Struggling and emerging writers definitely need quite a bit of compositional TLC, so one concrete thing I do is this: explicitly teach the 12 sentence types (Strunk & White's Rule #18) as well as how to craft these types with the 20 sentence patterns.
As is clear, far too many of our writers over-rely on short-simple-declarative sentences (independent clauses), which yields a very droning and monotonous tone.
Today's video is #2 in the series in which I run an Etch-A-Sketch exercise for patterns 6-10.
Per pattern, I model how to wield the construct five times ... then students simply follow my lead.
In the description of the video, you can find a link to a copy of Strunk & White's "Write It Right" as well as all of the slides showcasing my models and exemplars for each of the above mentioned patterns.
Happy teaching and happy writing!
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