Now that you have observed the types of responses typical of student oral discourse…
What did your classroom data show you about complete sentence use at your school or in your district?
Based on our work with thousands of teachers in classrooms doing this same task, here is what you likely learned:
The use of complete sentences by students is usually random.
Teachers don’t usually require students to orally respond in complete sentences.
When students do use complete sentences, they are frequently simple in construction and of less than 10 words.
Students receive many mixed messages related to the importance of complete sentences in their academic work. You may have heard something like the following:
A teacher reminds students to use complete sentences for a written response, but all other classroom instruction features few complete sentences and no teacher reminders to do so.
Teachers advise students to “Write the way you would say it.”
Teachers exhort students to “Focus on what you want to say, not on how you get it on paper.” Or “Just get your ideas down. It’s OK if it’s not perfect.”
Unfortunately, all of these teacher behaviors work against helping students to master the linguistic skills necessary for using complete sentences in their academic work, and especially on assessments.
Click below for a simple way your teachers can immediately enhance the length and complexity of student oral discourse.