• Literacy  supports  and  is  developed  through  thinking,  expressing  and  reflecting.
• Literacy  development  continues  in  adolescence.  There is no one grade or content area that provides all the necessary literacy instruction students need as lifelong learners.
• Literacy  is  embedded  in  all  content  areas.  In fact, each of the subject areas provides opportunities for literacy development, often in unique and specialized ways. Embedding literacy instruction in all subjects allows adolescents to deepen their understanding of the knowledge and skills in content areas
• Literacy  is  fostered  in  active,  inclusive  and  responsive  learning  environments which feature explicit literacy instruction and meaningful experiences, which provide adolescents with avenues for social connection, discovery, motivation, and relevancy.
• Adolescents  need  to  engage  with  a  variety  of  literacy  practices  for  a  range  of purposes, including students’ own   purposes.
• Literacy  is  complex.  Proficiency in literacy is based on prior experience, sense of self- efficacy, identity, relevance, engagement, and motivation.
• Literacy  is  a  means  of  empowerment  and  self-advocacy.
• Literacy learning is a shared responsibility. Students benefit from the efforts of all educators working together in a coordinated, purposeful way with a goal of improving literacy.
• Effective  literacy  instruction  begins  with  the  interest,  strengths  and  needs  of  the learner.  Assessment is used to highlight strengths and target direction for both teachers and students to set learning goals for further growth
• Adolescent  literacy  practices  are  deepened  through  research,  collaboration  and professional  learning.

Purpose of the Protocol

To expand thinking and make connections about a text in a structured discussion.

Groups of 3-4 participants.

1. Individually read the text.

Identify three important points of ideas from the text. Make notes about why each point/idea was chosen.

2. Small group discussion:

First round

• The first participant identifies his or her most important point from the text and explains reasons for choosing the idea (2 minutes)
• Participants then take turns commenting on the same point/idea(1 minute). e.g. Participants explain why they chose the same point (if they did) and/or make connections to the idea.

Subsequent rounds

• The next participant shares his or her most important point or idea (that has not be discussed) and reasons for choosing the idea.
• Each person comments in turn. e.g., Participants explain why they chose the same point (if they did) and/or make connections to the idea.

The rounds continue until all participants have discussed their points.

3. Whole group open discussion around question, such as:
• How does the information in the text support the work you are doing?
4. Debrief the Pick Three Protocol:
• How did the protocol help to expand your thinking and make connections related to the text?
• How did the protocol help you in your understanding of the text?

This revision and description by Ross Peterson-Veatch, Instructional Consulting, Indiana University Kelley School of Business, 2006.

Description

This activity works best when begun with an open-ended analytic question that asks for defining elements of something, or that has many answers and thereby provides many points of entry for deepening a conversation.

Ex. What is the purpose of discussion? Or, perhaps: What do you need to be able to contribute to discussions?

Preparation

Hang pieces of chart paper on a wall in the room so that small groups can gather around the paper. Hand out to every participant a “block” of post-it notes (perhaps 5-10 maximum).

Step 1

Ask the question and request that participants write one idea in response per post-it note. Instruct them to work silently on their own.

Step 2

Split into groups (of 4-8). In silence, put all post-it notes on the chart paper.

Step 3

Reminding participants to remain silent, have them organize ideas by “natural” categories. Directions might sound like this:

• “Which ideas go together? As long as you do not talk, feel free to move any post-it note to any place.
Move yours, and those of others, and feel free to do this. Do not be offended if someone moves yours to a place that you think it does not belong, just move it to where you think it does belong — but do this all in silence.”

Step 4

Once groups have settled on categories, have them place post-it notes on chart paper in neat columns. At this point, ask them to converse about the categories and come up with a name for each one.

Step 5

Have the groups pick a “spokesperson” to report their ideas to the larger group. Gather that data, and have an open discussion using questions such as the following to help participants make connections between each groups’s responses and categories:

1. What themes emerged? Were there any surprises?
2. What dimensions are missing from our “maps”? Again, any surprises?
3. How did this expand your knowledge or your notion of what the question at the beginning asked you to consider?

The Adolescent

The key to this guide is keeping the student at the centre Adolescents bring to the classroom a wide range of learning strengths, needs, interests, life experiences, cultures, languages and values, which influence how they learn. Throughout their adolescent years, students experience significant changes – physically, intellectually, emotionally, and socially. To engage each student as a learner, educators must affirm the personal and cultural identity of each student.
In the adolescent years, it becomes increasingly important to consider:

• the learner’s development, including the need for autonomy and self-efficacy
• the connection between literacy learning and the engagement and motivation of adolescents
• the increasing complexity of literacy demands in a variety of subject disciplines
• the broad range of literacy skills of students in grades 7-12 classrooms the influence of technology and of students’ out-of-school literacy practices
• the influence of technology and of students’ out-of-school literacy practices

Practice and Research

Connections: Adolescent Literacy

Adolescent Development

Adolescence is a period of rapid change. Physical change is the most obvious, but adolescents are also changing cognitively, emotionally and socially
They also deal with shifts in their identity as they move into new roles and responsibilities in their social groups, interests, and communities. It is also a developmental period marked by a number of important transitions and milestones (e.g., related to school, work, cultural or religious significance).
At the same time, students are living with a number of technological innovations previous generations never experienced. Adolescents may:

• be accustomed to receiving information quickly
• prefer multi-tasking
• prefer non-linear access to information
• engage in games, simulations, and role-playing
• engage in social interactions through a variety of technologies (Tapscott, 2008).

For adolescents, it is a time that may seem all at once exhilarating and stressful, while simultaneously for the adults in their lives, a puzzling and hopeful time. However, when learning is responsive to the developmental needs of students, and takes their lives into account, adolescent learners are more likely to experience success. As with any stage of development, educators play a key role in providing learning experiences with the learners’ development in mind. Educators need to take into consideration the diverse, individual student growth and development in order to be inclusive and responsive.

Physical Development

The physical changes of puberty affect every aspect of the lives of adolescents. Changing bodies may lead to changes in circles of friends, participation in activities such as sports, adults’ views of adolescents, and adolescents’ views of themselves.
During adolescence, students are experiencing:

• rapid growth resulting in relatively significant increases in both weight and height
• development of primary and secondary sex characteristics
• changes in body composition, notably the quantity and distribution of muscle and body fat
• changes in cardiovascular and muscular endurance, strength and flexibility (Steinberg, 2008).

Physical development may lead students to…

• be engaged in less physical activity
• experience an increase in strength, energy levels, stamina and sexual maturation at different times and rates
• feel fatigued at various times during the day
• have increased appetite and shifts in their eating habits
• a change in their sense of body image

Teachers tap into physical developmental needs by…

• providing opportunities for physical activity and social interaction
• creating safe and positive social and emotional climates for learning
• creating learning environments that allow students to move (e.g., four corners, value line), and be kinesthetic
• connecting body representations to ideas (e.g., tableau)

Sample Literacy Links

• Critical Literacy: prompt students to question, challenge and analyze media images of youth
• Metacognition: have students reflect on their learning in a variety of learning settings
• Voice and Identity: invite student input on the set-up of their learning environment

Cognitive Development

Adolescents are experiencing a brain growth spurt This, in part, explains a number of changes in learners cognitively. Adolescents develop intellectually so that they can think in ways that are more advanced and more efficient than when they were children (Steinberg, 2008). Adolescents’ intellectual and cognitive abilities are developed through practice, so instruction targeting these skills is critical during this period of brain growth

During adolescence, students are developing:

• the ability to think more about a variety of possibilities
• improved abstract thinking compared to their thinking as children
• the skills to think more about thinking (metacognition), and think more purposefully to advance their learning
• the capacity to engage in thinking that is more multidimensional, rather than limited to a single issue or perspective
• the ability to see issues and situations as relative, rather than absolute, and the realization that individuals can draw different conclusions from the same facts (Steinberg, 2008).

Cognitive  development  may  lead  students  to…

• want to find or see relevance in their learning
• want to play a role in designing their own learning experiences
• develop an increased ability to process and make connections
• want to explore creative expression in a supportive environment
• question and exhibit curiosity
• be immersed in the present rather than planning for the future or thinking thoroughly about consequences
• develop the ability to be more efficient at sorting out irrelevant information in order to focus on an idea or task

Teachers tap into cognitive developmental needs by…

• co-creating learning goals and success criteria and inviting student input into decisions related to their learning environment
• using inquiry or project-based processes that integrate, synthesize and apply content knowledge
• providing opportunities for creativity and choice
• allowing students to generate alternative solutions and explanations
• providing opportunities for students to organize abstract ideas
• modeling and guiding transferable strategies and skills
• guiding students to draw reasoned conclusions based on criteria
• providing opportunities for students to analyze a variety of perspectives and competing points of view
• fostering metacognitive awareness and reflection
• providing opportunities to apply thinking skills to solve real world problems
• facilitating the use of “out-of-school literacy practices” including technologies to support and document their learning

Sample Literacy Links

• Critical Literacy: invite students to analyze issues related to equity, power and social justice and invite them to take a critical stance
• Metacognition: develop opportunities for reflection and for students to act on their metacognitive thinking
• Questioning: provide opportunities for students to develop and pose their own questions
• Strategy: guide students to develop their own strategy as they engage in appropriate complex tasks

Emotional Development

Adolescent emotional development is closely connected to their social development and is also tied to their sense of identity.
Adolescents often feel emotions more intensely. Recent brain research indicates that the limbic system, the emotional centre of the brain, matures earlier than the frontal lobes, the part responsible for emotion control. So, adolescents are more likely to have strong emotional responses to situations and issues, and may respond in ways which are considered outside the norm (e.g., being overly dramatic). They may also focus on personal aspects of the emotion (e.g., my teacher hates me). “While adolescents have become more capable of experiencing emotions, their capacity for self-regulation and for
decision making lags behind. Learning to regulate their emotions is, therefore, initially quite difficult for adolescents” (Stepping Stones, 2012).

During adolescence, students are developing:

• abilities to accurately read facial cues and body language of others, and interpret these for information about others’ emotional state;
• emotional self-control;
• empathy for others;
• mature emotional responses (Yurgelun-Todd, 2004, Stepping Stones, 2012).

Emotional development may lead students to…

• experience new, intense and long lasting emotions
• need independence and to exercise self-assertion
• fear rejection, and experience feelings of uncertainty and inadequacy
• become more intrinsically motivated and increasingly want to pursue opportunities and goals for their own purposes and on their own terms

Teachers tap into emotional developmental needs by…

• teaching students how to work effectively and respectfully in diverse teams
• modeling and teaching positive communication strategies, conflict- resolution, decision- making, problem-solving, leadership
• co-creating norms of collaboration and classroom conduct
• establishing and maintaining clear classroom routines and structures
• providing learning experiences which involve students’ social network
• guiding students as they deal with stress
• providing opportunities for students to analyze a variety of perspectives

Sample Literacy Links

• Critical Literacy: provide opportunities for students to analyze a variety of perspectives and to imagine particular perspectives
• Metacognition: invite students to reflect on how their attitudes toward particular situations affect their learning
• Metacognition: help students develop a “growth mindset” to help them to see mistakes as opportunities for learning

Social Development

Adolescent social development is connected to all areas of development, particularly emotional development and it is also linked closely to identity. How students appear in the eyes of their peers matters a great deal. “Consequently, adolescence is an intensely social time, when the hunger for belonging, community, social status, and emotional closeness provide the context within which teens discover their identity” (Armstrong, 2006).
During adolescence, students are developing:

• a personal identity and sense of self
• a social identity
• a sense of independence and autonomy
• moral reasoning based on both personal and external factors
• strong relationships which are independent of family relationships (Armstrong, 2006).

Social development may lead students to..

• seek autonomy
• value their membership in certain social groups over other groups
• ‘test out’ identities and identity roles
• deal with the influence of peers and the desire for peer acceptance
• seek role models
• grapple with ambivalent feelings of independence from and dependence on parents/guardians
• face a wider range of decisions that may have long-term outcomes
• be less certain of their abilities
• and lack self-confidence in some situations (until later in adolescence)

Teachers tap into social developmental needs by…

• providing opportunities for students to interact with each other to attain personal and collaborative goals
• grouping and regrouping students for a variety of purposes to build confidence and competence in various social arrangements
• coaching students in taking responsibility, and guiding their self-regulation and self-management
• modeling and providing opportunities for decision-making, goal-setting, progress tracking, self and peer assessment
• providing and responding to descriptive feedback
• tapping into their interests, background, and values including home languages and lived experiences

Sample Literacy Links

• Metacognition: have students track, on a regular basis, their progress toward a goal
• Strategy: teach productive collaboration, active listening and speaking skills
• Voice & Identity: provide meaningful opportunities for students to draw on learning preferences, interests and backgrounds

 

 

• Connections: What connections do you draw between the text and your own life and learning?
• Challenge: What ideas, positions, or assumptions do you want to challenge or argue within the text?
• Concepts: What key concepts or ideas do you think are important and worth holding onto from the text?
• Changes: What changes in attitudes, thinking, or action are suggested by the text, either by you, or others?

Learning Environment

Educators are key to planning, designing and providing the environment and learning experiences which help adolescents in (or with) their development. Adolescents have a number of needs that support their development. These include:

• Affirmation: When learners feel a sense of affirmation, they feel listened to, they feel safe, accepted, and acknowledged.
• Challenge: When learners feel an appropriate sense of challenge they are engaged in learning that complements who they are. They are stretching their abilities, they are accountable, and they know they are accomplishing goals that are different than what they have achieved in the past.
• Contribution: When students feel they are making a contribution, they feel like they make a difference, they bring perspective, they are connected, and they help others succeed.
• Power and Autonomy: When learners have a sense of power and autonomy, they feel they can make choices, and they know what quality and success look like and they know how to get there.
• Purpose: When students feel a sense of purpose they understand what they need to do, they know they make a difference, they see significance in what they are doing, and they are absorbed in a process leading to a desired goal.

"Today’s teachers are called upon to work with colleagues to design learning environments that promote deeper engagement in learning as a reciprocal process. Learning can no longer be understood as a one-way exchange where ‘we teach, they learn.’ It is a reciprocal process that requires teachers to help students learn with understanding, and not simply acquire disconnected sets of facts and skills. Teachers with effective teaching practices also know how critical strong relationships are in educating students, building social cohesion, and producing minds that thirst for knowledge for a lifetime. They, along with administrators and other important adults, make school a socially, academically, and intellectually exciting and worthwhile place to be.”
Willms, Friesen & Milton, 2009

"Successful instruction for adolescents is intellectually demanding, connected to the students’ lives and the world, and socially supportive. It encourages risk-taking and celebrates and encourages difference.”
Think Literacy Success, 2003

Educators support student literacy learning by…

• establishing a classroom environment of trust, respect and cooperation where students feel safe and empowered to take risks, pose questions and seek answers of relevance and interest
• using assessment to gauge students’ needs, and determine next steps for learning and instruction
• using the gradual release model to scaffold instruction providing responsive instruction to students
  creating inclusive spaces and opportunities for collaboration and tapping into learning through social interactions in the classroom.

How to Use This Guide

This resource is intended to be flexible and allow for a number of entry points and connections for facilitating professional learning. The guide may be used in various contexts, such as:

• collaborative inquiry
• school improvement planning
• coaching and
• peer-to-peer collaboration.

Collaborative inquiry, an effective model for job-embedded professional learning, is a process used by teams of educators for professional learning to improve student achievement and engagement. Learning occurs during and between team meetings when educators share practice, examine student work and access opportunities to build their instructional skills and knowledge base. To be an effective job-embedded learning experience, collaborative inquiry must be facilitated, aligned with existing goals and initiatives, and supported by school and system leaders.

Subject-Specific Collaborative Inquiry Team

Educators, working in subject-specific collaborative inquiry teams and having identified a literacy and/or curriculum learning goal, may:

• use the components and student indicators to identify literacy learning to support curriculum learning goals
• contextualize the student indicators for a subject area
• use the corresponding teacher practices as starting points for planning instruction and for professional learning and inquiry
• refer to the Practice and Research Connections and Ministry Resources related to the components (Appendix A) to support professional learning.

Interdisciplinary Collaborative Inquiry Team

Educators, working in teams representing multiple subject areas and having identified a literacy learning goal based on an assessment and/or a School Improvement Plan, may:

• use the components and the student indicators to frame conversations about student literacy needs based on assessments
• use the corresponding teacher practices as starting points for planning instruction and for professional learning and inquiry
• refer to the Practice and Research Connections and Ministry Resources Related to the Components (Appendix D) to support professional learning.

School and System Improvement Planning Teams

Educators, working in teams focusing on improvement planning (e.g., School Improvement Plan for Student Achievement (SIPSA), Board Improvement Plan for Student Achievement (BIPSA), may:

• use the vision and goals for adolescent literacy as a starting point to frame school and/or district vision and goals for literacy learning
• use the components and student indicators as starting points to identify school or system literacy goals
• refer to the At a Glance chart that shows the goals, components, student indicators, and teacher practices to develop communication about literacy improvement plans
• refer to the School Effectiveness Framework Connections chart (Appendix A) to make links to the Framework.

Facilitators Working with Other Educators

Facilitators, working with other educators, may:

• use the components and student indicators to identify literacy learning needs of students
• use the Guiding Questions for each of the components to prompt professional dialogue aboutliteracy learning
• use the teacher practices as starting points for professional dialogue and learning
• refer to the Practice and Research Connections and Ministry Resources Related to theComponents (Appendix D) to support professional learning.

Coaches Working with Teachers

Coaches, working with classroom teachers, may:

• use the components and student indicators to identify literacy learning needs of students, including English Language Learners and students who may have individual Education Plans (IEPs)
• use the teacher practices to support a coaching cycle (i.e., assessing learning needs, co-planning, co-teaching, co-reflecting)
• use the Curriculum Connections chart (Appendix B) as a model for examining links between curriculum and literacy
• refer to the Learning Skills Connections chart (Appendix C) to make links between literacy and the learning skills
• refer to the Practice and Research Connections and Ministry Resources Related to the Components (Appendix D) to support professional learning.

 

pages 59-73 of the ALG

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Adolescent Literacy Guide

Components  of  Adolescent  Literacy

Embedded in the abilities to think, express, and reflect is a range of indicators, which form evidence of student learning and a basis for a comprehensive approach to literacy.
These literacy indicators are organized around five components:

• CRITICAL  LITERACY  refers to students critically analyzing and evaluating the meaning of text as it relates to issues of equity, power, and social justice to inform a critical stance, response and/or action.
• METACOGNITION refers to students taking active control over their thinking processes so that they understand themselves as learners, they understand a given task, and they understand a variety of strategies and how to use them in a variety of situations.
• QUESTIONING refers to students’ curiosity, exploration, and inquiry to evoke, expose and extend their thinking for the purpose of deepening understanding
• STRATEGY refers to students purposefully selecting and using techniques and processes in order to construct and communicate meaning
• VOICE AND IDENTITY refers to students’ decisions, choices and actions that advocate for their learning and make connections to their experiences, values, culture, and interests.

The Components

Although the components are defined separately, and are accompanied by a list of indicators, it is recognized that the components are interconnected (just as the abilities to Think, Express and Reflect are interconnected). For example, when students use metacognition, they are likely also tapping into questioning by asking themselves questions about their learning, and may also be connecting with strategy by thinking about their success in using a particular process or technique.

The  infographic  is intended to show the goals of literacy are to Think, Express and Reflect. It illustrates how students draw upon the interconnected components of critical literacy, metacognition, questioning, strategy, along with voice and identity as they think, express, and reflect.
Although the components overlap, teachers may want to highlight a component by providing explicit instruction as students develop these skills. As students become more proficient and independent with these components, it is also important to show them how the components are interconnected.

Each component includes a definition. Each definition points out the knowledge and skills students develop and use in their literacy learning.

Student  Indicators
Each component lists a set of indicators or evidence of literacy learning for students In essence, student indicators provide specific knowledge and skills students would demonstrate relating to the component and would help to deepen understanding in subject areas
This list is not meant to be exhaustive. Educators, on their own or in collaboration with colleagues, may contextualize these indicators for a subject area
There are links between these indicators and curriculum expectations in all subject areas. These connections may help when looking to incorporate them into learning goals Teachers can support students in understanding these indicators by helping students know how they connect to the learning in a course and support their literacy growth

Teacher Practices
Teachers support the development of the literacy indicators through explicit instruction. For each of the components, a list of teacher practices is provided as ways to support students in developing their literacy
This is a sampling of practices. Teachers, on their own or in collaboration with colleagues, may use this list to assess their own instruction, adapt the practices to make them more specific for their subject area, and/or add other practices which also support student literacy learning.

Guiding  Questions

For each component, there is a set of guiding questions which facilitators may use or adapt to prompt professional dialogue or for teachers to reflect on practice related to literacy learning.

Practice and Research Connections
This guide also contains a set of Practice and Research Connections information articles that are intended to provide more in-depth background, connecting research to practice for various topics related to adolescent literacy. There is a Practice and Research Connections article for each of the components and one on the adolescent development.

A Note About Texts
In this document, the term text is intended to be used in broad terms. Text refers to any form of communication that uses language and images to present information and ideas to an audience. This includes print and non-print media, verbal and non-verbal communication, visual, graphic, audio and digital works

Design a responsive literacy learning environment.

“Imagine the ideal learning environment for today’s learner. What would it look like? Think about how much the world has changed in the last three decades and how rapidly it will continue to change in the years to come. How do we ensure that the instruction we provide is responsive to the shifting demands of the 21st century?”

Educators and students are co-creators of a responsive literacy learning environment in the classroom and the school. Together they engage in inquiry, reflection, dialogue and the sharing of ideas in all subject areas across the day. An effective literacy learning environment is responsive to learners’ interests, preferences and strengths and provides opportunities for learners to express their thinking in many different ways.

Literacy learning thrives in an environment that …

• fosters positive attitudes and beliefs about learning and literacy development
• involves co-construction of a safe place for expressing opinions, questioning, taking risks and innovating and establishing agreed-upon ways of learning together so that every voice is heard
• ensures all learners see themselves – their interests, values, cultures and points of view – represented in the teaching and learning
• allows for student contributions in designing the physical space Literacy learning thrives in a program that …
• is developmentally appropriate, challenging and grounded in a culture of high expectations for all
• provides stimulating and engaging experiences that promote critical and creative thinking
• engages learners in learning opportunities involving real-world connections across a variety of fields, media, technologies and genres
• intentionally integrates effective assessment practices, with responsive instruction focused on student learning ensures learners have opportunities for ongoing reflection and collaboration that deepens understanding Literacy learning thrives in rich contexts that …
• provide access to a range of materials and technologies
• provide a variety of ways for learners to communicate, document and reflect upon learning, both virtually and face to face
• provide active areas for inquiry, investigation and wonder and quiet areas for thinking and exploring
• include a flexible range of learner groupings

Purpose of the Protocol

To provide a structure for discussing and making connections with a text.

Note – The words, sentences or ideas that a participant chooses are not as important as the discussion that develops from the section.

Groups of 3-4 participants.

1. Individually – Each participant reads the text silently and identifies words, passages, ideas, and/or images that stand out.
2. Continue in rounds until each participant takes a turn as the presenter.

On round consists of the presenter using up to 3 minutes to:
It Says: Read aloud the word, sentence, idea selected from the text.
I Say:Say what s/he already knows about the selection from her/his experiences, interpretations, or connections using specific examples (words, pictures, stories, etc.).
And So: What does the presenter conclude, think, judge or predict based on their selection? What does the selection mean for their work?

The group responds (for a maximum of 2 minutes) to what has been said. The time may need to be monitored during this part.

3. Follow the same pattern until all members of the group have had a chance to be the presenter and to discuss their selection.
4. Debrief the It Says, I Say, And So Protocol:
   • How did the protocol help your understanding of the text?
   • How did the protocol help your discussion about the text?

Upon examination of the Individual Student Report (ISR) from the EQAO data, Faraji discerns that the students in one of her schools struggled most with making inferences and making connections in their reading. She has been asked to support the teachers at the school in their instructional planning, to support student learning in these areas. How might you go about planning this with Faraji?

Suggestions

How might you use the ALERT Make Room For Inferring During Reading in your planning?

How might you use the ALERT Necessary for Some: How to Help Students who Struggle with Reading for your planning?

How might the Critical Literacy component fit with her inquiry? How might the student indicators and teachers practices listed with the component assist? What additional components might also assist? In what ways?

As Orad works with the mixed group of students in his OSSLC class, he notices their heavy reliance on him and on others to help them complete their tasks for their portfolio. He wonders if he might move his students from dependency to self-sufficiency and self-confidence in their learning output.

As a professional learning facilitator working with Orad, how might you use the Metacognitive component to assist him in helping his students?

What additional components might be of particular use for him to help his students in their literacy development?

Hitesh sees his students struggling with getting their ideas down in writing. Two of them have an IEP wherein their specific learning disability lies in written expression. He has provided them with opportunities to express their learning to him orally; but he would like to support their ability to express their ideas fully in their writing.

As a professional learning facilitator, how might you work with Hitesh and his students to help him support his students’ learning?

Suggestions:

How might the Questioning component fit to support these students in their written expression? Examining the students indicators and teacher practices for this components, how might you work with Hitesh to plan support for these students? What additional components might also help inform his planning?

Consider the Learning for All (2013) document. How might the principle of universal design apply in this situation? How can Hitesh structure his learning environment and teaching practices to support students in expressing their ideas?

Consider the options available to all teachers and students through OSAPAC. What suggestions might you have for Hitesh in his planning to meet the needs of his students?

Meghan wants to be able to introduce a variety of ways her students can collect and organize their ideas while they are completing research on their inquiry topics. She is familiar with the organizers from Think Literacy and has used them with good success with her students. However, with more students using their personal devices as part of their inquiry learning, Meghan would like to investigate additional ways they can use these powerful tools for their learning.

As a professional learning facilitator, how might you work with Meghan to help her support her students’ literacy learning?

Suggestions:

How might the Strategy component fit with her inquiry? How might the student indicators and teachers practices listed with the components assist? What additional components might also assist? In what ways?

Consider the Capacity Building resource Literacy for a Connected World (Sept 2015). How might the suggestions on Reading, Writing and Publishing (pages 3-4) assist you in your work with Meghan?

Silvetta is newly teaching the Careers course. She was given a variety of resources to use from past teachers to get her started. She tried following a lesson-plan guide that she was given, but noticed her students just weren’t engaged in the topics or the methodologies. She wants your help to revisit the curriculum and structure her class in a more inviting, engaging way for her students.

As a professional learning facilitator working with Silvetta, how might you use the Voice and Identity component to assist her?

What additional suggestions might you have from the other components for her to similarly consider?

Plan

Identify a literacy need

>A subject-specific team of science teachers acknowledges that students need to develop subject-specific vocabulary knowledge in order to understand science content. The team considers how literacy needs are directly or indirectly related to curriculum expectations and identifies an expectation: i.e., use appropriate terminology related to the exploration of matter, including, but not limited to: combustion, conductor, decomposition, lustrous, precipitate, reaction, and soluble (Science, Grade 9 Applied).