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COURSE OUTLINE

Course Title: English
Course Code: ENG1D
Grade: 9
Course Type: Academic
Credit Value: 1
Prerequisite: None
Curriculum Policy Document: English, The Ontario Curriculum, Grades 9 and 10, 2007
Department: English
Course Developer: Mr. Stephen Coderre; Mr. Stephen Baker
Development Date: September 2003
Course Revised by: Various
Revision Date: 2007

Course Description:

This course is designed to develop the oral communication, reading, writing, and media literacy skills that students need for success in their secondary school academic programs and in their daily lives. Students will analyse literary texts from contemporary and historical periods, interpret informational and graphic texts, and create oral, written, and media texts in a variety of forms. An important focus will be on the use of strategies that contribute to effective communication. The course is intended to prepare students for the Grade 10 academic English course, which leads to university or college preparation courses in Grades 11 and 12.

Unit	Titles and Descriptions	Time and Sequence
Unit 1	Media Study On Sunday, October 30, 1938, millions of radio listeners were shocked when radio news alerts announced the arrival of Martians. Many ran out of their homes screaming while others packed up their cars and fled. Although what the radio listeners heard was a portion of Orson Welles' adaptation of War of the Worlds. Many listeners believed what they heard on the radio was real. The power of radio had fooled the listeners. They had become accustomed to believing everything they heard on the radio, without questioning it. Now they had learned - the hard way. Using this case study to launch the unit, students will develop an understanding of purpose and audience, how messages are interpreted, how audiences respond and the different production perspectives. Next students will look at how media conventions and techniques influence content. Advertising formulas like coca-cola, cinematic formulas like romance and horror will be deconstructed. Students will analyze production costs for advertising on television and in print and look at how product placement affects advertising success. A discovery of the magic or photo and lighting manipulation will follow. Finally, students will look at how the aesthetic qualities of music, sound and colour in media contribute to audience understanding and enjoyment. Students will practice the creation of media techniques when blogging to demonstrate their understanding of concepts.	12 hours
Unit 2	Grammar Study In this unit students will review the three verb tenses and four verb aspects and rules associated with the construction of sentences. Students will craft complete sentences that communicate their meaning by looking carefully at the elements of sentences and at types of sentences to better understand sentence structure and style and how they work together. By explaining and practicing grammar rules in isolation first then students will have the opportunity to apply these skills throughout the course.	6 hours
Unit 3	Altered State Short Stories Have you ever read a story or viewed a movie where the ending may surprise you? Where what you thought you have seen really wasn't what it was? Where nothing is as it seems? This kind of story has recently been a driving force behind Hollywood movies such as The Matrix, The Thirteenth Floor, and The Sixth Sense. There are many stories in literature that have the same type of setting and plot. In this module, we will be taking a closer look at plot in a short story or novel. There are three short stories that will be read in this section. All of them have either strange plot twists, surprise endings, and have a reality that isn't quite what it seems. In addition, students will learn about the basic elements of plot in a story. Students will look at similes, metaphors, and allegory both in these stories and in some modern song lyrics by the Eagles and Canadian musician Bruce Cockburn. Students will create a short story along the story draft method that is provided in this unit.	30 hours
Unit 4	Gothic Horror Horror is a very established genre in English literature. Victorian literature gave us Dracula and Frankenstein. Weird Tales comic books and Alfred Hitchcock anthologies were a mainstay for teenagers in the 1940s and 50s. One modern writer, Stephen King, is one of the best selling and prolific authors of the 1980s and 90s. The horror genre has caught on with great success abroad and sometimes translated into English. One of the most compelling horror stories of the last few years is Ring (Ringu) from Japan, a series of novellas and comic books. In this unit we will be looking at some rather scary and disturbing stories; perhaps even weirder stories than in the last module. Too much of the horror genre has degenerated, in the last thirty years in North America to the concept of "slasher flicks"; ultra-violent, plotless representations of shock value horror. These are not the kind of stories we are exploring here. This unit will deal with the more classic forms of horror which are based on suspense and weird ideas. We will look at stories ranging from 150 years old to scripts from as recently as 1998. We will be studying various forms of presentation ranging from a movie script excerpt, to short stories, to a Japanese manga comic. We will look at a classic short story called The Cat by gothic writer Edgar Allen Poe. This story will have a significant vocabulary studies. Some of the activities that are set with these stories will have you searching the net for weird but true stories that pop up in the news everyday. Issues of the exploitation of women as victims and mentally ill people portrayed as the evildoers will also be explored through your reflections of various articles provided here. You will learn the format of film scripts and short story fiction paragraphs. By the end of this unit you will be able to write a bit in both formats. You will also be using your internet research skills here. The literary devices that will be explored are personification, foreshadowing, and the use of euphemism. The grammar points tackle quoted and reported speech as well as the punctuation of quotes.	30 hours
Unit 5	Novel Study There are two novels to choose from in this unit. On reading a longer work of fiction students will bring several reading and writing skills to bear at once. The novels are presented in the following ways: students are asked to read the novel in sections. In each section students are provided with some comments on the characters and what is going on in the plot. The notes will comment on the main characters as students get to know them. Because the novel contains some difficult vocabulary, definitions for words students may not know are provided. Each section of the novel will contain an idea from the novel to write about and submit to your teacher so she may evaluate it for you.	30 hours
	Final Evaluation The final assessment task is a two hour proctored final examination worth 30% of the student’s final mark. Students will be asked to demonstrate their understanding of skills and concepts learned and practiced in the course.	2 hours
	Total	110 hours

Teaching / Learning Strategies:

Since the over-riding aim of this course is to help students use language skillfully, confidently and flexibly, a wide variety of instructional strategies are used to provide learning opportunities to accommodate a variety of learning styles, interests and ability levels. These include:

Reading various works	Independent research	Directed Reading Activities
Reading Responses	Direct Instruction	Peer Practice
Independent Study	Writing Processes	Writing to Learn
Journal writing	Portfolio	Report
Conferencing	Issue-Based Analysis	Multimedia Presentations
Work Sheets	Guided Internet Research	Guided Writing
Note Making	Visual Stimuli

Assessment and Evaluation Strategies of Student Performance:

Assessment is a systematic process of collecting information or evidence about student learning. Evaluation is the judgment we make about the assessments of student learning based on established criteria. The purpose of assessment is to improve student learning. This means that judgments of student performance must be criterion-referenced so that feedback can be given that includes clearly expressed next steps for improvement. Tools of varying complexity are used by the teacher to facilitate this. For the more complex evaluations, the criteria are incorporated into a rubric where levels of performance for each criterion are stated in language that can be understood by students.

Strategy	Purpose	Who	Assessment Tool
Review Sheet	Diagnostic	Teacher	Checklist responses
Discussion Board Posting / Exercise Questions	Assessment	Self/teacher	Checklist
Discussion Board Posting / Internet Research	Assessment	Self/teacher	Marking scheme
Newswire Services Analysis	Assessment	Self/teacher	Marking scheme
Novel Analysis	Assessment	Peer/teacher	Rating Scale
Worksheets	Evaluation	Teacher	Checklist
Literary Devices Exercises	Evaluation	Teacher	Marking Scheme
Unit Tests	Evaluation	Teacher	Marking scheme
Vocabulary Exercises	Evaluation	Teacher	Checklist
Grammar Exercises	Evaluation	Teacher	Rating scale
Writing Assignments	Evaluation	Teacher	Marking Scheme
Media Analysis Exercises	Evaluation	Teacher	Marking Scheme
Book Review Report	Evaluation	Teacher	Rubric
Sentence Analysis Exercises	Evaluation	Teacher	Rubric
Reports	Evaluation	Teacher	Rubric
Simulation reports	Evaluation	Teacher	Rubric
Multimedia presentation	Evaluation	Teacher	Rating scale
Internet research	Evaluation	Teacher	Rubric
Final Exam	Evaluation	Teacher	Checklist/Rating Scale

Assessment is embedded within the instructional process throughout each unit rather than being an isolated event at the end. Often, the learning and assessment tasks are the same, with formative assessment provided throughout the unit. In every case, the desired demonstration of learning is articulated clearly and the learning activity is planned to make that demonstration possible. This process of beginning with the end in mind helps to keep focus on the expectations of the course as stated in the course guideline. The evaluations are expressed as a percentage based upon the levels of achievement.

Note on Oral Communication: Because this is an online course, oral communication is taught and assessed throughout the course using two devices. Students will be required throughout the course to participate in discussions. Some of these will take place on discussion boards where students will post their ideas about a topic at hand in guided discussion format. Students will be required to respond to the ideas of their course-mates. All students will be assessed on their ability to listen, to speak and to think about the strategies they use to do so. In addition students will see icons of speakers throughout the course which they will click on to hear ideas being spoken about and to tape themselves doing the same.

Overall Expectations - ENG1D

ORAL COMMUNICATION
Overall Expectations
EOC.01	Listening to Understand: listen in order to understand and respond appropriately in a variety of situations for a variety of purposes;
EOC.02	Speaking to Communicate: use speaking skills and strategies appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes;
EOC.03	Reflecting on Skills and Strategies: reflect on and identify their strengths as listeners and speakers, areas for improvement, and the strategies they found most helpful in oral communication situations.
READING AND LITERATURE STUDIES
Overall Expectations
ERL.01	Reading for Meaning: read and demonstrate an understanding of a variety of literary, informational, and graphic texts, using a range of strategies to construct meaning;
ERL.02	Understanding Form and Style: recognize a variety of text forms, text features, and stylistic elements and demonstrate understanding of how they help communicate meaning;
ERL.03	Reading With Fluency: use knowledge of words and cueing systems to read fluently;
ERL.04	Reflecting on Skills and Strategies: reflect on and identify their strengths as readers, areas for improvement, and the strategies they found most helpful before, during, and after reading.
WRITING
Overall Expectations
EWR.01	Developing and Organizing Content: generate, gather, and organize ideas and information to write for an intended purpose and audience;
EWR.02	Using Knowledge of Form and Style: draft and revise their writing, using a variety of literary, informational, and graphic forms and stylistic elements appropriate for the purpose and audience;
EWR.03	Applying Knowledge of Conventions: use editing, proofreading, and publishing skills and strategies, and knowledge of language conventions, to correct errors, refine expression, and present their work effectively;
EWR.04	Reflecting on Skills and Strategies: reflect on and identify their strengths as writers, areas for improvement, and the strategies they found most helpful at different stages in the writing process.
MEDIA STUDIES
Overall Expectations
EMS.01	Understanding Media Texts: demonstrate an understanding of a variety of media texts;
EMS.02	Understanding Media Forms, Conventions, and Techniques: identify some media forms and explain how the conventions and techniques associated with them are used to create meaning;
EMS.03	Creating Media Texts: create a variety of media texts for different purposes and audiences, using appropriate forms, conventions, and techniques;
EMS.04	Reflecting on Skills and Strategies: reflect on and identify their strengths as media interpreters and creators, areas for improvement, and the strategies they found most helpful in understanding and creating media texts.

The Final Grade:

The evaluation for this course is based on the student's achievement of curriculum expectations and the demonstrated skills required for effective learning.

The percentage grade represents the quality of the student's overall achievement of the expectations for the course and reflects the corresponding level of achievement as described in the achievement chart for the discipline.

A credit is granted and recorded for this course if the student's grade is 50% or higher. The final grade for this course will be determined as follows:

• 70% of the grade will be based upon evaluations conducted throughout the course. This portion of the grade will reflect the student's most consistent level of achievement throughout the course, although special consideration will be given to more recent evidence of achievement.



• 30% of the grade will be based on a final examination administered at the end of the course. This exam will be based on an evaluation of achievement from all four categories of the Achievement Chart for the course and of expectations from all units of the course. This exam includes well-formulated multiple-choice questions as well as long-answer type qestions.

The report card will focus on two distinct but related aspects of student achievement; the achievement of curriculum expectations and the development of learning skills. The report card will contain separate sections for the reporting of these two aspects.

A Summary Description of Achievement in Each Percentage Grade Range and Corresponding Level of Achievement
Percentage Grade Range	Achievement Level	Summary Description
80-100%	Level 4	A very high to outstanding level of achievement. Achievement is above the provincial standard.
70-79%	Level 3	A high level of achievement. Achievement is at the provincial standard.
60-69%	Level 2	A moderate level of achievement. Achievement is below, but approaching, the provincial standard.
50-59%	Level 1	A passable level of achievement. Achievement is below the provincial standard.
below 50%	Level R	Insufficient achievement of curriculum expectations. A credit will not be granted.

Achievement Chart: English, Grades 9-12

Categories	50-59% (Level 1)	60-69% (Level 2)	70-79% (Level 3)	80-100% (Level 4)
Knowledge and Understanding - Subject-specific content acquired in each course (knowledge), and the comprehension of its meaning and significance (understanding)
	The student:
Knowledge of content (e.g., forms of text; strategies used when listening and speaking, reading,writing, and viewing and representing; elements of style; literary terminology, concepts, and theories; language conventions)	demonstrates limited knowledge of content	demonstrates some knowledge of content	demonstrates considerable knowledge of content	demonstrates thorough knowledge of content
Understanding of content (e.g.,concepts; ideas; opinions; relationships among facts, ideas,concepts,themes)	demonstrates limited understanding of content	demonstrates some understanding of content	demonstrates considerable understanding of content	demonstrates thorough and insightful understanding of content
Thinking - The use of critical and creative thinking skills and/or processes
	The student:
Use of planning skills (e.g., generating ideas, gathering information, focusing research, organizing information)	uses planning skills with limited effectiveness	uses planning skills with moderate effectiveness	uses planning skills with considerable effectiveness	uses planning skills with a high degree of effectiveness
Use of processing skills (e.g., drawing inferences, interpreting, analysing, synthesizing, evaluating)	uses processing skills with limited effectiveness	uses processing skills with some effectiveness	uses processing skills with considerable effectiveness	uses processing skills with a high degree of effectiveness
Use of critical/creative thinking processess (e.g., oral discourse, research, critical analysis, critical literacy, metacognition, creative process)	uses critical / creative thinking processes with limited effectiveness	uses critical / creative thinking processes with some effectiveness	uses critical / creative thinking processes with considerable effectiveness	uses critical / creative thinking processes with a high degree of effectiveness
Communication - The conveying of meaning through various forms
	The student:
Expression and organization of ideas and information (e.g., clear expression, logical organization) in oral, graphic, and written forms, including media forms	expresses and organizes ideas and information with limited effectiveness	expresses and organizes ideas and information with some effectiveness	expresses and organizes ideas and information with considerable effectiveness	expresses and organizes ideas and information with a high degree of effectiveness
Communication for different audiences and purposes (e.g., use of appropriate style, voice, point of view) in oral, graphic, and written forms, including media forms	communicates for different audiences and purposes with limited effectiveness	communicates for different audiences and purposes with some effectiveness	communicates for different audiences and purposes with considerable effectiveness	communicates for different audiences and purposes with a high degree of effectiveness
Use of conventions (e.g., grammar, spelling, punctuation, usage), vocabulary, and terminology of the discipline in oral, graphic, and written forms, including media forms	uses conventions, vocabulary, and terminology of the discipline with limited effectiveness	uses conventions, vocabulary, and terminology of the discipline with some effectiveness	uses conventions, vocabulary, and terminology of the discipline with considerable effectiveness	uses conventions, vocabulary, and terminology of the discipline with a high degree of effectiveness
Application - The use of knowledge and skills to make connections within and between various contexts
	The student:
Application of knowledge and skills (e.g.,literacy strategies and processes; literary terminology, concepts, and theories) in familiar contexts	applies knowledge and skills in familiar contexts with limited effectiveness	applies knowledge and skills in familiar contexts with some effectiveness	applies knowledge and skills in familiar contexts with considerable effectiveness	applies knowledge and skills in familiar contexts with a high degree of effectiveness
Transfer of knowledge and skills (e.g., literacy strategies and processes; literary terminology, concepts, and theories) to new contexts	transfers knowledge and skills to new contexts with limited effectiveness	transfers knowledge and skills to new contexts with some effectiveness	transfers knowledge and skills to new contexts with considerable effectiveness	transfers knowledge and skills to new contexts with a high degree of effectiveness
Making connections within and between various contexts (e.g., between the text and personal knowledge and experience, other texts, and the world outside school)	makes connections within and between various contexts with limited effectiveness	makes connections within and between various contexts with some effectiveness	makes connections within and between various contexts with considerable effectiveness	makes connections within and between various contexts with a high degree of effectiveness

Resources:

• ENG1D online course of study
• dictionary
• Short Stories: War of the Worlds, The Sound of Thunder, An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, Beware of the Dog, The Veldt, The Black Cat, The Lottery, Night Wire
• Scripts: The Ring by Suzuki Kouji
• Novel: Skud by Dennis Foon or The Chrysalids by John Wyndham
• Play: Twelfth Night by Shakespeare
• thesaurus
• various internet websites

Program Planning Considerations for English:

Teachers who are planning a program in English must take into account considerations in a number of important areas. Essential information that pertains to all disciplines is provided in the companion piece to this document, The Ontario Curriculum, Grades 9 to 12: Program Planning and Assessment, 2000. The areas of concern to all teachers that are outlined there include the following:

• types of secondary school courses
• education for exceptional students
• the role of technology in the curriculum
• English as a second language (ESL) and English literacy development (ELD)
• career education
• cooperative education and other workplace experiences
• health and safety

Considerations relating to the areas listed above that have particular relevance for program planning in English are noted here.

Education for Exceptional Students. In planning courses in English, teachers should take into account the needs of exceptional students as set out in their Individual Education Plan. English courses reflect the creative part of our literary world, which offers a vast array of opportunities for exceptional students. Students who use alternative techniques for communication may find a venue for their talents as writers. Just as English responds to the needs and demands of the greater world of work, English courses are largely shaped by the needs and demands of students who will all eventually end up in this greater world.

The Role of Technology in the Curriculum. Information technology is considered a learning tool that must be accessed by English students when the situation is appropriate. As a result, students will develop transferable skills through their experience with word processing, internet research, presentation software, and telecommunication tools, as would be expected in any business environment.

English As a Second Language and English Literacy Development (ESL/ELD). This English course can provide a wide range of options to address the needs of ESL/ELD students. Detailed analysis of the components of sentences aid ESL students in mastering the English language and all of its idiosyncrasies. We have purposely chosen literature from different countries to enrich out student's own experiences. In addition, since all occupations require employees with a wide range of English skills and abilities, many students will learn how their backgrounds and language skills can contribute to their success in the larger world.

Career Education. English definitely helps prepare students for employment in a huge number of diverse areas. The skills, knowledge and creativity that students acquire through this English course are essential for a wide range of careers. Being able to express oneself in a clear concise manner without ambiguity would be an overall intention of this English course, as it helps students prepare for success in their working lives.

Cooperative Education and Other Workplace Experiences. By applying the skills they have developed, students will readily connect their classroom learning to real-life activities in the world in which they live. Cooperative education and other workplace experiences will broaden their knowledge of employment opportunities in a wide range of fields. In addition, students will increase their understanding of workplace practices and the nature of the employer-employee relationship. Teachers of English should maintain links with community-based businesses to ensure that students have access to hands-on experiences that will reinforce the knowledge they have gained in school.

Health and Safety. The English program provides the reading skills for the student to be able to explore the variety of concepts relating to health and safety in the workplace. Teachers who provide support for students in workplace learning placements need to assess placements for safety and ensure that students can read and understand the importance of issues relating to health and safety in the workplace.