Page 150 - The Ontario Curriculum, Grades 11 and 12: English, 2007 (Revised)

and assess the degree to which it increases their understanding of a Canadian play; use a graphic organizer to summarize the key points in two book reviews; using an appropriate example as a model, write a critical review of a Canadian text; write a short report identifying the strengths and weaknesses of several different critiques of a familiar Canadian text; critique a postmodern analysis of a contemporary Canadian text; write an evaluation of a critical work that analyses a dominant theme in Canadian literature)
Teacher prompt: “What new insights have you gained as a result of reading and dis- cussing literary criticism about the text you are studying?”
Assessing Peer Critical Responses
4.4 analyse peers’ critical responses to Canadian literary texts to clarify and extend their own understanding of those texts (e.g., record, reflect on, and respond to group members’ interpretations of a section of a Canadian novel; write a com- mentary on a peer’s analysis of a text, noting the most useful insights and challenging possible misinterpretations)
Teacher prompts: “To what extent do the ideas presented in the seminar group challenge or support your own reading of the text?” “Have the responses of others changed your own ideas about the meaning of the text? Why or why not?”
5. The Role of Literature in Society
By the end of this course, students will:
Fostering Social, Cultural, and Political Awareness
5.1 explain how Canadian literary texts raise awareness about a variety of regional issues, ideas, cultures, events, and people (e.g., identify overt or implied positions on issues taken in texts; explain how the work of a favourite Canadian author has influenced their thinking about a social issue; identify works that have fuelled debate on a national level about a social, cultural, or politi- cal issue; explain the role of Canadian literary works in building understanding of the diversity of the population, and identify specific works that have contributed to such understanding)
Teacher prompt: “What have you learned about a specific issue in Canadian culture from studying Canadian plays?”
Engaging the Intellect and the Imagination
5.2 identify ways in which Canadian literary texts can promote readers’ intellectual and imagina- tive growth (e.g., reflect in a journal about how the futuristic vision presented in a text might influence a reader’s thinking and behaviour; explain, orally or in writing, why they want to follow a particular character’s journey beyond the last page of the text; write a personal essay exploring how depictions of characters in a community in a text have expanded their mental horizons; write a letter to a friend sharing how reading a particular text has helped them cope with a difficult situation)
Teacher prompt: “What aspects of the novel did you find most thought-provoking?”
Promoting Personal and Social Change
5.3 identify ways in which Canadian literary texts might promote social and personal change (e.g., use a graphic organizer to relate a conflict depicted in a text to the changing social or cul- tural values of its time; write and deliver a speech that a character from a contemporary text might make to spur an audience to social action; write an editorial recommending corrective action to remedy an abuse depicted in a text; use a graphic organizer to compare opposing depictions of a cultural group in texts from two different histori- cal periods and suggest reasons for the differences; identify a text that depicts social or economic inequity and do research to determine whether the situation it describes has improved, and if
so, in what way)
Teacher prompts: “Has reading a specific Canadian text prompted you to re-examine an event in Canadian history?” “What issue portrayed in your readings in the course seems most important to you? Why?”
Exploring Canadian Identity
5.4 explain how Canadian literary texts have con- tributed to their understanding of a Canadian identity (e.g., predict how the lives of the char- acters in a story might change if the story were set in a different part of the country, or a country other than Canada; compare book reviews of a novel by Canadian and international reviewers and suggest reasons for the differences; prepare an oral presentation about“survival”as a domi- nant theme in Canadian literature; write an essay discussing how particular texts reveal diverse facets of the Canadian “character” or identity)
Teacher prompts: “What recurring themes have emerged in this course that shed light on what it means to be Canadian?” “How have the course readings increased your
CANADIAN LITERATURE
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Canadian Literature
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