Curriculum Overall Expectations

Oral Communication 

1. Listening to Understand: listen in order to understand and respond appropriately in a variety of situations for a variety of purposes; 

2. Speaking to Communicate: use speaking skills and strategies appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes; 

3. 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 

1. Reading for Meaning: read and demonstrate an understanding of a variety of informational, literary, and graphic texts, using a range of strategies to construct meaning; 

2. Understanding Form and Style: recognize a variety of text forms, text features, and stylistic elements and demonstrate understanding of how they help communicate meaning; 

3. Reading With Fluency: use knowledge of words and cueing systems to read fluently; 

4. 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 

1. Developing and Organizing Content: generate, gather, and organize ideas and information to write for an intended purpose and audience; 

2. Using Knowledge of Form and Style: draft and revise their writing, using a variety of informational, literary, and graphic forms and stylistic elements appropriate for the purpose and audience; 

3. 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; 

4. 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 

1. Understanding Media Texts: demonstrate an understanding of a variety of media texts; 

2. 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; 

3. Creating Media Texts: create a variety of media texts for different purposes and audiences, using appropriate forms, conventions, and techniques; 

4. 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. 

COURSE CONTENT

1) Myths and Legends - This short story unit will explore various culturally relevant themes and various authors who have helped contribute to classic and/or modern aboriginal literature. Students will create and present a research project for their culminating unit project.  --- 20 hours

2) Land and Identity - This thematic unit will explore various aspects of our specified topic. This topic will focus on a significant and relevant issue facing the broad aboriginal community. This unit will include a media project as well as an essay.  --- 25 hours

3) Seasons - This poetry unit will explore various aspects and dimensions of verse on a specific theme. Students will create and reflect on their writing as well as create and present a media project on provided topic. --- 25 hours

4) “April Rain Tree” By Beatrice Mosionier – This novel study unit will provide students with an opportunity to explore a single piece of literature in-depth. Students will create and present a research project on their novel. Students will also author a grade appropriate unit essay on a provided topic of the unit novel.  --- 30 hours

Final Assignment: I.S.P. & Exam --- 10  hours

Total 110 Hours 

TEACHING & LEARNING STRATEGIES 

1. Direct Instruction (teacher-led) 

2. Small Group Discussion 

3. Class Activity (teacher facilitation) 

4. Worksheets/Surveys 

5. 1:1 Conferencing Teacher & Student

6. Silent individual reading 

7. Brainstorming 

8. Use of video or audio materials 

9. Role Playing 

10. Field Trip 

ASSESSMENT & EVALUATION

Purpose 

The primary purpose of assessment is to improve student learning. Assessment relates directly to the expectations for the course. 

A variety of assessments for and as learning are conducted on a regular basis to allow ample opportunities for students to improve and ultimately demonstrate their full range of learning and in order for the teacher to gather information to provide feedback. Assessment tasks relate to the success criteria set out in lesson plans. Success criteria allow students to see what quality looks like. 

Evaluation is the process of judging the quality of student work in relation to the achievement chart categories and criteria, and assigning a percentage grade to represent that quality. Evaluation is based on gathering evidence of student achievement through: 

• Products 

• Observations 

• Conversations

Assessment for Learning - we provide feedback and coaching 

Assessment FOR Learning is the process of seeking and interpreting evidence for the use of learners and their teachers to decide where the learners are in their learning, where they need to go, and how best to go there. 

Assessment as Learning - we help students monitor progress, set goals, reflect on their learning. Assessment AS Learning is the process of the explicit fostering of students’ capacity over time to be their own best assessors, but teachers need to start by presenting and modeling external, structured opportunities for students to assess themselves. 

Assessment of Learning – we use assessments as ways of providing evaluative statements about the level of achievement of students 

Assessment OF Learning is the assessment that becomes public and results in statements of symbols (marks/grades/levels of achievement) about how well students are learning. It often contributes to pivotal decisions that will affect students’ future. 

Grading 

• The final grade is based on performance in 3 areas: products, observations, conversations. 

• 70% of the grade is based on evaluations conducted throughout the course. 

• 30% is based on a final evaluation. 

Weighting of categories 

Knowledge & Understanding --- 25%

Thinking ---25%

Communication --- 25%

Application --- 25%

Assessment Tools 

Marking schemes ; Rubrics ; Anecdotal comments ; Checklists ;

Assessment Strategies 

1)Assessment for Learning :

Quizzes ; Presentations ; Journals ; Independent Study Assignment ; Reading Aloud ; Work Sheets 

2)Assessment as Learning :

Reflective Journal ; Exit and Entrance Cards ; Self/Peer assessment 

3)Assessment of Learning :

Tests ; Presentations ; Journals ; Essays ; Projects ; Art Exhibits ; Debates ; Work Sheets .

CONSIDERATIONS FOR PROGRAM PLANNING

Instructional Approaches 

Teachers in the school are expected to: 

• clarify the purpose for learning 

• help students activate prior knowledge 

• differentiate instruction for individual students and small groups according to need 

• explicitly teach and model learning strategies 

• encourage students to talk through their thinking and learning processes 

• provide many opportunities for students to practise and apply their developing knowledge and skills 

• apply effective teaching approaches involve students in the use of higher-level thinking skill 

• encourage students to look beyond the literal meaning of texts 

Teachers use a variety of instructional and learning strategies best suited to the particular type of learning. Students have opportunities to learn in a variety of ways: 

• individually

• cooperatively

• independently with teacher direction

• through investigation involving hands-on experience

• through examples followed by practice

• by encouraging students to gain experience with varied and interesting applications of the new knowledge. Rich contexts for learning open the door for students to see the “big ideas” of mathematics that will enable and encourage them to reason mathematically throughout their lives.

Program Considerations for English Language Learners

Teachers must incorporate appropriate strategies for instruction and assessment to facilitate the success of the English language learners in their classrooms. These strategies include:

• use of a variety of instructional strategies (e.g., extensive use of visual cues, graphic organizers, scaffolding; previewing of textbooks; pre-teaching of key vocabulary; peer tutoring; strategic use of students’ first languages)

• use of a variety of learning resources (e.g., visual material, simplified text, bilingual dictionaries, and materials that reflect cultural diversity)

• use of assessment accommodations (e.g., granting of extra time; use of oral interviews, demonstrations or visual representations, or tasks requiring completion of graphic organizers and cloze sentences instead of essay questions and other assessment tasks that depend heavily on proficiency in English).

  
  

Antidiscrimination Education

Learning resources reflect students’ interests, backgrounds, cultures, and experiences. Learning materials:

• involve protagonists of both sexes from a wide variety of backgrounds

• reflect the diversity of Canadian and world cultures, including those of contemporary First Nations, Métis, and Inuit peoples

• include, in English, use of short stories, novels, magazine and newspaper articles, television programs, and films

• provide opportunities for students to explore issues relating to their self-identity

• make students aware of the historical, cultural, and political contexts for both the traditional and non-traditional gender and social roles represented in the materials they are studying.

Literacy and Inquiry/Research Skills

The school emphasizes the importance of the following:

• using clear, concise communication in the classroom involving the use of diagrams, charts, tables, and graphs

• emphasizing students’ ability to interpret and use graphic texts.

• acquiring the skills to locate relevant information from a variety of sources, such as books, newspapers, dictionaries, encyclopaedias, interviews, videos, and the Internet.

• learning that all sources of information have a particular point of view

• learning that the recipient of the information has a responsibility to evaluate it, determine its validity and relevance, and use it in appropriate ways.

Role of Technology

Information and communications technologies (ICT) tools used in many ways:

• Students use multimedia resources, databases, Internet websites, digital cameras, and word-processing programs.

• They use technology to collect, organize, and sort the data they gather and to write, edit, and present reports on their findings.

• Students are encouraged to use ICT to support and communicate their learning. For example, students working individually or in groups can use computer technology and/or Internet websites to gain access to museums and archives in Canada and around the world.

• Students use digital cameras and projectors to design and present the results of their research to their classmates.

• The school plans to use ICT to connect students to other schools and to bring the global community into the classroom.

• Students are made aware of issues of Internet privacy, safety, and responsible use, as well as of the potential for abuse of this technology, particularly when it is used to promote hatred.

Career Education

Students are given opportunities to develop career-related skills by:

• applying their skills to work-related situations

• exploring educational and career options

• developing research skills

• practising expository writing

• learning strategies for understanding informational reading material

• making oral presentations

• Working in small groups with classmates to help students express themselves confidently and work cooperatively with others.

Academic Honesty

Students who present the work of others as their own are guilty of plagiarism and will receive a mark of zero for the work and will have the details of the plagiarism noted in their school records. Students who are guilty of cheating on tests or examinations will receive a mark of zero on the test or examination and have the details of the cheating noted in their school records. 

Late Assignments 

Students are responsible for providing evidence of their achievement of the overall expectations within the time frame specified by the teacher, and in a form approved by the teacher. There are consequences for not completing assignments for evaluation or for submitting those assignments late. 

Resources: 

1. Various internet resources

2. Dictionaries, Thesaurus etc

3. “April Rain Tree” By by Beatrice Mosionier