For many students who struggle with writing, the issue is with what to write, and not how to write. These students understand the mechanics of writing; when given structured tasks that don’t require original content but just mechanics, they do fine. So for students who have trouble generating original writing—whether it’s a whole essay, a paragraph, or a single sentence—how do we help them? What can we do to get their writing juices flowing without putting words in their mouth? Here’s where sentence frames, starters, and stems can work wonders.
What are Sentence Frames and Starters?
Sentence frames and starters both provide students with an entry point to writing a sentence they would otherwise be struggling with. A sentence frame is a template in which some of the words are left out for the student to complete. These sentences can be missing just a few words, or most of the words, depending on how much guidance the student needs. A sentence starter is simply a word or series of words students should use to start a sentence.
Critics of these methods argue that if we give students supports like this, they’ll become overly reliant on them. They'll risk never being able to actually produce their own original writing. This is only true if we aren’t helping students use them the right way. Sentence frames should be used as long as students need them, but not indefinitely. Once students become more comfortable with the way a certain type of sentence should be structured, we can modify the frames our students are working with so that they are writing more and more of the sentence themselves. Eventually, they are only receiving one or two words of the frame, and then none at all. For many students, this can be a much more effective approach to mastering sentence structure than through mere open-ended practice.
Who They Benefit
These tools can benefit virtually all students. Unless a student is completely proficient in all writing purposes, they will benefit from this type of scaffold at one point or another. Even for students who have mastered grade-level sentence and paragraph structure, there are always more nuanced and intricate ways of crafting writing that those students can begin to learn through sentence frames.
When to Use Them
Sentence frames and starters can be useful anytime a student needs to follow a formula in their writing. This can be for anything from a research paper to an argument essay. They can be used in various ways at every grade level. For example, when first introducing the structure of a five-paragraph essay, sentence starters can come in handy as a way to introduce students to this new type of writing structure. These might include starters like “For one thing…” or “On the other hand…” to give students an idea of where their next idea should go. Once students are comfortable with this structure, they can practice writing for these purposes without the sentence frames, and can eventually experiment with structuring sentences in more original ways.
Conclusion
Remember that in order for sentence frames and starters to be purposeful, they must evolve as students’ skills develop. If a student is receiving the same level of writing template for an entire year or more, then something about how they are using it or the template itself needs to be reevaluated. Students should become more independent as they use sentence frames and starters, and should not continue to need the same level of scaffolding from one writing task to the next. If students are using the correct tools to address their writing needs, then eventually, they will become confident, self-sufficient writers.