Page 98 - The Ontario Curriculum, Grades 11 and 12: English, 2007 (Revised)

Teacher prompts: “What inferences can we draw about the characters in this play from its setting in a mining town?” “What can you infer from the way this character is introduced?”
Extending Understanding of Texts
1.5 extend understanding of texts, including com- plex and challenging texts, by making rich and increasingly insightful connections between the ideas in them and personal knowledge, experience, and insights; other texts; and the world around them (e.g., compare the personal and moral evolution of the main character in a coming-of-age story with their own experience; read and summarize several essays expressing different perspectives on a topic in order to inform their own opinion; apply concepts from literary theories in their analyses of fictional texts; iden- tify and explain parallels between the way an issue is presented in a text and the way a similar issue is playing itself out in current events)
Teacher prompt: “What insights have you gained by reading this text? What possibili- ties can you imagine now that you might not have considered before reading this text?”
Analysing Texts
1.6 analyse texts in terms of the information, ideas, issues, or themes they explore, examining how various aspects of the texts contribute to the presentation or development of these elements (e.g., analyse how syntax and stylistic devices are used in the characters’ speeches to help build tension in a dramatic scene; analyse how liter- ary devices are used in a short story to illumi- nate a theme; explain why the thesis of an arti- cle is strengthened by the author’s exploration of a variety of perspectives on the topic; track sig- nificant words or images in an electronic version of a literary text to determine how they are used to reinforce certain themes and ideas)
Teacher prompts: “How do the stage direc- tions help to develop your understanding of the characters’ relationships?” “What theme is developed through the relationship between these two secondary characters in the novel? How does this theme colour our interpreta- tion of the main character’s dilemma?”
Evaluating Texts
1.7 evaluate the effectiveness of texts, including complex and challenging texts, using evidence from the text insightfully to support their opinions (e.g., evaluate whether the final scene in a play provides a credible and effective reso- lution that deepens the play’s impact; devise a list of criteria for evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of poems and use it to evaluate a
selection of poems studied in class; compare two newspaper editorials in terms of the persuasive- ness of their arguments, referring to the role of the organizational pattern used in each)
Teacher prompt: “Has this essay caused you to reconsider your position on the issue? To what do you attribute its impact?”
Critical Literacy
1.8 identify and analyse the perspectives and/or biases evident in texts, including complex and challenging texts, commenting with under- standing and increasing insight on any questions they may raise about beliefs, values, identity, and power (e.g., identify any significant social issues or concerns that are relevant to the topic of an opinion piece but are not addressed by the author; analyse texts for their use of inclusive or exclusive language; review the allusions made
in a text to determine whether they reveal a bias on the author’s part)
Teacher prompts: “Which notable authors
are not represented in this Top Ten list of Canadian authors? What might these omis- sions suggest about the list maker?” “What assumptions about gender roles are revealed in the depiction of characters in this story from the 1950s? What would you cite as evi- dence of these assumptions?” “To what degree do the women in this Shakespearean drama conform to the seventeenth-century European notion that women should be ‘silent, chaste, and obedient’? What might their behaviour suggest about Shakespeare’s attitude towards women?”
2. UnderstandingFormandStyle
By the end of this course, students will:
Text Forms
2.1 identify a variety of characteristics of literary, informational, and graphic text forms and demonstrate insight into the way they help communicate meaning (e.g., quoted material is used in a literary essay to support the analysis or argument, and the thesis is often restated and extended in the conclusion; recurring imagery and/or symbols often help to develop themes in poems, stories, and plays; the structure of a son- net provides a framework for the poem’s content)
Teacher prompts: “What can you expect to find in the concluding couplet of a Shakespearean sonnet?” “How could you adapt a short story to a ‘graphic novel’ format? What literary ele- ments would you need to preserve?”
READING AND LITERATURE STUDIES
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English
ENG4U