Draw the Process: Explaining How Something Works

Expository discourse -- diagram a process, then explain it aloud with sequence and causal connectives.

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Draw the steps of the water cycle. Then explain it aloud using 'first', 'next', 'then' and 'finally'.
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Mark a card Correct, Correct with cue or Incorrect and the summary writes itself here.

How to run it

Make the diagram rough and the explanation careful. The drawing organises the content so the student's attention can go to the language, which is the connectives — first, next, then, finally for sequence, and because for cause. Ask for the explanation with the diagram covered once they have given it with the diagram visible, since that removes the visual scaffold and is much closer to a test answer. Twenty minutes covers one task properly.

Cueing ladder

Start at the top. Add support one step at a time.

  1. Step 1IndependentPresent the item and wait 5 seconds of quiet before helping.Log as correct
  2. Step 2Question promptAsk a story-grammar question: who, where, what was the problem, what happened next?Log as cued
  3. Step 3Two choicesOffer two possible next parts of the story and let the student pick and say it.Log as cued
  4. Step 4ModelTell that part yourself; the student tells it back in their own words.Log as cued

Adjust it

Easier

Use fewer parts, and keep a first-next-last visual on the table.

Harder

Ask for the retell without the pictures, with a feeling or a reason added to each part.

Matching IEP goal

Given a picture or story prompt, Student will explain a topic with a main idea and supporting details in 4 of 5 opportunities across 3 consecutive sessions, given no more than one question prompt.

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About this activity

Eight tasks that ask for a diagram and then an explanation: draw the steps of the water cycle and explain it using first, next, then and finally; draw a flowchart of how a bill becomes a law and explain each arrow; draw how a plant makes its food, then explain it in your own words; draw a cause-and-effect chain with three links and say each link as a because sentence. Expository discourse is what school actually assesses, and it is almost never practised.

What to listen for

Listen for connectives doing real work. And then repeated four times is a sequence without structure, and the difference between that and first, next, then, finally is exactly what a marker is looking for. Watch the causal chain task, where because has to link three things rather than two — that is where reasoning and language both get tested.

Carrying it home

Ask the student to explain how something works at home — how the washing machine cycle goes, how to get to the shops. Explaining to someone who genuinely does not know is a better task than explaining to someone who does.

What's in this activity

  • Draw the steps of the water cycle. Then explain it aloud using 'first', 'next', 'then' and 'finally'.
  • Draw a flowchart of how a bill becomes a law, as far as you know it. Explain each arrow.
  • Draw how to change a bike tire, in four boxes.
  • Draw a diagram of how a plant makes its food, then explain it in your own words.
  • Draw the steps for making a doctor's appointment, start to finish.
  • Draw the route from home to school with landmarks, then give the directions out loud.
  • Draw a cause-and-effect chain with three links. Say each link as a 'because' sentence.
  • Draw the steps of an experiment you have run. Label the one variable you changed.

Questions

What grades is this for?
Sixth through eighth, matched to when expository writing and explanation dominate assessment.
Do I need an account?
No, all eight tasks are free to use.
Why practise explaining rather than narrating?
Because school mostly asks for explanation. Narrative gets the attention in language work, and by middle school the discourse students are graded on is expository — process, cause and comparison.

Use this board with your caseload

With a free account, every correct, cued and incorrect mark is saved to the student and scored against their IEP goal, with the data written up for you. Assign it as home practice through the parent portal.

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