Page 195 - The Ontario Curriculum, Grades 11 and 12: English, 2007 (Revised)

Grade 12, College Preparation
4. Collaborative Writing
THE ONTARIO CURRICULUM, GRADES 11 AND 12 | English
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and layout to create a professional-looking brochure, promoting a topic, product, or service of their choice)
Teacher prompts: “What design features and fonts would best enhance your submission to the class literary anthology?” “How are you planning to format and package your writing portfolio for college admission purposes?” “How would the cover page for your short story change if you were submitting it to be used in an elementary classroom as opposed to submitting it to a literary magazine for publication?”
By the end of this course, students will:
Generating Ideas Collaboratively
4.1 generate and explore ideas for potential writ- ing projects collaboratively through brain- storming and other discussions with a partner or as a group in a workshop setting (e.g., develop a proposal for a small-group writing project; outline, with a partner, three possible ways to develop a personal essay; collaborate with others in a workshop setting to create four different introductions to a short story based on the same character; brainstorm to develop lists of heroes, villains, time periods, conflicts, and pos- sible first lines as a way to generate ideas for creative writing)
Teacher prompts: “What new ideas have
you acquired for developing your story as
a result of today’s workshop?” “What images from the Graffiti activity could you use to strengthen the effect of your poem?” “What examples did the group generate that could be used to show the impact the event described in your personal essay had on you?” “What options for your thesis did you come up with by brainstorming with your partner?”
Providing Feedback to Peers
4.2 provide constructive feedback to peers on works in progress by working with a partner or as a group in a workshop setting (e.g., pro- pose possible endings for a peer’s short story; make suggestions aimed at improving specific aspects of a peer’s draft of a personal essay, such as using more powerful adjectives, reorganizing a description of events, or correcting grammati- cal errors; compose a written response to a peer, replying to specific concerns he or she has iden- tified in a piece of his or her writing)
Teacher prompts: “What did you hear or notice in the student’s work that impressed you?” “What makes this student’s work par- ticularly original?” “What is your initial impression of the character, based on the first page of the story?” “What suggestions can you make to improve your partner’s writing? How can you be helpful without being over- ly critical?”
Assessing Peers’Work
4.3 assess peers’ written drafts, working with a partner or as a group in a workshop setting, to aid peers in their revision process (e.g., assess a peer’s work using a class-constructed rubric or checklist, and explain their assessment to him or her; discuss the merits of suggestions for revision received from peers in their writing workshop)
Teacher prompts: “What could you tell your peer that would encourage her confidence in her writing skills?” “What has your group identified as the strengths of your classmate’s project?” “Based on the criteria discussed in class and your classmate’s work, what sug- gestions for improvement will your group offer him?”