COURSE OVERVIEW
Welcome to a new year of English! The objective of this class is to develop and consolidate the skills that students will need for their continued progress in Reading and Writing in high school English.
The emphasis will be on learning to plan, write, and revise each piece of writing, with the goal of producing independent, clear-thinking writers, capable of recognizing their strengths and addressing their weaknesses. In our reading, we will be thoughtful and critical. In our speech we will endeavour to be respectful, clear and persuasive.
First Trimester (September-November)
In the first trimester, we will review our Reading and Writing strategies, as well as Punctuation and Parts of Speech. Our focus will be on Expository and Descriptive writing, which we will explore through Quick Writes, Letters of Introduction, Descriptive texts, Poetry, and short Informative texts.
Second Trimester (December-March)
In the second trimester, we will continue to build on our understanding of reading and writing conventions, and develop our Planning and Revision Strategies. Our focus will be on Argumentative and Persuasive writing, which we will explore through Advertising and Promotion, Opinion texts, Presentation and Debate.
Third Trimester (April-June)
In the third, and final trimester, we will consolidate our skills and strategies, and put them to work through an exploration of Stories and Narrative Structure and Strategies. Our focus will be on various forms of Narrative writing, which we will explore through plays, short stories, novels and films.
Due Dates & Evaluation
In addition to regularly communicating with your parents, or guardians, I make regular use of the the calendar on www.acces8.com. Please use this tool, and consider subscribing to our Google Calendar so that you will have the latest information regarding assignments and evaluations.
Please note that all of the documents, plans and rubrics you will need this year are available on www.acces8.com, under “Anglais”, and you are always welcome to email me at william.duncan@nbed.nb.ca.
While most of you will be very familiar with the difference Formative and Summative assignments by now, I would like to take this opportunity to explain my approach:
Like anything else, writing only gets better when you practice, and in the interest of establishing the kinds of habits that will serve you well in high-school, every major writing assignment you do for me will go through multiple drafts. Your rough draft is formative; I will use it to indicate what you should be working on, and what (if anything) is missing. Your final draft is summative. You will have a due date for each draft; if you choose to skip the rough draft date, you are also choosing to skip right away to the summative assessment, and missing out on any helpful feedback I might be able to provide . Since formative assessment like this can’t help but improve your final text, I encourage you to choose wisely.
The Endeavour (End-of-Year Project)
The Endeavour will give you the opportunity to identify a problem you would like to solve, or a question that you would like to answer, and provide you with time and a forum to address it. You’ll propose a project, plan out your time, and present your results in whatever way is most suitable.
Welcome to a new year of English! The objective of this class is to develop and consolidate the skills that students will need for their continued progress in Reading and Writing in high school English.
The emphasis will be on learning to plan, write, and revise each piece of writing, with the goal of producing independent, clear-thinking writers, capable of recognizing their strengths and addressing their weaknesses. In our reading, we will be thoughtful and critical. In our speech we will endeavour to be respectful, clear and persuasive.
First Trimester (September-November)
In the first trimester, we will review our Reading and Writing strategies, as well as Punctuation and Parts of Speech. Our focus will be on Expository and Descriptive writing, which we will explore through Quick Writes, Letters of Introduction, Descriptive texts, Poetry, and short Informative texts.
- Resume (CV)
- Letter of Introduction
- Interview
- Oral comprehension
- Descriptive text
- Reading comprehension
- Expository text (wiki)
Second Trimester (December-March)
In the second trimester, we will continue to build on our understanding of reading and writing conventions, and develop our Planning and Revision Strategies. Our focus will be on Argumentative and Persuasive writing, which we will explore through Advertising and Promotion, Opinion texts, Presentation and Debate.
- Oral comprehension
- Reflection
- Opinion text
- Reading comprehension
- Advertisement
- Oral comprehension
Third Trimester (April-June)
In the third, and final trimester, we will consolidate our skills and strategies, and put them to work through an exploration of Stories and Narrative Structure and Strategies. Our focus will be on various forms of Narrative writing, which we will explore through plays, short stories, novels and films.
- Reading comprehension
- Writing portfolio
- Narrative text
- Oral comprehension
- Endeavour
- Oral comprehension
Due Dates & Evaluation
In addition to regularly communicating with your parents, or guardians, I make regular use of the the calendar on www.acces8.com. Please use this tool, and consider subscribing to our Google Calendar so that you will have the latest information regarding assignments and evaluations.
Please note that all of the documents, plans and rubrics you will need this year are available on www.acces8.com, under “Anglais”, and you are always welcome to email me at william.duncan@nbed.nb.ca.
While most of you will be very familiar with the difference Formative and Summative assignments by now, I would like to take this opportunity to explain my approach:
Like anything else, writing only gets better when you practice, and in the interest of establishing the kinds of habits that will serve you well in high-school, every major writing assignment you do for me will go through multiple drafts. Your rough draft is formative; I will use it to indicate what you should be working on, and what (if anything) is missing. Your final draft is summative. You will have a due date for each draft; if you choose to skip the rough draft date, you are also choosing to skip right away to the summative assessment, and missing out on any helpful feedback I might be able to provide . Since formative assessment like this can’t help but improve your final text, I encourage you to choose wisely.
The Endeavour (End-of-Year Project)
The Endeavour will give you the opportunity to identify a problem you would like to solve, or a question that you would like to answer, and provide you with time and a forum to address it. You’ll propose a project, plan out your time, and present your results in whatever way is most suitable.