Stem Completion

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This activity provides students the language and framework to “get them going” on cognitively challenging tasks.  This activity also helps students appreciate the important role precise language plays in articulating abstract meaning.

Preparation

  • Create sentence stems for students to complete that are tied to a specific skill you are working to develop in the unit study.  Sentence stems for understanding vs. interpretation, or stems for discussing one text vs. two, will look different.  Some examples have been provided below.
  • Break students into small groups (2-3 students). 

Process

  1. Give students 1-2 stems to complete.  The whole class should have the same 1-2 stems.
  2. Give students 3-5 minutes to complete the stem individually.  They should fully write out their response to the stem.
  3. Have students share their responses with each other. 
  4. In the small group, choose 1 sentence stem to focus on.  Ask the group to choose or combine their ideas to formulate a single stem response as a group.
  5. Ask students to write out their full sentence on a sentence strip.
  6. Post the sentence strips on the wall(s) or board(s). 
  7. Have students complete a “gallery walk” to read the stem completions silently.  Ask them to put a tick mark (using a dry erase marker, sticker, etc.) next to the ones they find particularly effective in articulating and communicating meaning.
  8. Ask small groups to join another small group (forming groups of 4-6 people).  Instruct students to reflect on their choices – What are the characteristics of an effective statement?  Why is it important for a writer to choose and arrange their words carefully when communicating ideas, thoughts, and arguments?
  9. Optional:  Ask students to record their thoughts and important points from their discussion in their portfolios.

Example Sentence Stems

  • On the surface, _________________ is about _______________.  But really, [the author] gets the reader to think about __________________ while also considering ___________________.
  • The text invites the reader to think about ______________.  From the text, we can infer that [the poet] thinks that [stated idea] is _____________________.  It is clear [the author] feels _____________ about this topic; this is evident through ________________________.
  • [The author] invites the reader to think about ___________________.  He/she makes the reader feel _____________ towards this idea by ____________________.  The effect of this is that the reader _____________________.

Credits

Adapted from: “The Adaptive School:  Strategies and Moves for Facilitating Groups”.  Thinking Collaborative, https://www.thinkingcollaborative.com/as-resources

Image by Mabel Amber from Pixabay