Grade 9 - Comprehend and Respond (Strategies and Skills)

PRESCRIBED LEARNING OUTCOMES

It is expected that students will:

• describe and assess the strategies they use before, during, and after reading, viewing, and listening for various purposes
• describe what they already know about, and previous experiences they have had with, specific topics
• use a wide range of resources as aids to comprehension
• use efficient note-making and note-taking strategies
• evaluate the effectiveness of literary techniques including figurative language
• identify examples of the use of stock or stereotypical characters

To view the prescribed learning outcomes for Comprehend and Respond (Strategies and Skills) in other grades click on an icon below.

SUGGESTED INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES

• Have each student choose a manual or other technical document related to an area of interest and identify three or four specific comprehension challenges it presents. Ask students to explain the reading strategies they used to deal with these challenges.
• Give students a list of poetic devices and have them work in groups to collect examples of one of the devices from a variety of genres. Have each group develop a poster that includes the devices; quotations or poems that use the devices; and pictures, collages, or symbols that represent the devices. Have the groups select their favourite quotations or devices and use elements of the posters for T-shirt designs.
• Define stock, flat, round,  and stereotypical  characters. Ask students to identify examples of each in short stories, novels, movies, and TV shows and develop a list of frequently depicted characters (e.g., the wicked stepmother, the brave and handsome hero, the helpless young woman, the wise older man or woman, the side-kick). Ask students to also identify the genres of literature in which these characters appear.

SUGGESTED ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES

• After students have developed posters related to literary devices and figurative language, ask them to review and assess what they have learned by discussing answers to questions such as the following in small groups and then reporting their findings to the class.
  • Which literary devices or techniques are most commonly used in everyday speech? What purpose or function do they serve? How does their use in conversation compare to the way they are used in literary selections?
  • Which literary devices are most difficult for you to understand and deal with when you are reading independently? Why? What are some ways of dealing with techniques or language you don't easily understand?
  • Is it more difficult to deal with figurative language in poetry, stories, information, or speech? Explain why. What different strategies or approaches are helpful in different situations?
  • What are some of the ways that filmmakers create visual metaphors or other effects comparable to literary devices? Which strategies or approaches are helpful in different situations?
• To check on students' abilities to anticipate meaning, provide opportunities for them to make and discuss predictions about new reading, viewing, or listening materials; then check on their accuracy. As they deal with oral or video materials, pause and ask them to write down predictions at regular intervals and then write or present brief summaries about how their predictions affected the way they understood and remembered the material.

RECOMMENDED LEARNING RESOURCES

• The Issues Collection
• Mini Anthologies - Grade 9/10
• The Pigman & Me
• Stories from Asia
• Touching all the Bases
• What A Writer Needs

• MultiSource

• In Perspective

Previous Organizer Next Organizer

  BC Ministry of Education Home Page