Simmonds Spring 2014

The course is not divided into units but is designed to scaffold your learning, thinking, reading and writing. As such, you will be exposed to the following areas of study.

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  An exploration of the theme of a shared human experience using a variety of different texts.
  

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  The formulation of your own guiding question (in relation to the ideas generated while reading your self-selected novel).
  
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  An exploration of a variety of different texts (fiction / non-fiction/ visual/ media, etc) that address your guiding question and that help formulate an answer to your question (student and teacher selected).
  
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  An exploration of a variety of different writing styles including transactional (a minimum of two pieces), expressive (a minimum of one), transactional with a research focus (a minimum of one), lyrical and poetic (a minimum of one), and visual and multi-media (a minimum of one).
  
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  Mini Lessons (focus on different genres of writing, mechanics of writing, voice, ideas, organization, etc.)
  
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  Theme books (ongoing)
  

A variety of formative and summative evaluations will be used to assess your achievement of the essential learnings for English 122 in accordance with the provincial reading and writing standards. These assessments may include: quizzes, tests, presentations, various assignments, etc. You must put a great deal of effort into this course. Your attendance at mandatory extra help may, at times, be required. As with all courses, daily attendance and a mature, positive attitude are expected. Late or incomplete assignments will not be tolerated. Extra help is available as needed – all you have to do is ask!

These are major assignments that are summative in nature and measure a variety of course outcomes. Failure to complete a hard-line assignment will result in the student not demonstrating enough proficiency of the course outcomes and will result in a student receiving an incomplete in that course. Typically, there would be 2 or 3 of these assignments in a given semester in a course.

Collecting hard-line assignments: Due dates are set well in advance and students have plenty of time to complete these assignments. If a student fails to pass the assignment in on time they have one week to receive any needed interventions. This will also allow the teacher to contact home to inform the parents that this major assignment is overdue. If after a week has passed and the student has still not completed his/her assignment, the student is immediately referred to administration. Disciplinary action may include indefinite suspension, a meeting with parents or TSPC. A plan will be put into place to allow the student to complete the assignment as soon as possible.
English 122 Essential Learnings.
1. Students will construct and deliver oral presentations on global issues which have the potential to be communicated to the community beyond the school. (S/L)

2. Students will listen to, identify and respond to the situation, audience and purpose of formalized oral communication - i.e. speech, documentary, play, radio/television commercial- evaluating concepts, ideas and information. (S/L)

3. Students will read widely and experience a variety of literary genres from various cultures and/or periods and articulate their understanding of the ways in which texts are constructed for a specific purpose. (R/V)

4. Students reflect upon a challenging text and defend/justify their position/responses to that text. This includes extracting themes and points of view. (R/V)

5. Students will demonstrate critical thinking and analysis when researching information. For example, they should be able to detect bias and evaluate the effectiveness of a variety of texts which purportedly deliver the “same” message. (R/V)

6. Students will respond critically to a novel of their own choosing, explaining why they chose it and identifying audience, author’s purpose, style, potential bias, and applying literary theory. (W/R, S/L)

7. Students will use writing and other ways of representing to explore the writing processes and the strategies they use as well as to critically and personally respond to texts. Proficiency in self-revision should be evident. (W/R)

8. Students will produce writing and other forms of representation characterized by increasing complexity of thought, structure and conventions (W/R)

9. Students will produce a significant written work in which they will create and argue a clearly formulated thesis with support from primary and secondary sources, appropriately cited and conforming to the requirements of MLA format (suggested length 800-1000 words) (W/R)

10. Students will apply a variety of note-making techniques for various purposes. (W/R)