Also known as the Seldon Method: Bubble Theory,  'This does that' is a strategy that teachers can use to support their students' writing.

The 'This does that strategy' can be used to explicitly teach students to confidently explore texts and to create their own effective complex sentences in response to texts. The strategy was developed at a New South Wales Department of Education secondary school.

The school implements the 'This does that' writing strategy from stage four through to stage six and has seen positive growth in student HSC results in English.

The nature of the strategy supports the themes highlighted within CESE's What works best: 2020 report. For example, it reinforces that teachers need to have high expectations of their students, the strategy reflects explicit teaching, with teachers clearly communicating to students what to do, how to do it, and how it will support improvement in their writing, and the 'This does that' strategy supports effective feedback, which is essential as teachers work with the strategy and provide students with feedback that is relevant, explicit and ongoing.

The 'This does that' strategy employs the easy-to-build sentence structure of: This..., does that..., doing that..., and doing that. The teacher and students work together to create these parts of the sentence and to put it all together.

For example,

The author's use of personification in 'a stingy ray of sunlight struggles feebly down between the houses tall', evokes the misery of the city, suggesting that city life is unhealthy, and creating a juxtaposition to the beauty of the outback that was described earlier in the poem.

This is how an English teacher might begin to work with the 'This does that' strategy in the classroom when supporting student writing. This example depicts writing about poetry. The teacher first selects an example from the text that demonstrates a technique or feature that will be the focus for the analysis. This quotation is entered in the central bubble. A bubble to record the technique, 'The author's use of...' is also provided. The teacher then chooses a verb for each surrounding bubble that reflects the focus of the learning and will elicit the analysis that students are being asked for in their writing. The verb choice is open to variation based on the topic, the students, and the year level. The teacher and students then populate each bubble by following the verb prompts, analysing the textual example, and considering how this... does that. This example uses the fourth stanza of A.B. 'Banjo' Patterson's 'Clancy of the overflow.' The textual evidence selected for the example is: 'a stingy ray of sunlight struggles feebly down between the houses tall.'

The textual evidence is placed in the central bubble, and the teacher identifies what literary technique will be the focus of the activity. In this example, personification has been selected. Teacher and students then work together to populate the remaining bubbles that surround the textual evidence, to create a number of ideas. In this example, they begin with the question: 'What does the textual evidence evoke?'

Once the teacher and students have settled on a response, they can write it into the bubble.

For the example, it states: 'Evokes the dim, dark misery of the city. The teacher then leads class discussion to develop an idea about what the quote imagines.

In this example, the following analysis has been decided upon: 'Imagines a world of small, barely lit offices with little light or air. The teacher continues interactive class discussion to develop an idea about what the quote creates, and then what the quote suggests.

At the end of this process, the class has successfully created a number of statements about the text.

Using the pattern shown in the table, students can create complex sentences with the information that they have just brainstormed and worked to provide. For example, following the This..., does that..., doing that..., and doing that... structure, teachers and students can combine ideas to create a complex sentence.  Please note that some verbs have 'ing' added to them during the process.

Students now have a complex sentence that reflects their analysis of the text: The author's use of personification evokes the dim, dark misery of the city, suggesting that city life is congested and unhealthy, and creating a juxtaposition to the open, light, airy beauty of the outback that was described earlier in the poem.

Once the complex sentence is created, English teachers need to remind the students to include the textual evidence, 'the quote', within the sentence. On the example created, the suggested location for the textual evidence has been highlighted.

The final product is a complex sentence that reflects analysis and depth of thought: 'The author's use of personification, in 'a stingy ray of sunlight struggles feebly down between the houses tall', evokes the dim, dark misery of the city, suggesting that city life is congested and unhealthy, and creating a juxtaposition to the open, light, airy beauty of the outback that was described earlier in the poem.

An advantage of the 'This does that' strategy is its flexibility.

The ideas can be arranged to create a variety of complex sentences.

For example, here we have used the structure: Doing that..., this...,does that...,  doing that.

Please note that some verbs have 'ing' added to them during the process.

This example creates an alternate complex sentence: 'Suggesting that city life is congested and unhealthy, the author's use of personification, in 'a stingy ray of sunlight struggles feebly down between the houses tall', evokes the dim, dark misery of the city, creating a juxtaposition to the open, light, airy beauty of the outback that was described earlier in the poem.

This is an alternate sentence that students would be able to create using the 'This does that' strategy. Teachers and students could trial many more combinations.

Teachers could consider using the 'This does that' strategy as part of a whole school writing strategy. Teachers could use the strategy in stages four, five or six.

In the classroom, teachers can choose to use the 'This does that' strategy with the Gradual Release of Responsibility model, working through modelling the strategy, then working together, and finally, students using the strategy independently.

This strategy builds student confidence in writing, which is a gateway to any subject. Try the 'This does that' strategy with your students.

Also known as the Seldon Method: Bubble Theory, 'This does that' is a strategy that teachers can use to support their students' writing. This video demonstrates how to use the strategy using PDHPE as an example.

The 'This does that' strategy can be used to explicitly teach students to confidently explore concepts and to create their own effective written responses that address content and syllabus outcomes.

The strategy was developed at a New South Wales Department of Education secondary school. The school implements the 'This does that' writing strategy from Stage 4 through to Stage 6, and has seen positive growth in student HSC results.

The nature of the strategy supports the themes highlighted within the What works best 2020 update. For example, it reinforces that teachers need to have high expectations of their students.

The strategy reflects explicit teaching, with teachers clearly communicating to students what to do, how to do it, and why it will support improvement in their writing.

And the strategy supports effective feedback, which is essential as teachers work with the strategy and provide students with feedback that is relevant, explicit and ongoing.

The 'This does that' strategy employs the easy to build sentence structure of this... does that... doing that... and doing that. The teacher and students work together to create these parts of the sentence, and then to put it all together.

For example, physical activity improves blood flow, increasing oxygen in the blood, and decreasing the risk of cardiovascular disease. This strategy provides students with a simple and clear method for writing about content. As an example, this is how a PDHPE teacher might begin to work with the 'This does that' strategy in the classroom, when supporting student writing about the benefits of physical activity. For this example, the teacher could be supporting the students' writing in response to an aspect of outcome PD4-8 Plans for and participates in activities that encourage health and a lifetime of physical activity. The particular aspect of the learning, 'Benefits of physical activity', is placed in the central bubble for discussion and analysis. The specific focus of 'physical activity' is placed in a surrounding bubble, and will be used in many ways to create effective sentences. This bubble for the focus on physical activity becomes the 'This' in the sentence creation. The teacher then chooses a verb for each surrounding bubble, to reflect the learning benefits of physical activity. This example describes impact, however, verb choice will depend on the content focus from the syllabus. For this example, we know that PDHPE content can relate to cause and effect, analysis and evaluation. But the verb detail and which verbs to use in the bubbles will come from the syllabus and the question you are responding to, or for why you are creating the sentence. Using these verbs will elicit the depth that students are being asked for in their writing. The verb choice is also open to variation, based on the subject, topic, students and year level. The teacher and students then populate each bubble and, by following the verb prompts, they discuss and decide upon a response in relation to the content that they are learning about.

In this way, teacher and students are able to populate the bubbles that surround the learning focus to create a number of ideas. In this example, they began with the verb 'improves', and the question 'What does physical activity improve?' When the teacher and students have decided on a response, they write it into the bubble. For the example, it states 'improves blood flow'. The teacher then leads class discussion to develop an idea about what physical activity 'helps'. In this example, the following analysis has been decided upon: 'helps you feel good about yourself'. The teacher then continues interactive class discussion to develop an idea about what physical activity 'decreases'. In this case, the statement that physical activity 'decreases the risk of cardiovascular disease', and what physical activity 'increases'.

At the end of this process, the class has successfully created a number of statements about the content that is the focus of their study.

Using the pattern shown in the table, students can create complex sentences with the information that they have just brainstormed and work to provide. For example, following the this... does that... doing that... and doing that structure, teachers and students can combine ideas to create complex sentences. There is no set order for selecting the information to create the complex sentence. Students have the freedom to choose the components, and create a sentence that resonates with them. Similarly, not all of the created content needs to be used.

For this PDHPE example, 'Physical activity improves blood flow, increasing oxygen in the blood, and decreasing the risk of cardiovascular disease.'

Please note that some verbs have 'ing' added to them during the process.

Students now have a complex sentence that reflects their understanding of the benefits of physical activity. 'Physical activity improves blood flow, increasing oxygen in the blood, and decreasing the risk of cardiovascular disease.' In this example, the complex sentence allows students to express their understanding of an aspect of a key concept in PDHPE. This process is applicable to other key learning areas. An advantage of the 'This does that' strategy is its flexibility. The ideas that students have developed can be arranged to create a variety of complex sentences. For example, here we have used the structure: doing that... this... does that... doing that.

Please note that some verbs have 'ing' added to them during the process.

This example creates an alternate complex sentence: 'Increasing oxygen in the blood, physical activity improves blood flow, decreasing the risk of cardiovascular disease.'

This is an alternate sentence that students will be able to create using the 'This does that' strategy. Teachers and students could trial many more combinations. While this example is from PDHPE, it can be applied in a similar way in other learning areas.

Another advantage of the 'This does that' strategy, is that teachers of different key learning areas can choose to work with the verbs that are relevant to their context and focus of study.

There are many ways to access the verbs that will support teachers when using this writing strategy. Sometimes the whiteboard is used to write out subject content without providing students with the means to put these ideas together in sentences. Teaching verbs helps this process.

Teachers should consistently model a variety of verbs, common in their subject area. These verbs could describe actions, define the subject, describe impact, explore cause and effect, describe properties, explain history, analyse pros and cons. Using a variety of verbs informs writing. Some verbs are often more common to one key learning area than another. For example, verbs in the PDHPE example included increases, improves and decreases. History, for example, often describes cause and effect, using verbs such as contributed, affected and undermined. Teachers could provide their students with a verb word bank for their subject.

As teachers, it is important to model the language we use in our subject area, and teach students explicitly.

Teachers could consider using the 'This does that' strategy as part of a whole-school writing strategy, and teachers could use the strategy in Stages 4, 5 or 6.

In the classroom, teachers can choose to use the 'This does that' strategy with the gradual release of responsibility model, working through modelling the strategy, then working together, and finally students using the strategy

independently. This strategy builds student confidence in writing which is a gateway to any subject.

Try the 'This does that' strategy with your students.