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COURSE OUTLINE

Course Title: English
Course Code: ENG4U
Grade: 12
Course Type: University Preparation
Credit Value: 1
Prerequisite: ENG3U
Curriculum Policy Document: English, The Ontario Curriculum, Grades 11 and 12, 2007 (Revisded)
Department: English
Course Developer: Dr. John Frogley
Development Date: April 2003
Course Revised by: Mr. John Smallwood and Ms. Nicole Dixon
Revision Date: 2007

Course Description:

This course emphasizes the consolidation of the literacy, communication, and critical and creative thinking skills necessary for success in academic and daily life. Students will analyse a range of challenging literary texts from various periods, countries, and cultures; interpret and evaluate informational and graphic texts; and create oral, written, and media texts in a variety of forms. An important focus will be on using academic language coherently and confidently, selecting the reading strategies best suited to particular texts and particular purposes for reading, and developing greater control in writing. The course is intended to prepare students for university, college, or the workplace.

Unit	Titles and Descriptions	Time and Sequence
Unit 1	Hamlet Students will read the play by acts. At the end of each act there is a short note on the overall purpose and effect of the section that has just been studied. This will enable students to keep this lengthy play together in their own minds and allow for reflections on the larger design features and ideas in the play. Students will examine the intricate "dance" of relationships that Shakespeare creates, the balance and care with which he pulls together his cast of characters. At the end of each Act students will select one writing task from a choice of questions to respond to. In some sections these questions have students reaching outside the play to make connections to modern film, social issues, and historical context. In other sections students will write reflectively about the characters and their thoughts, and feelings. At the end of the play students will write a 1200 word essay on one of three topics.	25 hours
Unit 2	Poetry In this poetry unit students are required to complete six of the lessons after reading all the poetry presented. As students study the poems they will do some searching about the poet. Who was or is this poet? When did they write the poem? Where do or did they come from? What is significant about their work? This unit is designed to enforce the notion that poetry is not a secret, incomprehensible world. Rather, if a poem is good, it should actually expand our ideas of the world and help us see things in a new and different way. All poems reveal their meaning within the poem itself. In other words, one shouldn't have to (usually) look to outside sources to figure out what's going on inside the poem or why or how the poet wrote it—the poem's meaning should be contained within the poem itself. One way to reveal a poem's meaning is to deconstruct it—take the poem apart line by line and word by word and use those parts to find its meaning. Using literary devices students will deconstruct and reflect upon the poems being studied.	17 hours
Unit 3	Short Stories Students will be presented eight short stories in three groups. For each story there is background information on the writer, the actual story, follow up notes on the story to be read and discussed. Then for each group students will complete one written assignment. The assignments are far ranging but they all require the students to reach beyond the actual story into another text. For example after reading Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story students will watch the recent movie The Scarlet Letter and discuss the film-maker's treatment of Puritan morality in this presentation and compare (and contrast) it to the view presented in the story. Of after reading William Faulkner’s short story students will make connections to a Poe short story of their choosing.	25 hours
Unit 4	Novel Study and Media Yann Martel's Life of Pi has received an extraordinary amount of attention since it was first published in 2001. Critics and casual readers alike have been drawn to the storytelling they find in the novel. While some have used terms such as parable, allegory and fable in their discussions of the work, all agree that Martel has produced a Canadian novel that is utterly unlike anything that has yet been published in this country. Tying the story to one technique or another may be our occasional task here, but the main feature of this novel, for our purposes, will be to examine the narrative for its richness and colour, for its excitement, and for what it illustrates about survival and belief. Rather than being tied to a farm, a city block or a small town, Life of Pi is truly international in that it begins in India, shifts to the South Pacific, lands on an uninhabited island and finally washes ashore in Mexico. The novel is thus intercontinental, its style experimental and its meaning a matter, finally, of what students will wish to choose for themselves as the work ends. The novel will be read in sections with notes provided for each. Written assignments again will accompany the sections. At the beginning of the unit students will be asked to engage in a gap analysis of their media understanding and skills. Using the results of this gap analysis, students will then target their weak areas of understanding to design a media project for this unit. As well students will write a final formal essay on the novel.	40 hours
	Final Evaluation The final assessment task is a three hour proctored final exam worth 30% of the student’s final mark in the course.	3 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
Multimedia Production	Direct Instruction	Research Process
Independent Study	Writing Processes	Writing to Learn
Journal writing	Portfolio	Report
Conferencing	Textbooks	Expressing Another Point of View
Interviews	Guided Internet Research	Guided Writing
Mentoring	Independent Reading	Reading Responses
Writing to Learn	Media Analysis	Story Mapping
Brainstorming	Response Journal	Crossword Puzzle Construction
Role Playing	Creative Writing	Issue Based Analysis
Comparative Essay Writing	Simulation

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
Discussion Postings	Diagnostic	Teacher	Anecdotal records
Interview	Diagnostic	Teacher	Anecdotal records
Portfolio	Diagnostic	Self	Anecdotal records
Discussion Board Posting / Exercise Questions	Assessment	Self/teacher	Checklist
Brainstorming	Assessment	Self/peer/teacher	Anecdotal records
Response Journal	Assessment	Self/teacher	Marking scheme
Interview	Assessment	Self	Anecdotal records
Internet Research	Assessment	Teacher	Rating scale
Vocabulary Builder Exercise	Assessment	Teacher	Checklist
Peer Teaching	Assessment	Peers/Teacher	Anecdotal records
Creative Writing	Assessment	Teacher	Checklist
Issue Based Analysis	Assessment	Teacher	Checklist
Simulation	Assessment	Teacher	Anecdotal records
Response Journal	Evaluation	Teacher	Rating scale
Essay Writing	Evaluation	Teacher	Rubric
Crossword Puzzle Construction	Evaluation	Teacher	Checklist
Role Playing	Evaluation	Teacher	Checklist
Comparative Essay Writing	Evaluation	Teacher	Rubric
Unit Tests	Evaluation	Teacher	Marking scheme
Vocabulary Exercises	Evaluation	Teacher	Checklist
Simulation	Evaluation	Teacher	Rating scale
Multimedia Presentation	Evaluation	Teacher	Rubric
Project	Evaluation	Teacher	Rubric
Final Exam	Evaluation	Teacher	Rubric

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.

Overall Expectations - ENG4U

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 evaluation of a written essay administered at the end of the course. This will be evaluated using a rubric based on the achievement chart.

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.

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:

• ENG4U online course of study
• Hamlet, Prince of Denmarkby William Shakespeare
• various poems and short stories
• The Life of Pi by Yann Martel or Fifth Business by Robertson Davies
• dictionary
• 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 parts of speech, vocabulary and sentence, paragraph and essay structure will help ESL students in mastering the English language and all of its idiosyncrasies. 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.