What are the SIM Sentence Writing Strategies?

The Strategic Instruction Model (SIM) is a comprehensive approach to adolescent literacy, including an evidence-based set of instructional tools and interventions. There are two Learning Strategies within SIM that teach students sentence writing skills.

Fundamentals in the Sentence Writing Strategy (for students in grades 2+) is a set of instructional lessons during which students will learn basic grammar terms as well as how to write and check several types of simple sentences. Instruction in Fundamentals in the Sentence Writing Strategy (FSW) is appropriate for students who need a thorough grounding in basic concepts and terms, such as "subject," "verb," or "infinitive." FSW can be used as a developmental writing curriculum or as a quick set of review lessons to improve students' understanding of these concepts.

Once students have that basic understanding, they may move on to Proficiency in the Sentence Writing Strategy (for students in grades 3+). With these lessons, you can teach students about clauses and the other advanced sentence structure elements. Together, these two Sentence Writing Strategies support students to recognize and write 14 sentence patterns with four types of sentences: simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex.

Why would I want to teach the SIM Sentence Writing Strategies?

Each Sentence Writing Strategy has shown in research studies to produce substantial and socially significant gains in students’ writing performance.

How do I access the SIM Sentence Writing Strategies Professional Learning?

This professional learning offering will be a hybrid of self-directed and facilitated activities. There will be two 1.5-hour interactive webinars and access to a Canvas Course with lesson overview videos, instructional resources (teacher presentation slides), and digital copies of student exercises.

Registration:

Price: $300

Registration Step One: Fill out the Online Registration Form

Register for one of the 1.5 hour Opening Webinars

Registration Step Two: Payment

• To pay by check or purchase order (PO), download the form (.doc)
• To pay by credit card, visit our online store or call our order desk, 785-864-4780, with your credit card information between 9 am and 4 pm CST.
• Thanks to funding from the Educational Promise Foundation, this professional learning and accompanying instructional materials are available to educators in Montana at no cost.  Please contact us if you're from Montana.
• Participants will receive the following materials as part of their registration: Introductory Webinar, Access to the Sentence Writing Strategies Course on Canvas, access to digital teacher resources,  one-hour follow-up coaching sessions, and Fundamentals and Proficiency student and teacher guidebooks.

After you register: We will ship you the Instructor’s Manuals and Student Materials so you will have these materials in hand during the opening session.

• During the opening Zoom session, we’ll share an overview of the Sentence Writing Strategies (purpose, the design of the lessons, and the materials that come with the PD) and give a tour of the Canvas Courses for self-directed learning (one course for FSW and one for PSW).

Canvas Course: After the opening webinar, you will receive an invitation to the Canvas Course where you’ll find Modules with overview videos of the lessons, examples, and practice exercises to help you prepare to instruct the lessons. Depending on your school schedule, we hope you’ll have a chance to begin instructing with students at the start of school.

Follow-up Webinar

• Once you’ve had some time to complete a few of the Canvas Modules, there will be another Zoom session. During this session, we’ll invite everyone to share about how implementation is going and to ask questions about the instructional procedures.

Individual Sessions

• You’ll have access to watch additional Canvas Modules as you are instructing your students. Additionally, each person will be able to set up a 1:1 session with a SIM Professional Developer to discuss their specific questions.

Refund Policy: If you find you are not able to attend the class, notify KUCRL for a refund of your registration minus a $25 cancellation fee.

For questions regarding registration, please contact simpd@ku.edu, 785-864-0626.

For questions regarding payment, contact orderkucrl@ku.edu, 785-864-4780.