Blog Post #4- Oral Communication

Fostering a Love for Speaking Confidently!

"Write to be understood, speak to be heard, read to grow" 

-- Lawrence Clark Powell

The Importance of Oral Communication

Oral communication has an important role for students in developing fundamental skills of literacy and is essential for thinking and learning. With this strand, listening and speaking skills are emphasized for a variety of concepts that are necessary in life, such as social interaction at home, school, and in the community. Therefore, students should learn to implement strategies to become an effective listener and speaker. As suggested in the Language Curriculum, students are required to develop their oral communication skills through "numerous opportunities to listen to talk about a range of subjects, including personal interests, school work, and current affairs" (OME, 2006, pg. 9).

When concentrating on the junior grades, teachers should provide students with opportunities that engage in various oral activities, which are equated to curriculum expectations of the language strand. For the oral communication strand, specifically regarding the junior grades, the overall expectations that students are expected to meet include:

1. Listen in order to understand and respond appropriately in a variety of situations for a variety of purposes;
2. Use speaking skills and strategies appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes;
3. Reflect on and identify their strengths as listeners and speakers, areas for improvement, and the strategies they found most helpful in oral communication situations.

(OME, 2006, pg. 108). 

If students are given the opportunity to experience oral communication in a variety of engaging oral activities, they don't only communicate information through speaking, they also explore and come to the understanding of ideas and concepts; identify and solve problems; organize their experience and knowledge; and express and clarify their thoughts, feelings, and opinions (OME, 2006, pg. 10).

Don't Judge a Book by its Title:

Reading books aloud, whether that is by the teacher, student-to-student, or with a parent can be extremely beneficial for students learning. Students become active listeners when others are reading, and enhance their speaking skills when they read to others. The language curriculum states that in order to strengthen oral language abilities, the development of reading and writing skills are required to help improve students' capacity to use and understand oral language clearly, accurately, and critically (OME, 2006, pg. 9-10). 

The online resource don't judge a book by its title, incorporates ways for students to read books to improve the overall and specific expectations of the language curriculum. For instance, on the website, the information "focuses on the identification and development of the skills and strategies effective listeners and speakers use" (OME, 2006, pg. 9), which can be done with the use of reading aloud. There is also an option to listen to audiobooks and share thoughts, instead of writing them. This is deemed beneficial for those who identify with accommodations, especially if they have trouble reading. Plus, using picture books and novel books with the junior grades can help with higher-order thinking, and therefore, stimulate students' interest and engage their learning (OME, 2006, pg. 10).

As for the language arts curriculum, the blog addresses overall expectation #3 and specific expectation #1.8 with respect to the grade 5 oral communication strand. Firstly, the overall expectation that would be meant is reflecting on and identifying their strengths as listeners and speakers, areas for improvement, and the strategies they found most helpful in oral communication situations". Secondly, for the specific expectation, students are to identify the point of view presented in oral texts and ask questions to identify missing or possible alternative points of view (Reeves & Vlahos, n.d.). Additionally, there were various multi-modalities incorporated in the resource, such as expressive: speaking and representing, as well as receptive dimensions: reading and listening. Overall, the website attached gave insightful resources for language and literacy, that I plan on implementing in my future practices.

Furthermore, this website provides various choices for books that can be used toward the oral communication strand, among curriculum connections.  This website focuses on "literature anthology" and incorporates social issues, such as equality and collectivism. I related to this on a personal level, mainly because our class has just completed a lesson plan on social justice issues. On the website, there is one book in particular that I was interested in and connected with, it is called We Share Everything! I have always been a huge fan of this book since I was younger because of the relationship I have with my brother. I remember hearing my friends talking about how their siblings were close in age and they never have to share their things. Before my brother was born, I thought the same thing would happen to me. Unfortunately, the 11 year age gap did not stop him from wanting to share everything, and so we did. 

Beneficial Online Applications:

Podcasts:

Podcasts are known as digital recordings, either with video and sound, or just an audio recording that is broadcast through the radio or a similar type of program. Generally speaking, it is a personal digital audio file that is created, shared and heard in a multitude of ways. Also, this type of resource can be ideal for meeting curriculum expectations for specific strands, such as oral communication, and possibly media literacy, depending on the focus of the content.

As described on The Beginner's Guide to Educational Podcasting, podcasts offer educators an easy alternative way to provide course content, whether in the form of lectures central to the course or in supplemental materials like interviews with experts and discussions on issues central to a course" (LT., 2016). In my previous forum post on audio resources, I discussed a few podcasts that I thought were beneficial. For example, Ted Talks are highly known for their educational and informative content. These have been shown in many classes during my undergraduate degree and are still being used throughout my current program.

For the elementary grades, like junior and intermediate, podcasts have been proven to stimulate interest and engage students learning. This type of resource is appealing to students because of the likelihood of making connections to 21st-century competencies. Especially, to current technological advances that they are familiar with, such as downloading, streaming, and other techniques. Also, students are confident using devices like ipads and laptops that house these types of apps, such as podcasts. Though, there is an accessibility factor that needs to be considered and addressed as an issue. There is going to be a few students, who may be of low socioeconomic status or do not have access to these types of resources, and could feel isolated if podcasts are incorporated into a class project.

Overall, teachers use podcasting as a versatile tool in the classroom. Here are some diverse ways that podcasts can be incorporated as an educational application:

• Record classroom expectations at the beginning of the year
• Classroom lectures
• Supplemental information
• Testing review sessions
• Help students with different learning styles
• Record classroom discussions
• Share teaching advice with other educators
• Use for student projects
• Supplement course material with outside experts

(Learning Technology, 2016).

Finally, as a future educator, I plan on incorporating different types of podcasting into my teaching practices, especially for listening purposes or creating a podcast when meeting expectations of the language curriculum.

Resources:

Learning Technology [LT] (June 21, 2016). The Beginner's Guide to Educational Podcasting. Retrieved from http://www.codlearningtech.org/2016/06/21/the-beginners-guide-to-educational-podcasting/

Ontario Ministry of Education (2006). The Ontario curriculum grades 1-8: Language. Retrieved from http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/elementary/language18currb.pdf

Reeves, L. & Vlahos, M (n.d.). Smore: Don't Judge a Book by its Cover. Retrieved from https://www.smore.com/wdcp9-don-t-judge-a-book-by-its-cover

Blog Post #3- Writing Blog

Writing in World of Extravagant Opportunities

"If you don't have time to read, you don't have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that." 

--Stephen King

The Writing Process

The quote above by Stephen King is important to consider in terms of writing because students should be able to comprehend information presented to them, and then be able to reciprocate it through written work. As indicated in the Ontario Curriculum, "writing competence develops hand in hand with skills in other areas of language, especially reading" (OME, 2006, pg. 12).

Hanson, 2014

While these aspects of writing are important, it is necessary to recognize the elements of writing that make up the entire process of bringing ideas together to publish a piece. The stages of the writing process that are required in developing a piece of written work include:

1. Pre-writing
2. Drafting
3. Revising
4. Proofreading
5. Publishing

Pre-writing is the task that is taking time to think of ideas; a draft is taking the time to write down ideas; revising is the process of improving the writing while looking for errors and mistakes; proofreading is fixing the writing to make it correct; publishing is sharing the final written piece of work. The process of writing is critical because of the overall expectations defined by the Ontario curriculum guidelines. In respect to writing, students are to "generate, gather, and organize ideas and information to write for an intended purpose and audience; and use editing, proofreading, and publishing skills and strategies, and knowledge of language conventions, to correct errors, refine expression, and present their work effectively" (MOE, 2006, pg. 86). Furthermore, when elementary students are writing pieces, whether that be essays, diaries, comic strips, emails, etc., they are reminded by teachers to think about the purpose, audience, and form.

Berninger, 2013

Types of Writing:

Modelled writing

Shared writing

Guided writing

Independent writing

Now that I have described the writing process, it is necessary to identify the four different types of writing that can be done with students. Modelled writing/write aloud helps with demonstrating proficient writing skills, extends student's writing ability and exposes students to varied text forms. Shared writing teaches and guides students through writing strategies, and extends understanding of the writing process. Guided writing is when teachers reinforce writing skills and strategies, teachers can ask students critical thinking question to propel writing, students can practice strategies, and helps students build confidence. Independent writing will assist students in independently practicing writing strategies, students can write at an independent level with self-regulation, and study words with emphasis on vocabulary, spelling and grammar. Other types of writing that are seen occasionally are interactive writing, reflective writing and global writing.

Wyatt, 2019 - EDBE 8P24: Language and Literacy

Making Writing Meaningful

In today's day and age, elementary students are finding any excuse possible to not take part in writing activities in Language and English classes. This is due to the misconception that students are evaluated on writing that is error-free and assessed on basic grammatical skills in their ability to transcribe speech to print (Jeter, 2016, pg. 62). When students are expected to perform the skill of writing without mistakes, they are fearful, then stressed for the next time they have to write for the purpose of being assessed and evaluated. Rather, teachers are trying to relate writing to real-world settings and reflect on past experiences. As identified in Fostering "Good" Writers: Making Writing Meaningful, students will enjoy expressing themselves in writing if they are aware of the idea "that writing is about making meaning, sharing, ideas, and getting things done", as opposed to only worrying about the grammar aspect (Jeter, 2016, pg. 63). Another viewpoint of writing to acknowledge for making writing meaningful is the concept of global writing. Global writing, as defined recently in class, is writing to be authentic, meaningful, real-life, and for a purpose. 

Writing Resources

Online Applications

As times keep developing in terms of technology and education, it is important to consider the multiple applications that are now available, in which students may find valuable for extra practice in writing. Apps that are widely known and have been introduced in education are:

Grammarly: this online website allows individuals an opportunity to check their written pieces to detect for grammar and spelling, style and tone, clear sentence structure, helps to eliminate errors, as well as finds the perfect words to be expressive. 

Twitter: this application is available online and on smartphones, to get important information across the world in a single tweet. Within a tweet, individuals have to be cautious with what they say, as it is public, and only have a certain amount of characters to fit their thoughts. This resource has been significant in terms of "hashtagging" for written communication online. Lately, a lot of teachers can be seen using this resource to find information based on just hashtag's alone. Some popular education hashtags that have been identified in our Language class are #education, #edtech, #mathchat, #engchat and more. For more information on the use of twitter hashtags, check out The Complete Guide to Twitter Hashtags for Education. 

ReadWriteThink: this online application has a variety of benefits that are available for teachers, students, and parents. There are classroom resources that students can find helpful, such as writing and publishing, organizing and summarizing, as well as writing poetry. When looking under classroom resources-printouts, I was able to find handouts for writing starters, a strategy guide for persuasive writing, a RAFT writing template, and many other accessible documents that are essential in developing writing. With this being said, students should consider types of strategies that can be found to assist with writing. 

Wyatt, 2019 - EDBE 8P24: Language and Literacy

Writing Strategies

As mentioned above, some online applications provide convenient documents that support the improvement of writing. For the younger grades, like junior/intermediate, teachers should highlight the use of graphic organizers to combine ideas. Graphic organizers are known as visual instructional tools that are used to express, organize and plan the thoughts, ideas or concepts to help students structure their knowledge and writing. Visit the Top 10 Writing Graphic Organizers, for more examples and handouts that students can utilize to enhance their writing.

TeacherVision, n.d. 

Concerning the four different types of writing, graphic organizers are strategies of independent writing. Whereas for collaborative and shared writing, there are various strategies with the use of technology and without technology. Suggestions for the technology include writable, an ether pad, write about this, boom writer, and story jumper, and for technology, teachers could implement mini-lessons, cubing, RAFT, clusters and/or author's chair. As mentioned earlier, in making writing meaningful, such as with global writing, online strategies that could be of assistance are Wordpress, Global Read Aloud or the 100 Word Challenge.

Techniques & Methods

Recently, I was introduced to new methods of writing styles and required to complete a series of tasks. In week 7, we looked at Haiku's, as well as rant poetry and slam. While in week 8 our class observed other pieces of poetry, such as patterns, which include a simile, two descriptive traits, an action, and another action. Overall, I would have never considered using these types of writing to help with different techniques of incorporating a sense of meaning and interest. Honestly, I had never thought to incorporate poetry or these types of methods, for the purpose of writing. Plus, in life every day, we see, hear and observe the writing process in multiple forms. For instance, I believe that music is important in terms of writing. As Berner says, "writing, creative nonfiction, fiction, and certainly poetry, is more like writing music than I had ever imagined" (July 23). Musicians have to take their thoughts and ideas, write them down and then attempt to create a melody out of it. Also, they complete the 6 steps to the writing process: pre-writing, drafting, revising, proofreading and publishing. These methods can fit into the Ontario Curriculum guidelines because students are to draft and revise their writing, using a variety of informational, literary, and graphic forms and stylistic elements appropriate for the purpose and audiences" (MOE, 2006, pg. 86).

Personal Exemplar

Resources:

Berner, D. (July 23). The Writing Cooperative: Writing is Like Music. Retrieved from https://writingcooperative.com/writing-is-like-music-befb38644af6

Berninger, D. (August, 25, 2013). Strength: The 5 Steps in the Writing Process for Strength and Conditioning. Retrieved from http://www.dougberninger.com/the-5-steps-of-the-writing-process-for-strength-and-conditioning/

Hanson, D. (June 23, 2014). Crafting Connections: Author's Purpose Anchor Chart. Retrieved from https://www.crafting-connections.com/2014/06/anchors-away-monday-62314-plus-monday.html

Heick, T. (June 28, 2017). Teachthought: What Teaching Writing In The 21st Century Might Look Like. Retrieved from https://www.teachthought.com/the-future-of-learning/what-teaching-writing-in-the-21st-century-might-look-like/

Leibowitz, G. (August 24, 2017). Inc.: 50 Inspiring Quotes About Writing from the World's Greatest Authors. https://www.inc.com/glenn-leibowitz/50-quotes-from-famous-authors-that-will-inspire-yo.html

Ontario Ministry of Education. 2006. The Ontario Curriculum Grades 1-8: Language. Retrieved from http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/elementary/language18currb.pdf

TeacherVision (n.d.). Persuasive Letter Graphic Organizer. Retrieved from https://www.teachervision.com/graphic-organizer/persuasive-letter-graphic-organizer# 

Blog Post #2- Reading Blog

The Reading Strand

“You can find magic wherever you look. Sit back and relax, all you need is a book.” - Dr. Seuss!

 

For Language, the reading strand is deemed the most important topic of learning in school because of the ability to apply it across the curriculum and make meaningful connections. Additionally, teaching students to read can be the most difficult topic of Language and Literacy. Nevertheless, the Ontario curriculum focuses on developing the knowledge and skills that will enable students to become effective readers (MOE, 2006, pg. 10) for aspects of life that extend beyond the classroom.

Guided Reading Strategies

To begin, when implementing strategies to help students with reading, teachers should consider guided reading groups. As defined by the eWorkshop by EduGains, guided reading is the division between shared reading and independent reading. With guided reading, small groups of students apply knowledge and understanding from previously taught teacher-led and shared readings. Teachers incorporate selected unfamiliar texts that are tailored to certain individuals. These texts provide challenges for students learning through instructional support (2019).

Creative Teacher, 2019.

Following the reading, the teacher will observe the student-centered guided readings to assess their thoughts, opinions, and ideas. These are effective strategies that are used in various classes with several students to allow them the opportunity to take part in reading at a level suitable to their ability. Eventually, with the use of these guided reading strategies, the students will work their way into independent readings as they improve. The end goal for teachers is to get their students from early readers to emergent readers, and then finishing with fluent readers.  

The Effectiveness of Comic Books and Graphic Novels 

Comic books and graphic novels are becoming increasingly popular among differentiated texts for the reading strand among educations. As teachers, we need to provide students with the opportunity to explore comics and graphic novels as a way of exploring different text styles. When referring to the Ministry of Education and overall expectations, students should "read and demonstrate an understanding of a variety of literary, graphic, and informational texts, using a range of strategies to construct meaning". Also, students can do this through recognizing a variety of text forms, text features, and stylistic elements and demonstrate an understanding of how they help communicate meaning" (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2006, pg. 111).

Gonzalez, 2016. 

Why should children read comic books? 

Comic books and graphic novels give students stories they can make connections to and reflect, without struggling to understand the information presented. Novels can be discouraging to read, especially when the text's or chapters are long. In giving students opportunities to expand their book choices, specifically comics, they are helpful because they include a "reasonable amount of text per page, lots of visual cues, and since most of the text comes in the form of dialogues, there are shorter and simpler sentences" (Myers, n.d.).  

Teachers Pay Teachers, n.d.

Additionally, other benefits of incorporating graphic novels are developing visual literacy skills, engaging and motivating reluctant readers, inference, memory, sequencing, understanding succinct language, and reading comprehension. Each of these are essential in meeting specific curriculum expectations. For instance, the Ontario Ministry of Education explains that students need to develop reading skills to become effective readers and critical thinkers, which in turn will assist in the ability to comprehend all sorts of material in other subjects. However, to do so, students need to have established excellent comprehension strategies beforehand. Therefore, the benefits from incorporating graphic novels transfer over to comprehension strategies because of predicting, visualizing, questioning, drawing inferences, identifying main ideas, summarizing, and monitoring (OME, 2006, pg. 10). For more information about the advantages of graphic novels, visit Raising Super Readers: Benefits of Comic Books & Graphic Novels. 

Some examples of graphic novels that teachers use in educations are Ghosts and Smiles, by Raina Telgemeir, The Dumbest Idea Ever by Jimmy Gownley, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs, A Wrinkle in Time by Hope Larson, and many others (Secondary Sara, 2018). Overall, teachers need to expand their horizons when adapting reading programs for students, especially in emphasizing the benefits of extending opportunities for book selection.

Finally, the following article written by EduTopia presents insightful ideas about graphic novels being implemented in middle school:

https://www.edutopia.org/article/discovering-depth-graphic-novels

Helpful Reading Techniques 

Going off the guided reading strategies, ways that teachers can assist students identifying with troubles in reading are through internal approaches first. Internal approaches that can be performed when reading are pacing, anxiety and processing strategies. A few examples of anxiety are positive reinforcement or reassurance from the teacher, and peer mentorship (i.e., reading buddies). As mentioned by the Ministry of Education, reading is a complex process that involves the application of many strategies before, during, and after reading (2006, pg. 10).

Wyatt, 2019. 

Strategies, such as pacing, are usually when students slow down their visual inferences while reading the material to grasp all components. Whereas processing strategies include using critical thinking questions, decoding strategies, comprehension strategies, and communication strategies.

Additional techniques within comprehension strategies that teachers use include inferences, questioning, breaking down the plot to find the main points/idea, and synthesizing (Secondary English, 2017).

For comprehension methods, there are 8 concepts commonly taught: 

1. Active prior knowledge
2. Determining the purpose of reading
3. Making connections to self, text, world
4. Predicting
5. Visualizing
6. Critical questioning
7. Drawing inferences
8. Evaluating

Secondary English, 2015. 

These concepts discussed above are important for students regarding comprehension because they can make connections to real-world situations, to their readings, and what they are learning. While doing so, they enhance their knowledge and understanding of the material they are learning about, especially when focusing on the eight concepts listed above. Moreover, when practicing these strategies, students tend to improve their vocabulary, oral communication, punctuation, being descriptive, and thinking about the meaning of the reading.  

References:
Creative Teacher. (2019). Reading Strategy Checklist Based on Fountas and Pinnell. Retrieved from https://www.dgoodz.com/products/reading-strategy-checklist-based-228866 

DeHart, J. (September 20, 2018). EduTopia: Discovering the Depth in Graphic Novels. Retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org/article/discovering-depth-graphic-novels

EduGains. (2019). eWorkshop: Literacy Modules- Guided Reading. Retrieved from http://eworkshop.on.ca/edu/core.cfm?p=modView.cfm&navID=modView&L=1&modID=15&c=2&CFID=168971&CFTOKEN=7b072684d523f053-450CDA06-AD9F-84C4-7D8A6AF240B471DC

English, M. (2019). Scholastic: Raising Super Readers: Benefits of Comic Books & Graphic Novels. Retrieved from https://www.scholastic.com/parents/books-and-reading/raise-a-reader-blog/raising-super-readers-benefits-comic-books-and-graphic-novels.html

Gonzalez, J. (October 9, 2016). Cult of Pedagogy: Graphic Novels in the Classroom: A Teacher Roundtable. Retrieved from https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/teaching-graphic-novels/

Myers, L. (n.d.). Graphic Novels for Kids. Retrieved from https://www.adventure-in-a-box.com/graphic-novels-for-kids/

Ontario Ministry of Education. 2006. The Ontario Curriculum Grades 1-8: Language. Retrieved from http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/elementary/language18currb.pdf

Secondary Sara. (September 18, 2018). 20+ Graphic Novels that English Teachers Love. Retrieved from https://www.secondarysara.com/2018/09/20-graphic-novels-that-english-teachers.html?m=1

Teachers Pay Teachers. (n.d.). Graphic Novel Reading Unit of Study: How to read a graphic novel. Retrieved from https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Graphic-Novel-Reading-Unit-of-Study-How-to-read-a-graphic-novel-3800904

The Secondary English Coffee Shop. (2017). Reading Strategies for Middle and High School Students. Retrieved from https://secondaryenglishcoffeeshop.blogspot.com/2017/03/reading-strategies-for-middle-and-high.html

Wyatt, L. (2019). EDBE 8P24: Language and Literacy- Week 6. 

Blog Post #1- Media Strand

Media Literacy vs. Digital Literacy

Media literacy is the understanding and comprehension of utilizing online practices in assisting with analyzing, evaluating, accessing and creating media in a variety of methods to create messages (Module 1, n.d). According to Andrea Quijada, media literacy is essential in including it into the curriculum, for students to learn how to deconstruct the information presented. Incorporating media literacy helps educate students on how to be critically engaged when coming across media (TED, 2013).

(Wilkey Oh, 2017) 

Digital Literacy goes hand in hand with media literacy because of using specific informational resources connected to media, through the internet and with the use of smartphones, video games, and other resources (Common sense media, n.d ). Incorporating digital literacy can be accomplished by building onto media literacy concepts and developing knowledge and skills to utilize digital resources. 

(MediaSmarts, 2018)

With this being said, it is essential for students to critically understand digital resources to communicate clearly through technology. Overall, digital and media tools can be beneficial and advantageous as educational tools, however, there are potential risks associated with learning and using digital media.

Fake News vs. Real News

Recently, students are becoming targets of fake news. It is so hard to spot because a lot of individuals get sucked into the virtual world of misconceptions and large headliners. One article that gives authoritative insight for determining how to deconstruct and detect falsified information is Real Media Literacy: Spotting a Fake Story. The author provides a picture called The Art of Reading Laterally, to improve the reader's critical thinking and analysis when researching news and important information. ART stands for A: author, R: reliability, and T: target. Overall, the entire website presents crucial knowledge to their intended audience of middle graders to assist students in developing techniques to discover fraudulent news. 

(Baker, 2019). 

One of the most iconic videos that came out 12 years ago, about a popular house hippo became an internet sensation. However, little did people know, it was FAKE. Now, MediaSmarts has created a new video about the famous house hippo to explain and inform the upcoming generations regarding the dangers of fake news, and how easy it is for people to be fooled by the digital world. 

(MediaSmarts, 2019). 

Ministry Resources

In the world of technology and fake news, it is important to consider the resources and tools that are available for students. A website that is fantastic for providing information about media and digital literacy, as well as games that are interactive for students concerning fake news is https://mediasmarts.ca. One game in particular that includes missions while emphasizing the importance of spotting fake news is called "Reality Check". I highly recommend students trying out this enjoyable game. The purpose of the game is to assist students in learning "how to find clues like finding where a story originally came from and comparing it to other sources, as well as how to use tools like fact-checking sites and reverse image searches" (MediaSmarts, n.d). Each mission has a different goal in spotting fake news. Can you do it?

Attached here is the link to the game Reality Check for anyone to try themselves: https://mediasmarts.ca/sites/mediasmarts/files/games/reality-check/index.html#/

(MediaSmarts, n.d.).

Ministry of Education- Language and Literacy Curriculum

When teachers are preparing their lesson plans, there are guidelines for each curriculum that they must follow. For language and literacy, particularly looking at the media strand, there are specific and overall expectations that students are required to achieve. For the junior grades (i.e., 4 to 8), a majority of students have the same requirements with a few minor differences in expectations. When acknowledging the overall expectations, students are to:

1. demonstrate an understanding of a variety of media texts;
2. identify some media forms and explain how the conventions and techniques associated
3. with them are used to create meaning;
4. create a variety of media texts for different purposes and audiences, using appropriate forms, conventions, and techniques;
5. reflect on and identify their strengths as media interpreters and creators, areas for improvement, and the strategies they found most helpful in understanding and creating media texts.

(MOE, 2006, pg. 89). 

As for the specific expectations, these have been established to help students reach the guidelines and be successful in terms of learning. Under this category, the curriculum focuses on understanding media texts, understanding media forms, conventions and techniques, creating media texts, as well as reflecting on media skills and strategies. Overall, these expectations are for educators benefit to analyze, assess, and evaluate the student's progress regarding knowledge, (critical) thinking, communication, application, and learning.  

References:

Baker, F. (2019, August 7). MiddleWeb. Real Media Literacy: Spotting a Fake Story. Retrieved from: https://www.middleweb.com/40839/real-media-literacy-spotting-a-fake-story/

Common sense media. (n.d.). What is digital literacy? Retrieved October 1, 2019, from https://www.commonsensemedia.org/news-and-media-literacy/what-is-digital-literacy

MediaSmarts. (May 31, 2018). Digital Media Are Networked | Digital Literacy 101. Retrieved September 30, 2019, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-HXiObDDnA

MediaSmarts (2019, September 30). YouTube: House Hippo 2.0. Retrieved October 1, 2019, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5R_tOSRynZU

MediaSmarts. (n.d.). Reality Check: The Game. Retrieved October 1, 2019, from
https://mediasmarts.ca/digital-media-literacy/educational-games/reality-check-game

Ministry of Education (MOE). (2006). The Ontario Curriculum Grades 1-8: Language. Retrieved from http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/elementary/language18currb.pdf

Module 1: What is digital and media literacy? Retrieved October 1, 2019, fromhttps://lms.brocku.ca/portal/site/Media_Info_Literacy_Modules/tool/04ab90c7-565c-441f-8c8e-0c5444930f31

TED (2013, February). Andrea Quijada: Creating critical thinkers through media literacy. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHAApvHZ6XE

Wilkey Oh, E. (December 12, 2017). EduTopia: Media Literacy- The Future of Fake News. Retrieved October 1, 2019, from https://www.edutopia.org/article/future-fake-news