Professional Documents
Culture Documents
11 ENGLISH (COLLEGE)
COURSE CODE: ENG3C1
UNIT TITLE/ THEME: Appearance vs. Reality
GROUP MEMBERS:
1) ALICIA SGRIGNUOLI
2) DANIELLE MAILLOUX
3) JESSICA GONCALVES
4) ALISON DE SOUSA
UNIT RATIONALE: How does this unit fit into the overall course? Why is this unit important for these students?
This unit, which focuses on the theme of appearance versus reality, works towards the development of
student’s literacy, critical thinking, and communication skills. Students will study multiple forms of literature
including novels, articles, lyrics, advertisements, poems, short stories and film. They will critically analyze this
literature for the theme of appearance and reality and identity formation. Media studies is explored in-depth during
this unit as students become critical consumers in exposing the explicit and implicit messages found in many forms
of media which have a strong influence of inner and outer self-identity for teenagers. This unit prepares students to
create a media product that creatively depicts their own personal adolescent experience. Thorough this activity,
students communicate with peers through an oral presentation to express the relationship between inner and outer
identity.
UNIT CULMINATING ACTIVITY: E.g. Essay, group skit, oral presentation, etc.
What is the Culminating Activity? What is the purpose of the Culminating Activity? Why was it the best way to demonstrate
the attainment of the Enduring Understandings, knowledge and skills of the unit? It should demonstrate a deep
understanding of the material and be an activity that can be repeated in the course in order to assess student growth.
This culminating activity provides students with the opportunity to become reflective learners through
exposing their experiences as a teenager through the study of media, a medium that not only intrigues them but is
also a consuming aspect of their daily life. Before students begin working on the culminating activity, they will adopt
a critical lens on various forms of media, which influences the perceptions that many teenagers have towards their
inner and external self-identity through particular issues such as gender, body image, immigration, identity
construction, and drawing connections to the students’ lived experiences as an adolescent.
Students will demonstrate their learning by creating a media product to depict the adolescent experience.
This product will also visually connect to how media influences their external and internal selves. Students will
choose how to illustrate this relation using a choice board where they can choose to create a video, script, poster,
poem, YouTube clip, spoken word, slam poetry, song, or commercial. They will orally present their piece to the
class, in a clear and expressive manner, a particular aspect to their adolescent experience. Students will also write a
two-page reflection on the process of creating their media product. When students are able to explore their inner
identities, they internalize the idea that what appears on the outside may not also be a true depiction of an
individual’s identity. Through this activity, students will gain an appreciation for the diversity that exists in the many
communities in which they belong.
UNIT CULMINATING ACTIVITY ASSESSMENT TOOL: If there is a group performance, there must be a provision for
individual accountability and assessment. The assessment tool should also be precise. (E.g. Avoid “limited “or “some” etc.)
Students will have a practice period in which they will present their culminating activity to a peer who will
provide them with an assessment of his/her presentation and elements that can be improved. The assessment of
learning tool for the culminating activity will be a rubric, which will evaluate the student’s media product and their
written reflection. This rubric will assess Knowledge/Understanding based on how well the student references the
connection between internal and external selves in their written reflection. The Thinking/Inquiry section will assess
the critical and creative thinking skills in creating media product. The Application section will assess the student’s
ability to reference class material in showing the relationship between media influence and the adolescent
experience. The Communication section will assess how creatively the media product was presented to the class to
depict the personal experiences of the student. Communication will also assess the clarity with which the student
presented at the degree of eye contact that was maintained throughout the presentation. Students will also have
the opportunity to self-assess their performance and make note of which areas they hope to improve on for next
time.
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Cover Page
Unit Calendar
Preparation Work
Stage One
Stage Two
Individual Assessments
Danielle Mailloux
Alicia Sgrignuoli
Alison De Sousa
Jessica Goncalves
1
Curriculum Connections
Strands:
Oral Communication
Reading and Literature Studies
Writing
Media Studies
Overall Expectation(s):
Oral Communication: 1) Listening to Understand, 2) Speaking to Communicate
Reading & Literature Studies: 1.) Reading for Meaning
Writing: 1) Developing & Organizing Content
Media Studies: 1.) Understanding Media Texts
Specific Expectation(s):
Oral Communication: 1.1, 1.5, 1.6, 1.7, 1.8
Reading & Literature Studies: 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 1.6, 1.8
Writing: 1.1, 1.2, 1.4, 1.5, 2.1, 2.7
Media Studies: 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5
Enduring Understanding(s) Addressed:
• Media forms influence us, such as our way of seeing the world.
• Questioning is at the heart of critical thinking and media literacy.
Essential Question(s) Addressed:
• Why is it important to know that what appears on the outside may not actually be the case?
Knowledge: Skills:
• Identity construction (culture, community) • Critical literacy skills
• External influences • Communication
• Recognize difference between inner/outer selves • Analyzing different media forms
Learning Goals:
• Examine how their identities are shaped and connected by external forces.
• Explore the complexities of identity by starting with something that appears simple (our names).
• Demonstrate our inner and outer selves visually through the arts.
Assessment Tools/Strategies
• Teacher observation
• Anecdotal comments
• Performance task, product/artifacts (formative assessment)
• Performance task, process-focused (formative assessment)
2
The Lesson:
Minds On (Hook) Time: Connections:
⇒ Establish a positive learning environment L: Literacy
⇒ Connect to prior learning and/or experiences AfL, AaL, AoL: Assessment
⇒ Set the context of learning/sharing learning for/as/of Learning
goals/essential questions MI: Multiple Intelligence
INDIVIDUALLY to WHOLE CLASS Guess Who? 10min.
Explain the activity and state that students should write their names on the MI: intrapersonal
card (in the upper right-hand corner of the side they wrote on). Inform
students that what is written will be read to the class, but their identities will
remain secret unless they reveal themselves later. Welcome students to write
anything about themselves that is appropriate for a classroom setting.
Provide an example:
“I am a vegetarian.”
“I was once in a folk dancing group.”
“I can speak some Japanese, French, and Spanish.”
“I am terribly afraid of spiders and most insects.”
Collect the index cards. Students then guess who the card describes, and why
they chose that person. Through this activity, students can find commonalities
with others in the classroom and build relationships.
Debrief the activity with the class with the following questioning prompts: 5min.
1) What did you consider when guessing?
2) What judgment calls or assumptions did you make?
3) What are the implications of these judgments?
4) How does this impact your relationship with others?
As facilitator, hand out the worksheets and ask students to answer as many
questions as they can to the best of their ability. After three minutes, invite
students to turn to the person sitting to their left and share their responses MI: interpersonal
(model the process first with own answers to the worksheet using last name).
After the first student has two minutes, the next partner shares too.
Walk around the room and listen to the students to get to know their
backgrounds, and how they communicate their thoughts to one another.
Make notes about their interactions.
WHOLE CLASS GUIDED DISCUSSION / DEBRIEFING OF ACTIVITY 10min. AfL: anecdotal comments
Students:
• Can share what they have learned about their partner (such as
anything interesting or surprising).
• Interpret and analyze the significance of their names as part of their
identity construction through guided class discussion.
Use the following questions (adapted from Facing History.org) to guide the
class discussion:
• What do names reveal about us? What don’t they tell us about
someone?
• Do you think names have a great influence our identities (i.e., who we
are)? Why or why not?
• Can we change our identities by changing our names? Why or why
not?
Briefly go over modern graffiti (“wildstyle”) art (e.g., use of arrows, curves
and letters; 3D elements; bright colours; and interwoven images representing AfL: performance task
the artist) with visual examples. On 11 x 17 papers, students draw their name (product, artifacts)
with this style in mind. They are instructed to incorporate images that show
who they are.
For example:
A maple leaf for Canadian.
A treble-clef for a music lover.
*If not finished, students will take this work home with them to bring back for
Wednesday’s gallery walk.
Explain the free-write exercise and remind students of the paragraph form.
Students are asked to draw upon discussions they had in class.
Invite students to write down their thoughts about the quotation. What does
it mean to them? What questions do they have? Students write anything that
comes to mind in the form of a paragraph. This will be added to their student
portfolios as reference to their writing abilities.
What’s in a name?
“Through our names we place ourselves in the world.” - Ralph Ellison
1. My parents/guardians named me __________________________ because… (i.e., were you named after anyone?
Did your parents use a naming custom or tradition to name you?)
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
5. My name means…
(i.e., do you know your name in another language? Is there a special meaning to your name?)
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
7. Do you think your name has influenced who you are? Why or why not? How so?
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
8
Graffiti Examples
Pictures will be larger. Shown as PowerPoint presentation:
Slide 1:
Slide 2:
9
Slide 3:
Slide 4:
Slide 5:
10
Curriculum Connections
Strands:
Oral Communication
Reading and Literature Studies
Writing
Overall Expectation(s):
Oral Communication: 1) Listening to Understand, 2) Speaking to Communicate
Reading & Literature Studies: 1.) Reading for Meaning, 2) Understanding Form and Style
Writing: 1) Developing & Organizing Content
Specific Expectation(s):
Oral Communication: 1.1, 1.5, 1.6, 1.7, 1.8
Reading & Literature Studies: 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 1.6, 1.8, 2.2, 2.3
Writing: 1.2, 1.4, 1.5, 2.1, 2.7
Enduring Understanding(s) Addressed:
• Media forms influence us, such as our way of seeing the world.
• Questioning is at the heart of critical thinking and media literacy.
Essential Question(s) Addressed:
• How do the various texts, which explore the theme of appearance versus reality, like poems, short stories and
song lyrics relate to the high school roles and stereotypes that students recognize?
• Why is it important to know that what appears on the outside may not actually be the case?
Knowledge: Skills:
• Identity construction (culture, community, • Analytical skills in literary works
interests, objects, places) • Communication
• External influences • Critical literacy skills
• Powerful descriptors can make one’s writing
more impactful
Learning Goals:
• Examine how where we “come from” (i.e., our family, our cultural backgrounds, the physical space in which we
grew up, our interests, etc.) can influence who we become.
• Powerful descriptors can make one’s writing more impactful.
Assessment Tools/Strategies
• Teacher observation • Exit Slip
• Anecdotal comments • Performance Task (product) – poem
• Discussion Web
11
Resources:
• Gould Lundy, Kathy. (2004). What do I do about the kid who…
• Ministry of Education. (2007). The Ontario Curriculum, Grades 11 and 12, English.
• The Learning Link Educational Consultation (2009). Differentiated Learning Suggestions Chart.
12
The Lesson:
Minds On (Hook) Time: Connections:
⇒ Establish a positive learning environment L: Literacy
⇒ Connect to prior learning and/or experiences AfL, AaL, AoL: Assessment
⇒ Set the context of learning/sharing learning for/as/of Learning
goals/essential questions MI: Multiple Intelligence
INDIVIDUAL to PAIR ENTRANCE SLIP to THINK, PAIR, SHARE 10min. AfL: teacher observation,
anecdotal comments
Students:
• Write down the answer to the following question on a cue card: MI: intrapersonal,
“What does it mean to be “from” some place?” interpersonal
• Join with someone who they have not spoken with in the class and
share what they wrote with one another.
Write the question on the chalkboard. Explain the activity and ensure
understanding of the proposed question before prompting students to pair
with another person. Students share with a partner for five minutes before
coming back as a class to discuss what they discovered. Each pair gets a turn
to express their thoughts. Walk around the room to hear students’
conversations.
15min.
Adapted from Facing History.org, the class discusses the following:
• How can the place we are from influence our identities (who we are)? AfL: anecdotal comments,
• Is it possible to be from more than one place? How might our identity participation (discussion
change depending on where we are?
web)
• Can people be from a “place” that is not an actual location, but
represents a community or an idea – such as being from a family, a
religious tradition or a strong interest?
Using a discussion web (sketch out seating arrangement and write down
where everyone is sitting during the day), mark down who participates during
class discussion. Encourage new voices (i.e., people who have yet to speak)
gather different perspectives.
Explain the learning goals for the class and rephrase the importance of
“where we are from” (i.e., not just as a place, but as an all-encompassing idea
including our cultures, families, interests, and experiences) has on shaping
who we are and who we become. Relate this idea with how external forces
influence our identities.
13
Instruct students that they will create their own I am from poems.
AfL: teacher observation,
INDIVIDUAL to PAIRS “I am from” poems anecdotal comments
I AM FROM…
• A landmark you pass by on your way to school
• A favourite food or dish
• Nostalgic songs and where you first heard it
• Stories, novels or poetry that you'll never forget
• The best things that you were told
• The worst things that you have been told
• A description of your home (e.g., scents, feelings, sound)
• Ordinary household items
• A popular product/brand name you enjoy
• Family traditions or traits
• Cultural symbols or experiences
• Someone you admire (i.e., a role model)
14
• Fears
• Joys (what makes you happy)
• Location of memories, pictures, or mementos
• Something you hope for
Students:
• Watch as teacher models own “I am from” poem.
• Write down what worked and what did not work about teacher AfL: anecdotal comments
presentation and share as a class.
In order to model the expectations, perform own “I am from” poem for the
class, bringing in creative presentational elements. Afterwards, hand out
description of the assessment of learning performance task
(performance/product-based). Students will watch and assess teacher’s
presentation.
POETRY CAFÉ:
“I Am From” Poems
Due: _______________________________
An important part of the writing process is publicizing – sharing your creation with others. You are required to
present your final draft of your “I Am From…” poem to the class. This counts as five percent of your grade.
Part 1:
You will be marked on your preparedness for your presentation, the creativity with which you read your poem
(e.g., volume, intonation, and pace), and the content of your poem. You are welcome to incorporate
technology into your presentation (e.g., visual images, lighting, and background music).
Part 2:
On the provided colourful sheet of paper, you will select one line from the poem and create a poster with your
chosen line written on it. These posters will hang in the classroom year round.
NAME: ______________________________________
“I Am From” Presentation Evaluation Rubric:
TOTAL: ______ / 24
Level 4 Level 3 Level 2 Level 1
(80%-100%) (70%-79%) (60-69%) (50-59%)
Preparation □ There is a clear practice □ There is some □ There is minimal □ There is a clear lack of
( /4) and preparation of the “I preparation evident, but preparation and practice preparation
Am From” poetry reading would benefit from more evident □ No materials were used.
□ All materials were ready practice □ Little to no materials
and set up in advance □ Materials were set up were used
with teacher’s approval and ready with some
difficulty
1
Content □ “I Am From” poem is □ “I Am From” poem is □ “I Am From” poem □ “I Am From” poem
complete and creatively complete and contains contains one or two contains little to no
plays with form/structure, developed ideas so that it developed ideas, but developed ideas
( /6) imagery, and vivid word moves away from “I am details are undeveloped □ No connection made to
choice from this; I am from that” or clichéd one’s identity and
□ Strong evidence of structure similar to prose □ Little evidence of heritage
deep exploration of one’s □ Evidence of exploration exploring one’s identity □ Has more than 10
identity and heritage; the of one’s identity and and heritage; ideas spelling, grammar, and/or
ideas expressed help the heritage; the ideas expressed make little punctuation errors, which
listener understand the expressed help the connections to writer’s significantly interfere with
writer’s life listener understand the life audience’s understanding
□ Has appropriate writer’s life □ Has 6-10 spelling, □ No clear ending given
spelling, grammar, and □ Has 3-5 spelling, grammar, and/or
punctuation; contains grammar, and/or punctuation errors, which
few, if any, errors that do punctuation errors, which interfere with audience’s
not interfere with interfere with audience’s understanding
audience’s understanding understanding □ Ending is abrupt and
□ There is a memorable □ There is a satisfactory without significance
ending that is purposeful, ending
focused, and
demonstrates meaningful
choice of details
2
Creativity □ There is great creativity □ There is some creativity □ There is minimal □ There is a lack of
evident in the use of evident in the use of creativity evident in the creativity evident the use
presentation material presentation material. use of presentation of presentation material.
( /6) that is appropriate and Creative elements are material.
connects to the content “I somewhat appropriate
Am From” poem in a and connect to content in
thoughtful way. poem.
3
Delivery □ Holds attention of □ Consistent use of direct □ Displays minimal eye □ Holds no eye contact
entire audience with the eye contact with contact with audience, with audience, as entire
use of direct eye contact, audience, but still returns while reading mostly from report is read from notes
( /8) seldom looking at notes to notes the notes □ Speaks in low volume
□ Speaks with fluctuation □ Speaks with satisfactory □ Speaks in uneven and/or monotonous tone,
in volume and inflection variation of volume and volume with little or no which causes audience to
to maintain audience inflection inflection disengage
interest and emphasize
key points
Do not meet success criteria if…
• does not show development, seems hastily done, and does not fulfill the requirements of the assignment.
1
“Content” criteria partly adapted from www.fultonschools.org
2
“Creativity” and “Preparation” criteria partly adapted from Powerful Words rubric
3
Delivery” criteria partly adapted from ReadWriteThink.org
18
I am from the __________________________________ (Describe the place you grew up) where
______________________________________.
(What did it smell like? What did it feel like? What sounds did you most often hear?)
I am from _______________, __________________, and ____________. (Household items)
I am from ________________________. (A popular product you use)
STEP 2: DRAFTING
WRITE
Put the information you researched into your own words
Write sentences and paragraphs even if they are not perfect
Read what you have written and judge if it says what you mean
Show it to others and ask for suggestions
STEP 3: REVISING
MAKE IT BETTER
Read what you have written again
Think about what others said about it
Rearrange words or sentences
Take out or add parts
Replace overused or unclear words
Read your written work aloud to be sure it flows smoothly
STEP 4: PROOFREADING
MAKE IT CORRECT
Be sure all sentences are complete
Correct spelling, capitalization, and punctuation
Change words you used incorrectly
Have someone check your work
Recopy it correctly and neatly
STEP 5: PUBLISHING
SHARE THE FINISHED PRODUCT
Read your writing aloud to a group
Create a book of your work
Send a copy to a friend or relative
Put your writing on display.
Illustrate, perform, or set your creation to music
Congratulate yourself on a job well done!
20
1 I am from clothespins,
2 from Clorox and carbon-tetrachloride.
3 I am from the dirt under the back porch.
4 (Black, glistening,
5 it tasted like beets.)
6 I am from the forsythia bush
7 the Dutch elm
8 whose long-gone limbs I remember
9 as if they were my own.
What is the message of this poem? How does the writer convey it?
21
Curriculum Connections
Strands:
Oral Communication
Reading and Literature Studies
Writing
Overall Expectation(s):
Oral Communication: 1) Listening to Understand, 2) Speaking to Communicate
Reading & Literature Studies: 1.) Reading for Meaning
Writing: 1) Developing & Organizing Content
Specific Expectation(s):
Oral Communication: 1.1, 1.5, 1.6, 1.7, 1.8, 2.1, 2.2, 2.6
Reading & Literature Studies: 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 1.6, 1.8
Writing: 1.1, 1.2, 1.4, 1.5, 2.1, 2.7
Enduring Understanding(s) Addressed:
• Media forms influence us, such as our way of seeing the world.
• Questioning is at the heart of critical thinking and media literacy.
Essential Question(s) Addressed:
• How can one determine a character’s true intention?
• How do the various texts, which explore the theme of appearance versus reality, like poems, short stories and
song lyrics relate to the high school roles and stereotypes that students recognize?
• Why is it important to know that what appears on the outside may not actually be the case?
Knowledge: Skills:
• Identity construction (culture, community) • Analytical skills in literary works
• External influences • Communication
• Character analysis • Critical literacy skills
• Recognize difference between inner/outer selves
Learning Goals:
• Define the word “identity.”
• Examine how their identities are shaped and connected by external forces.
• Analyze the dichotomy between appearances and reality in literary works.
Assessment Tools/Strategies
• Teacher observation
• Anecdotal comments
• Exit Slip
• Performance task: performances/events (formative assessment)
• Self-reflection
• Group work
• Performance task: constructed responses (formative assessment)
22
The Lesson:
Minds On (Hook) Time: Connections:
⇒ Establish a positive learning environment L: Literacy
⇒ Connect to prior learning and/or experiences AfL, AaL, AoL: Assessment
⇒ Set the context of learning/sharing learning for/as/of Learning
goals/essential questions MI: Multiple Intelligence
WHOLE CLASS GALLERY WALK 15min. AfL: performance task,
event
Students:
• Post their graffiti name posters around the room. MI: Kinesthetic,
• Divide into two groups: one will observe the images while the rest interpersonal, visual
stand by their poster. They will switch after five minutes.
• Ask and answer questions about the choices in their art work during
this time.
Walk around and ask questions about every student’s artwork during this
time. The gallery walk helps students become comfortable presenting in front
of others while thinking on the spot. This will also prepare them for their
presentations at the end of the week.
After each presentation, ask questions about their definition. Did they leave
anything out? What else could they add to their definition? As a class, come
up with a clear, concise definition and write it on the board.
Instruct students to take out a pen/pencil and fill in the circle of ourselves
worksheet independently. They are to write their names in the middle, and
‘branch off’ with what groups they identify with (at least five). Provide own
worksheet on overhead as a sample and to allow students to get to know
you. After three minutes, students share what they have with a partner.
Read and review exit slips to see where students are at for presentations on
Friday. This will help structure the debriefing of the presentations on Friday.
25
CIRCLE OF OURSELVES
EXIT SLIP
What are some effective presentation techniques that you have seen, and/or from what we have
discussed in class so far?
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
EXIT SLIP
What are some effective presentation techniques that you have seen, and/or from what we have
discussed in class so far?
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
EXIT SLIP
What are some effective presentation techniques that you have seen, and/or from what we have
discussed in class so far?
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
“Identities”
By W.D. Valgardson
Normally, he goes clean-shaven into the world, but the promise of a Saturday liquid with sunshine
draws him first from his study to the backyard, from there to his front lawn. The smell of burning leaves stirs
the memories of childhood car rides, narrow lanes adrift with yellow leaves, girls on plodding horses,
unattended stands piled high with pumpkins, onions, or beets so that each one was, in its own way, a still life.
Always, there were salmon tins glinting with silver, set above hand-painted signs instructing purchasers to
deposit twenty-five or fifty cents. This act of faith containing all the stories he has read in childhood about the
North – cabins left unlocked, filled with supplies for hapless wayfarers – wakes in him a desire to temporarily
abandon the twice-cut yards and hundred-year-old oaks.
He does not hurry for he has no destination. He meanders, instead, through the neat suburban
labyrinth of cul-de-sacs, bays and circles, losing and finding himself endlessly. Becoming lost is made all the
easier because the houses repeat themselves with superficial variations. There grows within him, however, a
vague unease with symmetry, with nothing left to chance, no ragged edges, no unkempt vacant lots, no
houses rendered unique by necessity and indifference. The houses all face the sun. They have no artificial
divisions. There is room enough for everyone. Now, as he passes grey stone gates, the yards are all proscribed
by stiff picket fences and, quickly, a certain untidiness creeps in: a fragment of glass, a chocolate bar wrapper,
a plastic horse, cracked sidewalks with ridges of stiff grass.
Although he has on blue jeans – matching pants and jacket made in Paris –he is driving a grey
Mercedes Benz. Gangs of young men follow the car with their unblinking eyes. The young men stand and lean
in tired, watchful knots close to phone booths and seedy-looking grocery stores. Their slick hair glistens. Their
leather jackets gleam with studs. Eagles, tigers, wolves and serpents ride their backs.
He passes a ten-foot wire fence enclosing a playground bare of equipment and pounded flat. The gate
is double locked, the fence cut and rolled into a cone. Three boys throw stones at pigeons. Paper clogs the
fence like drifted snow. The school is covered with heavy screens. Its yellow brick is pock-marked, chipped.
The houses are squat, as though they have been taller and have, slowly, sunk into the ground. Each has
a band of dirt around the bottom. The blue glow of television sets lights the windows. On the front steps of a
red-roofed house, a man sits. He wears black pants, a tartan vest, a brown snap-rimmed hat. Beside him is a
suitcase. Fences here are little more than fragments. Cars jam the narrow streets and he worries that he might
strike the unkempt children who dart back and forth like startled fish. Streetlights come on. He takes them as
a signal to return the way he came, but it has been a reckless, haphazard path. Retracing it is impossible. He is
overtaken by sudden guilt. He has left no message for his wife.
There have been no trees or drifting leaves, no stands covered in produce, no salmon tins, but time has
run away with him. His wife, he realizes, will have returned from bridge, his children gathered for supper. He
also knows that, at first, they have explained his absence on a neighbour’s hospitality and gin. However, by the
time he can return, annoyance will have blossomed into alarm. His safe return will, he knows from childhood
and years of being locked in domestic grief, degenerate to recriminations and apology.
29
Faced with this, he decides to call the next time he sees a store or phone booth. So intent is he upon
the future that he dangerously ignores the present and does not notice the police car, concealed in the
shadows of a side street, nose out and follow him.
Ahead, there is a small store with windows covered in hand painted signs and vertical metal bars. On
the edge of the light, three young men and a girl slouch. One of them has a beard and, in spite of the
advancing darkness, wears sunglasses. He has on a fringed leather vest. His companions wear leather jackets.
Their peaked caps make their heads seem flat, their foreheads nonexistent. The girl is better looking than she
should be for such companions.
In spite of his car, he hopes his day old beard which he strokes upward with the heel of his hand, will,
when combined with his clothes, provide immunity. He slips his wallet into his shirt pocket, does up the metal
buttons on his jacket and slips a ten dollar bill into his back pocket. Recalling a television show, he decides that
if he is accosted, he will say that the ten is all he’s got, that he stole the car, and ask them if they know a
buyer.
He eases out of the car, edges nervously along the fender and past the grille. The store window
illuminates the sidewalk like a stage. Beyond the light, everything is obscured by darkness. He is so intent upon
the three men and the girl that he does not notice the police car drift against the curb, nor the officer who is
advancing with a pistol in his hand.
When the officer, who is inexperienced, who is nervous because of the neighbourhood, who is
suspicious because of the car and because he has been trained to see an unshaven man in blue jeans as a
potential thief and not as a probable owner, orders him to halt, he is surprised. When he turns part way
around and recognizes the uniform, he does not feel fear but relief. Instinctively relaxing, certain of his safety,
in the last voluntary movement of his life, he reaches his hand, not in the air as he was ordered to, but toward
his wallet for his identity.
30
Curriculum Connections
Strands:
Reading and Literature Studies
Writing
Media Studies
Overall Expectation(s):
Reading & Literature Studies: 1.) Reading for Meaning
Writing: 1) Developing & Organizing Content, 2) Understanding Forms, Conventions, and Techniques
Media Studies: 1) Understanding Media Texts
Specific Expectation(s):
Reading & Literature Studies: 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 1.6, 1.8
Writing: 1.1, 1.2, 1.4, 1.5, 2.1, 2.7
Media Studies: 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5
Enduring Understanding(s) Addressed:
• All media is constructed using a creative language/rhetoric and its own rules and is organized to persuade and
influence others.
• Media forms influence us, such as our way of seeing the world.
• Each individual receives/experiences media messages differently.
• The media does not represent society accurately, fairly, or equally.
• Questioning is at the heart of critical thinking and media literacy.
Essential Question(s) Addressed:
• Why is it important to know that what appears on the outside may not actually be the case?
• Why do people project an image of themselves contrary to what they are really like?
• What real world examples suggest that appearances can be deceiving?
• How can the belief that appearances are deceiving contribute to one’s understanding of persons in a positive
way? How can the idea contribute to one’s understanding of others in a negative way?
Knowledge: Skills:
• Critical understanding and critique of media • Critical literacy skills
terms • Analyzing different media forms
• Persuasive tactics in the media
Learning Goals:
• Begin to analyze critically how the mass media influences us.
• Become critically aware of the persuasive tactics used by people in the media.
Assessment Tools/Strategies
• Self-reflection
• Anecdotal comments
• Teacher observation
31
Appendices:
• APPENDIX A: Cubing Handout
Internet Resources:
• YouTube. (2012). “Ron Paul conviction ad” Retrieved from
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUNIeOB0whI.
• YouTube. (2012). “Mitt Romney: believe in America.” Retrieved from
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3a7FC0Jkv8.
• YouTube. (2012). “Rick Perry: time to get America working again.” Retrieved from
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0n3NLgSsAg.
• YouTube. (2012). “President Barack Obama’s first aid of 2012.” Retrieved from
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIA5aszzA18.
• YouTube. (2012). “Obama for America 2012 TV ad: the facts about President Obama’s energy
record.” Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sq3GGwgV7R0.
• The Museum of Moving Image. (2012). “Introduction.” Retrieved from
http://www.livingroomcandidate.org.
Resources:
• Ministry of Education. (2007). The Ontario Curriculum, Grades 11 and 12, English.
• The Learning Link Educational Consultation. (2009). Differentiated Learning Suggestions Chart.
32
The Lesson:
Minds On (Hook) Time: Connections:
⇒ Establish a positive learning environment L: Literacy
⇒ Connect to prior learning and/or experiences AfL, AaL, AoL: Assessment
⇒ Set the context of learning/sharing learning for/as/of Learning
goals/essential questions MI: Multiple Intelligence
INDIVIDUAL WRITE, PAIR, SHARE 20min.
AfL: anecdotal comments
Students:
• Describe a time when they were fooled or misled by appearances. MI: interpersonal
What led their perception or judgment astray? Why were they
fooled? What did they learn because of their experience?
• Students write a memory of the event on a piece of paper and pair
with an elbow partner.
Welcome students to share their stories, and then introduce the ways in
which media forms can distort our perceptions.
Go over the learning goals of the class before continuing. MI: visual, auditory
Play five YouTube/TV political campaign ads for America’s 2012 elections. Ask
students to make notes about what they find interesting and the ways in
which the video employs persuasive media tactics (e.g., visuals, sound,
statistics, etc.).
Hand out Cube Cut Out (Appendix A) and Cubing Handout (Appendix B).
Explain the activity and give them the choice for which ad they would like to
look at more closely. Students can roll as many times as they wish.
After some time, instruct students to choose one question and synthesize
their responses and reiterate them to the class. Students will have time to
consider 1) what it is they would like to say, 2) pick a speaker.
Do you think
“negative campaign”
ads are effective?
Why?
Curriculum Connections
Strands:
Oral Communication
Reading and Literature Studies
Writing
Media Studies
Overall Expectation(s):
Oral Communication: 1) Listening to Understand, 2) Speaking to Communicate
Reading & Literature Studies: 1.) Reading for Meaning, 2) Understanding Form and Style
Writing: 1) Developing & Organizing Content
Media Studies: 1) Understanding Media Texts, 2) Creating Media Texts
Specific Expectation(s):
Oral Communication: 1.1, 1.5, 1.6, 1.7, 1.8
Reading & Literature Studies: 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 1.6, 1.8, 2.2, 2.3
Writing: 1.2, 1.4, 1.5, 2.1, 2.7
Media Studies: 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.6, 3.1, 3.4
Enduring Understanding(s) Addressed:
• Media forms influence us, such as our way of seeing the world.
• Using expressive and clear oral language skills enhances communication and engages the audience.
• Judging an individual based on appearance reinforces stereotypes.
Essential Question(s) Addressed:
• Why is it important to know that what appears on the outside may not actually be the case?
Knowledge: Skills:
• Critical understanding and critique of media • Critical literacy skills
terms • Analyzing different media forms
• Persuasive tactics in the media
Learning Goals:
• Demonstrate understanding of effective presentational strategies and techniques.
• Use illustrative, powerful imagery in “I Am From” poems.
• Gain understanding the role presentation assignment has in preparations and practice for the culminating
activity at the end of month.
• Understand the role audience etiquette has for all participants of a presentation (listener and presenter).
Assessment Tools/Strategies
• Evaluation rubric
• Teacher observation
37
Appendices:
• N/A
Internet Resources:
• N/A
Resources:
• Ministry of Education. (2007). The Ontario Curriculum, Grades 11 and 12, English.
• The Learning Link Educational Consultation. (2009). Differentiated Learning Suggestions Chart.
38
The Lesson:
Minds On (Hook) Time: Connections:
⇒ Establish a positive learning environment L: Literacy
⇒ Connect to prior learning and/or experiences AfL, AaL, AoL: Assessment
⇒ Set the context of learning/sharing learning for/as/of Learning
goals/essential questions MI: Multiple Intelligence
Play soft, jazz music as students enter the room. Invite them to grab a snack. 5min.
Ask students the following question: what does being a good audience
member look like, sound like, and feel like? Audience etiquette is a way of
behaving appropriately and politely during a performance. Some highlights of
audience etiquette include:
• We should sit quietly and appreciate the poet’s (i.e., the student)
efforts.
• We should look at the poet with friendly faces.
• We should not talk to our neighbour about last night’s episode of
Jersey Shore; we will save such discussions until after class.
• Show respect and ‘snap’ at the end.
Go over objectives and due dates with the class. Read over the rubric and
ensure understanding by asking questions.
Curriculum Connections
Strands:
Oral Communication
Overall Expectation(s):
Oral Communication: 1. Listening to Understand, 2. Speaking to Communicate
Specific Expectation(s):
Oral Communication: 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.8, 2.1
Enduring Understanding(s) Addressed:
• Students gain an understanding of the social inequities that exist in society and how they affect a person’s self-
identity
• Students will understand that judging individuals based on appearances or how they perceive the person to be
reinforces stereotypes
Essential Question(s) Addressed:
• Why is it important to understand that appearances may not always be a true indication of a person’s identity?
• Which real life examples illustrate the idea that appearances can be deceiving?
• How do judgements lead to the development of stereotypes? What effect can stereotypes have on a person’s
self-identity?
Knowledge: Skills:
• Students will be able to recognize the difference • Reflection
between inner and outer identity • Communication
• Students will understand that identity • Role Play
construction is a personal trait • Empathy skills
• Students will understand that judging others is a
way to reinforce stereotypes
Learning Goals:
• Develop awareness about the inequities of opportunity in society
• Develop empathy skills
• Increase understanding of possible personal consequences of belonging to certain minorities or cultural groups
Assessment Tools/Strategies
• Identity Activity (AasL)
• Observation while debriefing Stepping Out Activity (AforL)
• Debrief Reflection (AforL)
41
The Lesson:
Minds On (Hook) Time: Connections:
⇒ Establish a positive learning environment L: Literacy
⇒ Connect to prior learning and/or experiences AfL, AaL, AoL: Assessment
⇒ Set the context of learning/sharing learning for/as/of Learning
goals/essential questions MI: Multiple Intelligence
15- AaL, identity activity
Identity Activity 20min.
1. Students will partner up with a peer in the class who they do not
know very well on a personal level
2. Students will identify themselves as Partner A and Partner B.
3. Partner A will begin as the questioner and Partner B will be the
respondent for the first round.
4. Partner A will ask Partner B a series of questions:
What is my cultural background?
Do I have any pets?
What is my favourite food?
What types of movies do I enjoy watching?
In what country was I born?
How many siblings do I have?
What part of the city do I live in?
• Partner A will then reveal to Partner B the answers to the questions
that were being asked to assess how well they were judged based on
appearance.
• Partner B will then become the questioner while Partner A responds
following suit.
• Debrief question: Were you surprised when you learned the true
information about your partner?
At the end, invite everyone to take note of his or her position. Then give them
a couple minutes to come out of their role before debriefing.
ROLES
You are yourself. You are whoever you would like to be.
You are the parent of a child with a physical You are a 10-year-old who frequently has to
disability. babysit your three younger siblings while your
parents work long hours.
You are a 13-year-old student with learning You use spanking to discipline your young child,
difficulties. including in public.
You are whoever you would like to be. You are a world famous actress with no children.
You are a pregnant woman who cannot quit You often have to use coupons to buy necessities
smoking during pregnancy no matter how hard like food.
you try.
You are in Grade 12 and have been recruited to You are 14, and your father is an unemployed
play college basketball. alcoholic.
Adapted from: UNICEF Canada: Helping to make your Classroom a Global Schoolhouse
46
Adapted from: UNICEF Canada: Helping to make your Classroom a Global Schoolhouse
47
Curriculum Connections
Strands:
Oral Communication, Reading and Literature Studies, Writing, Media Studies
Overall Expectation(s):
Oral Communication: 1. Listening to Understand, 2. Speaking to Communicate
Reading and Literature Studies: 1. Reading for Meaning
Media Studies: 1. Understanding Media Texts, 2. Understanding Media Forms, Conventions, and Technique, 4. Reflecting
on Skills and Strategies
Specific Expectation(s):
Reading and Literature Studies: 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4
Oral Communication: 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 1.6, 1.7, 1.8, 2.1, 2.2
Media Studies: 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 2.1, 2.2
Enduring Understanding(s) Addressed:
• Each individual receives/experiences media differently
• Media forms influence one’s perception of the world
• Questioning is at the heart of critical thinking and media literacy
Essential Question(s) Addressed:
• What are some real life examples of the idea that appearances can be deceiving?
• How do various forms of literature portray the theme of appearance versus reality?
Knowledge: Skills:
• Media is persuasive and must be analyzed critically • Critical media literacy skills
• Identity and gender is a social construction • Communication in small groups
• Analyzing different forms of media
Learning Goals:
• Recognize that identity and gender is a fluid social construction
• Recognize how popular forms of media (i.e music) reinforce gender stereotypes where women are seen as
inferior and weaker than their male counterparts
Assessment Tools/Strategies
• Informal observation during small group discussion (AasL)
• Entry Card (AforL)
48
Appendices:
• Appendix A: What is ‘Gender’? (activity)
• Appendix B: “Love Story’- Taylor Swift (lyrics)
• Appendix C: “The women we want to be?” (article)
• Appendix D: “Common stereotypes of men in media” (article)
• Appendix E: Entry Card
Internet Resources:
• “Common Stereotypes of Men in Media” (2007). Media Awareness Network. Accessed February 12 2012.
http://www.mediawareness,ca/english/issues/menandmasculinity/masculinity_stereotypes.cfm
• Petrescu, Sarah. “The women we want to be?” Canadian Reference Centre. (2005). EBSCOhost. Web. Accessed
February 12 2012.
• Swift, Taylor. “Love Story” YouTube. Accessed February 19 2012.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xg3vE8Ie_E&ob=av2n
Resources:
• Gillian, Eve, ed. Media Literacy: Teacher Created Resources . U.S.A, 2011. Print.
• Hollas, Betty. Differentiating Instruction in a Whole-Group Setting. U.S.A, 2007. Print.
• McBride, Bill. If They Can Argue Well, They Can Write Well. U.S.A, 2008. Print.
49
The Lesson:
Minds On (Hook) Time: Connections:
⇒ Establish a positive learning environment L: Literacy
⇒ Connect to prior learning and/or experiences AfL, AaL, AoL: Assessment
⇒ Set the context of learning/sharing learning for/as/of Learning
goals/essential questions MI: Multiple Intelligence
Taylor Swift- “Love Story” 15-
1. Teacher will play the music video “Love Story” by Taylor Swift 20mins.
and critically analyze it for the portrayal of gender both through
the lyrics of the song and the behaviour of characters
2. Note: Teacher may choose to play the music video more than
once after assessing students work through observation after the
first play
3. Students will complete a hand-out that includes a male and
female figure. Inside each figure, students will watch the music
video and jot down words, ideas, feelings, characteristics or
appearances that coincide with being male or female
4. Teacher will debrief with class; asking them the ideas that were
jotted down. The following questions will be posed:
What does this video/song say about gender?
What does it mean to be a male or female according to the
“Love Story”?
Are these ideas accurate when speaking about men and
women and their relationship with one another?
What are the consequences of internalizing this perception of
gender and how we are called to behave and think?
5. Teacher will ask one member of each group to sum up the “final
word” which their group came up with for the whole class
6. The same reading strategy will be applied to the second article.
7. Note: The teacher, while informally observing group work, may
choose to change group members depending on how well they
worked together or by assessing the energy level of the class
WHAT IS ‘GENDER’?
Fill out the following figures with words, ideas, appearances, images, characteristics that you believe define a
male or a female. Pay particular attention to gender stereotypes and the way males and females are portrayed
in the media.
52
Source: www.lyricsmania.com
54
55
56
57
58
59
Curriculum Connections
Strands:
Oral Communication
Media Studies
Overall Expectation(s):
Oral Communication: 1. Listening to Understand,
Media Studies: 1. Understanding Media Texts, 2. Understanding Media Forms, Conventions, and Techniques, 3. Creating
Media Texts, 4. Reflecting on Skills and Strategies
Specific Expectation(s):
Oral Communication: 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.7, 1.8
Media Studies: 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 1.6, 2.1, 2.2, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 4.1, 4.2
Enduring Understanding(s) Addressed:
• All media is constructed using creative language/rhetoric and its own rules and is organized to persuade and
influence individuals
• Media forms influence our way of seeing the world
• Each individual receives/experiences media messages differently
Knowledge: Skills:
• Critical understanding and critique of media terms • Critical media and literacy skills
• Persuasive tactics used in the media • Analyzing different forms of media
• Recognize the difference between inner and outer
self
Learning Goals:
• Media influences how individuals perceive their inner and outer self through body image
• Recognize that the “ideal” body shape and appearance illustrated by the media for men and women is not an
“ideal”, natural, or healthy way of living
Assessment Tools/Strategies
• ‘Real Beauty’ Message Board (AforL)
60
Internet Resources:
• “Dove Evolution.” YouTube. Accessed February 19 2012. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYhCn0jf46U
• “Only Two Percent of Woman Describe Themselves as Beautiful: New Global Study Uncovers Desire for Broader
Definition of Beauty.” http://www.dove.ca/en/#/cfrb/onlytwo.aspx/
• Media Awareness Network. “Dove Campaign for Real Beauty.”
http://www.mediaawareness.ca/english/resources/teacable_moments/campaignrealbeauty.cfm
Resources:
• Gillian, Eve, ed. Media Literacy: Teacher Created Resources . U.S.A, 2011. Print.
61
The Lesson:
Minds On (Hook) Time: Connections:
⇒ Establish a positive learning environment L: Literacy
⇒ Connect to prior learning and/or experiences AfL, AaL, AoL: Assessment
⇒ Set the context of learning/sharing learning for/as/of Learning
goals/essential questions MI: Multiple Intelligence
Images of the ‘Ideal’ Body 10-
1. Teacher will show students an image of two magazine covers 15min.
(thin woman and muscular man) .
2. Students will be asked to reflect on these images and question
whether or not these images are in fact “ideal” representations of
the male and female body? How do these images make you feel
about your own body?
Definition of a stereotype. A stereotype is an oversimplified portrayal of
someone. “Dumb blonde” or “insensitive male” or “wicked stepmother” are
some examples. Many forms of media use stereotypes, however, they often
do not reveal the truth about one’s character.
Curriculum Connections
Strands:
Media Studies
Overall Expectation(s):
Media Studies: 1. Understanding Media Texts, 2. Understanding Media Forms, Conventions, and Techniques, 3.
Reflecting on Skills and Strategies
Specific Expectation(s):
Media Studies: 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 1.6, 2.1, 2.2, 4.1, 4.2
Enduring Understanding(s) Addressed:
• Each individual receives/experiences media differently
• Media forms influence one’s perception of the world
• Questioning is at the heart of critical thinking and media literacy
Essential Question(s) Addressed:
• How does a focus on body image in the media today affect the crucial period of adolescence?
• How can the belief that appearances are sometimes deceiving contribute to one’s understanding of a person in
a positive way? How can it contribute in a negative way
Knowledge: Skills:
• Persuasive tactics used in the media • Ability to communicate with a critical lens
• Critical understanding of the media • Communication in small groups
• Deconstructing media
• Analyzing different forms of media
Learning Goals:
• Critically analyze magazine advertisements for gender stereotypes
• Deconstruct media forms of hidden messages or ideas that affect individual’s perception of their inner and outer
self
Assessment Tools/Strategies
• Deconstruction chart and magazine advertisements (AforL)
• Students are aware of the body image issues in the media and gender stereotypes
• Students are provided with guided questions when analyzing any medium of media including magazine
advertisements to reveal the implicit and explicit messages
Learning Profile/Style
• Kinaesthetic learners will be able to move around the class, sharing magazines and images with students which
will maintain their engagement during class
• Visual learners will have the opportunity to look through numerous magazines where they will choose an image
to deconstruct for its various visual aspects that may reveal a gender stereotype
• Auditory learners will be able to communicate with peers regarding the images they selected and their means of
deconstruction
The Lesson:
Minds On (Hook) Time: Connections:
⇒ Establish a positive learning environment L: Literacy
⇒ Connect to prior learning and/or experiences AfL, AaL, AoL: Assessment
⇒ Set the context of learning/sharing learning for/as/of Learning
goals/essential questions MI: Multiple Intelligence
66
1. Using the magazine images that you found, complete the following chart after analyzing each image.
2. Please submit this completed chart along with the two images that were analyzed.
Image 1 Image 2
Which company sponsors this
advertisement?
Curriculum Connections
Strands:
Reading and Literature Studies, Writing
Overall Expectation(s):
Reading and Literature Studies: 1. Reading for Meaning
Writing: 1. Developing and Organizing Content, 2. Using Knowledge of Form and Style, 4. Reflecting on Skills and
Strategies
Specific Expectation(s):
Reading and Literature Studies: 1.1, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 1.6, 1.8
Writing: 1.1, 1.2, 2.1. 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 2.5, 2.6, 4.1
Enduring Understanding(s) Addressed:
• All media is constructed using a creative language/rhetoric and its own rules and it organized to persuade and
influence individuals
• Each individual receives/experiences media differently
• Media forms influence one’s perception of the world
• Questioning is at the heart of critical thinking and media literacy
Essential Question(s) Addressed:
• Why is it important to know that what may appear on the outside is not always a true indication of who a
person truly is?
• Are there real life examples that illustrate the idea that appearances can be deceiving?
Knowledge: Skills:
• Persuasive tactics used in the media • Communication skills
• Critical understanding of the media • Critical literacy skills
• Organization during the writing process
Learning Goals:
• Recognize how the media enforces the dichotomy between internal and external self
• Recognize the extent that media influences their personal lives
• Recognize the importance of being critical media literates
Assessment Tools/Strategies
• How much media? How much media affects you? (AasL)
• Media Maker: Writing Assignment (AofL )
• Self-assessment of writing (AasL)
• Writing Check-Up (AforL)
70
Student Interest
• Students will be able to explore their feelings on the topic of body image within their writing piece.
• Students will be given choice in what type of writing they would like to perform. Choices include: a newspaper
article, a letter, or a personal journal response.
Differentiated Instruction Response
Learning materials (content) Ways of demonstrating learning (product)
Ways of learning (process) Learning environment
The Lesson:
Minds On (Hook) Time: Connections:
⇒ Establish a positive learning environment L: Literacy
⇒ Connect to prior learning and/or experiences AfL, AaL, AoL: Assessment
⇒ Set the context of learning/sharing learning for/as/of Learning
goals/essential questions MI: Multiple Intelligence
How Much Media? 10-15 AaL: How Much Media?
1. Students will complete two brief activities which will explore the
significant role that media plays in their lives. These activities will
work towards making students critical viewers of all forms of
media so that they are able to make healthy, safe and informed
choices
2. Activity 1- How much media?
Students will list all of the forms of media that they are
exposed to daily
If students are having difficulty this, teacher may provide
them with a list of media sources which include; radio,
websites, movies, television, newspapers, mail, billboards,
books, magazines, print ads, photographs, speeches, radio,
paintings, e-mail, sculptures, videogames, packaging
Students will include the hours per day spent using each form
of media
Students will record their observations regarding their
personal media exposure and explain anything that surprised
them
3. Activity 2- How much media affects you?
Students will indicate the form of media that is most important to them and
explain how this form of media makes them feel and how it affects their life
1. Write down all of the forms of media that you are exposed to daily.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
2. Now, complete the chart below to show how many hours each day you use each form of media.
3. Finally, study your completed chart. On the lines below, record your observations about your own media
exposure. Explain anything that surprised you.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
As you have seen from the previous page, media is all around you. If affects how you view yourself and your life. It
shapes the choices you make, whether you listen to a particular song, buy a certain brand of shoes, or choose a certain
movie to watch. Your favourite form of media makes you feel a certain way and it affects your life in a particular
manner.
Directions: Think about the media that you see every day and then answer the questions below.
1. On the line below, write down the form of media that is most important to you based on the previous list you
complied.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
2. Now, explain how this form of media makes you feel, how it affects your life in a positive and or negative
way.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
As a class, we have examined the theme of appearance versus reality in the media. The media is heavily influential to all
of our lives in the way we see the world and the way we see ourselves. Body image is intertwined into many forms of
media outlets including television, movies, music, social media, and so on. Much of the material surrounding body image
can be seen as having a negative influence on adolescent development.
You will use this assignment as an opportunity to expresses your feelings regarding the influence of the media in the
decisions we make and our self-identity. Discuss the effects that these influences can have on self and others. Offer
solutions to your fellow youth to reduce the negative influences that media can have on their self-confidence and
lifestyle. For this assignment, you can write in the form of a newspaper article, a letter, or a personal journal response
that will be 200-250 words in length.
Please also include a self-assessment as part of this assignment. You can label this section ‘Self-Assessment’ and you will
describe elements of your writing worked well (i.e brainstorming, organization), the skills that they hope to further
develop and what strategies they would use next time.
Curriculum Connections
Strands:
Oral Communication
Media Studies
Overall Expectation(s):
Oral: Listening to Understand, Speaking to Communicate
Media: Understanding Media Texts, Reflecting on Skills and Strategies
Specific Expectation(s):
Oral: 1.1, 1.2, 2.1, 2.2; Media: 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 4.1, 4.2
Enduring Understanding(s) Addressed:
• Questioning is at the heart of critical thinking and media literacy
• Using expressive and clear oral language skills enhances communication and engages the audience
• Understanding before judging is a necessary skill which contributes to a just world
Essential Question(s) Addressed:
• Why is it important to know that what appears on the outside may not actually be the case?
• In what way does the immigrant experience affect students today? What are some of the misconceptions?
Knowledge: Skills:
• Biases and assumptions • Effective presentation techniques
• Recognize the difference between inner and • Analytical skills in literary works
outer selves • Effective communication of ideas
• External influences particularly culture
• Ability to communicate and present one’s
perspective with a critical lens
Learning Goals:
• Gain an understanding of what affects biases and assumptions
• Understand how those assumptions can affect one’s understanding of others
• Understand how this contributes to judging persons on the outside
• Become aware of how one’s outer behaviour is shaped by how one sees the world (e.g. culturally)
Assessment Tools/Strategies
AfL:
• In-class questions
• Pre-questions/post-questions response check
83
Appendices:
• APPENDIX A: Handout – Questions for Namioka’s “They Don’t Mean It!”
Internet Resources:
• N/A
Resources:
• "They Don't Mean It!" by Lensey Namioka
From: Gallo, Donald R. Ed. First Crossing: Stories About Teen Immigrants. Massachusetts: Candlewick Press,
2004.
• School and Society "Implicit Bias : Getting to know ME ‘Working towards an Inclusive Classroom Approach’”
(McKintosh Kurt, School and Society, OISE 2012)
The Lesson:
Minds On (Hook) Time: Connections:
⇒ Establish a positive learning environment L: Literacy
⇒ Connect to prior learning and/or experiences AfL, AaL, AoL: Assessment
⇒ Set the context of learning/sharing learning for/as/of Learning
goals/essential questions MI: Multiple Intelligence
Two truths and a lie 20 AaL:
Each student writes down one thing others do not know about themselves Minds-on activity- learning
84
(and which they feel comfortable sharing) and two things which are lies. about one’s assumptions
Students present the three things to the class and students guess which
statement is true of the person.
PRE-READING QUESTIONS
What is culture?
Do you know of someone from another culture? What do they do differently from you?
PRE-READING QUESTIONS
What is culture?
Do you know of someone from another culture? What do they do differently from you?
PRE-READING QUESTIONS
What is culture?
Do you know of someone from another culture? What do they do differently from you?
Curriculum Connections
Strands:
Oral, Reading, Media
Overall Expectation(s):
Oral: Listening to Understand, Speaking to Communicate
Reading: Reading for Meaning, Understanding Form and Style, Reading With Fluency, Reflecting on Skills and Strategies
Media: Understanding Media Texts, Understanding Media Forms, Conventions, and Techniques, Reflecting on Skills and
Strategies
Specific Expectation(s):
Oral: 1.5, 1.6, 2.5, 2.6, 2.7, 3.2
Reading: 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 1.6, 1.7, 1.8, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 4.1
Media: 1.1, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 2.2, 4.1, 4.2
Enduring Understanding(s) Addressed:
• Questioning is at the heart of critical thinking and media literacy.
• Understanding before judging is a necessary skill, which contributes to a just world.
Essential Question(s) Addressed:
• Why is it important to know that what appears on the outside may not actually be the case?
• Why do characters project an image of themselves contrary to what they are really like?
• What real world examples suggest that appearances can be deceiving?
• How can the belief that appearances are deceiving contribute to one`s understanding of persons in a positive
way? How can the idea contribute to one`s understanding of others in a negative way?
• In what way does the immigrant experience affect students today? What challenges do these students face?
Knowledge: Skills:
• Recognize the difference between inner and • Ability to communicate and present one’s
outer selves perspective with a critical lens
• External influences particularly culture • Analytical skills in literary works
• Effective communication of ideas
Learning Goals:
• Students will have a greater understanding of the short story and the conventions used
• Through the misconceptions activity, story, and videos students will understand what culture is, how
culture influences behaviour, what challenges immigrants face, and how one can understand those who
are different from us.
Assessment Tools/Strategies
• In-class questions
• Pre-questions/post-questions response check
• Class brainstorming
• Discussion
• Culture wheel
87
The Lesson:
Minds On (Hook) Time: Connections:
⇒ Establish a positive learning environment L: Literacy
⇒ Connect to prior learning and/or experiences AfL, AaL, AoL: Assessment
⇒ Set the context of learning/sharing learning for/as/of Learning
goals/essential questions MI: Multiple Intelligence
Immigration into Canada: Video “The History of Immigration into Canada” 15min. AfL/AaL
Part 1 and 2 (approx. 10 minutes) Discussion
Question: What are some challenges that newcomers face in this country? AfL
If you or a loved one immigrated here, what challenges did they face? How Pre-reading/post-reading
would that affect their experiences in school?
questions
STORY
Discussion of Pre-reading + post-reading questions:
What assumptions did you have of what you would read? Were you
surprised?
Culture wheel activity (Group Work) [Understand what culture is and how it
influences us]
We all belong to a culture. One definition of culture is the combination of human knowledge, beliefs and behavior that
we learn and pass on to future generations. We usually express our culture in certain ways, like how we dress, what we
eat, what we believe, and how we play.
DIRECTIONS
Each member of your team fills out a Culture Wheel diagram like the one attached, using various
colored pens. Point out what you do that is traditional in your family. Think about what your
parents or grandparents tell you about how to do things and what they believe. Include at least
two items from your cultural background for each of the parts of a culture. You may draw symbols
that are unique to your culture. For example, an eagle on a pear cactus is a symbol from the
ancient Aztec culture.
Now discuss with your teammates what is special to each person’s family and culture. After that,
make one big team Culture Wheel on chart paper that shows the variety and uniqueness that each
of you brings to the team.
Use various colored pens to label your answers.
After you finish the team Culture Wheel, look at the Culture Wheels made by the other teams.
Then talk with your teammates about how this activity has contributed to your cross-cultural
understanding. In what ways have you gained greater understanding or respect for another
culture or for someone in your class, school or community?
clothing
food
religion
recreation
customs
values My Culture
work
government
family
tools
shelter
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TASKS:
1) FIND: Find a student in the school who you do not know and have not spoken to—
a newcomer to the country is preferred. You must seek the person's permission to be
interviewed. The person must be chosen before Thursday.
3) INTERVIEW: Prepare a set of questions to ask the person about who they are, what they
like, their interests, their challenges in this country etc. Then, set up a meeting time and
ASK THEM!
Mechanics in Writing:
Writing contains minimal to no spelling errors
1 2 3 4
Writing contains minimal to no grammatical errors
1 2 3 4
Completion
Name included
1 2 3 4
Curriculum Connections
Strands:
Oral, Reading, Media
Overall Expectation(s):
Oral: Listening to Understand, Speaking to Communicate
Reading: Reading for Meaning, Understanding Form and Style, Reading With Fluency, Reflecting on Skills and Strategies
Media: Understanding Media Texts, Understanding Media Forms, Conventions, and Techniques, Reflecting on Skills and
Strategies
Specific Expectation(s):
Oral: 1.5, 1.6, 2.5, 2.6, 2.7, 3.2
Reading: 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 1.6, 1.7, 1.8, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 4.1
Media: 1.1, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 2.2, 4.1, 4.2
Enduring Understanding(s) Addressed:
• Questioning is at the heart of critical thinking and media literacy.
• Understanding before judging is a necessary skill which contributes to a just world.
Essential Question(s) Addressed:
• Why is it important to know that what appears on the outside may not actually be the case?
• Why do characters project an image of themselves contrary to what they are really like?
• What real world examples suggest that appearances can be deceiving?
• How can the belief that appearances are deceiving contribute to one`s understanding of persons in a positive
way? How can the idea contribute to one`s understanding of others in a negative way?
• In what way does the immigrant experience affect students today? What challenges do these students face?
Knowledge: Skills:
• Recognize the difference between the inner and • Ability to communicate and present one’s
outer self perspective with a critical lens
• Understand the influence of culture • Analytical skills in literary works
• Understand how misconceptions can affect one’s • Effective communication of ideas
understanding of others
Learning Goals:
• Students will have a greater understanding of the short story and the conventions used
• Through the misconceptions activity, story, and video students will understand what culture is, how culture
influences behaviour, what challenges immigrants face, and how one can understand those who are different
from us.
Assessment Tools/Strategies
• In-class questions and discussions
• Pre-questions/post-questions response check
• Class brainstorming
• Misconceptions Activity
• Think-Pair-Write (Reflection Activity)
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Appendices:
• APPENDIX A: Misconceptions Activity—What do we know?
• APPENDIX B: Think-Pair-Write Handout
• APPENDIX C: Post-reading Questions: "My Favourite Chaperone" by Jean Davies Okimoto
Internet Resources:
• Lonergan Background: http://www.lonergan.org.au/?p=202
• Links: Mythbusters-Discovery Channel (source of research for misconceptions activity) [See Resource
at Bottom]
Resources:
• N/A
The Lesson:
Minds On (Hook) Time: Connections:
⇒ Establish a positive learning environment L: Literacy
⇒ Connect to prior learning and/or experiences AfL, AaL, AoL: Assessment
⇒ Set the context of learning/sharing learning for/as/of Learning
goals/essential questions MI: Multiple Intelligence
Misconceptions Activity: “What do you know?” 10min. AaL
10 statements presented to the students. They must put their thumbs up or Misconceptions Activity
down as to which they think are true and which false. All statements are
commonly held beliefs; 9 statements are false, the last is true. AfL
Purpose: Students will be led to see that they may have simply accepted
Pre /Post Questions +
something because they heard it to be true without having checked for the
Discussion Questions and
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1) T/F – The colour red makes bulls angry (False: According to MythBusters “Turns out, the color red isn't what causes bulls to
attack. In fact, bulls don't seem to have any color preference at all. They'll charge whichever object is moving the most,
which means this old myth can get tossed right out of the ring.”
2) T/F- Chilli peppers work as shark repellant: False according to MythBusters
3) T/F – It is possible to make a candle out of earwax (False).
4) T/F- You can be decapitated by a ceiling fan (False).
5) T/F- If you’re being chased by a crocodile it is better to run in a zig zag (False).
6) T/F- You can really hold on to the roof of a speeding car (False).
7) T/F Women can tolerate more pain than men can (TRUE according to the Mythbusters team study; they found women
could tolerate more pain and the women who outdid them all were those who had undergone childbirth without
painkillers).
All of the above and more can be found on the Mythbusters link (on the Discovery channel
website): http://dsc.discovery.com/tv/mythbusters/
*********************************************************
Mythbusters:
THE COLOR RED REALLY MAKE BULLS ANGRY?
Finding: BUSTED
Explanation: Spanish matadors began using a small red cape, or muleta, in bullfighting around the 1700s. Ever since, it seems,
people have perpetuated the color-charged myth that red makes bulls go wild.
An 1,800-pound bull can hook a grown man with his horns and toss him 30 feet in the air, so the MythBusters set out to find a way
to test this myth — carefully. They decided to put makeshift matadors into an arena, each holding a flag of a different color, and
wait for an angry bull to see red.
The red, blue and white flags got equal, half-hearted attacks when they were motionless. In order to elicit an aggressive charge
response from the bull, the flags had to be waved.
Turns out, the color red isn't what causes bulls to attack. In fact, bulls don't seem to have any color preference at all. They'll charge
whichever object is moving the most, which means this old myth can get tossed right out of the ring.
As seen in "MythBusters: Red Rag to a Bull."
http://dsc.discovery.com/fansites/mythbusters/db/animals/color-red-makes-bulls-go-ballistic.html
That's because the premise of the busted myth is totally bogus; crocodiles rarely attack from land. The predators prefer to ambush
their targets from the water with a lightning-fast lunge.
As Tory's croc encounter demonstrated, if you can escape the initial snap, you should be safe. And even if a crocodile takes off after
you, they max out around 10 miles per hour, making it feasible to outrun them in a zigzag or straight line.
As seen in "MythBusters: Hindenburg Mystery."
http://dsc.discovery.com/fansites/mythbusters/db/animals/zigzag-crocodile-run.html
MYTH: CAN YOU REALLY HOLD ONTO THE ROOF OF A SPEEDING CAR?
Finding: BUSTED
Explanation: When you see a movie scene where a guy is clinging to the roof of a moving car, there's a good chance the stuntman in
question is safely harnessed to the vehicle. Otherwise, it would be pretty much impossible to hang on for the ride.
Unless a car's windows are down, there's little to hold on to when you're on the roof. Even at speeds under 45 miles per hour, the
MythBusters demonstrated that a person can't grip tightly enough to stay atop a car while it's moving. Any turning or stopping only
makes matters worse, since Newton's laws of motion won't work in your favor. For example, if the car turns, an invisible nemesis
called centrifugal force — a kind of inertia that keeps you flying away from the center of rotation — will literally shove you off the
roof.
And when the driver slams on the brakes, your forward-moving body will keep right on sailing into the air. With the windows
lowered — or if you hop on the car's slightly easier-to-grip hood — there's a better chance that you could hang on for dear life, but
the odds still aren't in your favor.
Sorry, did we just ruin that summer blockbuster for you?
As seen in "MythBusters: Prison Escape."
http://dsc.discovery.com/fansites/mythbusters/db/transportation/stay-on-car-roof-driver-shaking-you-off.html
100
Think-Pair-Write Hand-Out
What judgments could have been made about Maya and her family?
What about the work that Maya's parents were doing—would people know that they were government officials in
Russia seeing what they are now doing to put food on the table?
If you only saw the fight into which Maya's brother entered what judgments would we have made about him without
having known the context of that fight?
How does what you have read so far show us that we must seek to understand before we judge?
Curriculum Connections
Strands:
Oral, Reading, Media
Overall Expectation(s):
Oral: Listening to Understand, Speaking to Communicate
Reading: Reading for Meaning, Understanding Form and Style, Reading With Fluency, Reflecting on Skills and Strategies
Media: Understanding Media Texts, Understanding Media Forms, Conventions, and Techniques, Reflecting on Skills and
Strategies
Specific Expectation(s):
Oral: 1.5, 1.6, 2.5, 2.6, 2.7, 3.2
Reading: 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 1.6, 1.7, 1.8, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 4.1
Media: 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 1.6, 2.2, 4.1, 4.2
Enduring Understanding(s) Addressed:
• Questioning is at the heart of critical thinking and media literacy.
• Understanding before judging is a necessary skill, which contributes to a just world.
• All media is constructed using a creative language/rhetoric and its own rules and is organized to persuade and
influence others.
• Media forms influence us, such as our way of seeing the world.
• Each individual receives/experiences media messages differently.
• The media does not represent society accurately, fairly, or equally.
Assessment Tools/Strategies
• In-class questions
• Pre-questions/post-questions response check
• Class brainstorming
• Discussion
• Conference with students on progress of assignment
The Lesson:
Minds On (Hook) Time: Connections:
⇒ Establish a positive learning environment L: Literacy
⇒ Connect to prior learning and/or experiences AfL, AaL, AoL: Assessment
⇒ Set the context of learning/sharing learning for/as/of Learning
goals/essential questions MI: Multiple Intelligence
Entry Pass: 15min. AfL Entry Pass
Drawing from yesterday's class, what does it mean to say that we must seek
to understand before we judge?
Often times the stereotypes we have may affect the way we see others.
We tend to see our ideas alone without having really understood the person.
E.g. Media which spread hatred against Jewish persons in Germany under the
influence of Hitler.
These people may have then perceived all Jews to be a certain way without
having known or understood individual Jewish persons. Your job as an
interviewer will be to get to know the newcomer person you have chosen to
interview and reflect on why doing something like this is important.
Interview Assignment details: Effective Interview Skills/How to prepare
your interview questions/write your reflection
104
Curriculum Connections
Strands:
Writing
Overall Expectation(s):
Writing: Developing and Organizing Content, Using Knowledge of Form and Style, Applying Knowledge of Conventions,
Reflecting on Skills and Strategies
Specific Expectation(s):
Writing: 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 3.3, 3.4, 3.5, 4.1
Enduring Understanding(s) Addressed:
• Using expressive and clear oral language skills enhances communication and engages the audience.
• Questioning is at the heart of critical thinking and media literacy.
Essential Question(s) Addressed:
• What real world examples suggest that appearances can be deceiving?
• How can the belief that appearances are deceiving contribute to one’s understanding of persons in a positive
way? How can the idea contribute to one’s understanding of others in a negative way?
• In what way does the immigrant experience affect students today? What challenges do these students face?
Knowledge: Skills:
• Recognize the difference between the inner and • Ability to communicate and present one’s
outer self perspective with a critical lens
• Understand the influence of culture • Effective communication of ideas
• Understand how misconceptions can affect one’s
understanding of others
Learning Goals:
• Students will be able to communicate an understanding of the interview’s purpose
• Students will be able to communicate an understanding of their own interaction with the learning
• Students will refine their writing, communication, and interview skills
Assessment Tools/Strategies
• AfL questions-answers to see how students are doing
• AaL: Feedback provided to students about their work so far on interview assignment/progress + answers on
pre/post reading questions
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Light music will be played (if necessary) for students during the work period
Appendices:
• N/A
Internet Resources:
• N/A
Resources:
• N/A
The Lesson:
Minds On (Hook) Time: Connections:
⇒ Establish a positive learning environment L: Literacy
⇒ Connect to prior learning and/or experiences AfL, AaL, AoL: Assessment
⇒ Set the context of learning/sharing learning for/as/of Learning
goals/essential questions MI: Multiple Intelligence
Teacher Conference/Work period: 75 AfL questions-answers to
Students conference with teacher on the progress of assignment + Teacher see how students are
hands back pre-reading/post-reading questions + feedback about answers. doing
AaL: Feedback provided to
Rest of class works on aspects of interview assignment.
students about their work
-Work on the questions you need to ask your interviewee.
so far on interview
-Prepare reflection about what you perceive of this person prior to
interviewing him or her. assignment/progress +
-If you have already interviewed the person, work on post reflection answers on pre/post
questions. reading questions
107
Curriculum Connections
Strands: Oral Communication, Reading and Literature Studies, Writing, Media Studies
Overall Expectation(s):
OC-1. Listening to Understand: listen in order to understand and respond appropriately in a variety of
situations for a variety of purposes;
OC-2. Speaking to Communicate: use speaking skills and strategies appropriately to communicate with
different audiences for a variety of purposes;
OC-3. Reflecting on Skills and Strategies: reflect on and identify their strengths as listeners and speakers,
areas for improvement, and the strategies they found most helpful in oral communication situations.
RLS- 1. Reading for Meaning: read and demonstrate an understanding of a variety of informational, literary,
and graphic texts, using a range of strategies to construct meaning;
W-1.Developing and Organizing Content: generate, gather, and organize ideas and information to write for an
intended purpose and audience;
MS-1. Understanding Media Texts: demonstrate an understanding of a variety of media texts;
Specific Expectation(s):
OC-1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 1.6, 1.7, 1.8, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 3.1
RLS- 1.1, 1.2
W- 1.1, 1.2
MS-1.1, 1.2
Enduring Understandings Addressed:
• In relation to media, one must not judge on appearances alone but be a critical observer.
• In this manner, one can discern what is true from what is not.
• Certain people present themselves in one manner but may be something else in reality.
• In this case, one must know that though people are not perfect, there is also good within them and to thus
assume the good in others since one cannot judge absolutely when a certain persons are in fact being deceptive.
Essential Questions Addressed:
• How might knowing character intentions help in understanding the story?
• Why is it important to know that what appears on the outside may not actually be the case?
• How can one determine a character`s true intention?
Knowledge: Skills:
• Critical understanding & critique of media terms • Effective presentation techniques
• External influences • Critical literacy skills
• Ability to communicate and present with a critical • Analyzing different media forms
lens
Learning Goals:
• To learn more effective Presentation techniques. To explore self-discovery through obstacles in life.
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The Lesson:
Minds On (Hook) Time: Connections:
⇒ Establish a positive learning environment L: Literacy
⇒ Connect to prior learning and/or experiences AfL, AaL, AoL: Assessment
⇒ Set the context of learning/sharing learning for/as/of Learning
goals/essential questions MI: Multiple Intelligence
Presentation Techniques 15min AfL: Assessment for
Go over the 4 basic presentation questions a presenter should be Learning
considering before they present.
1. Who will I be speaking to? (Target Audience)
2. What do they know about my topic already?
3. What will they want to know about my topic?
4. What do I want them to know by the end of my talk?
• Think/ Pair/ Share:
Teacher Prompt: “In pairs get together and talk about certain subjects
that will be given and decipher how you could present them, answer the
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Marathon of Hope
By Leslie Scrivener - Courtesy of the Toronto Star
September 1, 1980 – It was a dull day in Northern Ontario when Terry Fox ran his last miles.
He had started out strong that morning and felt confident. The road was lined with people shouting, “Don't give up, you can make it!”
words that spurred him and lifted his spirits.
But after 18 miles he started coughing and felt a pain in his chest.
Terry knew how to cope with pain. He'd run through it as he always had before; he'd simply keep going until the pain went away.
For 3,339 miles, from St John's, Newfoundland, Canada's eastern most city on the shore of the Atlantic, he'd run through six provinces
and now was two-thirds of the way home. He'd run close to a marathon a day, for 143 days. No mean achievement for an able-bodied
runner, an extraordinary feat for an amputee.
Terry's left leg was strong and muscular. His right was a mere stump fitted with an artificial limb made of fibreglass and steel. He'd
lost the leg to cancer when he was 18.
He was 22 now; curly haired, good-looking, sunburned. He was strong, wilful and stubborn. His run, the Marathon of Hope, as he
called it, a quixotic adventure across Canada that defied logic and common sense, was his way of repaying a debt.
Terry believed that he had won his fight against cancer, and he wanted to raise money, $1 million perhaps, to fight the disease. There
was a second, possibly more important purpose to his marathon; a man is not less because he has lost a leg, indeed, he may be more.
Certainly, he showed there were no limits to what an amputee could do.
He changed people's attitude towards the disabled, and he showed that while cancer had claimed his leg, his spirit was unbreakable.
His Marathon of Hope had started as an improbable dream – two friends, one to drive the van, one to run, a ribbon of highway, and the
sturdy belief that they could perform a miracle.
He ran through ice storms and summer heat, against bitter winds of such velocity he couldn't move, through fishing villages and
Canada's biggest cities. Though he shunned the notion himself, people were calling him a hero. He still saw himself as simple little
Terry Fox, from Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, average in everything but determination.
But here, 18 miles from Thunder Bay, at the head of Lake Superior, the coughing had stopped, but the dull, blunt pain had not. Neither
running nor resting could make it go away.
He saw the people lined up the hill ahead of him. The Ontario Provincial Police cruiser was behind him, red lights flashing in the
drizzle, and cheers still surrounded him: “You can make it all the way!”
Terry could not ignore what people said to him. He listened. “I started to think about those comments. I thought this might be my last
mile.”
He ran until there were no more people, and then he climbed wearily into the van and asked his friend and driver Doug Alward to
drive him to a hospital.
When Terry won a place on the junior varsity basketball team at Simon Fraser University in 1976, many were surprised. He was not a
gifted player. Others were more talented, though few could match him for determination, toughness, and hard work.
It had always been that way. When he was in Grade 8, Terry was rated 19 on a team of 19 players and was on the court for only one
minute that first season. That didn't deter him. Two years later he was a starting player. By the time he graduated from high school, he
and his friend Doug were named athletes of the year.
Aches are common in an athlete's life, but at the end of his first year of university, there was a new, alarming pain in his knee. One
112
A week later, he learned this was no cartilage problem, as he had thought. He had a malignant tumor; his leg would be amputated in
four days. His doctors told him bluntly, because of recent advances in research his chances of survival were 50 to 70 per cent. If he'd
become sick two years earlier, his chances would have been 15 per cent.
The night before his operation, his high school basketball coach, Terri Fleming, brought him a running magazine which featured an
article about an amputee, Dick Traum, who had run in the New York City Marathon. And though his future was never more
precarious, Terry dreamed that night about running across Canada.
“I'm competitive,” Terry said. “I'm a dreamer. I like challenges. I don't give up. When I decided to do it, I knew I was going to go all
out. There was no in-between.”
The 16 months of follow-up treatment marked Terry irreversibly. He saw suffering as he'd never seen it before. He heard doctors
telling youngsters in the nearby beds that they had a 15 per cent chance of living. He heard screams of pain. He saw strong, young
bodies wasted by disease. He never forgot what he'd seen and when he left the cancer clinic for the last time, he left with a burden of
responsibility. He was among the lucky one-third of patients who survived.
“I could not leave knowing these faces and feelings would still exist even though I would be set free from mine,” he wrote in a letter
asking for sponsorship for his run. “Somewhere, the hurting must stop... and I was determined to take myself to the limit for those
causes.”
It was Rick Hansen who invited Terry to get back into sports and join a wheelchair basketball team. (Rick and Terry were of the same
mold; later Rick, a paraplegic, would push his wheelchair around the world, and he never failed to give credit to Terry, the friend who
inspired him.)
Terry tackled this new challenge with his usual gusto. He made himself strong pushing his wheelchair along the sea wall at Stanley
Park in Vancouver. Or he'd find steep mountains and push himself up unruly logging roads. He pushed himself until his hands bled.
Two years after his operation, Terry started a running programme. The first half miles he ran in the dark, so no one could see him. But
one of his coaches from junior high, Bob McGill, who had since overcome cancer himself, heard the steady one-two thump of Terry's
good leg and the thud of his artificial leg, long before he could see his wobbly frame in the darkness.
Terry trained for 15 months, running 3,159 miles, running until his stump was raw and bleeding, running every day for 101 days, until
he could run 23 miles a day. He took one day off at Christmas, only because his mother asked him.
Once, just before Christmas, when he had run only a half mile, the bottom half of his artificial leg snapped in two pieces, and Terry
crashed to the pavement. He picked up the two parts, tucked them under his arm, stuck out his thumb and hitch-hiked home. There, he
clamped the two parts together and ran another five miles.
When Terry told his mother Betty, he intended to run across Canada, in her no-nonsense way she told him he was crazy. He said he
was going to run no matter what she thought.
Then Betty told her husband Rolly, and he, knowing his son so well, simply said, “When?”
When Terry approached the Canadian Cancer Society about his run, its administrators were skeptical about his success. They doubted
he could raise $1 million and as a test of his sincerity, told him to earn some seed money and find some corporate sponsors. They
believed they'd never hear from him again.
But Terry persevered, earning sponsors and the promise of promotion from the cancer society. On April 12, 1980, he dipped his
artificial leg in the murky waters of St John's harbour and set off on the greatest adventure of his life.
“I loved it,” Terry said. “I enjoyed myself so much and that was what other people couldn't realize. They thought I was going through
a nightmare running all day long.
“People thought I was going through hell. Maybe I was partly, but still I was doing what I wanted and a dream was coming true and
113
that, above everything else, made it all worthwhile to me. Even though it was so difficult, there was not another thing in the world I
would have rather been doing.
“I got satisfaction out of doing things that were difficult. It was an incredible feeling. The pain was there, but the pain didn't matter.
But that's all a lot of people could see; they couldn't see the good that I was getting out of it myself.”
And the people of Canada were latching on to Terry's dream. They wept as he ran by, fists clenched, eyes focussed on the road ahead,
his awkward double-step and hop sounding down the highway, the set of his jaw, unflinching, without compromise.
As a woman in Toronto, Canada's largest city said, “He makes you believe in the human race again.”
He'd start before dawn every morning, running in shorts and a T-shirt printed with a map of Canada. He wasn't ashamed of his
disability. Children were curious about his artificial leg. How did it work? What happens when it breaks?
Donations poured in. Reading of Terry's goals, Four Seasons' President, Isadore Sharp, was also caught up in the dream of the
Marathon of Hope. He pledged $10,000 to the marathon and challenged 999 other Canadian corporations to do the same.
If $1 million toward cancer research was within reach, why not $1 from every Canadian; why not a goal of $23 million? The money
came in many ways. People waited for hours on the roadside to watch Terry pass. Sometimes a stranger would press a $100 bill into
his hand as he ran by.
One day in southern Ontario, they collected $20,000 on the highway. A man in Hamilton sat in a vat of banana lemon custard and
raised $912 for the Marathon of Hope. In Gravenhurst, the heart of Ontario's cottage country, with a population of 8,000, they raised
more than $14,000. A musician, apparently without cash, handed Terry his $500 guitar.
Throughout his run and even in the months before, Terry neglected his medical appointments. No one could force him to see a doctor
for a check-up. He said he didn’t believe the cancer would come back. Earlier, when he'd missed his appointments for x-rays at the
cancer clinic in Vancouver he said, “Every time I went down, I was shivering and it wasn't because I was cold. I was afraid.”
Doctors in Thunder Bay confirmed that cancer had spread from his legs to his lungs. He phoned his parents who caught the first plane
to Thunder Bay. Terry was so weak when he tried to walk across the street to a car so they could get a bite to eat outside the hospital,
he collapsed. “The day before I'd run 26 miles and now I couldn't even walk across the street,” he said.
Betty wept; Rolly's mouth was taut and hard as Terry spoke to reporters: “Well, you know, I had primary cancer in my knee three and
a half years ago, and now the cancer is in my lung and I have to go home.” His voice broke as he spoke. He continued softly, “and
have some more x-rays or maybe an operation that will involve opening up my chest or more drugs. I'll do everything I can. I'm gonna
do my very best. I'll fight. I promise I won't give up.”
His father, Rolly, was overheard to say, “I think it's unfair. Very unfair.”
“I don't feel this is unfair,” Terry told him. “That's the thing about cancer. I'm not the only one. It happens all the time, to other people.
I'm not special. This just intensifies what I did. It gives it more meaning. It'll inspire more people. I could have sat on my rear end, I
could have forgotten what I'd seen in the hospital, but I didn't.”
“How many people do something they really believe in? I just wish people would realize that anything's possible, if you try; dreams
are made, if people try. When I started this run, I said that if we all gave one dollar, we'd have $22 million for cancer research, and I
don't care man, there's no reason that isn't possible. No reason. I'd like to see everybody go kind of wild, inspired with the fund-
raising.”
He came home in a private jet. This was not the triumphant homecoming he and so many others had imagined. The run didn't end with
Terry dipping his artificial leg in the seawaters off Vancouver's Stanley Park; instead, he was taken by ambulance back to the Royal
Columbian Hospital.
He continued to wear his Marathon of Hope T-shirt in hospital and refused the many offers, including one from the Toronto Maple
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In less than 48 hours the CTV television network arranged a special telethon and by the end had raised more than $10 million – $1
million from the provincial government of British Columbia, another $1 million from the province of Ontario and substantial cheques
from corporations. Most, however, came from private donations.
Isadore Sharp had sent a telegram which Terry pinned to his hospital bed. He said that Terry's marathon was just the beginning and
that a fundraising run would be held in his name every year to continue his fight against cancer.
“You started it. We will not rest until your dream to find a cure for cancer is realized.”
For the next 10 months, Terry battled the disease. Some days the pain was nightmarish; some days, he felt well enough to go out with
Rick Hansen and his friends.
As he fought for his life, he was honoured with awards: He was the youngest Companion of the Order of Canada, the nation's top
civilian honour; he was named Newsmaker of the Year by the Canadian Press; he won the Lou Marsh trophy for outstanding athletic
achievement; his portrait was hung in the Sports Hall of Fame and letters of encouragement came from around the world; and, most
importantly, donations to his Marathon of Hope reached $23.4 million. The Guinness Book of Records named him top fundraiser. A
mountain was named after him in British Columbia.
Terry died, his family beside him, June 28, 1981 – one month short of his twenty-third birthday.
There was nation-wide mourning. Flags were flown at half-mast. But people didn't forget him and his story didn't end with his death.
The first Terry Fox Run was held that September – more than 300,000 people walked or ran or cycled in his memory and raised $3.5
million.
Terry's mother B etty says ther e would be no Terry Fox Run if not for Isadore Sharp. And Mr Sharp, who has known the
loss of a son to cancer, believes one day a brilliant young researcher, perhaps one funded by a Terry Fox grant, will find a cure for the
disease.
“Terry did not lose his fight,” Mr Sharp says. “Perhaps he finished all he had to do. Terry is like a meteor passing in the sky, one
whose light travels beyond our view, yet still shines in the darkest night.”
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Curriculum Connections
Strands:
Oral Communication, Media Studies
Overall Expectation(s):
OC-1. Listening to Understand: listen in order to understand and respond appropriately in a variety of situations for a
variety of purposes;
OC-2. Speaking to Communicate: use speaking skills and strategies appropriately to communicate with different
audiences for a variety of purposes;
OC-3. Reflecting on Skills and Strategies: reflect on and identify their strengths as listeners and speakers, areas for
improvement, and the strategies they found most helpful in oral communication situations.
MS-1.Understanding Media Texts: demonstrate an understanding of a variety of media texts;
MS-2. Understanding Media Forms, Conventions, and Techniques: identify some media forms and explain how the
conventions and techniques associated with them are used to create meaning;
Specific Expectation(s):
OC-2.1, 2.4, 2.6
MS-1.1, 1.2, 1.4, 2.1
Enduring Understandings Addressed:
• Media outlets such as film hold a very strong impact on our society today.
• Media can be used for good as well as misconception; one must be able to decipher the differences.
• The adolescent years are very important to one’s growth into adulthood.
• Setting goals and having support can make a world of difference in the adolescent life.
Essential Questions Addressed:
• How influential is a student’s family members, teachers and society figures in shaping their life?
• How is ‘personal drive and motivation’ seen to students today?
Knowledge: Skills:
• Questioning the self. • Communication skills.
• Media helps to share ideas and spread beliefs. • Critical thinking within: film.
• Understanding the adolescence mind in media. • Identify themes in a film.
• Relating themes of film to one’s own life.
Learning Goals:
• Discussing limitations before showing them the film will allow them to be able to connect their misconceptions
of the topic after the movie is introduced.
Assessment Tools/Strategies
The Lesson:
Minds On (Hook) Time: Connections:
⇒ Establish a positive learning environment L: Literacy
⇒ Connect to prior learning and/or experiences AfL, AaL, AoL: Assessment
⇒ Set the context of learning/sharing learning for/as/of Learning
goals/essential questions MI: Multiple Intelligence
“Hat Decisions”- 15 Minutes AaL: Assessment as
Put an assortment of different careers into a hat. Make sure there are Learning
differences from high status careers such as: CEO of a company, Medical
surgeon etc. To lower status careers like: Wal-Mart Cashier, Dishwasher at a
local restaurant etc.
After students have selected their card, explain to them that, “This is the
career your parents/ teachers/ community are expecting you to have when
you leave high school”.
Separate the room in three groups from the University bound students,
College bound students and Workforce bound students.
Have these discussion groups answer the following questions verbally within
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their groups.
(Remind the class that every career is essential to society and how it functions
properly and to treat each with respect.)
1. What are the expectations you have for yourself and your future?
2. Does this randomly selected career fit into those expectations? Why
or why not?
3. Would limitations exist if many influential people in young student’s
life set expectations too high or too low for the student?
(Consider socioeconomic status as well.)
AforL
Curriculum Connections
Strands: Media Studies, Writing
Overall Expectation(s):
M- 1. Understanding Media Texts: demonstrate an understanding of a variety of media texts;
M-2.Understanding Media Forms, Conventions, and Techniques: identify some media forms and explain how the
conventions and techniques associated with them are used to create meaning;
M-4.Reflecting on Skills and Strategies: reflect on and identify their strengths as media interpreters and creators, areas
for improvement, and the strategies they found most helpful in understanding and creating media texts.
W-1.Developing and Organizing Content: generate, gather, and organize ideas and information to write for an intended
purpose and audience;
Specific Expectation(s):
M1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 2.1
W 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4
Enduring Understandings Addressed:
• Film sends different messages to different people. Every person can receive and take away many diverse aspects
of a production.
• Film is a highly effective and powerful media form that brings out emotions within individuals.
• Reflecting on what one feels is a great way to come to new realizations and ideas.
• Media as a communicator to send messages is an interesting concept and one that is true no matter what
country or language one speaks.
Essential Questions Addressed:
• What message did I receive from this film?
• What themes did I acknowledge during the process of viewing the film?
• How do these characters relate to my life personally?
• Have I ever struggled in such a manner as the characters in this ‘based on a true story’ film have?
• Are these themes relevant in our society today?
• How does the media convey inspiration?
• How is adolescent transformation shown throughout the film?
Knowledge: Skills:
• A look at film and its use as a media outlet • Critical thinking skills
• Persuasive tactics used in the media • Analyzing themes in the film
Learning Goals:
• Recognize how the media influences emotions.
• Recognize how the themes of a film can hold a significant effect ones thought process.
• Recognize the connections between themes in a film and one’s own life.
Assessment Tools/Strategies
• AfL: Assessment for Learning
• AasL: Assessment as Learning
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The Lesson:
Minds On (Hook) Time: Connections:
⇒ Establish a positive learning environment L: Literacy
⇒ Connect to prior learning and/or experiences AfL, AaL, AoL: Assessment
⇒ Set the context of learning/sharing learning for/as/of Learning
goals/essential questions MI: Multiple Intelligence
“Re-Cap”- Have a very short re-cap of the first half of the movie, in case any 2 Min AfL: Assessment for
students were absent the prior day when it as seen. learning
Teacher Prompt: “Can someone give me a 30 second re-cap of the film so
far?”
Watch the second half of “The Blind Side”, the film. 69Min Media Studies
(AforL)
Curriculum Connections
Strands: Writing, Media Studies
Cross Curricular: Dramatic Arts
Overall Expectation(s):
W-1. Developing and Organizing Content: generate, gather, and organize ideas and information to write for an intended
purpose and audience;
W-2. Using Knowledge of Form and Style: draft and revise their writing, using a variety of informational, literary, and
graphic forms and stylistic elements appropriate for the purpose and audience;
MS-1.Understanding Media Texts: demonstrate an understanding of a variety of media texts;
MS-2. Understanding Media Forms, Conventions, and Techniques: identify some media forms and explain how the
conventions and techniques associated with them are used to create meaning;
MS-3. Creating Media Texts: create a variety of media texts for different purposes and audiences, using appropriate
forms, conventions, and techniques;
MS-4. Reflecting on Skills and Strategies: reflect on and identify their strengths as media interpreters and creators,
areas for improvement, and the strategies they found most helpful in understanding and creating media texts.
Specific Expectation(s):
W-1.1, 1.2, 1.4, 1.5, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 2.5
MS-1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 2.1, 3.1, 3.3, 3.4, 4.1
Enduring Understandings Addressed:
• What appears on the outside may not always be the case in relation to images, dialogue, text, and human persons.
• In relation to media, one must not judge on appearances alone but be a critical observer.
• In this manner, one can discern what is true from what is not.
• How people portray themselves can also be deceiving. Certain people present themselves in one manner but may be
something else in reality.
• In this case, one must know that though people are not perfect, there is also good within them and to thus assume the
good in others since one cannot judge absolutely when a certain persons are in fact being deceptive.
The Lesson:
Minds On (Hook) Time: Connections:
⇒ Establish a positive learning environment L: Literacy
⇒ Connect to prior learning and/or experiences AfL, AaL, AoL: Assessment
⇒ Set the context of learning/sharing learning for/as/of Learning
goals/essential questions MI: Multiple Intelligence
• Hot Seating: Place one chair in the center of the room. 10min AaL: Assessment as
Teacher Prompt: “ I will call a character’s name and one at a time you are Learning
invited to take a seat in the chair as that character. The class will then be Cross Curricular:
able to ask you any question and as the character you answer as you see Dramatic Arts
fit.”
Curriculum Connections
Strands: Oral Communication, Reading and Literature Studies, Writing, Media Studies
Overall Expectation(s):
M- 1. Understanding Media Texts: demonstrate an understanding of a variety of media texts;
M-2.Understanding Media Forms, Conventions, and Techniques: identify some media forms and explain how the
conventions and techniques associated with them are used to create meaning;
MS-3. Creating Media Texts: create a variety of media texts for different purposes and audiences, using appropriate
forms, conventions, and techniques;
M-4.Reflecting on Skills and Strategies: reflect on and identify their strengths as media interpreters and creators, areas
for improvement, and the strategies they found most helpful in understanding and creating media texts.
W-1.Developing and Organizing Content: generate, gather, and organize ideas and information to write for an intended
purpose and audience
W-2. Using Knowledge of Form and Style: draft and revise their writing, using a variety of informational, literary, and
graphic forms and stylistic elements appropriate for the purpose and audience;
OC-1. Listening to Understand: listen in order to understand and respond appropriately in a variety of situations for a
variety of purposes;
OC-2. Speaking to Communicate: use speaking skills and strategies appropriately to communicate with different
audiences for a variety of purposes;
OC-3. Reflecting on Skills and Strategies: reflect on and identify their strengths as listeners and speakers, areas for
improvement, and the strategies they found most helpful in oral communication situations.
RLS-1. Reading for Meaning: read and demonstrate an understanding of a variety of informational, literary, and graphic
texts, using a range of strategies to construct meaning;
RLS-2. Understanding Form and Style: recognize a variety of text forms, text features, and stylistic elements and
demonstrate understanding of how they help communicate meaning;
RLS-3. Reading With Fluency: use knowledge of words and cueing systems to read fluently;
RLS-4. Reflecting on Skills and Strategies: reflect on and identify their strengths as readers, areas for improvement, and
the strategies they found most helpful before, during, and after reading.
Specific Expectation(s):
W-1.1, 1.2, 1.4, 1.5, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 2.5
MS-1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 2.1, 3.1, 3.3, 3.4, 4.1
OC-1.1, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 2.5, 2.6, 3.1
RLS- 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 1.6, 2.1,2.2, 2.3,3.1, 3.2
Enduring Understandings Addressed:
• All media is constructed using a creative language/rhetoric and its own rules and is organized to persuade and influence
others.
• Media forms influence us, such as our way of seeing the world.
• Each individual receives/experiences media messages differently.
• The media does not represent society accurately, fairly, or equally.
Essential Questions Addressed:
• How might knowing character intentions help in understanding the story?
• How can one determine a character`s true intention?
• Why is it important to know that what appears on the outside may not actually be the case?
• Why do characters project an image of themselves contrary to what they are really like?
• What real world examples suggest that appearances can be deceiving?
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• How can the belief that appearances are deceiving contribute to one`s understanding of persons in a positive way? How can
the idea contribute to one`s understanding of others in a negative way?
• How does a focus on body image in the media today affect this crucial time in the adolescent`s life?
• How do the various texts, which explore the theme of appearance versus reality, like poems, short stories and song lyrics
relate to the high school roles and stereotypes that students recognize?
• In what way does the immigrant experience affect students today? What are some of the misconceptions?
Knowledge: Skills:
• Critical understanding & critique of media terms • Effective presentation techniques
• Persuasive tactics in the media • Setting goals and action plans
• Identity construction (culture, community) • Analytical skills in literary works
• Recognize difference between inner and outer selves • Critical literacy skills
• External influences • Communication
• Ability to communicate and present with a critical lens • Analyzing different media forms
• Character analysis • Implementing techniques in technology
Learning Goals:
• To present a well-structured presentation to the class
• To work with group members cohesively and calmly
The Lesson:
Minds On (Hook) Time: Connections:
⇒ Establish a positive learning environment L: Literacy
⇒ Connect to prior learning and/or experiences AfL, AaL, AoL: Assessment
⇒ Set the context of learning/sharing learning for/as/of Learning
MI: Multiple Intelligence
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goals/essential questions
n/a
“Media literacy is the result of learning about different media forms and
how they communicate meaning. Closely interrelated to media literacy is
the relationship to popular culture and the understanding of the profound
influence that media have on our lives. … It is important for [us] to realize
how media forms influence our perceptions and values – our way of seeing
and understanding the world around us …”
– Media Literacy within the Multicultural Classroom
Stage One:
Choosing from the choice board, you will create one media piece to illustrate how the media has influenced
your external persona and real self. Your work should convey a meaningful message at both literally and
symbolically while drawing connections to the theme of appearance vs. reality and adolescent experiences.
Due: _______________________ (50%)
Stage Two:
You will give a five-minute oral presentation to the class to present and explain your piece. You will have time
to work with a partner on practicing the effective presentational skills we learned in class. Your presentation
should have a clear introduction and conclusion.
Peer-assessment presentation due: ________________________
Final presentation due: _______________________ (30%)
Stage Three:
A two-page (double-spaced) written reflection will be due after the oral presentation. In your reflection, you
should 1) explain the ways in which the media has influenced your internal self/external persona; 2) connect
to the broader theme of appearance and reality; 3) make references to at least three texts covered within the
unit.
Due: _______________________ (20%)
Total = /100% = /10% of overall grade
ENG3C – Gr. 11 English Culminating Activity NAME: ______________________________
Create a five-minute commercial Write a two-page movie/play script Create and record two songs
(one-page length each for lyrics)
with music
Create a five-minute documentary Design a poster (11 x 17) Create a two-page (8.5x11) comic
“book”
Choreograph and film a five-minute Write a one-page newspaper article Create a 3-D model
mime (with photo and caption) (representation)
ENG3C – Gr. 11 English Culminating Activity NAME: ______________________________
ENG3C: Appearance/Reality – Culminating Activity Rubric
Spoke audibly and Spoke audibly and Spoke using variable Spoke with limited
expressively; with expression; degree of clarity; degree of clarity;
maintained constant maintained some eye attempted to little attempt to
eye contact with contact with maintain eye maintain eye
audience. audience. contact with contact with
audience. audience.
Application
Reflection Reflection makes Reflection makes Reflection makes Reflection makes no
demonstrates reference to three or reference to two reference to one clear reference with
meaningful more connections connections with connections with class material to
understanding of the with class material to class material to class material to show demonstrate
relationship between demonstrate the demonstrate the demonstrate the the relationship
the media and its relationship between relationship between relationship between media and
influence on media and its media and its between media and its influence on the
adolescent influence on the influence on the its influence on the adolescent
experiences, adolescent adolescent adolescent experience.
referencing class experience. experience. experience.
material (i.e gender
stereotypes, body
image,
internal/external self)
Note: A student whose achievement is below Level 1(50%) has not been successful in achieving the expectations for this assignment.