This strategy works in any grade and any content area to deepen comprehension and improve writing skills… and it doesn’t take much time.
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In preparation for some professional development I am going to present this summer I’ve been reading The Writing Revolution by Judith Hochman and Natalie Wexler. Holy cow, it is good. They are releasing an updated version on June 3rd, and I highly recommend putting it in your Amazon cart.
I am not even halfway done but I had to pause and let you know about this one strategy that you could use in any classroom, grade level, or content area.
It offers opportunities for the evidence-based practices of summarization, comprehension, writing, and formative assessment. It’s rare to find strategies that are widely applicable, powerful, and don’t take up too much classroom time, so I had to share.
It’s called “Because, But, So.”
Because, But, So
Use this strategy after teaching a lesson. Give students a sentence stem using each of the conjunctions. See the following table for examples from different content areas (the top two came directly from the book).
You probably need to review conjunctions and the purpose of these three specifically. The Writing Revolution (pg. 41) states:
- Because explains why something is true.
- But indicates a change in direction – similar to a U-turn… [it] requires students to juggle two contrasting ideas.
- So tells us what happens as a result of something else – in other words, a cause and its effect.
Implementation Advice
Don’t run to Teachers Pay Teachers and buy a bunch of worksheets that give random sentence stems. The effectiveness of this strategy is dependent upon the idea that you are using content that you are already studying in your classroom.
This activity would make a great exit ticket and would give you a quick way to check for comprehension.
You probably will need to review clauses and sentence types, and share your expectation that you want to see complex and compound sentences in their essays after practicing this strategy several times.
Once students have mastered these conjunctions, try out others, considering the topic you’re delving into.
If you try this strategy out, let me know how it goes in the comments below!
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13 responses to “Because, But, So”
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I love this approach. When I was a kid, because, but, and so confused me to no end. I finally got it, but man, it took me a while. LOL
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Hey Merideth! Thanks for sharing this gem of a strategy. “Because, But, So” sounds like a game-changer for any classroom. I appreciate the insight on how to implement it effectively. Looking forward to trying it out and sharing feedback!
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What a wonderful way to create a fun as well as useful assignment for students! I wish years ago my elementary school teachers had tried a similar exercise. A excellent way to learn how to write compound sentences effectively.
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The “Because, But, So” strategy is an excellent addition to any educator’s toolkit. I will recommend this classroom learning style to my niece, who is an educator.
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Employing the because, but, so strategy in teaching is a great way to exercise those minds, and develop a love of writing!
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What a fabulous technique . I had never thought of this its a great way to structure a piece if writing.
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Exploring the power of ‘Because, But, So’ is like unraveling the threads of storytelling magic! Using these three simple words is an excellent strategy to creating compelling narratives .
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Excellent lesson in English grammar! Thank you so much for sharing these differentiations.
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This is such a wonderful resource for folks learning English, as well as those looking to improve their existing skills. What an amazing site!
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This is a great method for learning the power of these words. I’ve always thought that drilling someone over and over is the way to learn.
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This is really cool. I will be sure to implement this strategy for my daughter during study time.
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This is such a great strategy. My mom is a teacher I have to share this with her. Thanks for this.
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Interesting, I’m not teaching but this is a good strategy and you explained it very well.
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