OLC40P: Ontario Secondary School Literacy Course
Students will focus on the issue of factual accuracy or the "reliability of facts" in News Reports. They will, hopefully, come to the realization that critical literacy is important when assessing the "truth" of News Reports.
In this unit, students are introduced to the News Report. They will apply pre-reading, during and after reading strategies to this example of informational texts. Students will appreciate the fact that writing News Reports require a different style of writing from what is used when writing a story. When they compare this text form to the graphic texts in Unit 1, or the narrative texts in Unit 2, they will see the difference. Not only are they different in form or structure, but also in the style of writing. Students will observe the features and characteristics of the News Reports and reflect on how a News Story is constructed, and the level of language used by reporters.
In this unit, students read a variety of teacher- and self-selected articles, both authentic and fictional. Students will decode and deconstruct the structure of the news report. They will divide the structure into "tiers". In the activities, students will be introduced to the news report and the form or structure. They will see "the big picture" in terms of the "look" and structure of the entire news report. The Activities will focus on headlines, placement of the name of the news paper and the news reporter, and the three "tiers" of the body of the news report. They will study the “inverted pyramid structure” using a variety of tools and templates. Tone, language, and audience are taken into account as they begin to write their own News Report, using the writing process to develop a rough draft and a final copy. Teachers will conference with students about how their skills are continuing to develop as they work through this unit.
When writing their News Report, students will construct clear, coherent, and objective news reports that include relevant facts, information, and supporting details, using the five-questions model – Who? What? Where? When? Why? – and the "How?". They will, also, demonstrate the understanding that their subject, audience, and purpose for writing influence their choices of form, tone, and level of language.
At the end of the unit, students will continue to understand and assess their personal growth in Literacy, by relating their growth to prior learning, new skills acquired and future learning.
Overall Expectations:
BRV.01 demonstrate the ability to read and respond to a variety of texts;
BRV.02 demonstrate understanding of the organizational structure and features of a variety of informational, narrative, and graphic texts, including information paragraphs, opinion pieces, textbooks, newspaper reports and magazine stories, and short fiction;
BRV.03 demonstrate understanding of the content and meaning of informational, narrative, and graphic texts that they have read using a variety of reading strategies;
BRV.04 use a variety of strategies to understand familiar and specialized words and expressions in informational, narrative and graphic texts;
BWV.01 demonstrate the ability to use the writing process by generating and organizing ideas and producing first drafts, revised drafts, and final polished pieces to complete a variety of writing tasks;
BWV.02 use knowledge of writing forms, and of the connections between form, audience, and purpose, to write summaries, information paragraphs, opinion pieces (i.e., series of paragraphs expressing an opinion), news reports, and personal reflections, incorporating graphic elements where necessary and appropriate;
UAV.03 demonstrate understanding of the reading and writing processes and of the role of reading and writing in learning;
UAV.04 demonstrate understanding of their own growth in literacy during the course.
Specific Expectations:
BR1.01 demonstrate that they have read a variety of student-selected and teacher-selected texts, including informational, narrative, and graphic texts (e.g., by keeping a record in a reading log);
BR1.03 describe, orally and/or in writing, personally relevant texts they have read and their responses to them (e.g., read an excerpt of a selected text to a small group or the whole class; write a response to a text; recommend a te3xt to a peer);
BR2.06 use knowledge of the organizational structure of different types of non-fiction narratives (e.g., anecdote, recounting of events, biography, news report) and short fiction (e.g., dialogue, short story) to identify sequence of events and main ideas;
BR3.01 choose an appropriate approach to reading a text to match the purpose for reading (e.g., scan to locate the relevant section in a text; skim to identify the main point; read closely to clarify one s obligations in a contract);
BR3.02 use appropriate pre-reading strategies to preview new texts, including:
BR3.03 use appropriate strategies to activate and build on prior knowledge of the content of the informational, narrative, or graphic selections (e.g., brainstorm about a topic);
BR3.05 use appropriate strategies to track and record information and ideas while reading informational and narrative texts (e.g., use highlighter, note-taking, or a visual organizer to identify key facts, points in an argument, or events in a narrative);
BR3.06 use appropriate strategies to locate information in different types of texts, including:
BR3.07 use appropriate strategies to make inferences about and interpret different types of texts, including:
BR3.09 demonstrate understanding of a variety of informational, narrative, and graphic texts commonly read in daily life (e.g., recipes, manuals, instructions, invoices, e-mails, encyclopaedia entries, pamphlets, news reports, short stories, train schedules, bar graphs) by using and/or responding to them appropriately;
BR4.01 use appropriate strategies to discover the meaning of unfamiliar and technical words encountered in their reading (e.g., use print, online, and bilingual dictionaries; use context to determine the meaning of new words; create concept maps using new words; build a bank of sight words to increase reading fluency);
BR4.02 use appropriate strategies to discover the meaning of unfamiliar idiomatic expressions encountered in their reading (e.g., “read past” an unfamiliar expression to gain a sense of the sentence, then make a guess as to its meaning; use or create dictionaries of phrases and expressions);
BR4.03 use appropriate strategies to expand their vocabulary through reading (e.g., use knowledge of roots, prefixes, and suffixes to create new words; contribute to class word walls; create personal dictionaries of new words encountered in their reading);
BW1.01 identify the topic, the audience, the purpose for writing, and the requirements of the particular writing form;
BW1.02 use pre-writing strategies to generate ideas for writing (e.g., brainstorming, constructing mind maps and semantic webs);
BW1.04 use appropriate strategies for gathering supporting ideas and information from print and electronic sources (e.g., pose questions to guide their search; make jot notes to record information in their own words; assess the accuracy and relevance of information and the reliability of sources);
BW1.05 use appropriate strategies to organize ideas and information for writing (e.g., sort ideas into categories for an information paragraph; use a checklist to plan an incident report; create headings to guide the writing of a résumé; create an outline with an introduction/topic sentence, body, and conclusion);
BW1.06 create a first draft that includes the main and supporting ideas in the required form (e.g., that uses distinct paragraphs where the form requires);
BW1.07 revise drafts to ensure that ideas are presented in a logical order, to discard irrelevant ideas and information, to add details where information is insufficient, and to ensure a tone and level of language appropriate to the audience and purpose, using appropriate strategies (e.g., use checklists; discuss the draft with a peer or the teacher);
BW1.09 use appropriate strategies to edit written work (e.g., read aloud to detect errors; correct errors using personal checklists of “look-fors”, a shared word/grammar wall, a personal grammar guide, and/or computer spelling and grammar programs) to achieve accuracy in the use of the conventions of standard Canadian English, including the requirements of grammar, usage, spelling, and punctuation listed below:
Grammar and Usages
Spelling
Punctuation
BW2.09 construct clear, coherent, and objective news reports that include relevant facts, information, and supporting details, using the five-questions model – Who? What? Where? When? Why? (e.g., a news report about a current event; a news report about a historical event they have studied in a history course; a traveller’s report from another country);
BW2.12 construct personal reflections, in paragraph form, choosing a clear focus and using appropriate examples to explain their thinking (e.g., set goals for reading or writing, reflect about an important accomplishment in their personal lives; explain an important skill they’ve acquired);
UA3.04 demonstrate understanding that their subject, audience, and purpose for writing influence their choices of form, tone, and level of language (e.g., by accurately describing, in a conference with the teacher, the form, style, and tone of a piece of writing and explaining why they are appropriate to the subject, audience, and purpose for writing).