Sentence-Level Writing

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Why it works

Research and approaches to writing instruction (such as The Writing Revolution) emphasize that the sentence is the foundation of writing: students who cannot construct, expand, and combine sentences struggle with paragraphs and essays no matter how good their ideas. Explicit sentence-level instruction, teaching students to build complete and varied sentences, expand them with detail, combine short sentences, and use conjunctions and structures that signal relationships (because, but, so), strengthens both writing and thinking (since sentence structure reflects reasoning). It is foundational, teachable, and often missing. Sentence work also supports comprehension.

The research: The Writing Revolution; research on sentence-level instruction.

The run-of-show

Choose your slot. The agenda, timings, and length update to match.

The core activity: build writers from the sentence up

Teachers leave with sentence-level instruction to strengthen writing.

Look at whether students can construct, expand, and combine sentences.
Teach building complete and varied sentences.
Teach expanding and combining sentences and using conjunctions that signal relationships (because, but, so).
Connect sentence structure to clear thinking.

Strong writing rests on strong sentencesStudents who cannot build sentences struggle with paragraphs and essays. Teach constructing, expanding, and combining sentences, the foundation, and thinking, of good writing.

Facilitator notes

Teach constructing, expanding, and combining sentences.
Use conjunctions that signal relationships, and connect to thinking.
It is foundational.

Skipping the sentence undermines all the writing above itExpecting strong paragraphs and essays without sentence-level skill sets students up to struggle. Build writers from the sentence up.

Adapt it

Elementary: complete sentences, expanding, combining.
Secondary: sentence variety, combining, conjunctions, complexity.
All settings: construct, expand, combine, signal relationships.

Participant handout

One page for every teacher. Print it, or save it as a PDF.

K12 Academics · Professional Learning

Sentence-Level Writing: the foundation

Build from the sentence up: construct, expand, and combine sentences, using conjunctions that signal relationships.

Whether students can construct, expand, and combine sentences:
How I teach building complete, varied sentences:
How I teach expanding and combining:
The conjunctions and structures I teach (because, but, so):
How I connect sentences to thinking:

Make it stick

From the sentence up:

Build writers from the sentence.
Teach expanding and combining.
Bring a sentence-level routine to the next PLC.

Common questions

Shouldn't I focus on ideas, not sentences?

Ideas matter, but students who cannot construct strong sentences struggle to express ideas in writing. Sentence-level instruction builds the foundation that paragraphs and essays rest on.

What does sentence-level instruction involve?

Teaching students to build complete and varied sentences, expand them with detail, combine short sentences, and use conjunctions (because, but, so) that signal relationships, which also sharpens thinking.

Isn't this just grammar?

It is about constructing and improving sentences as writers, not labeling parts of speech. Sentence-level work builds writing and thinking, not grammar for its own sake.