English 20-2: Course Outline ~ January – June, 2009

Ms. C. Mayne ( This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it )

Welcome to English 20-2!

Over the next few months, we will spend significant time working on sharing and further developing your strengths, confidence and expertise in the areas of:

☺LISTENING            ☺SPEAKING                 ☺READING            ☺WRITING     

☺VIEWING (with focus/purpose)                        ☺REPRESENTING

Through our English 20-2 course, the texts (to read, listen to, view), topics of discussion and assignments/projects will be selected to enhance your learning and to provide opportunity for you to reveal your “demonstrations of learning” based on the following five outcomes of the English 20-2 Program of Studies.  Essentially, we will focus on:

• Exploring thoughts, ideas, feelings and experiences – your own, as well as                             those of others, both real and fictional;
• Comprehending  literature and other texts (like poems, films, cartoons, graphic novels) and responding personally, critically and creatively
• Organizing and expressing ideas and information, through writing, speaking, reading, representing
• Creating oral, print and visual multimedia texts to enhance the artistry of your skills and talents in communicating your ideas, feelings and experiences
• Respecting, supporting and collaborating with others

Broadening and deepening your thinking, and increasing the quality and sophistication of your communication:  this is at the ♥ of everything we will do.  My goal is that you emerge from this class knowing, understanding and respecting more than what you did – about yourself, and people in general – than you did when you first entered.

How will we accomplish this?  Through sharing “deep thoughts,” reading, writing, talking, creating… Success in English 20-2 is pretty much a guarantee, provided YOU invest  “yourself” (your ideas, creativity, energy, time, commitment…) in the conversations and projects you will be asked to complete.  I am here to help you succeed, and I believe you will.  I hope YOU have the same faith in yourself and the willingness to put “words” into “action”!!

Course Expectations:

PRODUCE SOMETHING ~ you will be producing something every day.  Really!! 

BE RESPECTFUL ~ to yourself, others, and the environment.

ATTEND CLASS ~ physically, that means “being” in class, on time, with the tools you need to do what is required; mentally, attend class with a positive, focused attitude. 

Be willing to make everyone’s day just a little bit brighter!!!

English 20-2 Course Overview

On going

• Spilling Open Project – exploring your “voice”
• D.E.A.R Fridays (Drop Everything And Read) – and reading logs 
• Strategies to improve our writing/thinking (ie. scoping out blogs, discovering “good” writing/deep thinking; creating/designing postcards…and other COOL stuff)
• Film – will be woven throughout our course

The Novel:  In what ways do characters in literature express their “voice”?  Are they being heard, or “muted”?  Why, or why not?  Why do we listen to some people, and not others?  What can we learn about our responses to the voices of others – and why do we respond as we do??  Assignments will connect with responses to ideas/issues raised in the novel.  A major project is an in-depth study of an issue arising from the novel – that you connect with and that is evident in our world. The guiding questions:  how does this “issue” stifle people’s voice?  What happens as a result?  How can we help their “voices” to be heard?

Justice Unit:  Through several texts, we will explore the various voices of the justice system.  Why do some people have the voice they have?  What is our response to these voices?  Are all the voices that speak heard “equally”??  Plenty to think about, talk about, write about…

Mask Unit:  In this unit, we will explore the “masks” we wear – the ones we choose for ourselves, and the ones “society” may expect us to wear.  What aspects of our masks are authentic, or fake?  How do the masks we wear allow us full expression of who we are; how do they stifle and mute us?  We will create our own mask, along with a script-based exploration-and-sharing of what our masks reveal about “our” voice

Shakespeare/Modern Drama – stay tuned for details

Media Literacy  and P.S.A assignment – what is the intent of the media “voices” we hear?  What media voices merit our listening, or merit our ignoring??  What voice will you use in creating your PSA assignment – and how will you ensure it will be “heard”?

Cartoon Unit (Time Permitting)

Assessment: