Oral Communication

Hello everyone and welcome back to my blog for the last stand of Literacy – Oral Communication. This post will highlight the importance of developing oral skills and active listening skills, and how these valuable skills help to promote critical thinking and acitive citizenship in our students.

The Importance of Active Listening 

Oral communication in the Ontario Curriculum covers a broad array of skills that students must develop in order to be considered a strong oral communicator. A grade 8 overall expectation for Oral Communication is to be able to “use speaking skills and strategies appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes” (138). However, to be a strong oral communicator does just mean to be able to speak clearly and confidently – communicating must also consider the importance of active listening. Students must also be able to “listen in order to understand and respond appropriately in a variety of situations for a variety of purposes” (138). Thus, it is imperative that students develop active listening skills, which in turn will help them to develop and refine strategies helping them to see various viewpoints, perspectives and opinions of others during a conversation.

When researching active listening, a point that I came across that is important to consider is the following quote from Mind Tools:

“Good communication skills require a high level of self-awareness. Understanding your own personal style of communicating will go a long way toward helping you to create good and lasting impressions with others.” 

https://www.mindtools.com/CommSkll/ActiveListening.htm

Developing self-awareness comes with age, but it is never too early to expose students to activities, lessons and experiences that force them to become self aware. If students are self aware during conversations, the listening that is happening is so much more valuable. If you want some tips on how to implement active listening strategies in the classroom, check out this article by Forbes, that highlights the many ways to become an active listener.

How To Implement Active Listening:

• Face the speaker and maintain eye contact
• Be attentive (pay attention and be present)
• Keep an open mind
• Visualize what the speaker is saying 
• Don't interrupt
• Ask questions when the speaker has paused 
• Nod and ask questions for clarification 
• Feel what the speaker is saying
• Give feedback when they pause/are finished 
• Pay attention to non-verbal cues

Importance of Active Listening 

Discussing with students the importance of active listening both inside and outside of the classroom will benefit their development as learners, but also help to build better and stronger relationships in the real world. Once they are able to become active listeners, they are able to start forming opinions about the conversations that are being had within society. If they are truly hearing and listening, they are more educated in the ways in which they formulate their own perspectives. Acknowledging and understanding opposing viewpoints and perspectives through listening is an imperative skill to develop – once students are able to do this instinctively, they are able to participate in the greater social conversations that are happening all around them. 

Looping back to my discussion on media literacy – active listening also helps students to 

be active and alert citizens – through active listening, students are able to critique the biases, prejudices, inequities, and social justice issues from a new lens – a lens that is not naïve and accepting, but one that is educated from various perspectives. 

For those of you who haven’t seen this TedTalk, it is a very moving discussion on the dangers of a single story, through a single lens. Novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie tells about the tragedies of her culture and how they have been forgotten by recent generations of westerners. If we, as educators, are not teaching students to be active listeners, then we are allowing them to take part in the single story phenomenon that exists in today's society. . 

We need to challenge the single story; the only way to do this is through active listening. 

Thanks for reading, and I hope this post informed you on the importance of active listening in our own lives, as well as our students.


Cheers,

Madeleine 







References:


Schilling, Dianne (2012). 10 steps to effective listening. Forbes. Retrieved from  https://www.forbes.com/sites/womensmedia/2012/11/09/10-steps-to-effective-listening/#a248b6838918

Active listening: hear what people are really saying (n.d). Mind Tools. Retrieved from https://www.mindtools.com/CommSkll/ActiveListening.htm

Ministry of Ontario (2006). The Ontario curriculum grades 1-8 Language (Revised). Toronto, Canada: Queen's Printer. Retrieved from http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/elementary/language18currb.pdf


Images/Videos:

Listen Linda gifs. Retrieved from https://tenor.com/search/listen-linda-gifs

5 ways to engage active listening. Elevate Point. Retrieved from https://www.elevatepoint.com/perspectives/infographic/5-ways-engage-active-listening/

TedTalk (2009). Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: The danger of a single story. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story?language=en#t-114432

The Writing on the Wall

 Hello all and welcome back to my blog!

In this post I will be discussing a little bit about the writing strand, some activities to try with students and strategies to consider when creating lessons for students. As well, I have posted some great apps to improve the foundations of student writing that you can start using in the classroom right away.

Differentiated Instruction

Any good educator understands the importance of differentiated instruction – not one student learns in the exact same ways as another; thus, teachers need to ensure the ways they deliver lessons and assess students accommodate to these needs. In the writing strand, differentiated instruction ensures educators are offering the most accommodating strategies in order to receive the highest level of learning and comprehension from students. There are many apps that exist that can help students who struggle with writing – whether that be grammar, organizing chaotic ideas, editing and creating new ideas. One of the overall writing expectations for grade 8 students is to be able to “draft and revise their writing, using a variety of informational, literary, and graphic forms and stylistic elements appropriate for the purpose and audience” (pg. 144). The apps suggested below offer various strategies to help students achieve this expectation. 

•  Popplet – A great resource that acts as an online graphic organizer to help organize students’ thoughts, ideas and potential action plan. This is a very beneficial tool for students who need extra prompts that visually help them organize their ideas and thoughts, giving them structure to begin their writing piece. Chick here to check this app out!

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• Writing Challenge – This is a great way to generate ideas from students who struggle to start writing or think creatively. This app offers various writing prompts that spark inspiration for storytelling and narratives. This engages students and helps spark creativity in new, fun and interesting ways. Click here to check out this awesome app!
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• Practice English Grammar – This is a great app that focusses on all areas of grammar – there are video tutorials, practice exercises and many engaging grammar games. It includes a diagnostic test for students to gauge an understanding of what their strengths and weaknesses are. Kayla Matthews claims that this app will help students to “become a better communicator with instant feedback on your progress” (Matthews, 2015). Click here if you want to download this app!

In my 7/8 placement, my AT always allows the use of technology when addressing most writing activities. While it is imperative that students learn how to write and perfect this skill, technology is slowly becoming more universal in Western areas. Thus, she allows her students who struggle with writing to use the class Chrome books when submitting an assignment that most students would hand write. For these 2 modified students, writing slows their thinking process down and is challenging; thus, she allows them to type out their thoughts instead of getting overwhelmed trying to both think and write.

The Creativity of Writing 

            Hearing students’ creativity shine through their writing is one of my favourite parts of literacy – especially at the intermediate age, where the ideas and emotions behind students’ writing is often very powerful and meaningful. While learning how to write expository pieces and essays are essential, I find there lies great value in creative writing, free-write, poetry and story-telling. These aspects of writing should not be overlooked, as they allow students to express emotion, thoughts, opinions and creativity. As educators, these forms of writing assessments act as a great way to get to know our students on a personal level, and discover value in their ways of thinking. 

A valuable resource that offers many creative writing prompts is from the “National Writing Project.” Check out this site if you want to look at 30 ideas for teaching writing that various teachers have thought of as successful in their practice. I really like the first prompt – “Use the shared events of students’ lives to inspire writing” because great writing is more purposeful if the students have a connection to it, as well, it helps to foster meaningful relationships between classmates and teacher. As well, I would use “Ease into writing workshops by presenting yourself as a model” because students are more willing to open up and share their work if you allow students to first critique you. As well, being transparent with students helps to build meaningful relationships with them, as they can see your flaws and imperfections. 

As stated in the Ontario Language Curriculum, there are so many forms of writing students in grade 8 should become confident in:

• "write complex texts of a variety of lengths using a wide range of forms"

• "establish a distinctive voice in their writing appropriate to the subject and audience"

• "regularly use vivid and/or figurative language and innovative expressions in their writing"

These specific expectations can all be addressed using any of the given writing prompts suggested by the National Writing Project! Students can have a different task each day, new prompts and new strategies to showcase their best writing!

Be sure to check these apps and sites out as they are great resources for improving student writing. Thanks for reading everyone, that's all for today!

Cheers,

Madeleine  

References:

National Writing Project (2018). 30 ideas for teaching writing. Retrieved from https://www.nwp.org/cs/public/print/resource/922

Matthews, Kayla (2014). 7 apps to help anyone improve their grammar. Retrieved from https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/7-apps-help-anyone-improve-english-grammar/ 

Ministry of Ontario (2006). The Ontario Curriculum Grades 1-8 Language (Revised).Toronto, Ontario: Queen’s Printer. 

Images:

https://www.eschoolnews.com/2017/03/09/pd-lead-better-student-writing/

http://www.thebitsofbrit.com/tag/popplet/

https://www.figur8.net/2016/05/27/writing-resources-to-encourage-the-reluctant-writer/

https://www.axact.com/business-units/creative-writing/