Welcome to the Ontario Literacy Course.
Over the next 20 learning activities we'll explore how to improve our reading and writing skills. You'll read a variety of materials and practise the use of reading strategies. You’ll also learn how to plan and write different forms of texts, like information paragraphs, news reports, and summaries.
Don’t worry, though! This isn’t going to happen at once. Each learning activity is designed to help you build on your skills at a pace you can follow so that you can successfully complete the literacy expectations for this course and graduation.
With a good amount of effort and commitment, you'll be in a great position to successfully complete this course.
Note-taking
As you progress through the course, you will likely want to keep notes for organization and review. You can do so by keeping a paper notebook or digital notebook. You may consider using the following template called “Note Taking Template (Opens in new window)”.
Feel free to use the template or another format of your choosing. Note that your Notebook will be different than your course Journal, which you will learn more about later.
What do we read?
In this learning activity, you will be exploring an action you likely participate in every day: reading.
Reading takes place all the time. Often, we don’t even realize we’re doing it.
Maybe you don’t think of yourself as a reader because you don’t read novels. Many people who don’t read novels will claim they're not readers; however, there are many ways in which we read.
Survey
Let’s explore what types of texts you read and how often you do so. Take a few minutes to complete the following, "Personal reading survey".
Did the results of the class survey surprise you? If yes, why? If no, why not?
Join the discussion
Throughout this course, you will be participating in several discussions. These discussions may occur online in a written discussion forum or through a live discussion.
When participating in a discussion forum strive to apply the Discussion Forum Strategies and Best Practices (Opens in new window).
When participating in a live discussion, strive to apply the Live Discussion Strategies and Best Practices (Opens in new window).
Respond to each of the following questions. Be sure to include specific details in your responses.
- What are your favourite materials to read? Why do you enjoy these materials?
- What are your least favourite materials to read? Why do you not usually enjoy these materials?
- Respond to a peer’s answer by providing a comment or follow-up question.
Were you surprised at how often you read? Most people read a fair bit, but not everyone reads the same types of materials or texts. Which types of texts do you read most often? It makes sense that these will be the reading forms you're most familiar with. When you're familiar with the form of text you're reading, you have more strategies to help you interpret the information.
When you’re first introduced to a text, you ask yourself questions about what you are reading and you begin to make predictions about what the meaning of the text will be.
For example, when you examine a text you might ask, “What type of text is this?” or “Is this a novel or a textbook?”
That’s the form.
When you examine features a little more closely, you ask more specific questions, like “What is this about?”
That’s the overall idea: the main perspective or message the author intends to communicate.
Then you search for smaller clues.
Those are the details.
While we read, we respond to the parts that we do know and we ask questions about the parts that we don’t know.
Form
Let’s observe form.
Even if you’ve only ever flipped through a magazine, you know that the form of a magazine includes pictures, articles, and lots of advertising. These are what we call features.
Your online course is a form of reading too! Take a minute to explore this learning activity—what features do you notice? Once you have completed your exploration, compare your thoughts with the following suggested answers.
Some features in this learning activity include:
- a learning activity title
- three sections and their banners: Minds on, Action, Consolidation
- text
- images
- activity-based sections with icons, including Survey, Notebook, Join the Discussion, Portfolio, Journal, etc.
- reminders to “Take a Break” after completing some learning sections
- buttons like “Survey” and “Join the Discussion” that help me navigate to other locations in Ontario's VLE
If you were examining a novel cover, what features would you expect to notice in that form?
A novel cover is very similar to a graphic text. It combines text and images to communicate meaning. This differs from some text forms, like the pages within a novel itself, which generally use text exclusively. While a novel cover is a part of the book, it is a “form” of text that is different than the “form” it covers!
Press on each of the following links to read the different components of the novel cover form.
As you examine these features, think about how they contribute to the novel cover’s purpose.
Different occupations, different reading needs
People in certain occupations are required to read certain types of text.
Check out the following people talking about their occupations and the kinds of things they have to read. Think about the purpose of their reading. While you explore the recordings, record the form and purpose of reading for each person. There may be more than one form and purpose for each person.
Notebook
Use your notebook to jot down your responses to the questions along with each recording.
Meet Diane. Explore how Diane uses reading.
1. List all the things Diane reads. Respond in your notebook.
Meet Sarah. Sarah reads different things than Diane.
2. List all the things Sarah reads. What form do these things that Sarah reads often take? Respond in your notebook.
Meet Gabriel, who is also a reader. What they read is very different from Diane and Sarah.
3. How has Gabriel’s reading changed since they began this career? Respond in your notebook.
You may know someone like Leighton. Explore what Leighton has to say about how they read.
4. Why is reading an important part of Leighton's work? Respond in your notebook.
And last, but not least, check out Sue telling you their story.
5. What does Sue need to read daily for their business to be successful? Respond in your notebook.
Notebook
In your notebook, write which of these occupations could do away with reading? Then compare your response with the suggested answer.
None!
Reading happens in every occupation. What you read and how well you understand it depends on your ability to recognize the following:
- form and purpose
- overall idea
- details
Take a break!
Awesome work so far with examining reading forms! In the next part of the learning activity, you will be setting goals and learning about some ongoing activities in the course. Now is a great time to take a break until then.
Setting goals
Now that you’ve had a chance to explore what other people read in their daily lives, stop and think about all the ways that you read, from morning to night. One of the requirements of this course is that you create a reading goal and monitor your progress toward achieving it.
Your general goal should be to improve your reading and writing skills so that you can be successful in this course and in life. Think about making your goal S.M.A.R.T.
What is a SMART goal? It’s one that is Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound. Explore the following infographic and example to learn more.
Let’s say you wanted to learn to drive a car. Here is how you might make this a S.M.A.R.T goal:
My specific goal is to learn how to drive a car within the next four months.
My goal is measurable because after having taken 24 driving lessons over four months, I will be able to tell whether I can drive a car or not.
My goal is attainable because, after 24 driving lessons over four months, I should be able to learn how to drive.
My goal is realistic because, with lessons, I should be able to learn how to drive within four months.
My goal is time-bound, because I have given myself four months within which to achieve my goal.
Setting my goal
Now it’s time to set your S.M.A.R.T. reading goal for the course. Complete the following “S.M.A.R.T. goal sheet (Opens in new window).” Fill in the blanks and save it to your computer. You’ll refer to it later in the course.
Now that you have mapped out your reading goal, think about how you can start working towards achieving it.
- You might need to find a quiet place to work.
- You might need to find some reading materials that would be interesting for you.
Libraries have so much more to offer these days and it might be worth a trip. Many libraries have online materials, too, so you could browse through them without even needing to leave your house!
Don’t wait.
Get started now!
Assessment Opportunity
As you progress through this course, you will be working on three ongoing assessment pieces. These materials will be submitted at the end of the course. Learn more about these items by exploring the following tabs.
Whenever you encounter the Journal icon, it’s time to complete a journal activity.
Throughout this course, you’ll be keeping a journal where you’ll assess and reflect on your learning. This journal can be created as a file on your computer that clearly labels each journal activity or a folder that includes individual files for each journal entry.
Please be sure to include a date for each journal entry. Press the "Journal Activity Template (Opens in new window)" to access this template document.
Note that your teacher may add, remove, or substitute journal activities.
Whenever you encounter the Portfolio icon, it’s time to prepare a portfolio item.
Your portfolio will be a space for you to save your reading and writing tasks, receive feedback, and revise your work. To prepare a portfolio item, complete the following tasks:
- Read the task instructions carefully.
- Complete the task.
- Save the task to your Ontario's VLE Portfolio tool.
- Whenever you add or change work in your portfolio, keep track of changes in the following "Literacy Portfolio Inventory (Opens in new window)". Save a copy of the document to your computer; you will submit it at the end of the course. In this document, you will keep a track of the date you completed each portfolio item and log it as either a working, revised, or polished draft.
- Throughout the course, both you and your teacher will be able to access your portfolio. Your teacher may provide you with feedback comments on certain pieces throughout the course in this space.
- Your completed portfolio will be assessed at the end of the course.
Note that your teacher may add, remove, or substitute some of the portfolio items.
Throughout the course, you will be completing 11 readings independently. In addition to reading these texts, you will also be responding to them by answering questions and logging when, why, and how you engaged with the material. Further instructions can be found in the following ‘Independent Reading Package (Opens in new window)’.
It is important to read and complete the activities in the package throughout the course. As these are independent readings, you will need to make a plan or schedule for completing the material before Learning Activity 4.5.
In the following sections, you’ll be completing your first journal and portfolio items. Now is also a great time to get started on your independent reading!
Journal activity
Let’s begin with your journal activity. Write a paragraph that includes the following:
- what you’ve learned so far
- your reading goal
Press the following tab if you would like to access some guiding questions. Choose one or two prompts to guide your response.
- Which items do you read most often? Why?
- Which items do you never read? Why?
- How often do you read?
- Were you surprised at all the different things that you read?
- Were you surprised at how often you read?
- Were there any items that you don’t mind reading but you don’t read very often?
- Which area of your reading would you like to improve?
- Did you include something from your personal reading inventory results as a goal?
- Do you observe the connection between your reading habits and your needs in the future?
- Where are you when you read? At home, school, or work?
Once you have completed your work, save it to your journal folder/document and call it “Journal Activity 1.1 - Paragraph on learning”.
Take a break!
Great job. You’ve set a goal and set up your journal. In the next section, you’ll learn about your portfolio and transferable skills. You may wish to pause and come back to this learning activity after a break.
Portfolio
In this learning activity, you learned about what is involved when you read. Go online and search for quotes about reading. Read through the different quotes, and then choose one.
Write a paragraph in response to the quote you chose. Pretend that the person who said it will read your response. Tell them whether you feel the same way about reading or not. Explain your reasons.
Note: You must save the URL and include it with your work.
For future reference, save your work in your Portfolio and call the file "Portfolio Item 1.1 - Quotes about reading" or something similar.
Conclusion
Great work! In this learning activity, you explored forms and purposes of reading and were introduced to goal-setting strategies and potential culminating assessments, like your journal activities, portfolio, and independent reading. In the next learning activity, you will continue your examination of reading and focus on comprehension strategies.
Connecting to transferable skills
Recently, Ontario worked with other provinces in Canada to outline a set of competencies that are requirements to thrive. Ontario then developed its transferable skills framework as a set of skills for students to develop over time. These competencies are ones that are important to have in order to be successful in today’s world.
Read through the framework and the student look-fors (Opens in new window). Copy this document into your notes - you'll refer to it in each unit.
Note the indicators that you think you will develop in this course. At the end of the course you will revisit these skills to see which ones you actually developed and if your original predictions were correct.
As you continue through this unit and the rest of the course, keep your notebook updated and be mindful of opportunities to apply and develop transferable skills.