Oral language is the foundation of our communication skills. It is the first thing that a child learns, and with so much diversity in our classrooms, oral language is the voice of the community. (Saskatchewan Reads, 2020) The Anishinaabe perspective helped me to understand that there is not a uniform set of knowledge. (Peltier, 2017) This challenged me to consider the cultural safety of the students that I will teach as I work to foster a sense of belonging. I intend to treat children as conversationalists and encourage them to share about their life and experiences. In my future classrooms we will speak openly and often, and every student will have the opportunity to practice and improve their oral language skills.
Opening my mind to Indigenous ways of knowing has helped me to understand that orality describes a dynamic meaning that is attached to oral language. Beyond the linear way of thinking, which is prevalent in the Western mindset, orality is a holistic process for sharing and understanding the world. As teachers, expanding our phonological, semantic, syntactic, and pragmatic considerations to incorporate a more holistic approach is as easy as inviting storytelling into the classroom. (Reading Rockets, 2013) Cross-curriculum connections can be made by identifying common themes or areas of interest and then encouraging the class to explore their curiosities. Learning does not have to be structured in a specific order, and a more holistic approach fosters a sense of belonging in every student.
Sarah, Kassidy, Carolyn and Cassidy joined me in discussing activities that could be done to emphasize orality. We reviewed Meredith Kennedy’s YouTube video of Julie Flett’s book, Birdsong. While brainstorming ideas someone suggested incorporating clay and I thought that was really creative. I think that having a physical object that represents a connection the student made with the story could help a reluctant child to participate verbally in the classroom. The activity we suggested was to have the students pick a season and then come up with their own story relating to that season. If I were to go back and fully develop that idea, I would review the Saskatchewan Curriculum and identify outcomes that could be satisfied by the lesson. Next, I would follow the favoured backwards-by-design lesson template and, I would identify assessment criteria and methodologies. Furthermore, I would identify a variety of ways that students could satisfy the outcomes identified while using their imagination during the storytelling process. Finally, I would outline the parameters of the task before presenting the students with choices for their assignment.
Recognizing that literacy is a social practice, a person’s ability evolves as they learn and as their environment changes. There are multiple ways for information to be communicated to us. We practice literacy visually with text or images and by hearing through sound and speech. As we learn later, adding a presentation component to our literacy practice is a great way students can practice oral literacy. Self and peer assessments help to make this an even more attractive option for a summative activity.