OSSLT Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test

1. OSSLTOntario Secondary School Literacy Test • Preparation and Review Session

2. Welcome and Hello! • Thank you so much for coming to today’s session! • You have the chance to write the Literacy Test this year on Thursday, March 27th at 8:15am! • We are here to help you achieve success on this year’s Literacy Test!

3. Our Goals for Today • We are going to help you to get ready for the test. • We will look at examples of successful and unsuccessful student work from last year’s test. • We will help you to become comfortable with the practice booklets so that you can prepare for the test.

4. Boo and Andie

5. GAME TIME

6. Think Aloud and Exemplars • There are a few parts of the test that we are going to review together as a group and then we will give you time to work on the questions, independently! We’re still here to help! • For each of these sections, we will review the question, think aloud together about possible responses, look at examples of student work from last year’s test and then give you a chance to try the question, yourself!

7. Reading Question • Please turn to page 18 in your booklet and follow along with the reading.

8. Reading: Implicit Information & Making Connections • First, let’s read the article entitled: “Teen’s Recycling Recipe Bags Award.” • Following this article, there are a series of multiple choice questions and a written answer that focus on the information provided in the article. • Let’s review a few of them together…

9. Multiple Choice Questions • Please turn to page 19 in your booklet and follow along with the reading.

10. Reading: Implicit Information • #1: Which paragraph describes the event that happened first? • A) paragraph 2 • B) paragraph 3 • C) paragraph 4 • D) paragraph 5 • The answer is: B) PARAGRAPH 3 • WHY?

11. Reading: Implicit Information • #2: What is the meaning of “hypothesis” as used in paragraph 5? • A) a recipe • B) a problem • C) a prediction • D) an experiment • The answer is: C) A prediction • WHY?

12. Reading: Implicit Information • #3: Who is responsible for the decomposition of plastic bags? • A) bacteria • B) polyethylene • C) additional water • D) large composters • The answer is: A) bacteria • WHY?

13. Reading: Implicit Information • #4: What is the purpose of the information inside the parentheses in paragraph 6? • A) It provides an explanation • B) It refers to another experiment • C) It presents a step in the experiment • D) It emphasizes the importance of the problem • The answer is: A) It provides an explanation. • WHY?

14. Reading: Making Connections • #5: Why did Burd’s experiment win the top prize? • A) It could solve a significant problem. • B) Burd plans to study science in university. • C) It encourages people to reduce their use of plastic bags. • D) Burd discovered the bacteria that break down plastic bags. • The answer is: A) It could solve a significant problem. • WHY?

15. Written Answer • Please turn to page 20 and follow along.

16. Reading: Making Connections • #6: Explain how Burd’s project demonstrates the work of a scientist. Use specific details from the selection and your own ideas to support your answer.

17. Reading: Making ConnectionsThink Aloud • How can we answer this question?

18. Reading: Making ConnectionsStudent Exemplars: LEVEL ONE THIS IS A LEVEL ONE RESPONSE BECAUSE: The response provides an example of the work of a scientist while retelling the events in the selection (e.g., noticed a problem, figure out a solution, did research).There are no details from the selection used to support the response.

19. Reading: Making ConnectionsStudent Exemplars: LEVEL TWO/THREE THIS IS A LEVEL TWO / THREE RESPONSE BECAUSE: The response identifies an example of how Burd/Burd’s project demonstrates the work of a scientist (collect samples) and supports it with details from the selection (went to the landfill). The reader must make the connection between the detail and the work of a scientist.

20. Reading: Making ConnectionsStudent Exemplars: LEVEL FOUR THIS IS A LEVEL FOUR RESPONSE BECAUSE: The response identifies an example of how Burd/Burd’s project demonstrates the work of a scientist (discovered and isolated) and clearly explains it with specific and relevant support from the selection (micro-organism that is responsible for breaking down Plastic bags).

21. Your Turn! Please turn to page 27 in your booklet and... 1) read the article provided 2) complete the written answer on page 28

22. Multiple Choice • Please turn to page 21 and follow along.

23. Writing: Organizing Information and Ideas in a clear, understandable manner. • On page 21 in your booklet, there is a series of multiple choice questions. • Let’s review one of them together…

24. Writing: Organizing Information and Ideas in a clear, understandable manner. • #1) Choose the option that best combines all the information in the following sentences. • I love basketball. • The Bears are my favourite team. • I hope they win the championship this year.

25. Writing: Organizing Information and Ideas in a clear, understandable manner. • Which option best combines all the information in the sentences? A) I love basketball, and I hope the Bears win the championship this year. B) I love basketball and the Bears because I hope they win the championship this year. C) I love basketball and hope the Bears, my favourite team, win the championship this year. D) I love basketball, I love the Bears, my favourite team, I hope they win the championship this year. • The answer is: C! • WHY?

26. Writing: Organizing Information and Ideas in a clear, understandable manner. • On page 5 in your booklet, there is another series of multiple choice questions. • Let’s review one of them together…

27. Writing: Organizing Information and Ideas in a clear, understandable manner. • #2) Choose the option that best combines all the information in the following sentences. • Mikkoand Paige were friends. • Mikko and Paige had known each other since Grade 3. • Mikko and Paige attended the same college.

28. Writing: Organizing Information and Ideas in a clear, understandable manner. • #2) Which option best combines all the information in the sentences? a) Mikko and Paige, who were friends, attended the same college since Grade 3. b) Mikko and Paige were friends known since Grade 3 and attended the same college. c) Mikko and Paige, friends who had known each other since Grade 3, attended the same college. d) Mikko and Paige attended the same college and had known each other and their friends since Grade 3. • The answer is: C! • WHY?

29. Writing: Short Writing Task • To begin, let’s consider this question: “What is the best advice you have ever given someone? Use specific details to explain your answer.” • Following this question, there are 6 lines indicating the amount of space you should fill, therefore plan on writing a solid paragraph (4-6 sentences).

30. Brainstorm: How would you begin to answer this question? • Consider what advice you have given ... do you consider it to be “mature, appropriate and solid” advice? If so, talk about it! • If not, brainstorm a situation that would require you to give advice ... any ideas? • What University should I attend? • How should I tell a friend that I am frustrated with something that they did? • Should I change the way I dress in order to fit in with my friends?

31. Brainstorm: How would you begin to answer this question? (Continued) • After you have your idea, think about the structure of your response... it should include: • Topic sentence, • Specific details (who was the advice for, what did you say? why?), • Concluding sentence.

32. Writing: Short Writing Task THIS IS A LEVEL ONE RESPONSE BECAUSE: The response identifies an example of advice (tell the truth in bad situations), but does not include specific details and it does not provide an explanation for why it was the best.

33. Writing: Short Writing Task THIS IS A LEVEL TWO/THREE RESPONSE BECAUSE: This response provides an example of advice given (never give up on your dreams), but there is not enough support provided to explain the advice. To improve, provide specific examples about when you have encouraged someone to not give up.

34. Writing: Short Writing Task THIS IS A LEVEL FOUR RESPONSE BECAUSE: This response provides an example of advice given (telling my sister to apply for a job she didn’t think she would be good at). The answer is clearly supported with specific and relevant details (She is still working at this job, constantly telling me how much she loves it, the friends she has made and the satisfaction of working.

35. A MINI-BREAK :) • Take a breath ...

36. Your turn! Please turn to page 13 in your booklet and... 1) answer question 1 - “Suggest one improvement that could be made to your school building or its grounds.”

37. Newspaper Article Question • Please turn to page 22 in your booklet and follow along.

38. Writing: News Report • The task states: “Write a news report based on the headline and picture below.” • Following this instruction you will find both a headline and a picture. Begin to think about how these two items could be linked in a specific event.

39. Writing: News Report • What do I need to consider? • 5 W’s: Who, What, When, Where and Why and How • Supporting Quotations (witness and expert) • Small Paragraphs • Full names (human names) • Specific Facts (locations, streets, etc.) • Write as if the event has already occurred (past tense) • Write in third person (do not use “I” unless it is in a quotation) • Fill in checklist from the ideas above • A checklist may be helpful ...use “rough notes area”

40. Writing: News Report THIS IS A LEVEL ONE RESPONSE BECAUSE: The response does not provide sufficient detail. The news report is missing several components from the checklist.

41. Writing: News Report • 5 W’s: Who, What, When, Where and Why • Supporting Quotations (witness and expert) • Small Paragraphs • Full names (human names) • Specific Facts (locations, streets, etc.) • Write as if the event has already occurred (past tense) • Write in third person (do not use “I” unless it is in a quotation) Text Text Level 2

42. Writing: News Report P A S S It contains all of the criteria from the checklist, limited spelling/grammar errors, fills the space provided and the event is logical.

43. Your turn! Please turn to page 29 in your booklet and... 1) Answer the newspaper article question: “Car Wash a Success”

44. Summary Question • Please turn to page 24 in your booklet.

45. Writing: Summary You will be asked to answer a summary question that looks like this:

46. Writing: Summary This question is awarded a mark of 0, 10, 20 or 30. If the answer space is blank, your writing is illegible or the response is off topic, the answer will receive a mark of 0.

47. Writing: Summary Here’s what an answer given a score of 10 looks like:

48. Writing: Summary Even though this answer appears to be complete because the student uses all of the lines…

49. Writing: Summary …the response only states the main idea. The response does not prove detail to support the main idea. The response restates the main idea in the final sentence.

50. Writing: Summary Here’s what an answer given a score of 30 looks like: