Share the Story of Your Hero in a 3 Paragraph Expository Essay

Sharing Your Hero in Three Paragraphs

A great way to teach students essay structure is through the three-paragraph essay. This simple breakdown allows students to formulate their thoughts in a structured way, but without intricate details. 

Essay Outline & Thesis Statement A three-paragraph essay follows an outline:

Opening paragraph—Introduce the subject and the thesis statement*.

Body paragraph—Answer the thesis statement and back it up with evidence. (The student can include additional body paragraphs as needed.)

Closing paragraph—Restate the thesis statement in a new way, summarize the evidence, and end with a larger truth.

*Your thesis statement is your argument. For essays on MY HERO you’re arguing that your subject is your hero.

Types of Three-Paragraph Essays: There are six main types of five-paragraph essays: 

Expository

Persuasive

Argumentative

Narrative

Cause and Effect

Compare and Contrast

MY HERO essays are Expository: they use evidence to support an idea. This evidence can be actions the hero has taken, the impact the hero has had on others, and the ways the hero has changed the world, and/or the writer. We value essays that demonstrate not just the subject’s heroic qualities, but why those qualities matter to the writer.

Sample Skeleton Essay: The following simplified essay shows the skeleton of a well-crafted essay.

[Subject] My hero is my grandma, Melba. [Thesis statement] She is my hero because she was the first in her family to go to college, and even though her parents didn’t want her to go. She forged her own path and created the life she wanted.

[Evidence] My grandma was one of six children. Her mom was a homemaker, and her dad worked in construction. The boys were raised to go into construction as well, and the girls were raised to get married and have children. But my grandma wanted to go to college and choose her own path in life. She didn’t have money to go, and she had pressure from her parents to get married instead. But she got good grades in school and was able to win a full scholarship to the local state college. To earn money while she went to college, she cleaned people’s homes, tutored kids in English and math, and worked in the college library. She graduated with a degree in accounting and got a good job at a bank. 

[Conclusion] My grandma wanted to go to college, and she made it happen. She graduated and worked at a bank, and that’s where she met my grandpa. She and my grandpa made sure that my mom could pursue whatever she wanted. They encouraged her to work hard in school, and they encourage me as well. My grandma knew what she wanted, and she went out and got it.