The Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test must be taken and passed by all secondary school students in order to graduate. Creating a “Literacy Collage” based on students' individual dreams and goals is an inclusive and creative lesson plan that incorporates all of the main writing tasks in a fun and inspirational way.
OSSLT Writing Tasks
Students have to complete four writing tasks on the test. In order to prepare the class, the instructor should teach each of the tasks individually. They are:
- A summary;
- A series of paragraphs expressing an opinion;
- A news report;
- An information paragraph
Students will be marked on the following criteria:
- Development of a main idea;
- Provision of supporting details;
- Organization and linking of ideas and information;
- Use of an appropriate tone for the purpose and the intended reader;
- Use of correct grammar, punctuation, and spelling
The Literacy Collage
The Beginning:
Start a class discussion on the importance of setting personal goals. Ask students to share their dreams and hopes for the future. While students are sharing, create a list of their ideas on the blackboard for reference. Ask questions that encourage higher order thinking skills. Use cause & effect scenarios to help students visualize the many paths to achieving their ambitions. Choose a goal and with the class's help, draw a graphic organizer that illustrates the path to the success. The graphic organizer can include diagrams, pictures, arrows, etc and should resemble a game board that clearly identifies all of the next steps (i.e. Graduate from High School, Attend College, Begin Training as Dental Hygienist, Work Part-time at a Dental Office, Achieve 80% in First Year, etc). Discuss the example graphic organizer and explain how to read them and how they help people depict and understand information quickly. Ask the class to create their own “Map to the Future” graphic organizers.
The Middle:
Once they have finished the maps, tell the class that they have just created the framework for their Literacy Collage. Explain that they will complete the remainder of the four writing tasks using the same theme.
The Summary:
Students will write a summary of their Maps to the Future. They should begin with the sentence “When I am an adult, I will be…”, and use the methods that they have chosen to achieve their goals as supporting sentences. Opinion Piece:
Students will write several paragraphs supporting an opinion. Topics should be directly correlated to goal setting, believing in one's self, not giving up, the importance of dreams, etc. News Report:
Students will write a fictional newspaper report about themselves and their achievements from the perspective of the futureInformation Paragraph:
Students will write an information paragraph about their dream career
The End:
Once the students have completed the final draft of each of the four writing tasks, they are ready to create their collages. Every student will glue their writing tasks to a sheet of Bristol board that has been cut to the size of the surface of a student desk. The collages should be decorated with images that portray their goals. Decorative materials can include photographs, clip art, favourite quotations, song lyrics, good advice, pictures of idols, etc. When the collages are complete they can be laminated and used as place mats on top of the student's desks; they are a great motivational tool and they also give students a chance to express themselves in a creative and positive manner.
