Some New Resources to Share!

This semester, I am teaching a new course that I have never taught before. While this can at times be daunting, it is also a great opportunity to find new resources and collaborate with other teachers. One of the resources I found useful and will be using with my grade 9’s is from the Outta Ray’s Head website www.rayser.ca . I had not previously come across this website, but it offers a wide range of resources compiled by a retired OCT teacher. The lesson plans are organized into different categories including writing, poetry, library, and literature. I like this site because all of the resources are available free of charge and without a subscription, and also because it is largely based on Ontario curriculum.

One of the resources I found on his site is a group writing task used to introduce opinion writing. The link to the activity is here: http://www.rayser.ca/paradev.txt In groups, students work together to develop an opinion based on a question provided by the teacher, for example, “Should students who have part time jobs be allowed to get their driving permit early?”. Students then need to come up with an opinion as a group, and support it using three different points. They write this together on chart paper and present it to their peers.

I like this activity because of the group dynamic, which allows students to work together to brainstorm ideas, and the opportunity to work on their collaboration, oral communication, and paragraph structure. It is also a way to get students writing that is less intimidating than first attempting individually.

Another resource I found is available on the website www.readwritethink.com I like this website because it offers lots of language lesson plans are resources that you can search by filtering the grade, topic, or type of resource. I found a really creative lesson plan on the site here: http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/heart-using-haiku-identify-31113.html?tab=4#tabs that involves students creating a haiku that expresses the thesis of their formal essay as a way of revising and clearly expressing their argument. I thought this was a very creative and unique way for students to hone in on what their essay is about, and is an opportunity for them to improve the conciseness of their writing, something that a lot of my students struggle with. This lesson could be modified to be a short activity as part of editing, or an extended lesson that delves deeper into haikus. I also appreciate this activity because I find it difficult to include an entire unit devoted to poetry, but this is a relevant way to incorporate it into another unit.

I am definitely going to try it with my grade 10s who are beginning their essays this week!