Make it interesting. Make it your own. Elaboration! Make it interesting. Make it your own.

What are some ways to elaborate that we have already learned? This is important because… That matters because… This means that…

Practice!

You are trying to prove that time on electronics has a negative impact on students’ learning, and you have the following piece of evidence: Users “are at especially high risk for poor homework completion, negative attitudes toward school, poor grades, and long-term academic failure” (cfc.org). Elaborate on that evidence in your notebook using “this is important because…”, “that matters because…”, or “this means that…”

Share your elaboration

Good! But there are a few problems: First, sometimes those sentence starters don’t help us think of good elaboration. Second, we don’t want to repeat the same sentence starters all the time- that’s boring!

Tips for better elaboration: 1. Try using the sentence starter in your head, but not writing it down. For example: “This is important because all of these consequences of electronics will harm student learning.” Becomes: “All of these negative consequences will harm student learning.”

Try it! Look at the elaboration you wrote down in your journal, and cross out the sentence starter at the beginning. How does it sound?

Tips for better elaboration: 2. Give an example of how that evidence might look in real life. For example: “A student who is obsessed with YouTube and blogs may find school more boring.” Or: “Students may spend so much time on videogames or their phones that they do not study or complete their homework.”

Try it! In your journal, give an example for the following piece of evidence: “Exergames [videogames that involve some form of exercise] may be especially benefical for kids who live in cold climates or dangerous areas where going outside to play may not be possible” (Nall).

Tips for better elaboration: 3. Use “If… then….” For example: “If a student becomes obsessed with YouTube and blogs, then he may be more likely to start failing in school.” Or: “If a student spends a lot of time on his video games, he may end up missing out on his education.”

Try it! In your journal, write an elaboration for the following evidence using “If… then…”: “As an African American, Parks refused to give up her seat on the bus to a white person during a time of intense segregation in the Unites States” (Green).