SEND Learning Strategy

LS017: Sentence stems and paragraph frames

Scaffold academic language so thinking can be expressed clearly in speech and writing.

Provide a small number of high-quality stems and frames, model their use, and fade support once students can generate structures independently.

Implementation steps

Choose 3-5 sentence stems that match your subject's most common thinking moves (for example, explain, compare, evaluate, justify).
Add a small linked word bank (connectives, key verbs, subject vocabulary) beside the stem.
Model stem use with one excellent example and one 'nearly there' example.
Use guided practice: everyone completes one stem, then students adapt and extend independently.
Plan the fade: move from full frame to partial frame to no frame (while keeping success criteria).

Display a single stem of the lesson and insist everyone uses it once (low-friction rehearsal).
Do think -> write one sentence using the stem -> share before any extended writing.
Use paragraph frames for one or two tasks per unit, not for everything (avoid dependency).
Build a frame bank for recurring task types (PEEL, claim-evidence-explain, method-reason-check).
When marking, reference the structure: 'Your evidence is good; now add the explanation sentence.'

Offer oral rehearsal before writing for students who struggle with formulation.
Provide a reduced stem (shorter) for slow processing, then extend later.
Use colour cues (claim, evidence, explain) to make structure visible.
Allow alternative output routes (for example, bullet plan) before paragraph writing.
For dysgraphia and transcription barriers, pair with assistive output routes where appropriate.

Using generic stems that do not match the subject's thinking moves.
Giving too many stems at once (choice overload).
Leaving frames in place forever (learned dependency).
Correcting grammar while ignoring the thinking structure.
Using frames that are too generic for the subject-specific thinking the task requires.

Persistent inability to produce complete sentences despite explicit modelling and guided practice.
Severe transcription barriers preventing access to extended response tasks.
Significant language formulation difficulties across subjects.

Key sources that inform this SEND learning strategy. These links are for implementation context and professional review.