration / narrative, exposition / expository, mode (rhetorical mode), concrete vs. abstract detail, sensory detail, showing vs. telling, scene vs. summary, chronology / chronological order, process / sequential order, transition (time/sequence), significance / "so what?", point / (implied) thesis, voice, purple prose / over-writing
Materials slides (Deck 5), the week's readings (Purdue OWL narrative/expository/descriptive; Excelsior OWL showing-vs-telling) + Study Hall video, one approved chatbot (Gemini / Claude / ChatGPT) for the AI-critique moment and the tutorial
Timing note 8 segments, ~150 min total. Session 1 = Segments 1–4 (~75). Session 2 = Segments 5–8 (~75).

Segment 1 — Hook & the Promise (8 min) · Session 1 opens

Hook. Put two sentences on a slide, side by side:

A. "I was really nervous before my driving test."
B. "My hands left two damp prints on the steering wheel, and I read the instructor's clipboard three times without seeing a word."

Ask the room: "Which one puts you in the car?" Everyone picks B. Then the kicker: "Notice B never uses the word nervous. It makes you feel it without naming it. That's the whole move of this week — showing instead of telling — and it's the difference between writing a reader skims and writing a reader lives."

The promise (write it on the board): "By Friday you'll turn flat 'telling' sentences into vivid 'showing' ones, and you'll know why a true story still needs a point."

Why it matters line (memory hook): "Don't tell me you were sad. Show me the unfinished plate and the phone you kept checking."

Set the stakes: "This is the week of your first major essay — the Narrative/Expository Essay. Everything today is the toolkit for writing it well."

Segment 2 — Two Modes: Narration & Exposition (20 min)

Plain language first. A rhetorical mode is just a way of developing a piece of writing — a job the writing is doing. This week we learn two of the most useful:

  • Narration — telling a true story to make a point. It recounts events, usually over time, so the reader experiences them and arrives at a meaning. In a college narrative essay, the story isn't told for its own sake; it's told because it means something. (Purdue OWL: a narrative essay "should have a purpose. Make a point!")
  • Exposition — explaining or informing. Expository writing lays out information, a process, or an idea clearly so a reader understands it: how something works, what something is, the steps in a process, the causes of an event. (Purdue OWL frames the expository essay as investigating an idea and setting it out "in a clear and concise manner.")

The key distinction (put it on a slide):

Narration tells what happened (to make a point). Exposition explains how or why (to inform).
Most real essays mix them — a narrative often pauses to explain; an explanation often uses a quick story as an example. Naming the primary mode tells you your main job.

One quick classify (do it out loud). For each, name the primary mode:
- "How to set up a tent in the rain, step by step." → exposition (a process).
- "The night our tent collapsed and I learned my little brother is braver than me." → narration (a story with a point).
- "What actually causes a sourdough starter to rise." → exposition (explaining a cause/process).

Misconception preview (we cure it in Segment 4): exposition is not opinion. Explaining how something works is not the same as arguing it's good or bad — that's argument (Week 7).

Segment 3 — Showing vs. Telling + Concrete Sensory Detail (25 min)

Plain language first. The single most common note on student narrative is "show, don't tell." Here's what it actually means:

  • Telling = stating a conclusion or a feeling directly: "The kitchen was a mess." "He was angry." "It was a great day." Telling is fast and sometimes useful — but it asks the reader to take your word for it.
  • Showing = giving concrete, sensory detail — what you could see, hear, smell, taste, touch — so the reader reaches the conclusion themselves. You don't say "angry"; you show the door that slams hard enough to rattle the picture frames.

The misconception to kill right now (say it loud):

"Showing" does NOT mean more adjectives. It means specific sensory evidence. "He was very, very angry" is just telling with extra words. "He set the coffee mug down so carefully it didn't make a sound, and didn't look at me" — that's showing.

Concrete vs. abstract (put it on a slide):

Abstract words name ideas and feelings you can't point to: nervous, freedom, success, beautiful.
Concrete words name things a camera or microphone could catch: the damp steering wheel, the bus pulling away, the smell of burnt toast.
Showing runs on concrete detail. When you catch yourself writing an abstract word, ask: what did I actually see or hear that made me think that?

The worked move — turn TELLING into SHOWING (do it at the board; full version in Segment 5). Quick reps first:
- Telling: "The room was old and neglected." → Showing: "Dust furred the windowsill, and the radiator ticked but never warmed."
- Telling: "I was excited." → Showing: "I read the email twice, then a third time, just to watch the word accepted sit there."

One caution (preview of the AI-critique moment): you can over-do it. Pile on too much detail and you get purple prose — overwritten, cliché-stuffed sentences ("a kaleidoscope of swirling emotions cascaded through my very soul"). Showing is selective: a few sharp, true details beat a flood of fancy ones.

Segment 4 — Misconceptions + Quick Interaction (20 min) · Session 1 closes (~75)

Name the misconceptions out loud, then cure each:

  • ❌ "A narrative essay is just 'what I did' — it doesn't need a thesis."
    ✅ Cure: a narrative essay still needs a point — a "so what?" It can be implied rather than stated outright, but if the story means nothing, it isn't an essay; it's a diary entry. Finish the sentence "This matters because ___" before you draft. "A narrative without a point is just a list of events."
  • ❌ "Showing means using more adjectives / fancier words."
    ✅ Cure: showing means specific sensory evidence, not decoration. Cut "very," cut three synonyms for "sad," and put in one concrete thing the reader can see. Detail, not adjectives.
  • ❌ "Exposition is just my opinion about something."
    ✅ Cure: exposition explains or informs; it aims for clarity and accuracy, not for winning a side. "How a bill becomes law" is exposition; "why this bill is good" is argument (Week 7).
  • ❌ "More detail is always better."
    ✅ Cure: detail is a tool you aim, not a volume knob. Selective, telling detail beats a wall of description (that's the slide into purple prose). Show the moments that carry your point; summarize the rest.

Interaction — Telling → Showing, rapid-fire (~10 min):
Put four flat "telling" sentences on a slide: (1) "The cafeteria was loud." (2) "She was exhausted." (3) "The first day of work was overwhelming." (4) "The old car barely ran." Students rewrite one to show it — solo (90 sec), then read a few aloud. Debrief on the board: did the rewrite use concrete sensory detail? Did it avoid just stacking adjectives? Star the sharpest, truest detail in each.

Segment 5 — Worked Move: Telling → Showing, and Structuring a Scene (22 min) · Session 2 opens

Hook back in: "Last session: two modes, and showing vs. telling. Today we do the full move — turn a flat passage into a vivid one and structure a little scene so it has a point."

One fully worked before/after (do it at the board, thinking aloud):

BEFORE (telling — flat):
"I was nervous about my first day at the new job. Everyone seemed busy and I felt out of place. It was a stressful morning, but by the end of the day I felt a little better."

Diagnose it out loud: every sentence tells a feeling (nervous, out of place, stressful, better). Nothing is concrete — no reader can see this. And there's no clear point yet beyond "first days are hard."

AFTER (showing — concrete, with a point):
"I got to the office twenty minutes early and then sat in my car for ten of them, rehearsing how to say my own name. Inside, every desk was already humming — keyboards, a printer somewhere, two people laughing about a meeting I wasn't in. I refilled my water bottle twice just to have somewhere to walk. Then, near noon, a woman named Priya slid a sticky note onto my monitor: 'lunch?' I have never been so grateful for one word."

Name the moves:
- Telling → showing: "nervous" became sitting in the car rehearsing my own name; "out of place" became refilling the water bottle to have somewhere to walk.
- Concrete sensory detail: keyboards humming, a printer, the sticky note — things a camera/mic would catch.
- Chronology: early → inside → near noon → the sticky note. Time order carries the scene.
- Significance / point: the last line lands the "so what?" — one small kindness can change a hard day. The point is shown, not announced.

The structure under a narrative (put it on a slide):

A small narrative usually has: a situation (where/when, fast), a scene (the moment, shown in detail), and a significance (the point, often at the end). Spend your detail on the scene that carries the point; summarize the rest. Scene for what matters; summary for what doesn't.

Segment 6 — Organizing: Chronology & Process (18 min)

Plain language first. Two natural ways to organize narration and exposition:

  • Chronological order (for stories): events in the order they happened — first, then, later, by the time, afterward. Most narratives run this way. You can open in the middle ("in medias res") for effect, but the reader still has to be able to follow the timeline.
  • Process / sequential order (for explanations): the steps in the order they occur — first, next, once that's done, finally. This is how you explain how to do something or how something works.

The connective tissue: time/sequence transitions (put them on a slide).

first · then · next · meanwhile · soon · later · by the time · once · after · finally · in the end.
These are the road signs that keep a reader oriented in time. Without them, even a true story feels like a jumble.

Quick interaction (~5 min): put five steps of a simple process out of order on a slide (e.g., making coffee, or checking a backpack before class). Students number them in sequential order and name two transitions they'd use to connect them. Debrief: the order is the meaning — scramble it and the explanation fails.

Tie-back: "Chronology and process aren't decorations — they're how a reader follows you. Pick the order on purpose, and signal it with transitions."

Segment 7 — Drafting Tools + Technology Workflow (22 min)

Plain language first. A few concrete tools for a narrative/expository draft:

  • The "so what?" test: before drafting, write one sentence — "This story matters because ___" (or, for exposition, "A reader should understand ___ and why it matters"). If you can't finish it, you don't have a point yet — keep inventing.
  • The detail hunt: for the key moment, list what you saw, heard, smelled, felt (the five-senses list from invention). You'll use only a few — but generate plenty first.
  • Scene vs. summary pass: after a draft, mark each paragraph S (scene — shown in detail) or s (summary — told fast). Make sure the moment that carries your point is a scene, not a summary.
  • Read it aloud: purple prose and clichés announce themselves when you hear them. If a sentence sounds like a greeting card, cut it.

Technology workflow — the word processor + a chatbot, used the right way:
1. Draft in a word processor — get the messy version down; don't describe and judge at the same time.
2. Use a chatbot to diagnose, not to author: "Here's a paragraph. Where am I telling instead of showing? Point to specific sentences — don't rewrite them." Use its read as a map of your flat spots, then fix them in your own words.
3. Never paste a chatbot's "more descriptive" rewrite in as your own — the voice goes generic and purple, and the moment stops being yours.

AI-critique moment (students verify, not consume):

Paste a short true paragraph to an approved chatbot and ask: "Make this more descriptive."
Then read the rewrite like an editor. You'll almost always see the chatbot's two failure modes: purple prose / over-writing (it stuffs in clichés — "a whirlwind of emotions," "time stood still," "my heart raced") and voice-flattening (it replaces your plain, true phrasing with generic "literary" boilerplate that sounds like everyone and no one). Name one image it added that's a cliché you'd never write, and one of your own original lines you're keeping. That's the lesson: a chatbot can generate detail, but it can't tell true, selective, in-your-voice detail from decoration — you do that. The habit all term: the tool drafts, you judge. (And a preview: in the research weeks, this same critique step is where you'll catch the chatbot's most dangerous habit — inventing quotations and sources.)

Segment 8 — Callback, Tease & Hand-off (15 min) · Session 2 closes (~75)

Callback + tease:
- Callback: "Week 4 you built a thesis and a structure. This week you saw a narrative still needs a point (a thesis, sometimes implied) and an order (chronology or process) — same machinery, new mode. And you learned the move that makes any of it vivid: show, don't tell."
- Tease next week: "This week you told a story and made a point. Next week we turn the lens on someone else's persuasion: rhetorical analysis. We'll learn the appeals — ethos, pathos, logos, kairos — and analyze how a real published text or speech actually works on its audience. Showing-not-telling will come right back: you'll have to show us the evidence in the text, not just tell us it's persuasive."

Hand-off (the week's graded work):
- Lecture Tutorial 5 (AI tutor, share-link submission) — narration vs. exposition, showing-not-telling, organization, significance.
- Quiz 5 (end of week) and Discussion 5 ("Is a Story 'Real' College Writing?").
- Assignment 5 — the Narrative/Expository Essay (MAJOR ESSAY, 100 pts) — a 600–900-word essay that tells a true story or explains something, with concrete detail and a clear significance.
- Writing Studio 5 ("Show, Don't Tell") — draft a vivid paragraph, revise a flat passage into showing, self-/peer-review, then coach and critique it with a chatbot.

Instructor FAQ — Common Stumbles

Student says / does Quick cure
"My narrative essay doesn't need a thesis — it's just a story." It needs a point / "so what?" (it can be implied). A story with no meaning is a diary entry, not an essay. Finish "This matters because ___" first.
Thinks showing = more adjectives. Showing = specific sensory evidence, not decoration. Cut "very" and three synonyms; add one concrete thing the reader can see.
Confuses narration and exposition. Narration tells what happened (to make a point); exposition explains how/why (to inform). Name the primary job.
Treats exposition as opinion. Exposition explains/informs; it's not arguing a side. "How it works" ≠ "why it's good." Argument is Week 7.
Over-writes (purple prose). Detail is selective. A few sharp, true details beat a flood of fancy ones. If it sounds like a greeting card, cut it.
Story is a jumble in time. Pick chronology or process and signal it with time/sequence transitions (first, then, by the time, finally).
Spends equal detail on everything. Scene the moment that carries the point; summarize the rest. Don't narrate the drive in the same detail as the moment that mattered.
Pastes a chatbot's "more descriptive" rewrite. The voice goes generic and purple, and the moment stops being yours. Use AI to find flat spots; fix them in your words.

Scope flag

This outline stays within Objective 4 for the narration/exposition modes only. Rhetorical analysis (ethos/pathos/logos/kairos; analyzing how a real text persuades) is Week 6, and argument (claim/evidence/warrant, counterargument) is Week 7 — both are previewed here but not taught. Deep revision/style and grammar/mechanics are Weeks 13–14. Research, source integration, and MLA are Weeks 9–12 — a personal narrative needs no outside sources, so none are used this week; the readings linked in H are real reference pages (Purdue OWL, Excelsior OWL) cited factually and by link. All example sentences and the before/after passage in this outline are the instructor's own illustrations, attributed to no one — there are no quotations to verify (the one bracketed Purdue OWL paraphrase, "Make a point!", is a real line from the linked OWL page).

~ Prof. Lindgren's edition · Fall 2026 · built with thecoursemaker.com