Learning Strategies 1 - Grade 9

Transcription

1 Learning Strategies 1 - Grade 9 Learning Skills Identify and use a variety of literacy skills and strategies to improve reading, writing, and oral communication in everyday contexts. Identify and use numeracy skills and strategies to improve practical application of mathematics in everyday contexts. Demonstrate an understanding of learning skills and strategies required for success in school. Developing Literacy Skills and Strategies Identify and use a variety of reading skills and strategies to improve understanding of texts (e.g., identifying purpose, applying prior knowledge, skimming and scanning, highlighting key words, using text features to find information). Identify and use oral communication skills to support reading, writing, and positive interaction with others (e.g., asking questions to clarify meaning, using a think/pair/share strategy in problem solving, brainstorming to generate ideas, making oral presentations of group work). Students are able to develop and improve upon literacy skills such as reading, and skimming and scanning while navigating through the different occupation, school, and apprenticeship profiles, and interviews with real people in the workforce included in Career Cruising. Several of the Classroom Activities require students to prepare oral or written presentations. The Career Fair Project, for example, requires students to use Career Cruising to do research on careers and to prepare presentations. In this project, students must navigate Career Cruising to gather information for their presentation with a group of their peers. Developing Numeracy Skills and Strategies Describe how mathematics is applied in everyday situations (e.g. making financial transactions, budgeting, constructing scheduling.

2 The informational interviews included in each of the occupation profiles within Career Cruising give students a glimpse into a working person s typical day. Each interviewee discusses their daily tasks which, when required, includes making financial transactions and budgeting. Developing Learning Skills and Strategies Select and use strategies to improve performance in school (e.g., taking notes, using an agenda daily, regularly completing homework, using memory strategies). Identify school and community resources (e.g., library, the Internet, tutors, guidance office, school personnel, community agencies) and explain how they can be used to support learning needs. Demonstrate effective use of technology (e.g., CD-ROMs, the Internet, word processors) to enhance research, learning, and presentation skills. Career Cruising is a web-based career exploration and portfolio tool that can be used to research, organize, and store career and education and training information in an electronic format. Components such as Search by School Subject and the list of Suggested High School Subjects provided for each occupation profile help students make the connections between the subjects they are taking in school and their functions in the workplace. Making this connection as well as creating a 4-year Education Plan in the Portfolio Tool help students to set and achieve a clear education and career goal and will improve their performance in school. The Other Resources sections provides contact information and web links that enables students to do further research and identify community resources and develop information technology skills. These activities will encourage students to use the Internet as a valuable source of information. Each of the Classroom Activities requires students to demonstrate an effective use of technology by using the Internet. The Career Clusters Research Project enhances research and learning skills while students learn about different fields of work. Activities such as School Subjects & Careers, and Using School Subjects in the Workplace help students understand the connections between school and the workplace. Personal Knowledge and Management Skills

3 Apply knowledge of personal skills and learning strengths to develop strategies for success in secondary school. Identify and describe personal-management skills required for success, and explain their use to help maximize learning. Personal Knowledge and Learning Create a personal profile of competencies and interests, and explain how these affect attitudes towards learning. Identify learning styles, personal qualities, and learning challenges by analyzing past experiences, both successful and unsuccessful. Each student is able to create their own portfolio within Career Cruising which is accessible from anywhere with access to the Internet. Students will be able to access and update the same portfolio each year they attend an Ontario school. The Career Cruising Portfolio Tool can be used to save a student s interest-based assessment results, occupations and career pathways or clusters that interest them, extracurricular activities, and skills and abilities. They also have the ability to include their own thoughts about each of these interests and skills. Xyting Insight, an optional feature included in the Career Cruising Portfolio Tool, provides a student with extensive feedback on his or her personality, strengths, learning style, preferred tasks, and working conditions. Many classroom activities and worksheets guide students through the assessment process and have them reflect upon the results, including Using Career Matchmaker, Your Career Ideas & Career Matchmaker, Using Career Selector, People, Information and Things, Independent Research Projects, Career Portfolio Activities, and Ontario's Annual Education Plan & Career Cruising. Personal Management and Learning Produce an action plan for improving personal-management skills that identifies personal strengths, challenges and steps for improvement.

4 Xyting Insight can be used along with other sections of the portfolio such as Work Experience, Volunteer Experience, Career and Life Goals, and Plans and Preparations to reflect upon past experiences, set goals, and make plans for improvement. Interpersonal Knowledge and Skills Identify and describe the knowledge and skills necessary for successful interpersonal relations and teamwork. Understanding Interpersonal Knowledge and Skills Identify and describe positive teamwork skills (e.g., sharing ideas, managing tasks, offering constructive criticism, using conflict-resolution strategies) used in different learning environments. Describe how interpersonal and teamwork skills can promote achievement of individual learning goals. Xyting Insight, the optional personality assessment tool, gives students extensive feedback on their personality and interpersonal strengths and weaknesses, as well as suggestions for improvement. The Career Fair Project helps students learn how to work effectively in teams or groups using positive teamwork skills. Students must prepare a presentation on a particular career cluster with a group of classmates. In the Career Interview Project students must research an occupation and then use interpersonal skills to conduct an informal interview with a member of their community who works in the occupation they have researched. Exploration of Opportunities

5 Apply knowledge of school, work, and community involvement opportunities to develop a personal learning plan. Demonstrate an understanding of school and community resources and how these can be utilized to support learning needs. Develop a portfolio of documents pertaining to self-assessment, research, and career exploration that are necessary for planning a pathway for secondary school success. Making Connections Describe how academic studies, volunteer activities, part-time employment, and participation in school activities can contribute to the development and enhancement of employability skills. Identify the employability skills being developed through school studies. Create a learning plan that is based on previously identified learning strengths, challenges, needs, goals, and strategies for success in secondary school. The Career Cruising Portfolio Tool is a filing cabinet for all career and education planning ideas and accomplishments a student has accumulated throughout his or her education. Throughout the career exploration and research process students can bookmark the occupations that interest them in their portfolio. They are also able to record any career preparation such as preferred career cluster choices, career planning activities, and any short term or long-term goals. Extracurricular activities, skills and abilities, work experiences, and volunteer experiences can also be recorded along with descriptions and comments such as how their learning process has been enhanced as a result of participating in these activities. My Skills is a self-assessment which allows students to compare their own skill level with the core skills required and any other desirable skills for each occupation profiled. This assessment allows students to identify the employability skills they have developed in school. The Career Portfolio Activities takes students through the process of creating their portfolio in order to begin their personal learning plan. Discovering Your Work Skills and Using My Skills are activities that help students identify their employability skills. Learning Through the Community Identify and describe individuals or programs that can assist with specific learning needs.

6 Explain how individual learning can be enhanced through community-based learning experiences. Information within each occupation profile such as Education, Career Path, Other Resources, and the information interviews help students understand opportunities for learning in all stages of life and helps them identify programs that can assist with their specific learning needs. Any community-based learning experiences students participate in can be recorded into the Volunteer Experience section of their portfolio where they can include a description and comments about how their individual learning has been enhanced as a result of these experiences. The Exploring Apprenticeship Training activity has students investigate the apprenticeship program across Canada and introduces students to apprenticeships that may be available in their community. Exploring Careers Explain the organization and graduation requirements of the secondary school program, including types of courses and program pathways and the possible destinations for which they are appropriate. Describe opportunities for learning in all stages of life and in various contexts (e.g., evening courses, on-the-job training, workshops, and presentations by guest speakers). Identify, on the basis of research, selected occupations or fields of work most suited based on a personal profile. Organize relevant documents (e.g., learning plan, personal profile, career research, action plan) into a portfolio and use them to select an appropriate pathway for secondary school studies. The Education Plan section of the portfolio allows students to map out their secondary school career by choosing the courses they plan to take in subsequent years and recording the marks they receive once they have taken these courses. Teachers and counsellors are able to add course information for their students to choose from through Career Cruising s administrative tools.

7 Information within each occupational profile such as Education, Career Path, Other Resources, and the information interviews help students understand opportunities for learning in all stages of life. Career Matchmaker is an interest-based assessment that suggests 40 occupations as well as 2 career clusters that would be suitable for the student based on his or her likes and dislikes. Students are able to save assessment results such as those of Career Matchmaker to their portfolio. By saving these assessments a student is able to go back to these results at any time to do further research or continue with the assessment. Students are also able to save the results of assessments they have taken independently of Career Cruising. Throughout the career exploration and research process students can bookmark the occupations that interest them in their portfolio. They are able to record any career preparation such as preferred career cluster choices, career planning activities, and any short term or long-term goals. Each student also has 10 MB of space to upload any other files pertaining to career and education planning such as pictures from a work, volunteer, or co-op experience, a final draft of a resume or cover letter, or a copy of an award or certificate received. Extracurricular activities, skills and abilities, work experiences, and volunteer experiences can also be recorded along with descriptions and comments such as how their learning process has been enhanced as a result of participating in these activities. Everything recorded in the Portfolio Tool can be accessed at anytime to be reviewed and updated. The Career Portfolio Activities will assist students in organizing their career exploration assessment results, plans and preparations, and other documents into their Career Cruising portfolio. Teachers and counsellors are able to set standards, view, and manage their students portfolio work through Career Cruising s administrative tools.