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Agenda

1. What is literacy?

2. How can you support your teen?

3. Where can you learn more about the OSSLT?

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What is literacy? Is this literacy?

This is the changing face of society and literacy. It’s a media-saturated, global village: we hear this society named: “the information age”, or a “knowledge-based economy.” Whatever its name we all know that more and more, digital technologies define the environments in which we communicate and do business. We are here… in the age where information is being transmitted instantly and we demand that…so the way we read and write is undergoing immense change.

*Emphasize the importance of teaching language

🡪for precision

🡪for access

. Activity: Ask participants to shout out if they know what each of the IM acronyms stands for. A mouse click will cause each to “fly in” individually.

IM Language:

LOL = laughing out loud

<3 = heart

^5 = high 5

P911 = parent coming into the room alert

2G2BT = too good to be true

MorF = male or female?

ASL = age, sex, location

PRON = pornography

CYO = see you online

TTYL = talk to you later

KPC = keeping parents clueless

CYE = check your email

Gc = good cover

Meh = whatever

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Is this Literacy?

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or this?

Recent research has revealed that students, in the span of a typical semester, will generate approximately 42 pages worth of work for all classes, whereas they will produce in excess of 500 pages in email and text messages.

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What is Literacy?

The ability to use language and images in rich and varied forms to read, write, listen, speak, view, represent, and think critically about ideas
It allows us to share information, to interact and to make meaning
It connects individuals to communities
It is essential for personal growth and active participation in a democratic society

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The vast amount of information being produced each moment is mind-boggling. In this Web 2.0 world, anyone can be an author, anyone can be published. How do we help our students make judgements about whether they can trust what they read online?

Questioning the text is a practice we can do with our teens. Ask questions like: What do I already know? What do I need to know? What is the main idea of the text?

How do I know if this is a reliable site or reliable information (spelling errors are a give-away, as are ghost links; follow some links to see where they go). What biases are evident? Who is the target audience? What is the author trying to get me to know? To Do? Whose voices are heard? Whose are silenced?

More than ever, reading skills that include THINKING about what is being read is crucial.

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How can you support literacy at home?

Be your teens’ G.U.I.D.E

G ive of yourself and your time

U nderstand their strengths and needs

I be involved in knowing what they value

D emand their best and establish limits

E be an example

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PISA REPORT

Students are never too old to benefit

from their parents’ interest in them.

PISA= Programme for International Student Assessment

•(PISA) answers these questions and more, through its surveys of 15-year-olds in the principal industrialised countries. Every three years, it assesses to what extent students near the end of compulsory education have acquired some of the knowledge and skills essential for full participation in society. (PISA) answers these questions and more, through its surveys of 15-year-olds in the principal industrialised countries. Every three years, it assesses to what extent students near the end of compulsory education have acquired some of the knowledge and skills essential for full participation in society.

Parents’ engagement with their 15-year-olds is strongly associated with better performance in PISA.

Results from PISA also show a strong association between some parent-child activities, when the children are 15, and students’ reading performance in PISA. For example, students whose parents discuss political or social issues with them either weekly or daily score 28 points higher, on average, than those whose parents discuss these issues less often or not at all. The performance advantage is largest in Italy – 42 score points – and smallest in the partner economy Macao-China – 14 score points. When socio-economic background is taken into account, the score point advantage drops, but remains important –16 score points – and is observed in all participating countries and economies,except Hungary. PISA findings also show that other parent-child activities,such as “discussing books, films or television programmes”, “discussing how well children are doing at school”, “eating main meals together around the table” and “spending time just talking with one’s children” are also associated with better student reading performance in school.

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How can you support literacy at home?

Keep it real!!!

model a love of reading

provide a print rich environment in the house (popular magazines, trade paperbacks, newspapers, comics motivational posters…)

connect reading material, both fiction and non-fiction, to what’s going on in the world

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Provide different formats of reading materials.(audio books, computerized reading…)
make reading aloud a natural part of family life by sharing articles from the paper or a letter or a poem
give teens an opportunity to choose their own books by giving them bookstore gift certificates and visiting local book stores
Involve your child in discussions about topics of current interest to the child and to the world in general.
Tell your child what you know and ask for his or her ideas.
Encourage your child to express the ideas clearly and to use precise language.
Let your child know that his thoughts are valuable and deserve to be expressed. Tell your child that the more we know about a topic, the easier it is to understand new information we read about it.
Ask your child to find and read an article from a newspaper, magazine or the internet on a topic you have discussed or a topic he or she is interested in.
Ask your child to think about and identify key ideas about the topic and also to consider what aspect of the topic especially interests him.

(OSSLT connection: reading informational and graphic materials for directly and indirectly stated information and ideas; making connections between own knowledge and experience and information and ideas in a reading selection).

Writing: Ask your child’s opinion on a topic and to give reasons to support his opinion. This will develop vocabulary and ability to provide supporting evidence for opinions.

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It has to have a purpose

Involve your child in discussions about topics of current interest. Tell your child to express the ideas clearly and to use precise language. Let your child know that his or her thoughts are valuable and deserve to be expressed. Tell your child that the more we know about a topic, the easier it is to understand new information we read about it.

(OSSLT connection: making connections b/w own knowledge and experience and information and ideas in a reading selection; writing a series of paragraphs expressing a supported opinion.

In conversation, ask your child to explain or summarize something he or she has read. This will help your child practise vocabulary, identify key ideas, organize information and analyze information. Encourage your child to make connections b/w the reading and his own opinions by asking:

Why is this important to know about?

How will it affect people I know?

What ca I learn about this information?

What questions do I want to have answered about?

OSSLT connection: reading informational and graphic materials for directly and indirectly state information and ideas; making connections b/w own knowledge and experience and information and ideas in a reading selection; writing a summary.

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You have the tools at home…

Newspapers
Magazines
Flyers
Brochures
Catalogues
Manuals

Games
Recipes
Maps
Letters
Computers

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When Reading, does your teen…

Have negative attitudes toward reading?

Lack the stamina to find a text or complete a text ?

Lack skills to make sense of the text?

Lack confidence?

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If...

…he/she struggles with constructing meaning?
Ask her to SAY SOMETHING after each sentence or paragraph:

make a prediction
ask a question
clarify something
make a comment
make a connection (discussion)

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if...

… he/she struggles with vocabulary ?

Ask her to use the context as a clue
Google Translate feature
Break down the word
Root word
Prefix
Suffix
Dictionaries (online and hard copy)

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… he/she struggles with language,

punctuation or sentence structure?

Ask her to skim, scan or chunk the text

Ask her to read the text aloud

… he/she struggles with identifying main

ideas and supporting details?

Ask her to create a thought web and link the ideas and see relationships among the ideas

if...

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Just read! 🕮�

…reading one comic book a week

=

100 000 words a year!!!

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Development of  world knowledge.”

(Moore, Beran, Birdyshaw and Rycik 1999)

Academic success

Achievement on standardized tests

Positive attitudes about reading

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How can you support literacy at home?

Help your teen plan a learning pathway

Help your teen manage time

Help your teen build study skills

Be your teen’s partner

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Graduation Requirement

All students who are working toward an Ontario Secondary School Diploma are required to write the OSSLT in Grade 10.
Students who have been eligible to write the OSSLT at least twice and have been unsuccessful at least once are eligible to fulfill the requirement through the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Course (OSSLC).
Successful completion of the OSSLT or OSSLC is a graduation requirement.

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Ontario Catholic Graduate Expectations

A discerning believer formed in

the Catholic Faith Community

An effective communicator
A reflective, creative and holistic thinker
A self-directed, responsible, lifelong learner
A collaborative contributor
A caring family member
A responsible citizen

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