This is ENG4U!

Well, you've found it - this is where you earn your ENG4U credit. I just want to clarify something before we get started, something that is often misunderstood about C vs. U credits. I want you to ask yourself something - "what do I want to do when I graduate High School?" If your answer to that is attend College - then why are you taking a U level course? It will NOT give you a better chance to get into college. If you want to go to University DIRECTLY from high school (and have/will have 6 M/U level grade 12 credits upon graduation), then let's get going, but don't take this course if you think it will give you a better chance to get into College. 

OK. With that off of my chest - WELCOME! This is the site for ENG4U and it is a one stop shop for any and all of your curriculum needs. All of the units are required but the order in which you do them is up to you.

Now, as of yet, there is no 'instructor gadget' on Blogger - so until then - talking to me (your teacher) is the best way to get clarification on something. So please don't use this site as your sole attachment to school. You will do MUCH better if you actually come to class occasionally, or at least ask me questions via email/cell regularly.

All of my contact info. is listed above, so don't be a stranger.

Good work and let's get started.

#1 (a) - Essay Writing, Research and Proper Citation - 10%

So, I understand you're ready to start ENG4U? If so, this is the first unit. I warn you, it's boring - but it's not supposed to take you too long, so it shouldn't be that bad. The rest of the course is better - I promise.

Essentially, this first unit (and the second one, really) is sort of a 'boot-camp' for English class. When you're done this unit you should be ready to write something at the appropriate level.

It's broken up into 4 modules. Each module builds on the one before it until you reach the end and should be able to then write a good research essay. Get it? Great. Let's get started.

Module 1 - The Building Blocks
Module 2 - The Thesis
Module 3 - The Essay (Plan)
Module 4 - The Research

#1 (b) - University Level English Skills - 5%

So you want to go to University?! Are you sure?! Just kidding, go for it if it's what you want - but there are some specific skills you will need to master before you can hope to excel at this level of instruction. Two of these are:

• Close Reading 
• Summarizing

Close-reading is the act of carefully scrutinizing a text (story, play, film, song, painting, etc.) and digging for its essential elements - namely, themes, symbols, character developments, etc. It's one of the most important English skill as it is used for nearly every analytical act. Practice it to get better, that's all there is to it.

Here's the assignment sheet for the Close Reading Assignment. (20 marks)
And here's the reading I'd like you to read closely.

Summarizing is another marco-skill. Crucial to good research, summarizing is a general purpose skill any student requires for things like studying, researching and collating notes. The basic skills involves a few steps, but essentially you're going to read, re-read, select main ideas, support with details, and re-write in your own words. Since summaries are often used to synthesize your learning into a format that is not only smaller but also easy for you to understand, putting it into your own words is essential.

Here's the assignment sheet for the Summarizing Assignment. (40 marks)

Got it? Bring any questions to me - it's my job!

#2 - Hamlet UNIT - 15%

Alright, let's get into this. This will be your first full unit for this course, and we might as well start with a BANG!

You're going to study one of Shakespeare's most important plays - the story of the Prince of Denmark.

Now don't worry too much - I am not going to ask you to read this play. Plays aren't meant to be read, they're meant to be watched and listened to - so that's what you're going to do. You'll finish the unit doing a study of Kenneth Brannaugh's version of Hamlet (we have it on iPads #15-20), but I feel the best first look at the play is tobe found in an app called Shakespeare in Bits (or Hamlet in Bits, in this case). It's an animated version of the action, and what's nice is it is loaded with extra features including scene summaries, character analysis, and modern English translations. Use it and enjoy the drama!

Step 1. 

Once you've watched/listened to the play (perhaps while you listen/watch) I want to check your understanding of the events - so please answer these content questions. Your answers don't need to be long, but they need to be complete. Talk to me if you're unsure.

Step 2. 

Great, so now you have some context - you know the story, so now we can dig a little deeper. I would like you to use your creativity gene - first for a 'creative' character analysis, and then with a 'creative' personal response. Find that assignment here.

Step 3. 

Finally, I would like you to watch Kenneth Brannaugh's 1996 version of Hamlet. It's one of the most expensive and beautiful versions of the story ever put to film, and it has a star studded cast. Brannaugh, being an interesting artist in his own right couldn't help but make his own directorial decisions in creating his own sketch of the Danish drama. As mentioned above, the film is available on the iPads #15-20.

Watch it, and then write about it.

 No whinning, this is a University prep course - and you will write a lot of essays if you choose to go to University, so you need some practice. Here's the assignment sheet for this essay which explains what I'm looking for.

And here's the rubric for the essay. Enjoy!

#3 - Dubliners UNIT - 15%

Welcome! So if you're reading this you must be ready to start this unit - we will focus on a short story collection called Dubliners by Irish writer James Joyce.

Here's the unit plan for this Dubliners unit.

If you're curious, here is a short article that outlines the Major Themes in Dubliners, so you'll know what you're getting yourself into.

Step 1. 

The first thing you want to do is build a slide show about Dublin at the beginning of the 20th century. The city of Dublin and the life of the people there is very relevant to understanding James Joyce's writing. Your slide show should be 6-8 slides long  - like this one - and should outline one of these topics:

• Religion in Joyce's Dublin
• The Politics of Colonial Ireland
• Metropolitan Dublin in a New Exciting Century
• James Joyce, the Man
• something else you may hve in mind - let't talk

YES, I want you to create this slide show BEFORE you read a story - it's necessary background work.

Here's the rubric I will use to grade your slide show.

Step 2.

Great. Now we can get to the stories. Dubliners is old (over 100 years) so you can find the stories online. We also have them on our class iPads (#1-#10) so come on in and get reading.

Read them all, they'll enrich your life, but you will end up writing quizzes for these 4 stories:

• "The Sisters"
• "Araby"
• "The Boarding House"
• "A Painful Case"

You need to come in for these. Message me and we can set-up a time to write these. 

Step 3. 

"The Dead"

Yup, the final story in the collection will occupy your mind for the last part of this unit. 

You have two options for this - a comic strip adaptation of "The Dead" or an essay arguing something on a topic from "The Dead"

Comic
If you want to design a comic then your first step will be to select which scene you'd like to tell. Think about this carefully, since it will lead into your explanation, but more importantly, it will determine what you're able to do in your adaptation. Your playing the 'director' for this task - so think about what images you'll be able to create. A boring comic is not a good comic.

Here is an example of one I did relatively quckly using one of the apps on the iPads.
* Notice how the people in the pictures aren't consistent - that's ok. I didn't have a camera crew, and neither will you. Do your best. 

And here is the rubric I will be using to mark your comic strip.

Essay
If you want to write an essay take a look at the Unit Plan (above) to get some ideas for thesis statements, or let's talk about it. The essay should be between 250-750 words, should be properly formatted for MLA style, and it should have at least one rough draft before final submission.

Here is an example of a properly formatted MLA style essay first page.
And here is an example of a properly formatted MLA style Works Cited page.
** Don't forget the Works Cited Page at the end. 

And here is the rubric I will be using to mark your essay. 

#4 - Poetry UNIT - 15%

Great stuff, my favourite unit of the course and I'm sure it will be yours too.

Whatever, stop whinning. The great thing about poetry is that there are no rules. There are no word limits, there are no rhyme requirements, there are no rules - literally. If you like it, it's successful. If you hate it, it's successful. They're supposed to make you feel SOMETHING. If it does, it's working its magic.

So, what do you have to do for this unit? Good question.

Ultimately, I want you to write up 3 poetry responses. This is a specific type of writing - not a summary, not even an analysis, necessarily. A poetry response is supposed to respond to a poem - that's it. It can be about one line, about a theme in the poem, about how you hate it and here's why - all of that would be fine.

Here's the process:

Step 1. Read poem. Note reaction. If it's a strong reaction (like or dislike) it should be useful for a poetry response. If you did NOT react, then read another poem, until you react.

Step 2. Try to track down, in the poem, what created this reaction. Is it the theme? Is it the diction? Is it a recurring image, or a phrase, or a rhyme scheme that just sticks in your head?

Step 3. Write a response that tracks those two pieces - YOUR REACTION and THE PART OF THE POEM RESPONSIBLE FOR THAT REACTION.

OK?

If you're still unclear - here's a worksheet that will hopefully help you understand what I'm expecting.

Also, here is the rubric I will use to mark your responses.
Each response will be worth 20 marks.

First, I'd like you to slide through this slideshow as a mini poetry lesson. This wll set the stage for the unit.

Second, read some poems! Here is a list of poems appropriate for ENG4U, but it is not complete - if you can find your own poems - go for it!

Finally, here are some resources that can help you:

Some Fundamentals of Poetry
Analyzing Poetry Work Sheet
How to Analyze  Poem in 10 Steps

Questions?

#5 - Critical Theory UNIT - 10%

Alright, so here you are, the last unit of ENG4U before the culminating task - exciting.

This unit is made to challenge you, to challenge your thinking and to challenge your school skills. It's not worth a lot, but it will tell you a lot about what the work might be like at the next level of school. Let's work together on it, as I imagine you will need my help. Just do your best and keep an open mind.

Here is the Unit Plan.

Part 1.

To get things started, here is the def'n from the Penguin Dictionary for Criticism.

And here is the Introduction from the Norton Anthology - THIS HAS QUESTIONS TO ANSWER.

This slideshow should help to clarify some things.

And finally, here's the rubric I will use to mark your slideshow. Why don't YOU use it while building your slideshow?

Any questions?

Part 2.

Alright, one part done - now on to some articles to dig a little deeper.

For this part I'd like you to read some articles on various schools of critical theory. For two of these articles I'd like you to write a summary. 

Here's the rubric for the summaries.

And here are the articles:

"Is There a Text in this Class?" - Fish (post-modersnism/structuralism)
"Can the Subaltern Speak?" - Spivak (post-colonial)
"Epistemology of the Closet" - Sedgwick (queer theory)
From The German Ideology - Marx (marxism)
Shakespeare's Sister - Woolf (feminism)

Part 3. 

Great. So you're almost done - just one part left to go (and truly, the hard stuff is mainly done now).

For this last part I want you to try applying some of what you've learned about critical theory to a rather simple (perhaps familiar text).

Here's the story I want you to do this for. Seriously.

Here are some simplified summaries of schools of criticism you can use to help you with this.

And finally, here is a step-by-step guide explaining you how to do this.

Once you're done this you're ready to start your culminating! Great work, almost done now.