Grade 8 - Communicate Ideas and Information (Improving Communications)

PRESCRIBED LEARNING OUTCOMES

It is expected that students will:

• appraise and make suggestions for the revision of their own and others' presentations using predetermined and student-developed criteria
• revise and edit their work to improve content, organization, and effect to best suit their audience and purpose
• adjust their form, style, and language for specific audiences and purposes
• practise, assess, and offer feedback on oral presentations - including informal speeches and debates - focussing on such features as the inclusion of appropriate introductions and conclusions, eye contact, and pacing

To view the prescribed learning outcomes for Communicate Ideas and Information (Improving Communications) in other grades click on an icon below.

SUGGESTED INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES

• Introduce students to the language of effective feedback. Provide them with lead-ins such as:
  • I thought ______ was effective.
  • I wonder ______.
  • Can you clarify ______.
  • I'm not sure what you mean by ______.
  • You might want to ______.
  In groups, have students practise praising, questioning, and polishing while editing each other's work.
• Demonstrate the role of non-verbal cues (e.g., tone of voice, gestures, eye contact) and the importance of these cues in communicating by saying "I love you" sarcastically, doubtfully, angrily, happily, and so on. Have students note the body language and the message conveyed in each example.
• Set up stations around the room, each with a different editing focus (e.g., vocabulary, punctuation, sentence variety). Provide resources and activities at each station that relate to each focus. Direct students to the stations dealing with the particular skills they need based on an assessment of their assignments. The stations can also be used for peer editing: students who want their work edited for a particular focus can go to the appropriate station to work with others.
• Ask groups of students to dramatize short stories, concentrating on the use of dialogue to achieve the authors' purposes. Have each group present its dramatization to another group to obtain feedback. Suggest that the dramatists use the information gained to refine their dialogues and then have them present their dramas to the class.

SUGGESTED ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES

• To formulate criteria to guide students' appraisal of their own and others' writing, have them compare several examples of proficient and flawed writing from published sources, as well as student writing from other classes. Following discussion, have pairs of students develop guides for editing and revising.
• Have students individually review collections of their written work to identify three characteristic strengths and two common problems. Have them summarize their assessments as charts, using such headings as: "Feature," "Strength or Problem?," "Examples," "Strategies for Using/Improving." Students can keep the charts in their notebooks or portfolios and use the results of their analyses to guide their choices when they work at different editing stations.
• When students are preparing and practising oral reports, dramas, or other presentations, require that each student or group has opportunities to give and receive feedback from at least two others. Ask students to create their own feedback sheets, focussing on the areas in which they particularly want advice and suggestions. A simple feedback sheet might be developed around the following prompts:
  • Two things I'd like you to notice about my work (performance) are: __________.
  • I'd like to know what you think about the way I __________.
  • You could help me by offering advice or suggestions about __________.

RECOMMENDED LEARNING RESOURCES

• The Art of Teaching Writing
• The Little, Brown Handbook
• Speaking for Success
• Teaching the Skills
• Writing for Results
• Writing Your Best Picture Book Ever
• You Be The Reporter

• MultiSource

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