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ORAL COMMUNICATION BLOG Oral communication skills are important to literacy development and are essential for thinking and learning. Talk helps students communicate information and explore ideas, solve problems, and clarify their thoughts. Listening and speaking are essential for social interaction. Ontario Ministry Expectations for Language Curriculum (p.80) has the following overall expectations for Oral Communication: 1.        Students will listen in order to understand and respond appropriately in a variety of situations for a variety of purposes 2.       Students will use speaking skills and strategies appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes 3.       Students will reflect on and identify their strengths as listeners and speakers, areas for improvement, and the strategies they found most helpful in oral communication situations The curriculum overview...

Writing Blog #3 “At its most basic, we are only discussing a learned skill,” Stephen King writes in his memoir, On Writing. “We are talking about tools and carpentry,  about words and style…but as we move along, you’d do well to remember  that we are also talking about magic.” (2000) Many students would not associate the writing instruction in schools as being magical. I know that when I was in school I dreaded the times when asked to write and be “creative”, in trying to figure out what the teacher wanted. To create this kind of magic in the classroom, it would seem that putting ideas in a box, worksheets or focusing on the elements of style or listing rules is not the process that leads to this magical feeling. A Guide to Effective Literacy Instruction (Writing) describes the junior grades are being a “time of excitement, new possibilities and expanding horizons” (p.8). Teachers in the junior grades have an opportunity to take this enthusiasm and build on op...