Language Learning Object

This is my language learning object for grade 5 students.

Oral Communication Reflection

When we think about oral communication, it's common to think talking or presenting. The Ontario curriculum emphasizes that oral communication goes beyond that and includes active listening skills. There are many skills needed to be a good communicator. Students need to be able to speak clearly. use their critical thinking skills, and use strategies such as expression and pace to ensure their peers understand what they are talking about. That being said, I decided to focus on listening and found an excellent resource that truly encompasses what it means to be a good listener. 

The resource I chose is a TED Talk called 5 Ways To Listen Better by Julian Treasure. He talks about why we’re losing good listening skills in today's society. He highlights 5 key ways to improve your listening skills. This is important because the Ontario Curriculum says that students need to learn to listen in order to understand and respond appropriately and according to Treasure, we retain only 25% of what we actually hear. This talk breaks down why listening has become so difficult and some strategies to overcome those obstacles. 

©VAYP. 2015. Ear.

One great suggestion by Treasure is to find a quiet or silent place. He argues it can be very difficult to listen effectively with a lot of background noise and distractions. With so much information and multi media available to us at all times it can be very difficult to unplug and find a quiet space. If we expect students to practice good listening skills we have to create an environment for them to be successful. A good way to do this is to allot quiet time in the classroom for certain activities in order to create good listening. If you want students to watch a video or listen to a speaker you would have the room be absolutely silent and eliminate as much background noise as possible. Treasure also emphasizes the art of actually practicing good listening. Picking out details, acknowledging certain background noises and identifying them and focusing on one noise (such as a speaker) are all good things to actively practice.

©Free Management Books. 2015. Active Listening.

He used a really good acronym in his presentation which was R.A.S.A. This stands for receive, appreciate, summarize and ask. This would be an excellent anchor chart to put up in my classroom when defining how to be a good listener. Receive means to actually listen to the speaker, appreciate means to make small noises or head nods in order acknowledge the speaker and show you are invested, summarize what you’ve heard and ask questions. Treasure spoke about the importance of teaching these skills in the classroom so that students have the strong listening skills for the rest of their lives. I would certainly emphasize the steps in being an active listener and perhaps even give my students listening challenges to have them practice the 4 steps. Being a good listener is something I have to practice to this day and I believe the earlier we introduce and emphasize the skills to become a good listener, the better off our students will be in the future. Also, if we expect students to respond to what they are hearing, I as an instructor, have to make sure I give them the skills to listen and understand what they're hearing so they can make the best responses possible. 

Writing Reflection

Writing is a crucial part of the Ontario curriculum. More importantly, writing is an important part of everyday life. Whether we realize it or not, we do some form of writing everyday. Today, writing comes commonly in a sent email or text, a tweet or a Facebook post. Social media, in many ways, has changed writing in that society thrives on small blurbs or a 180 character tweet that gives us a snapshot on a topic. The art of being concise and to the point has never been more prevalent. Beyond just brief, writers have had to learn to hook an audience using less words then ever before. If you only have a person's attention for the first few lines, how will you get them engaged?

©Ferreira, D. 2012. Twitter Icon.
[online image]

The good news is social media and platforms like Twitter can be great resources for writers and for teaching writers. It can link you to resources or videos that can help forward a writers ability. The video above is a quick and easy video to help students learn a few tips on organizing your writing plans. As a teacher, using these resources is important because they are what my students may be most comfortable with! I put my ideas to the test when I went on Twitter and searched the hashtag #ntchat which stands for new teacher chat. This hashtag is for new teachers looking to find resources or ideas for their classrooms. From there I found a link to an awesome blog called The Edvocate where I read a blog post called 10 Tools To Help Your Students Write Better Essays. It is written by a guest poster and gives 10 great ways to help your students become better writers and get excited about writing.

An important focus in the Ontario curriculum for language is students being able to gather, organize and present information. In the blog post, the writer provides excellent resources that teachers can pass on to their students as they complete a writing assignment. One example is the website writing.com where writers can go when they need advice. Students could find this resource extremely valuable as they tackle a writing assignment and perhaps are struggling. Another tip is to use good sample writing (an exemplar) in order to get students excited about writing and demonstrate to them what good samples of writing can look like. 

Let's take, for example, an essay assignment. I remember being a student and feeling dread when this

©Grammar Girl. 2015. Essay [online image]

word came up in Language class. It did not excite me and I would have been far happier doing creative writing. All writing is important but we must ensure students have the skills and understanding to write everything from a tweet, to a creative story and yes, even write a formal essay! But writing an essay does not have to be scary! In fact, you can be creative and have fun with writing an essay. As mentioned in the blog post I read, you could show your students different college entry essays where students have to be formal and professional to prove a point while incorporating their personality. In this case, the message is, "let me in to your university/college because I'm really great and here's why!". Students can find inspiration in a good exemplar so it's an important tool for teachers to use. 

The biggest thing I took away from this resource was getting students engaged in their writing. The idea of writing an essay doesn’t get them excited. Encouraging them to enter a writing contest, giving them awesome resources and showing them excellent examples are just a few ways to get my students engaged. The curriculum also states that students should be encouraged to be creative. They need to see what a creative piece of writing can look like and this could be a great way of inspiring them. My goal, as a teacher, will be to show my students that their potential in writing is endless and hopefully I can inspire them to be creative and produce their own well written pieces of work. If I can do that then I have been successful. 

Reading Reflection

ASSESS Bump It Up Wall from LearnTeachLead on Vimeo.

In week 5 I explored the website LearnTeachLead which is designed to provide resources for teachers and educators in different subjects and acts as a collaborative space for learning. Specifically, I watched a video and learned about a strategy called "Bump it up wall". In this strategy students complete a piece of writing, edit it, have it peer reviewed and then put it up on the wall. The teacher then reviews it and asks the students to create a good copy. The students put a good copy on the wall and the teacher provides feedback for students. The next time they do a writing piece they are to incorporate the feedback. This wall shows the students' progress and gives them a chance to improve their work. 

This particular video aims to improve students writing ability but in the process they are using their reading skills. First, they are editing their own work which means they are evaluating the writing for good vocabulary, punctuation, clear content and good use of information. Then their piece of writing is peer reviewed. This gives a student the chance to read someone else’s writing and again look for elements which need to be improved. In the curriculum students are expected to grasp ideas communicated in a text and apply them in new contexts. In this particular resource video, students must understand the ideas of their classmates and evaluate if what they are reading is well written. Students are also expected to read for a variety of purposes and so this activity has students reading in order to peer review which is something they will have to do as they progress through school.

As a teacher, if I used this strategy I would have the student edit in a different colour pen so I could clearly see their understanding of the different elements of writing (sentence structure, punctuation  spelling ect.). I like the idea of having a student submit their rough draft, peer edited draft and good copy. It would show them how much work can go into a single piece of writing and you could even turn that into a lesson on reading. I could find an article and have my students read it. After, we could talk about how many drafts we thought a particular piece might need and what things they would change or edit in the particular article. This would teach them to think critically about something they are reading and apply a skill they use in writing to evaluate an article while reading. 

The entire LearnTeachLead website was extremely useful. You could search a specific subject and find specific resources that relate to your search. The videos are a great way to get a good overview on what is being taught or suggested. The “Bump it up wall” showed me that I can get creative with how I introduce reading to my class. Of course, my students will have to read age appropriate books and do more traditional learning activities but I can also get creative with how I incorporate reading. Peer review is just one way to get students reading in another subject or unit.

Media Studies Reflection

For the past several weeks my language class has been examining media in the classroom. We've looked at the benefits and some of the challenges that may arise when using technology. In particular, we have focused on how media in the classroom will impact us as teachers. Are we prepared for the digital classroom? Can we adapt and make technology a useful tool for our students? Are we comfortable enough when using technology ourselves and how might we adapt our lessons to include more tech? All of these questions revolve around the theme of digital literacy which is a key focus in the Ontario Curriculum. 

This week I explored Edutopia which is a website designed to share educational knowledge with an online community for the purposes of adoption in the classroom. Specifically, I read a blog post called "Social Media Can Be Your Ally" which discusses using social media in the classroom. The big question is, should teachers be communicating with students outside of the physical classroom? The answer I've come to after reading the blog and watching the TVO video above is YES! Using social media can be a great way of connecting with your students in a way that is both comfortable and convenient for them. A majority of students are comfortable using devices and are familiar with social media. They probably know more about the digital world then we do!

As an educator I want to connect with my students and cultivate connections between them and their learning. This is challenging while students are hidden behind computer screen and mobile devices. We have to get creative and make those connections on a platform they understand. Twitter is an excellent tool for reach students at home. Teachers can post homework, class reminders and tips for homework. Blogging is another effective tool for teaching. Students not only write blogs but comment on them. It becomes an online forum where students and educators all over the world can interact and learn from one another. 

The easy access to information and online tools has created an endless possibilities for students and teachers alike. It has become critical to understand how to use media effectively. So much so that the Ontario curriculum sets media literacy expectations for each grade. In grade 6 students have to be able to create a variety of media texts for different and audiences. Social media is the perfect forum to teach this. 

Social media is an ally. Teachers have to recognize it and be willing to embrace it. If we can do that we can reach our students and take educating to a new level of success. I want to reach students on a level they understand and if that means adapting my teaching style to embrace media then I am willing and ready!