Page 219 - THE ONTARIO CURRICULUM, GRADES 9–12 | Classical Studies and International Languages

push all students to take equal responsibility for the group’s learning goals. Jigsaw activities can be done in both listening and reading formats.
In a jigsaw reading activity, each student becomes a member of an “expert” group, which reads a certain section of a text. Experts then return to their home groups to share information and thus build a complete picture of the entire text. Each expert must ensure that all members of the home group understand all the information. In a jigsaw listening activity, each expert listens to a different oral excerpt of information. The home group then compiles the components into an overall report, such as a description of a Canadian immigrant experience, or a brief overview of various communities across Canada that speak the target language.
Journal Writing. Journal writing is a technique that encourages students to produce copious amounts of writing while also giving them the opportunity to reflect on their experiences and learning. Journal entries can be personal and private responses to students’ own experiences and thoughts, or they can be shared with a teacher or journal buddy, creating a flowing, written dialogue between two partners. Another type of journal response is the “in-role” journal, in which students maintain a journal in the voice of a character from a story or novel and convey the character’s reactions and feelings as the story unfolds.
Prompts for student journal writing can be drawn from literature being studied, classroom topics and current issues, events in the lives of students, or questions or open-ended statements presented by the teacher. When responding to student journal entries, the teacher should focus on the content rather than any errors in the writing. A journal is not the place for correcting students’ grammar mistakes. Teacher responses should provide good written models of the target language, sensitive prompts for more writing, and overall encouragement for the journal-writing process.
Language learners at the beginning stages of acquiring the target language should be encouraged to maintain a journal in their first language. As their proficiency in the target language develops, students will feel more comfortable moving to a dual-language format and, finally, to keeping a journal only in the target language.
K-W-L. K-W-L, which stands for Know, Want to Know, Learned, is a strategy that helps students build background knowledge and plan for further learning and research. The K-W-L strategy gives teachers a picture of the class level of background knowledge on a particular topic so that gaps can be addressed. It also helps students prepare to learn about the topic or theme.
To complete a K-W-L chart, the teacher asks students what they think they already know about a topic and fills in the K column with their responses. Then the teacher prompts the students to state what they would like to know about the topic, and adds these details to the W (middle) column. At the end of the lesson or unit, the students review what they have learned. This summation will complete the L (final) column of the chart.
In order to activate students’ background knowledge and stimulate their curiosity, teachers can supply pictures, maps, models, and objects related to the topic to be studied. When the teacher initiates the K-W-L chart, students will be eager to offer what they know and to delve further into the topic as their interest is provoked by the prompts the teacher has supplied.
Learning-Strategy Instruction. Learning strategies are techniques that facilitate the process of under- standing, retaining, and applying knowledge. Making learning strategies explicit so that students can apply them successfully to both language and content learning is a powerful classroom technique. Through building a repertoire of learning strategies that they can use in oral communication, reading,
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