What does a juicy sentence discussion sound like?
The Planning of a Juicy Sentence
Before we get to the transcript, it’s helpful to know what Ms. Sosa’s lesson plan looks like. She had to analyze the juicy sentence on her own in order to prompt her students through the discussion:
Teenagers are the participants. They are the ones being discussed in this sentence.
Teenagers are something, and then they seek out something. The first process describes teenagers, while the second process is about teens doing something.
Teenagers are social, while the rest of the sentence gives reasons for why they are social (two reasons).
It ends with a statement that teenagers seek out (look for) other teens.
To understand the vocabulary word evolutionary, we notice the letter-pattern /ary/. The process word (to evolve) dresses up as an adjective because the final suffix /ary/ is attached to /tion/, a spelling-pattern that signals a participant (or a noun). This diagram shows the transformation of the word: (v) evolve à (n) evolutionà (adj) evolutionary
The Transcript
The following is an excerpt from a 7th grade bilingual social studies class. The students were reading an article about teenagers and their pursuit of independence (see sentence below). This discussion comes a day after the class had discussed the audience and author’s purpose for writing the article. This exercise will support their essays about teen behaviors in the twenty-first century.
Teenagers are social; whether it is due to the evolutionary imperative to find a mate or because they are naturally starting to separate from their parents, teens seek out other teens.
Teacher: Today we’re going to deconstruct a juicy sentence about teenagers and their wanting to be independent. And who remembers why we do this type of activity together?
Marta : We want to squeeze the juice out of the sentence, like figure out what it means.
Hiliberto: We unpack the sentence to know everything the author wants us to know. And we also use those grammar terms like process and verb to help us.
Teacher: That's right, in these long sentences there are some words and phrases we won’t understand right away. That’s ok, because with help from our classmates, we can understand it.
{The teacher and students engage in a shared reading of the juicy sentence. The dialogues below register how individual students then make sense of the sentence.}
Marta: Teenagers are social, huh like social media. That’s right- we like to spend time with our friends. {continues reading} Whether it is due to the evolution- evolu- hmm, I don’t know this word yet. I’ll keep reading… imperative- ay, I don’t know that one either. (sighs)
Xavier: ….they are naturally starting to separate from their parents… I also wanted to be away from my family when I reached middle school…. {continues reading} Teenagers seek out other teens. What does “seek out” mean? Does that mean like the childhood game “hide and seek”? I think that word ‘seek’ is similar…
Teacher: Do we know who the participants, or subjects, are in the sentence, yes? [Makes reference to the sentence on the white board]
Students {chorally}: Teenagers!
Teacher: Yep, teenagers, just like you all. Once we figure out the WHO of the sentence, what do we do next in our deconstructing process?
Hiliberto: Next we have to look for the processes or actions, what the WHO of the sentence is doing. Right?
Beatriz: Are processes always actions? Sometimes I get confused knowing which words are verbs. !Dios Santo!
Teacher: Right, Hiliberto. We want to identify the processes, or verbs. Some processes just state or say explicitly what something is.
Beatriz: Do you mean: am, are, is? Those are verbs?
Teacher: Yep. But other verbs show action, while others show thinking, an internal process. We call those “feeling verbs” or perhaps there’s “thinking verbs” to show what’s going on inside our hearts and our heads.
{Next, the teacher asks students to work in dyads to identify the verbs in the sentence, as well as explain their selection criteria.}
Teacher: With a partner, search for the verbs- processes- in the juicy sentence. Think about why you selected the word, what it might mean, and a reason for why it’s a verb/process. Discuss your ideas with a partner.
Hiliberto: I found one- /are/ is a verb.
Xavier: Right- are. That’s one of the simple verbs Ms. Sosa was talking about. “Teenagers are social.”
Hiliberto: But look a bit later in the sentence, the word: is. And then later /are/ again. Dang, why are there SOOO many verbs, cuz I thought a sentence only has one verb.
Xavier: Not exactly. I think each phrase or clause has a verb. Do you remember when Ms. Sosa broke up the sentence into chunks, and each like chunk had a verb in it? I think that’s why there can be more than one, but we should ask her.
Hiliberto: Good point, let’s keep going “whether it is due to…./ because they are naturally….” Oh snap, I think you’re right.
Keep the conversation going
What did you notice the teacher do? What about the students? Note that this is just a brief excerpt of what a full juicy sentence discussion would sound like. If you’d like to learn more about how Lillian can bring the Juicy Sentence Protocol to your school or district, you can find her contact information below.