Exploring Resources: Oral Communication Strategies for Cross-Curriculum Applications

As a child, it is very common to learn how to speak before learning how to read and write. How excited do new parents get when their little baby speaks their first word? However, a few years later - when the child gets to school - a high emphasis is placed on learning the new skills of reading and writing. We can’t undervalue the importance of teaching oral communication strategies and skills to our students just because speaking seems natural. We should try to find time for explicit oral communication strategy instruction, but also incorporate oral communication activities in cross-curricular settings.

How can we incorporate oral communication strategies throughout the day in our classroom?

The resource I’ll be exploring today is an Ontario Ministry of Education resource called “Oral Communication, Think Literacy Cross-Curricular Approaches, Grade 7-12”. My focus is on intermediate level students, as I am in grade 7 classrooms. What I hope you keep in mind is that many activities or strategies can be simplified for uses in younger (or older!) grades.

Pair Work

Pair work is an effective way to get students accustomed to oral communication in a comfortable and small setting.

Think/Pair/Share is a common strategy that can be used in any lesson. Students are presented with a problem or issue and must turn to their partner to discuss. Educators are reminded to review skills needed to successfully participate such as listening, asking for clarification and respecting all points of view.

Gentile, J. (2015) Think-Pair-Share. Online Illustration. Retrieved from http://bit.ly/1QDQnCW

Many educators like to us the Think/Pair/Share strategy in their “Minds On” section of the lesson plan. This strategy can be used in any subject/curriculum to set the stage for learning and get students thinking critically about the subject they are about to study.

As an alternative to the Oral Strategies document, ReadWriteThink.org has a strategy guide that you could use for extra detail about using Think/Pair/Share. I would also suggest looking at Think/Pair/Share in action with a video from Reading Rockets.

Small Group Discussions

There are many small group discussion activities and strategies, but I will highlight my two favourite. It is important to model success criteria for these strategies/activities to ensure their success.

Group Roles is a common group strategy that involves giving each student a very specific role to carry out therefore creating a well-rounded group discussion.

Often this strategy is carried out with “reciprocal reading” as demonstrated here, but we can actually use it effectively for group discussions in any subject.  Ashley Azzopardi has a great blog post on effective group work. In this post she describes an example of group roles. This is definitely important to check out!

Jigsaw is an awesome complex group discussion activity. It requires students to depend on their group members to learn. There are “home groups” of 3-5 students and expert groups that consist of one member from each of the home groups. The expert groups work together and then the students go back and share their findings with the home group.  This cooperative learning strategy is also a great example of differentiated instruction and universal design for learning. There is lots of information available elsewhere, but as an extra resource to the “Think Literacy: Oral Communication” document head over to Jigsaw.org.

Chong, J (2014). During Reading Strategies: Jigsaw/Patchwork Groups. Reading, Writing and Technology. Retrieved from http://bit.ly/1PVqlcF

The following is a video from Reading Rockets on the jigsaw strategy. Note how they are utilizing the jigsaw strategy to read and connect to a science text. This is a perfect example of oral communication in a cross-curricular setting. These students are very young, but this strategy can easily be used for grade 7 classes as well. The jigsaw strategy in science also can target expectation reading and writing strands from the Ontario language curriculum.

Reading Rockets (2012). Jigsaw. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtm5_w6JthA

Whole-class Discussions

There are many useful whole-class discussions in the “Think Literacy: Oral Communication” document so please check them all out! I will only highlight one here.

Triangle Debate is a whole-class debate that is informal. It makes use of a graphic organizer and prepares students to argue their viewpoints respectfully and think critically about others’ ideas. Students are split into three groups:
- Group 1 argues for the issue,
- Group 2 argues against the issue and,
- Group 3 evaluates the responses through questions and comments.

As with any debating strategy it is imperative to review the success criteria. The “Think Literacy: Oral Communication” document has the information to help you do this.

Debate can be used for any subject – but specifically works well with science and health type questions. The debate should also be followed up with the reflection cards so students can think critically about their strengths and weaknesses. Another example of an oral communication reflection sheet can be found on ReadWriteThink.com. I think this strategy is an excellent way to formatively evaluate your students’ abilities to communicate and make specific recommendations for improvement.

THE ONTARIO CONTEXT

As usual, I like to ensure all my resources have a connection to the Ontario language curriculum. The “Oral Communication” resource is actually an Ontario developed collection of activities to support oral communication expectations across multiple subjects/curriculums. In this way, everything in this post has a strong connection to the Ontario language curriculum.

If you haven’t tried these strategies, I hope you have a great experience trying them in your classroom. If you have tried them, I hope these resources can expand your thinking and help you master your implementation.

- AJM

PS. Cross-curricular applications of reading and writing strategies can be found here, on Edugains.com. 

Main source:
Ontario Ministry of Education and Training (2003). Think Literacy: Cross-curricular Approaches Grades 7-12. Queens Park, Toronto: Author.