3. A Tas Com-Tech Product: Jesse and Tess Introduction This guide is intended to be a resource for students, teachers and parents. Basically this guide is designed to give you an idea of what to expect on the Literacy Test (OSSLT) Throughout the guide there are suggestions, tips and hints. You can jump from section to section or go through the guide in order (recommended). We recommend visiting this guide more than once.

4. This guide contains tips, and information on how to prepare for the Grade 10 Literacy Test. You can jump to the sections below or work your way through the guide 1) What is the OSSLT? 2) Overview 3) Sample Questions 4) Students Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) 4) Students Frequently Asked Questions

5. The OSSLT is the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test. ALL Grade 10 students in Ontario must write the OSSLT You must pass the test, or the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Course (OSSLC) to graduate High School. This guide will give you an overview of the OSSLT and some tips and hints that can help pass it.

6. Who has to take the OSSLT? How long will it take me to write the test? Is the test difficult? Who marks the OSSLT? Does my name appear anywhere? What happens if I do not pass the OSSLT? How and when will I receive my results? What is the OSSLC? What happens if I leave questions blank? What if I need accommodations?

7. Who has to take the OSSLT? If you entered Grade 9 in September 2000 or later and are working toward an Ontario Secondary School Diploma, you must write the OSSLT to graduate. This applies to all students in publicly funded schools and inspected private schools. How long will it take me to write the test? The allotted time for each of the two sessions is one hour and 15 minutes. It is very important that you manage your time properly to complete the entire test. Is the test difficult? The OSSLT is designed to reflect the requirements of The Ontario Curriculum. The test assesses literacy (reading and writing) skills students are expected to have acquired by the end of Grade 9.

8. Who marks the OSSLT? The test is scored by qualified individuals who have received special training for this purpose. Does my name appear anywhere? Written responses are identified only by a number. Furthermore, the booklets from different schools and different school boards are all mixed up when they are distributed for scoring. You are asked to write your name on the Student Answer Sheet to assist EQAO in case some materials are misplaced. How will I receive my results? You will receive an Individual Student Report in June indicating whether or not you have passed the OSSLT.

9. What happens if I do not pass the OSSLT? You can take the test again the following year. You can also talk to your parents or guardians and your school principal and/or teacher about taking the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Course (OSSLC) instead of retaking the test. What is the OSSLC? The OSSLC is another way of meeting the literacy graduation requirement. Principals have the discretion to allow a student to enroll in the OSSLC before he or she has had a second opportunity to take the OSSLT, if the principal determines that it is in the best educational interests of the student (Ministry of Education Policy/Program Memorandum 127). What happens if I leave questions blank? Youll get a score of zero for these questions. What if I need accommodations? If you have an IEP you are entitled to the same accommodations you normally get. Be sure to speak to Mrs. Duffey and/or Mr. White BEFORE the test to set this up.

10. The test contains Two test booklets and one student answer sheet. Written responses (answers) go in the test booklets. The student answer sheet is for the multiple choice questions. The test takes 2.5 hours, with a short (5 min) break halfway through. You are given 1 hour and 15 min for each booklet. There is also a short questionnaire at the end. They add 10 minutes to the second session to allow for this. An Individual Student Report indicating whether you passed or not will be sent to you in June. Test Materials Duration Results

11. Each booklet will have one (1) long writing question – a page or two pages, a couple of short writing/reading questions – 6 lines each and 15-20 multiple choice questions. The OSSLT has its own special terminology. Its important to know what their terms mean. Selection: A selection is the thing they have you read…it might be part of a book, a story from a magazine, something from a website, but basically its the thing you need to base your answers on. Prompt: The prompt is basically the question. For a Series of Paragraphs Expressing an Opinion, the prompt will be the topic they want you to write about. Response: Your response is your answer; what you write about the selection in answer to the prompt. What is in the test? Decoding the OSSLT :

12. The OSSLT is divided into two main types of questions: Reading and Writing Reading Questions There are two different kinds of Reading Questions in the OSSLT: Open response and Multiple Choice. These can come from different types of selections. Reading questions require short written - 6 line - answers - and/or multiple- choice answers. The short written answers are what the OSSLT calls Open Response…which basically means the answer is up to you based on what youve just read. *A selection is what they have you read so you can answer questions from it. Selections might come from Newspapers, Magazines, Novels. Websites etc. They might be stories (narratives), articles about an event, place or person or they might have only a few words and a lot of pictures/images (graphics). Whats in the test?

13. The OSSLT is divided into two main types of questions: Reading and Writing Writing Questions Writing questions fall into one of three different tasks. Each booklet will have one Long Writing task – either a news report or a series of paragraphs which is basically an essay (opinion piece). There will also be two short – 6 lines – writing tasks and a number of multiple choice questions…usually between 20-30. Whenever you have a short answer question USE ALL 6 LINES. NEVER leave a question blank…you will get zero.

14. Types of Questions There are two major kinds of questions in the OSSLT: Reading Questions and Writing Questions The following are examples of actual OSSLT questions from past tests. Were just going to give you a idea of what they look like in this guide. There is a specific guide for each kind of question that goes in to much more detail. Links to all the other guides are at the back of this presentation. Writing Questions Open Response – Short Answer Multiple Choice Real-Life Narrative Graphic Selection Long Writing Task – News Report Long Writing Task – Series of Paragraphs Short Writing Task Multiple Choice Reading Questions

15. Example: Read the selection below and answer the questions that follow it. The Little Bear is a vital, year-round train in Northern Ontario. It connects the town of Cochrane in the boreal forests with Moosonee, 310 kilometers north in the James Bay Lowlands. It is a mixed trainone that carries both passengers and freight. During the morning, in Cochrane, the crew loads the box cars with things people in Southern Ontario take for granted (fresh fruits, vegetables and meats, dry goods, frozen foods, mail). Then, flat cars are connected behind the loaded box cars. These flat cars carry everything from heavy construction equipment to entire prebuilt fabricated houses. Once people have boarded the passenger cars, the Little Bear heads north. It is one of the last flag stop trains in Canada. This means the train will stop anywhere along the route to let people on and off. It is common for the Little Bear to stop for canoe tripping parties at the major rivers the Missinaibi, Mattagami or Kwataboahegan. Adventurers from all over the world match their trips on these rivers with the Little Bears schedule. In summer, the train pulls a special flat car with racks for transporting canoes. The famous Polar Bear Express carries tourists over the same route during the summer months, but the Little Bear is the all-season working train for this northern route. 5 10 15 20 This is an example of an Information Paragraph Selection It is one of the different kinds of selections that Reading questions can be based on. These numbers show you the lines in the paragraph

16. Example: Multiple-Choice (Record the best or most correct answer on the Student Answer Sheet.) What is the best meaning for crew in this selection? A tourists B workers C passengers D adventurers Why would words be placed in parentheses in the fourth sentence? F to explain what is carried on flat cars G to show in what order things are loaded on the train H to demonstrate that the Little Bear is a mixed train J to clarify what people in Southern Ontario take for granted What does the train will stop anywhere along the route to let people on and off suggest to the reader? A There are other trains. B The Little Bear is not in a hurry. C The Little Bear has no schedule. D The area has very few settled communities. Why does the Little Bear pull a special flat car during the summer? F to let people on and off G to carry canoes for adventurers H to carry heavy construction equipment J to carry fresh fruits, vegetables and meats The main way the Little Bear differs from the Polar Bear Express is A its schedule. B its destination. C the route it follows. D the passengers it carries. What idea connects the first and last sentences? F tourism G flag stops H vital service J summer months 1 2 3 4 5 6 Give this a try. See how you do. Just click to see the correct answers.

17. Example: Written Answers Summarize this selection. Include a main idea and one detail that supports it. Rough Notes Use the space below for rough notes. Nothing you write in this space will be scored. 7 Whenever you have a short answer question USE ALL 6 LINES. NEVER leave a question blank…you will get zero. THIS is a short answer Open Response Question. They will give you six lines. Use them all!

18. Heroes of the Noronic Disaster Twenty-seven-year-old Don Williamson completed his shift at the Goodyear Tire Plant and drove a friend downtown. Although it was past one oclock in the morning, Don, who had worked on lake boats, decided to take a few minutes to view the ships tied up along Torontos waterfront. It was September 17, 1949. In those days the Port of Toronto was a very different place, with all sorts of passenger and freight boats lining the docks from one end of the bay to the other. The elegant passenger ship S.S. Noronic had arrived in Toronto on Friday evening for an overnight stop before heading down the lake to Prescott. As Williamson turned onto Queens Quay, he suddenly heard a ships whistle blasting the dreaded fire signal 10 short blasts followed by one, two or three additional blasts depending on where the fire was raging. Approaching the lake at the foot of Yonge Street, he could distinctly see flames dancing from the back of a large passenger vessel docked at Canada Steamship Lines Pier 9. The Noronic was on fire! Pulling his car to the side of the road, Williamson scrambled over the iron fence, removed his heavy jacket and jumped onto a large floating painters raft tied up beside the Noronic. Calling encouragement to those huddled on the deck of the ship that was now a blazing inferno, Williamson was soon busy pulling onto his raft those who had the nerve to jump into the black water. Cont… Read the selection below and answer the questions that follow it. Theres more to this story. Were just showing you what these questions look like. This is an example of a Real-Life Narrative Selection. Selection is the word the OSSLT uses to refer to whatever it is you have to read to answer the questions. These Selections will be followed by Multiple Choice and Open Response short answer questions.

19. Francais Contact Us Help Search Canada Site Welcome News and Publications Services to Preservation Site Map Events Exhibitions Government Read the selection below and answer the questions that follow it. The National Archives is a treasure house of the memory of Canada. We care for and share millions of documents of all kinds films, maps, diaries, treaties, journals, art, government records, photographs, sound recordings and more. Many are of unique value and exceptional beauty. Some are centuries old. All reveal how we have lived in this place called Canada and enable Canadians to better understand the story of their country and of their fellow citizens. Top Ten: In a recent survey, Canadians were asked to choose the top ten defining moments in Canadian history. The Archives holds documents relating to each one. Can you match the survey result? Puzzles: Unscramble puzzles using historical images. Pop Quiz: Test your knowledge. Map Trap: Match the event and location. This is an example of a Graphic Selection. Its from a government web-site. As you can see not all the reading questions will be based on straight text.

20. Types of Questions Remember there are two major kinds of questions in the OSSLT: Reading Questions and Writing Questions We just covered the Reading questions, now well take a look at the Writing Questions. There are detailed guides to each of these questions. The links are at the end of this presentation.. Writing Questions Open Response – Short Answer Multiple Choice Real-Life Narrative Graphic Selection Long Writing Task – News Report Long Writing Task – Series of Paragraphs Short Writing Task Multiple Choice Reading Questions

21. There are three types of writing questions on the OSSLT: Long-writing tasks Short-writing tasks and Multiple-choice questions. Writing Questions Types of Questions There are two Long-writing tasks: The news report – Should be 4 paragraphs and a series of paragraphs expressing an opinion. (which is really an essay.) – The essay must be 5 paragraphs Long Writing tasks The following are examples of actual OSSLT questions from past tests. Were just going to give you a idea of what they look like in this guide. There is a specific guide for each kind of question that goes in to much more detail. Links to all the other guides are at the back of this presentation. The following are examples of actual OSSLT questions from past tests. Were just going to give you a idea of what they look like in this guide. There is a specific guide for each kind of question that goes in to much more detail. Links to all the other guides are at the back of this presentation.

22. This is an example of a News Report task or question. In a News Report you are given the headline and a photo and you have to use them to create a story that could appear in the newspaper. The trick is to make a connection between the photo and the headline that makes sense. They give you one page, about 24 lines, to write the story use three quotes A news report usually answers the questions who, what, where, when, why and how. You are making it all up a story

23. Example of a News Report: A News Report should include: Who What When Where Why How

24. Purpose and Audience: an adult who is interested in your opinion Length: The lined space provided for y Series of Paragraphs Expressing an opinion Task: Write five paragraphs expressing an opinion on the topic below. Develop your main idea with supporting details (proof, facts, examples, etc.). Purpose and Audience: an adult who is interested in your opinion Length: The lined space provided for your written work indicates the approximate length of the writing expected. Topic: Is it important for teenagers to pay attention to world news? This is an example of a Series of Paragraphs "task or question. Its really important to follow the instructions on these. They are looking for five paragraphs, which include an introduction, three body paragraphs and a conclusion. You get two lined pages (about 50 lines) to answer these questions. A Series of Paragraphs is basically an essay. We highly recommend you write five paragraphs and treat it like an essay.

25. Short Writing Short Writing Task (Answer in full and correctly written sentences.) What was your favourite game as a child? Explain why you liked it. Rough Notes Use the space below for rough notes. Nothing you write in this space will be scored. 1 It looks like an Open Response Reading Question but it isnt.Open Response Reading Question The big difference is its marked out of 50 as opposed to 30. What is the same is: they give you 6 lines. Use them all! Whenever you have a short answer question USE ALL 6 LINES. NEVER leave a question blank…you will get zero. This is a Short Writing task or question. Its a stand-alone question, meaning it doesnt follow a reading selection.

26. Choose the sentence that does not belong in the paragraph. (1) Wayne Gretzkys early career foretells what an amazing hockey player he was to become. (2) At ten, while playing in a league with boys four years older, he scored 378 goals in 85 games. (3) That was 238 more goals than the boy who came second. (4) At 18, Gretzky scored 46 goals as an Edmonton Oiler and won the National Hockey League Rookie of the Year award. (5) The Wayne Gretzky Foundation Golf Classic raises over $120,000 a year for youth in sports. A Sentence 2 B Sentence 3 C Sentence 4 D Sentence 5 Multiple Choice This is an example of a Multiple Choice Writing question. Unlike the Multiple Choice Reading questions there is no selection attached to the question. These questions are about what they call the three writing skills. 1: Developing a main idea with sufficient supporting details 2: organizing information and ideas in a coherent manner 3: Using conventions (spelling, grammar, punctuation) in a manner that does not distract from clear communication.

27. Which is the best way to combine all the information in the following sentences? Annas assignment is due tomorrow. She has to work tonight. She is feeling rushed. F Annas assignment is due tomorrow because she is rushing to work tonight. G Anna is feeling rushed because she has to work tonight and her assignment is due tomorrow. H Since Annas assignment is due tomorrow and she has to work tonight and she is feeling rushed. J Although Anna has to work tonight and her assignment is due tomorrow because she is feeling rushed. Multiple Choice Here are a couple more. Give them a shot.

28. Choose the sentence that uses capitalization correctly. A My friend from manitoba, whose name is ari, earns money by delivering the Winnipeg herald. B My friend from Manitoba, whose name is Ari, earns money by delivering the Winnipeg herald. C My friend from manitoba, whose name is Ari, earns money by delivering the Winnipeg Herald. D My friend from Manitoba, whose name is Ari, earns money by delivering the Winnipeg Herald. Multiple Choice

29. Choose the correct option to fill in the blank. Like her mother, the artist Manuela Sanchez _________________________ F painted portraits to support her family. G her paintings of portraits supported her family. H and also painted portraits to support her family. J whose famous portraits were painted to support her family. Multiple Choice