Toronto District School Board
Northern Secondary School
Semester Course of Study
Developed from: The Ontario Curriculum: Grades 9 and 10 English, Ministry of Education (Revised 2007)
Course Title: English, Grade 9 Credit Value: 1.0 Credit(s)
Course Type: Academic Prerequisites: None
Course Code: ENG1D3
Units | Texts | Duration |
Short Stories Elements & Theme | Sightlines 9 by Alice Barlow Kedves et al. (eds) On Common Ground by Jerry George, Don Stone, Faye Ward Inside Stories I & II by Glen Kirkland Other Selected Texts | 2 weeks |
Novel Study: Literary Analysis & Essay Writing | Options: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho | 3-4 weeks |
Drama/Play Study: Conventions of Comedy & Shakespearean Theatre | Shakespearean Comedy Twelfth Night or A Midsummer Night’s Dream, & excerpts from other selected comedies | 2-3 weeks |
Independent Novel Study: | Student choice of novel – as outlined by instructor | Ongoing |
Short Texts: Structure, Style, Meaning | Poetry, News Articles, Media | Ongoing |
Goals & Course Details
This course is designed to develop the oral communication, reading, writing, and media literacy skills that students need for success in their secondary school academic programs and in their daily lives. Students will analyse literary texts from contemporary and historical periods, interpret informational and graphic texts, and create oral, written, and media texts in a variety of forms. An important focus will be on the use of strategies that contribute to effective communication. The course is intended to prepare students for the Grade 10 academic English course, which leads to university or college preparation courses in Grades 11 and 12.
The primary purpose of assessment and evaluation is to improve student learning. Assessment is the process of gathering information from assignments, demonstrations, projects, performances, and tests that accurately reflects how well a student is achieving the curriculum expectations in a course. As part of assessment, teachers provide students with feedback that guides their efforts towards improvement.
Semester final marks will be allocated as follows: 70% coursework (assessment “of” learning/evaluation),
15% course culminating project, and 15% final exam.
Determining a report card grade will continue to rely on “teachers’ professional judgement and
interpretation of evidence and should reflect the student’s most consistent level of achievement,
with special consideration given to more recent evidence” as stated in Growing Success (p.39)
Detailed information on Ministry of Education assessment, evaluation, and reporting policy is provided in Growing Success: Assessment, Evaluation, and Reporting in Ontario's Schools, Kindergarten to Grade 12
http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/policyfunding/growSuccess.pdf
The achievement chart addresses the four strands of the English course (Reading, Writing, Oral, Media) and provides a standard, province-wide method for teachers to use in assessing and evaluating their students’ achievement. Ministry curriculum documents provide detailed description of student achievement levels.
In this course, the following strands of study form the basis of reporting, according to the weightings shown:
Category | Description | Weighting |
Reading & Literature Studies | Knowledge & Understanding of meaning, form, style & strategies | 30% |
Writing | Organization, Form, Style, Use of Conventions & Writing Process | 30% |
Oral Communication | Listening & Communicating effectively | 20% |
Media Studies | Understanding & Creating media texts | 20% |
Students are expected to submit only their own original work on evaluations done in class or out of class. Plagiarism is the representation of the ideas or writings of another as one's own. Cases of academic dishonesty (cheating and/or plagiarism) will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis, but each case will involve an investigation, communication with the student and their parent/guardian, and a mark of zero for the plagiarized work. Whether there is an opportunity to demonstrate learning in another assignment will be at the discretion of the teacher and/or principal.
Learning Skills are skills and habits are essential to success in school and the workplace. The Learning Skills evaluated are: Responsibility, Organization, Independent Work, Collaboration, Initiative, and Self-Regulation. Teachers report achievement using letter symbols: E = Excellent, G = Good, S = Satisfactory, N = Needs Improvement.
Learning Skills clearly affect levels of achievement, but are not part of the evaluation of achievement and are not included in the final course mark.
The course teacher is available by email: first name.last name@ tdsb.on.ca
OR through the teacher’s virtual learning platform (eg. Google Classroom, Brightspace).