Gifted students should be encouraged to read broadly and develop a favorite style and particular author they enjoy. Expose students to expository texts written by a variety of revered authors. Set up a discussion group through which students can explore and dissect the aspects of a particular author's writing. Encourage gifted students to write an expository assignment in a style and voice similar to an author they enjoy.
Details help answer questions readers may have. Students gifted in literature and writing should be taught to expand their writing with details. Select a statement that needs more support from a piece of expository text written by a gifted student. Instruct the student to expand on the selected statement with greater, more specific details. For example, a statement such as "A large storm rolled in" could be expanded with details showing what kind of storm rolled in, how the storm sounded, what the storm smelled like and what were the effects of the storm. Insert the newly expanded details and compare the two writing pieces.
Demonstrate to gifted writers how statements that tell information are not as effective or interesting to read as statements that show information. A telling statement such as, "My dog is cool" is non-specific and does not stimulate a reader. "Raven, my four-year-old black lab is my loyal friend." begins to show the reader the information. Create a visual image of the information in the readers' mind by teaching gifted writers to practice showing statements in their expository texts rather than solely using telling statements.
The sequence of events can be detailed across the curriculum. Teach gifted students to write the events from science, world studies or math using a specific process. Statements in an expository text piece should begin with a transition word, such as next, then or after that. Students then describe the action that is expected or must occur. Finally, students provide details for the reader to clearly visualize the action.