Every English teacher knows the assignment.

Write a five-paragraph essay.

Introduction.
Three body paragraphs.
Conclusion.

We teach the structure. We give students graphic organizers. We model thesis statements. We hand out transition-word lists. We explain how to embed evidence. We review MLA formatting. We create rubrics.

Then the essays come in.

And somewhere around the third paper, you find yourself staring at a sentence like:

“This shows how the character is sad because he is sad about what happened and this shows the theme.”

And you think:

Sweet baby Shakespeare. What happened here?

😂

Here is a possibility we secondary ELA teachers probably need to consider:

Maybe the problem isn’t the essay.

Maybe we’re asking students to build a house before we’ve taught them how to make a brick.

And that is exactly why one of the most interesting writing trends heading into 2026 is a renewed emphasis on the sentence.

2026: The Year of the Sentence

In a 2025 article in Educational Leadership (ASCD), the author described what they called “the year of the sentence,” highlighting a shift toward more deliberate instruction in sentence construction rather than assuming those skills will naturally develop through larger writing assignments.

And the sentence-level approach isn’t simply another education fad.

Evidence-based writing guidance has long recommended explicit instruction, modeling, practice, feedback, and attention to sentence structure as part of effective writing instruction for secondary students.

The Education Endowment Foundation is currently funding additional research into sentence-combining instruction and describes sentence combining as an especially promising way to improve students’ writing confidence and fluency.

In other words:

The sentence is having a moment.

And frankly?

It’s about time.

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We Keep Trying to Fix Essays at the Essay Level

Think about what happens when a student struggles with writing.

We often assign…

another essay.

Then another.

Then another.

And we tell ourselves:

They need more practice.

Sometimes they do.

But imagine a basketball coach whose player can’t dribble.

Would the coach say:

“You know what you need? More full basketball games.”

Probably not.

The coach would isolate the skill.

Dribbling.

Footwork.

Passing.

Shooting.

Then put those skills back together.

Writing deserves the same treatment.

Before students can effectively construct a sophisticated analytical essay, they need to be able to construct sophisticated sentences.

And that’s where many of our students are struggling.

They may understand the character.

They may recognize the theme.

They may even have a strong idea during classroom discussion.

But transferring that thinking into a clear, precise analytical sentence?

That’s a completely different skill.

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A Student Can Understand the Text and Still Struggle to Write About It

This distinction matters.

Consider the student who says during discussion:

“I think Macbeth starts believing that because the witches predicted something correctly once, everything else they say is automatically going to happen. That’s why he starts making all those terrible decisions.”

That’s analysis.

Actually, that’s pretty GOOD analysis.

Then the student writes:

“The witches affect Macbeth and this shows ambition.”

😐

Teacher:

“But…you literally just explained this beautifully thirty seconds ago.”

The student had the thinking.

What the student didn’t have was the sentence architecture necessary to communicate the thinking.

That is where sentence-level instruction becomes incredibly powerful.

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What Does Sentence-Level Writing Instruction Actually Look Like?

Good news:

I’m not suggesting you spend September diagramming sentences while students quietly reconsider every decision that brought them into your classroom. 😂

Sentence instruction can be short.

Focused.

Repeated.

And connected directly to whatever you’re already teaching.

Here are several ways to start.

1. Sentence Expansion

Give students a simple sentence:

Macbeth changes.

Then require them to develop it.

Macbeth changes after hearing the witches’ prophecy.

Better.

Now add cause:

After hearing the witches’ prophecy, Macbeth begins to change because the possibility of becoming king awakens an ambition he had previously kept under control.

NOW we’re cooking.

Students haven’t written an essay.

They haven’t even written a paragraph.

But they have practiced:

• syntax
• cause and effect
• characterization
• textual interpretation
• precise vocabulary
• analytical reasoning

All inside one sentence.

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2. Sentence Combining

Sentence combining asks students to take several short ideas and combine them into a more sophisticated sentence.

For example:

Macbeth hears the prophecy.

Macbeth becomes ambitious.

Macbeth begins considering murder.

Students might create:

After hearing the witches’ prophecy, Macbeth’s growing ambition leads him to consider murder as a means of obtaining the crown.

Sentence-combining activities can help students move beyond choppy writing and experiment with more complex ways of expressing relationships among ideas.

And notice what happened.

We’re teaching grammar.

But we’re also teaching thinking.

The student has to decide:

What happened first?

What caused what?

Which idea matters most?

Which information should be subordinate?

Which verb communicates the relationship most precisely?

That’s literary analysis hiding inside sentence practice.

Beautiful.

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3. Sentence Imitation

One of my favorite possibilities is using the literature we’re already teaching.

Instead of only asking:

“What literary device is being used?”

occasionally ask:

“How did the writer BUILD this sentence?”

Look at the structure.

Look at the punctuation.

Look at how phrases are positioned.

Look at where the strongest word appears.

Then give students the opportunity to imitate the structure using their own content.

Students begin seeing sentences not simply as containers for answers but as things writers deliberately construct.

That’s an important shift.

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4. The One Great Sentence Challenge

Here’s an easy bellringer.

Put a question on the board:

How does the setting contribute to the conflict in the story?

But instead of asking students for a paragraph, tell them:

Write ONE exceptional sentence.

One.

It must contain:

✔ a specific claim
✔ the character or text
✔ a clear relationship between ideas
✔ precise language
✔ analytical reasoning

Suddenly students can’t bury weak thinking beneath eight sentences of filler.

They have to make every word count.

Then put two or three responses on the board and revise them together.

Five minutes.

Done.

And you’ve taught writing.

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5. Stop Letting “This Shows That…” Do All the Work

Listen.

We need to have an intervention.

Because somewhere along the way, “This shows that…” became responsible for approximately 73% of literary analysis in America.

Student:

“This shows that the character is lonely.”

Teacher:

“HOW?”

Student:

“This shows that he feels lonely.”

Teacher:

“WHY?”

Student:

“This shows the reader that he is lonely.”

HELP.

Instead of banning sentence starters completely, teach students multiple ways to express analytical relationships:

The author’s description of _____ suggests…

By contrasting _____ with _____, the author reveals…

The character’s decision to _____ demonstrates…

Although _____ initially appears to _____, the character ultimately…

The repeated image of _____ reinforces…

Because _____, the reader begins to understand…

Those aren’t just prettier sentence stems.

They teach students different ways ideas can relate to each other.

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Grammar Shouldn’t Live on an Island

This sentence movement also gives ELA teachers an opportunity to rethink grammar instruction.

Too often grammar lives in some distant corner of the curriculum.

Monday:

Identify the subordinate clause.

Tuesday:

Correct the comma splice.

Wednesday:

Write an essay analyzing symbolism in The Great Gatsby.

Student:

“Are these classes related?”

They should be.

Sentence instruction allows grammar to become part of authentic writing.

Teach the participial phrase.

Then have students use one while analyzing a character.

Teach sentence variety.

Then examine sentence variety in an author’s prose.

Teach subordination.

Then ask students how subordination can communicate cause, contrast, concession, or complexity.

Now grammar has a purpose.

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Better Sentences Can Also Create Better Readers

Here’s where things become even more interesting.

Reading and writing aren’t separate literacy worlds. Research and literacy guidance continue to emphasize the close relationship between the two.

Think about what students encounter in secondary texts.

Complex syntax.

Embedded clauses.

Interrupting phrases.

Unusual punctuation.

Long sentences carrying multiple related ideas.

Students who become better at constructing complex sentences may also become more aware of how complex sentences work when they encounter them as readers.

Sentence work therefore gives us another doorway into close reading.

Instead of only asking:

“What does this passage mean?”

we can sometimes ask:

“How does this sentence create that meaning?”

That’s a much more interesting question.

Especially in Honors, AP, IB, Cambridge, and advanced ELA classrooms.

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But What About the Essay?

Teach it.

Absolutely.

I’m not joining the Five-Paragraph Essay Abolition Society.

Structure can be incredibly useful, particularly for developing writers.

But the five-paragraph essay should be a framework, not a substitute for writing instruction.

A graphic organizer cannot rescue weak sentences.

A beautiful thesis template cannot rescue unclear thinking.

Three body paragraphs do not automatically create an argument.

And adding “In conclusion” does not magically make everything preceding it profound.

Students need both:

macro-level writing skills

AND

micro-level writing skills.

Essay organization matters. We gotta have that outline and ideas mapped out.

Paragraph development matters.

Evidence matters.

Commentary matters.

But the sentence is where all of those things actually happen.

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Try This Before Your Next Essay

Before assigning your next major analytical essay, spend one week doing five-minute sentence workouts.

Monday — Expand It

Turn one basic analytical sentence into a sophisticated one.

Tuesday — Combine It

Combine three related ideas into one clear sentence.

Wednesday — Imitate It

Imitate the structure of a powerful sentence from the text you’re reading.

Thursday — Analyze It

Explain how the syntax of an author’s sentence affects meaning.

Friday — Nail It

Answer an analytical question using one outstanding sentence.

That’s maybe 25–35 minutes of instructional time across an entire week.

Then watch what happens when students begin writing paragraphs.

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Start Smaller to Think Bigger

Secondary teachers are constantly being told students need to write more.

More paragraphs.

More essays.

More constructed responses.

More evidence.

More analysis.

Maybe.

But sometimes students don’t need more writing.

They need more deliberate instruction about how writing works.

We don’t necessarily fix weak essays by assigning bigger essays.

Sometimes we zoom in.

Paragraph.

Sentence.

Clause.

Word.

Then we build back up.

Because before students can write beautiful paragraphs…

before they can construct sophisticated arguments…

before they can produce polished essays…

they have to learn how to make one idea connect clearly and powerfully to another.

And that happens inside the sentence.

So maybe 2026 really should be The Year of the Sentence.

And maybe the next time your students’ essays aren’t working, don’t immediately assign another essay.

Start smaller.

Start with the sentence.

Because better essays don’t start with better essays.

They start with better sentences.

We gon’ learn today. 🔥✍️📚

Check these resources out. They just may bring your grammar lessons to life!