Grade 9 - Communicate Ideas and Information (Composing and Creating)

This sub-organizer contains the following sections:
Prescribed Learning Outcomes
Suggested Instructional Strategies
Suggested Assessment Strategies
Recommended Learning Resources

PRESCRIBED LEARNING OUTCOMES

It is expected that students will employ a variety of effective processes and strategies, including the use of electronic technology, to generate, gather, and organize information and ideas.

It is expected that students will:

develop focussed inquiry questions related to concrete or personal topics for specific audiences and purposes
locate, access, and select appropriate information from a variety of resources (including technological sources)
analyse the audience and purpose of their writing to make decisions about content and format
use a variety of planning tools and strategies to focus and organize communications for various purposes and audiences
apply various strategies to generate and shape ideas

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

SUGGESTED INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES

To develop their confidence in expressing ideas, students need opportunities to experiment with various techniques to get their ideas flowing.

Have students each identify a significant event in their lives that was important to them. Ask them to brainstorm everything that comes to mind about these events. Challenge them to make sketches of some of their memories of the events and write captions for the sketches. Then, before they begin to compose written descriptions of these events, have students describe their events to partners. After students have completed their work, ask them to describe what helped them get their ideas flowing.
Review methods for organizing information, such as using compare-and-contrast charts, webbing, categorizing, and outlining. Explain how the way information is organized should relate to the final product and its purpose, and then give students opportunities to practise organizational strategies. For example, ask them to organize the information they have gathered to create persuasive speeches.
Have each student choose an issue, list what he or she knows and wants to learn about it, and then develop a research report, using at least two different sources of information (e.g., electronic encyclopedia and reference books). After the reports are written, ask each student to compare the format and depth of the two sources used and recommend one, giving reasons for the choice.
Have each student choose a product or service of interest to research in the library with the intention of developing an advertising brochure directed at a specific audience. Following a review of note-taking skills, have students take notes and assemble the relevant information. Invite them to share their work with partners who are to make suggestions for improving clarity.

SUGGESTED ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES

Individual or group conferences, learning logs, project notes and records, self-assessments, and peer analyses can provide evidence of students' composing and creating skills. Students benefit from opportunities to think and talk about the choices they are making as they work; their comments offer insights into the nature and effectiveness of the processes they have developed.

Collaborate with students to develop criteria they can use while developing persuasive speeches. Criteria might focus on the ability to:
- define the issue and state the purpose of the speech
- analyse the interests, prior knowledge, and probable viewpoint of the audience
- identify the kind of background information needed
- generate a list of key questions about the issue to guide research and preparation
- select appropriate sources of information and efficient means of accessing them
- record relevant and detailed information in a usable form
Assess and comment on students' preparation in terms of feasibility, potential effectiveness, thoroughness, detail, and consistency with the purpose.
Provide frequent opportunities for students to review and assess the composing and creating processes they have used over a period of time. (This may be part of a portfolio review.) Ask questions such as:
- Where do you get your best ideas for writing or speaking assignments?
- How do you make decisions about the format you will use to convey your ideas about a particular topic?
- Which planning strategies or tools seem to work best for you? What makes them effective? Are there some that you find difficult or seem useless?
- What kinds of notes, charts, or outlines do you usually use? Do you always use the same format?