Sentence-Phrase-Word: Capturing the essence of a text

In this post I will describe the Sentence-Phrase-Word thinking routine. It is a routine that helps learners engage meaningfully with a text with a focus on capturing “what speaks to them”. It also calls for them to justify their choices which makes it a useful springboard into a speaking activity.

Step 1
After reading a text ask students to identify:

• • a sentence that was important, meaningful to them
  • a phrase that moved them
  • a word that struck them as powerful

Students can work individually, in pairs or in groups. It depends on how many ideas you want to generate. They can first take notes of their selections and the reason behind them before sharing them with the rest of the class. There are actually no right or wrong answers since their choices of sentences, phrases, and words will reflect their own experience.

Step 2
Students can present and share their selections of sentences/phrases/words. Sharing can be done a) in pairs or small groups and/or b) in the form of a plenary discussion. Use the board to record their choices so that everyone can see and comment on them. Encouraging the rest of the class to take notes of their classmates’ selections is also an add-on.

Step 3

After sharing invite students to reflect on the discussion. They can a) identify common themes that have emerged from their responses and b) the implications that lie behind.

Step 4

If possible, post all answers in the classroom and provide some time for students to think again on their classmates’ sentences/phrases/words. This will contribute to a better personal and collective understanding of the text.

Classroom experience
I have tried this routine on two occasions so far. The first was with the topic of friendship where I used a short extract from Hans Christian Andersen’s The Ugly Duckling.  After reading aloud the extract to the children, they silent read it in small groups while I provided groups with some help on vocabulary where necessary. Groups then worked on the routine. The ideas shared in class were:

The second time was with Shel Silverstein’s The Giving Tree while working on the topic of deforestation. We first watched a video rendering and went through a ppt slide presentation of the book. Then, students worked in pairs, with a story hand-out and chose their sentences/phrases/words. Their responses:

Things to consider: An issue I had to deal with was how to explain to my 12 year old students, 2 multi-level (pre-intermediate/intermediate) groups the difference between sentence and phrase. I gave them an example showing the difference between sentence and phrase like so:

Sentence (begins with a capital, ends in a full stop, period, question mark or exclamation mark, expresses a complete thought): This is a sentence as you can see.

Phrase (part of a sentence, does not express a complete thought): as you can see

The routine can also work nicely with just two of the three stems (sentence/word).

References
The Ugly Duckling, Art in the English Class project

The Giving Tree, Art in the English Class project

Ritchhart, R, Church, M and Morrison, K (2011) Making Thinking Visible: How to Promote Engagement, Understanding, and Independence for All Learners. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. pp. 207-213.