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The College Board's Evaluation of Stack's SOS Sheet

A Practical Revision Strategy - Our Sentence Opening Sheet

To save teachers time while teaching the writing process, The Stack the Deck Writing Program includes four labor-saving devices:

a scoring rubric for assessment,
a think sheet for brainstorming
a sentence opening sheet for revision, and
a checklist sheet for peer evaluation.

Beginning with Check the Deck, each writing assignment has its own specially designed rubric, think sheet, and checklist sheet.

The College Board asked our permission to include our most lauded teaching device, the sentence opening sheet (SOS), in A Guide for Advanced Placement English Vertical Terms.

Here is the reprint of the article:

The Sentence Opening Sheet (SOS) is a useful tool that allows students to contrast the writing of two authors, to study the style of single author, and to improve the effectiveness of their own writing. A column labeled "Special Features" allows the teacher to identify elements that focus on a particular assignment (e.g., imagery, periodic sentence, figurative language, etc.) The first step is for students to fill in a chart similar to the one following:

Sentence Number	First Four Words	Special Features	Verbs	No. of Words Per Sentence

The following chart of the third paragraph of Normal Mailer's Benny Paret article reveals Mailer's mastery of diction, skilled imagery, and manipulation of sentence length to reflect the content. For example, a glance at sentence nine, which recounts Paret's fall, illustrates this idea. The lengthy sentence (31 words) is a series of clauses slipping irrevocably into one another, even as Paret slides slowly to the floor. Mailer consciously manipulates syntax to stress the meaning and effect of the sentence.

Sentence Number	First Four Words	Special Features	Verbs	No. of Words Per Sentence
1	And Paret			2
2	Paret died on		died	5
3	And he took those	personification	took, happened, was	18
4	Some part of his		reached	9
5	One felt it hover	personification	hover	7
6	He was still standing		was standing, trapped, had been, gave, were saying, did know, was going, came	51
7	He began to pass			5
8	As he passed, so	consonance		16
9	He wet down more	simile		31
10	As he went down	simile		25

When the chart is completed, it is examined by the student alone, by a peer group, or by the teacher together with the student.

5. Examine the syntax of a Student Composition Using Sentence Beginning Activity

As a revision technique for a student's own writing, completion of a chart may signal various writing problems, (repetitiveness in sentence opening, possible run-ons or fragments, passive voice, poor verb choice, lack of variety of sentence lengths, etc.) This technique allows students to revise not only grammatical errors and usage errors but also to strengthen the meaning and effectiveness of their writing.

Students will use their charts to revise their own writing. For example, the chart that appears below of the first paragraph of one student's essay about Mailer's Benny Parent article reveals a number of problems. Thus, the student may wish to revise his composition after noting the following problems:

Sentence Number	First Four Words	Special Features	Verbs	No. of Words Per Sentence
1	In an article		writes, describes	16
2	Miller		writes, is, loses	17
3	Miller says that the		says, reflects	15
4	After examining the fight		believes, suggests, is, reveals	40
5	The fight is an		is, penetrates	18
6	The fight is also	also	is	10
7	Because of the way		fights	6

Repetition of identical sentence structure and especially of sentence openings in Nos. 2 and 3 and in Nos. 5 and 6. Revise to improve sentence variety.

Excessive use of the verb "to be" and several repetitions of "says" and "writes." Revise to use more powerful verbs.

Possible opportunity for sentence combining with Nos. 2 and 3 and with Nos. 5 and 6. Revise to improve rhythm and to ensure that syntax enhances meaning.

Possible grammatical problems. Evaluate No. 4 for possible run-on sentence. Evaluate No. 7 for possible fragment.

Possible use of the short, powerful sentence structure but also possible choppiness. Evaluate Nos. 6 and 7 to see if the ideas of the sentences are important enough to be singled out by a short sentence structure or if the ideas of the sentences are enhanced by the short sentence structure.

Much of the power of language arises from the way diction and syntax enhance meaning. Since this is true of good writing at all reading levels, every teacher on a vertical team can and should focus on the examination of these elements of language as their pupils become both students of literature and writers themselves.