Sentence Prompts are a great way to really focus the information you are gathering. While can be created before a lesson, they can also be generated on the spot. Sentence Prompts differ from Questioning in that the teacher provides a starting point, or a central focus to the student to begin their answer. Prompts can be written, verbal, or even provided through drawings, cartoons, or photos. Responses do not have to be written, either!

Sentence Prompts can help teachers:

• Focus the thinking of students around a central work or idea

• Gather anonymous or named data for a class on a specific topic

• Vary Questioning in the classroom and allow more individual time to formulate and provide a response

• Sentence Prompts can be used to engage thinking before a lesson, start small group discussion, or summarise learning after a lesson

• These prompts can be written or verbal, and can be used to challenge students to defend a particular stance or opinion

• Once familiar with the task, students can be asked to create their own Sentence Prompts. These can go back to the teacher for feedback or be used in partner or small group settings

• Sentence Prompts can be creative and fun, and still help the teacher identify learning in their classroom!