“The communication competency encompasses the set of abilities that students use to impart and exchange information, experiences and ideas, to explore the world around them, and to understand and effectively engage in the use of digital media.”

BC Ministry of Curriculum (2017)

Think-pair-share

At the beginning of my practicum, most of my teaching was teacher-centered which didn’t allow for opportunities for students to communicate to each other. Initially, I was hesitant to use the strategy of “think-pair-share” as students were unfamiliar and sometimes unwilling to talk to the person next to them. However, during one lesson, I was very surprised at how well “think-pair-share” worked. When the question was meaningful to them, and they had some knowledge on the topic, students really enjoyed talking. Furthermore, having students talk to each other helped students share knowledge and led to richer conversations as a class as well. By the end of the practicum, I was using think-pair-share more regularly and also incorporating more group activities that allowed students to communicate to each other. This included games, jig-saw method, and greater pair work.

Multi modal expression: using drama to communicate

Prior to the practicum, I had asked students to perform “tableaus” in Language Arts as a way to express their understanding of a particular point in a book. Students were hesitant to perform them and I soon realized that I needed to build up their confidence and avoid putting any individual on the spot. I also decided to give students a choice when using drama: students could either draw or act to communicate. Doing drama activities in smaller groups also helped build student confidence.

In addition, I used drama during my Science unit to help students understand the anatomy of atoms. Having students act out “protons”, “neutrons” and “electrons” allowed them to grasp the concept of static electricity and was an engaging way to teach about atoms.

Poetry

During my practicum, I taught a unit on poetry which gave a new way for students to express themselves. Students were taught figurative language such as similes, idioms, alliteration and onomatopoeia. They had a number of projects where they used poetry or figurative language to describe the world around them, their feelings,and experiences. Students also used these skills when writing narrative work which was surprising and encouraging!