Minds On

Welcome to Grade 12 English

In this course, you will have the opportunity to explore and think critically about the concept of resilience from the following perspectives.

Press the tabs to explore these perspectives.

You will start the course by examining the connection between learning and resilience on a personal level. You will also explore literary examples of individuals who faced difficult situations and think about what you have experienced.

Then you will take a look at how communities have overcome adversity through the power of words, voice, and media.

Finally, you will use your new understanding of resilience to examine texts through a selection of critical lenses. Each lens raises important questions about the human condition and human interactions.

Central questions in the course

As you proceed through this course, keep the following central questions in mind:

  • What does it mean to be resilient?
  • How do humans deal with adversity?

As you explore diverse written and media texts and apply different literary lenses in this course, you will gain insight and perspective on what it can mean to be resilient and overcome adversity.

Glossary

Synonyms for resilience

Strength of character, strength, toughness, hardiness, adaptability, buoyancy, flexibility, ability to bounce back

– Oxford Living Dictionaries

Flower growing through ground. Flower petal area surrounded by the following words: durability, strength, resilience, flexibility, adaptability. Resilience is the largest word of the five.

Synonyms for adversity

Misfortune, bad luck, trouble, difficulty, hardship, distress, disaster, suffering, sorrow, heartache, tribulation, woe, pain, trauma, reversal of fortune, setback, crisis, catastrophe, tragedy, calamity, trial, burden

Person pushing four round boulders up an incline. The largest boulder is labelled “adversity”. This boulder is supporting three others labelled “difficulties”, “hardship”, and “misfortune”

Setting Goals

It’s time to develop one or more goals for this course that will help you succeed and recognize your progress.

If you’re not sure how to set goals, here’s one system and there are plenty of tips online.

Establishing SMART goals

You may find it useful to set goals using the SMART technique. SMART goals have five characteristics. Press on the following tabs to explore each characteristic.

Specific,

Measurable,

Attainable,

Relevant, and

Timebound.

A goal should identify a specific action or result to be achieved. It answers questions like: What precisely do you want to achieve? Why?

A measurable goal is quantifiable and indicates how you will know you have achieved it. It answers questions like: How often will you need to do it? How will you know when it is accomplished?

Your goal should be achievable, given available resources. It answers questions like: How do you know this can happen? How can you be successful?

A goal is relevant if it fits your interests and is linked to what you want to achieve. It answers questions like: Is this the best time for this goal? Is this goal worthwhile?

A time-bound goal holds everyone involved accountable and helps with the goal’s measurability. It asks questions like: When can you plan the next step? When will you have met your goal?

They focus on the actions and steps you need to take to achieve them. They identify what you need to do, and how you’ll know that you have achieved them.


Goals with these characteristics focus on the actions and steps you need to take to achieve them. They identify what you need to do, and how you’ll know that you have achieved them

Sample goals

Your goals for this course might range from wanting to finish by a certain date, getting a great mark, learning more about literature, improving your communication skills or simply completing your high school diploma. Your first goal should be to set up a notebook for the course:

Notebook

You will benefit from keeping an organized notebook, as it will be useful for your culminating project. Choose any notebook format you like − it can be a digital or a paper notebook. You will be prompted to reflect on your learning and track your growth throughout the course when you come across the Notebook icon.

Now, let’s try it out!

Write down your course goal(s) in your Notebook.

Action

Culminating project: Novel study

Overview

Your culminating project will involve choosing and reading a novel independently. This assessment is worth 10% of your course grade. You will apply skills and strategies that you develop in this course. You will also apply your knowledge and understanding of resilience.

Your culminating project will be submitted in unit 4.

Let’s preview the culminating project tasks as we get started on our learning journey!

Choosing a novel

You may have heard the expression “don’t judge a book by its cover,” but to begin your culminating project, you are going to do just that.

Here is a bookshelf of novels to browse. Once you have checked the covers and titles of each novel, consider which one you might like to read.

Click on these images to have a look at the front and back cover of each novel and read a synopsis.

Don’t decide on a novel just yet. After all, you really shouldn’t judge a book by its cover alone.

As you work through this learning activity, you will be able to make a more informed choice.

To organize your thoughts, you can create your own criteria for reading any novel by filling out Part 1 of the "Using criteria to choose a novel" table. Press on “Using criteria to choose a novelLink downloads Word document” to access the table.

Once you have created your criteria, you will be ready to test your criteria against your novel choices.

Next, you will revisit the bookshelf and have access to excerpts of the first few pages of each novel. If you are filling in the “Using criteria to choose a novel” table, keep it handy.

Excerpt from Life of Pi(Opens in a new window)

Excerpt from The Jaguar's Children(Opens in a new window)

Excerpt of Alias Grace (Opens in new window)

Excerpt of Medicine Walk (Opens in new window)

Excerpt of Heart of Darkness (Opens in new window)

Excerpt of The Illegal (Opens in new window)

Excerpt of The Great Gatsby (Opens in new window)

Excerpt of Middlesex (Opens in new window)

Look up reviews and do other research to determine if the novels meet your criteria. You can use a search engine of your choice to find reviews and consider checking out the following sources of reviews: The Globe and Mail, The New York Times, The Guardian, Publisher’s Weekly and Quill & Quire.

Still not sure? Then complete Part 2 of the "Using criteria to choose a novel" table. Press on “Using criteria to choose a novelLink downloads Word document” to access this table.

It is up to you to source a copy of the novel you choose for study. You can purchase it or find it at your local library. Some of the novels have been sourced for free online.

At this point, you will likely have narrowed down the novels to a few options.

You will need to know a bit more about what is expected for the culminating project before making your final choice.

The culminating project involves the creation of a reading journal, which you will submit to your teacher for feedback and a grade.

Your reading journal will be a combination of scrapbook and journal and may contain visual and audio elements or both:

Glossary

A scrapbook combines images, text, and artifacts to convey information. Or, it could be an audio scrapbook combining voice, music, sound, and interviews. It could even be an audio-visual presentation.

A journal captures thoughts, questions, wonderings, and interpretations.

Much like your notebook, your culminating project reading journal should be a combination of images, notes, and artifacts that capture your thinking and discovery as you read your novel.

Entries in your reading journal should be based on the following:

  • narrative structure
  • character
  • theme
  • biographical and historical context
  • critical analysis through different literary lenses
  • text-to-self, text-to-text, and text-to-world connections

There is a further explanation of what’s required in your reading journal just after the coming notebook activity.

With what you know about the novels and the reading scrapbook or journal you will be creating, it’s time to make your final choice of novel to read.

Answer the following reflection questions in your notebook

Once you have chosen your novel, reflect on the following questions in your notebook:

  • How did you make your choice? Explain your process.
  • To what extent did you use criteria to make your choice?
  • Given the details about the reading journal you will be creating, why do you think your novel is an effective choice?

You will be revisiting your responses so keep them handy.

Reading and analyzing your novel

Project Guidelines

In this learning activity, you will be creating a reading journal for your novel.

Before you start reading your novel, it is important to schedule time for reading and reflecting on your novel. This will make the process of creating a reading journal much more manageable and enjoyable.

A reading schedule does not look the same for every reader. It depends on a variety of factors that include the complexity of the text and the time you have available.

Think about the following question

Think about the last time you read a complex or particularly long text. How long were you able to focus? What helps you focus longer and keep reading?

Developing a reading journal

As you read, you will be creating your reading journal, which will be a collection of your observations, notes, images, digital artifacts, quotations, and references that show your understanding of your novel.

A reading journal allows you to raise questions, gather and interpret information, challenge your assumptions, and refine your interpretations.

Note-taking using your reading journal

Proper note-taking skills are crucial because they let you record what is important from something you are learning. The notes you take will help you when it’s time to review the novel you’ve chosen for your culminating project.

If you are unsure how best to take notes, here are some tips and techniques:

Techniques to record and assess

Some simple but useful techniques can help you understand the subject as you take notes. For the most part, these techniques invite you to analyze, prioritize, and find associations or links.

You can use the following techniques to add more depth to your notes.

Maybe you already use graphic symbols when taking notes in class. This strategy requires you to place different symbols beside or around important areas of your notes. The most common symbols include stars, arrows, and question marks.

A star marks an area that holds an important idea or a hint for an upcoming test or assignment. When you review your notes, pay a lot of attention to these areas.

An arrow marks a connection between two or more ideas. Because you are taking notes as you are reading you may not always be able to organize your notes so that connecting ideas are together. Instead, you can simply draw an arrow from one idea to the other. (This is also a useful note-taking strategy if you are taking a class that includes attending lectures.)

A question mark shows you have a question or are confused about something in your notes. It is important to answer all of these questions before you begin to study from your notes so that you understand all of the material.

Cornell method

The Cornell Method of notetaking allows you to take notes from written work (or from a lecture!). This method allows you to write a lot of information quickly, and then organize it later using cue words, which will help you recall the material later.

It’s especially useful for taking notes and then being able to go back and find specific incidents in your novel. You can use it to find important quotations, to go back and refresh your memory when it is triggered by a new revelation in the story and just to have your novel mapped out in an easy-to-manage way as you prepare your essay outline for the Final Test.

In the Cornell Method, you prepare memory cues (called cue words) and a summary linking these cues.

Glossary

Your memory cues will be key words, phrases, or ideas that will help you remember specific details in your notes. They will help you to organize your notes and remember the information in a structured way. The cue words also make it easy to understand the major themes and ideas in a text.

The Cornell method involves very little recopying in order to study well. Cue words can be developed after you’ve finished taking your notes so that you are learning and storing information at the same time.

Although it can be used effectively for any text or lecture situation, the Cornell method is great for keeping detailed notes when studying a novel.  You might also want to consider using it for other classes you take, such as history, science, and geography.

Cornell method explanation

The following is a sample page of what the Cornell Method would look like and what types of information you would place in the columns.

Cornell method sample

The following sample is from Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale”. Imagine how handy it would be to be able to fit all that information into one brief set of notes. Here is how this information could be organized using the Cornell Method.

The Handmaid’s Tale book cover

To start, you identify the main ideas and supporting details and adds them to the Notes section.

The Handmaid’s Tale –  II - Shopping   Margaret Atwood

Cue words

Notes

Chapter 2

  • description of a plain room – where is she? – still alive
  • she is wearing all red – blood mentioned!
  • Rita is a housekeeper, wears green, seems to disapprove.
  • they know each other – how long has she been here?
  • main char. seems to have some function in the household – odd
  • gossip: stillborn baby

Chapter 3

  • seems to live in a Commander’s house – he has a wife – wife knits scarves
  • seems she recently came to this house
  • describes first meeting of wife
  • seems to have some low task, but some respect
  • realizes the wife is Serena Joy, a former religious tv star

Chapter 4

  • sees Nick, the Commander’s driver – wonder if this will be important
  • meets another “red girl” – Ofglen (weird name!) – seems she is a “Handmaid” – is she the one in the title?
  • seem to have very rote conversation
  • seems like a scary community – why so much “seems”? when do we get to “know”?
  • have to get Passes stamped
  • “red Handmaids” – is our char. a Handmaid too?
  • men seem to be in charge, but can’t touch women

Chapter 5

  • place is called “Republic of Gilead”
  • seems like women have different functions in the community
  • stores have pictures, not words on their signs
  • they wait in line for food – there’s some war that makes it scarce
  • a pregnant handmaid is seen, and that seems to be a big deal
  • it seems kind of olden-days, but they have plastic bags
  • Japanese tourists want to take their picture, ask if they are happy – they say yes

Chapter 6

  • they detour to see the Wall, where they see men who have been hanged
  • these have been doctors – maybe abortion doctors?
  • “Ordinary, said Aunt Lydia, is what you are used to. This may not seem ordinary to you now, but after a time it will. It will become ordinary.” (Atwood 32)
  • I don’t think I could ever find that place ordinary!

Summary

In the second step, you write the cue words designed to jog your memory of what each note contains.

Remember that the cue word needs to be specific.

Handmaid’s Tale –  II - Shopping   Margaret Atwood

Cue words

Notes

About the house

Chapter 2

  • description of a plain room – where is she? – still alive
  • she is wearing all red – blood mentioned!
  • Rita is a housekeeper, wears green, seems to disapprove.
  • they know each other – how long has she been here?
  • main char. seems to have some function in the household – odd
  • gossip: stillborn baby

Commander’s wife

Chapter 3

  • seems to live in a Commander’s house – he has a wife – wife knits scarves
  • seems she recently came to this house
  • describes first meeting of wife
  • seems to have some low task, but some respect
  • realizes the wife is Serena Joy, a former religious tv star

About the community

Chapter 4

  • sees Nick, the Commander’s driver – wonder if this will be important
  • meets another “red girl” – Ofglen (weird name!) – seems she is a “Handmaid” – is she the one in the title?
  • seem to have very rote conversation
  • seems like a scary community – why so much “seems”? when do we get to “know”?
  • have to get Passes stamped
  • “red Handmaids” – is our char. a Handmaid too?
  • men seem to be in charge, but can’t touch women

More about Gilead

Chapter 5

  • place is called “Republic of Gilead”
  • seems like women have different functions in the community
  • stores have pictures, not words on their signs
  • they wait in line for food – there’s some war that makes it scarce
  • a pregnant handmaid is seen, and that seems to be a big deal
  • it seems kind of olden-days, but they have plastic bags
  • Japanese tourists want to take their picture, ask if they are happy – they say yes

The Wall

Chapter 6

  • they detour to see the Wall, where they see men who have been hanged
  • these have been doctors – maybe abortion doctors?
  • “Ordinary, said Aunt Lydia, is what you are used to. This may not seem ordinary to you now, but after a time it will. It will become ordinary.” (Atwood 32)
  • I don’t think I could ever find that place ordinary!

Summary

In the final step, you review the cue words and write a summary of the text section that you’re taking notes from. Your summary thoughts about emerging themes and observations should inform your culminating project.

Handmaid’s Tale –  II - Shopping   Margaret Atwood

Cue words

Notes

About the house

Chapter 2

  • description of a plain room – where is she? – still alive
  • she is wearing all red – blood mentioned!
  • Rita is a housekeeper, wears green, seems to disapprove.
  • they know each other – how long has she been here?
  • main char. seems to have some function in the household – odd
  • gossip: stillborn baby

Commander’s wife

Chapter 3

  • seems to live in a Commander’s house – he has a wife – wife knits scarves
  • seems she recently came to this house
  • describes first meeting of wife
  • seems to have some low task, but some respect
  • realizes the wife is Serena Joy, a former religious tv star

About the community

Chapter 4

  • sees Nick, the Commander’s driver – wonder if this will be important
  • meets another “red girl” – Ofglen (weird name!) – seems she is a “Handmaid” – is she the one in the title?
  • seem to have very rote conversation
  • seems like a scary community – why so much “seems”? when do we get to “know”?
  • have to get Passes stamped
  • “red Handmaids” – is our char. a Handmaid too?
  • men seem to be in charge, but can’t touch women

More about Gilead

Chapter 5

  • place is called “Republic of Gilead”
  • seems like women have different functions in the community
  • stores have pictures, not words on their signs
  • they wait in line for food – there’s some war that makes it scarce
  • a pregnant handmaid is seen, and that seems to be a big deal
  • it seems kind of olden-days, but they have plastic bags
  • Japanese tourists want to take their picture, ask if they are happy – they say yes

The Wall

Chapter 6

  • they detour to see the Wall, where they see men who have been hanged
  • these have been doctors – maybe abortion doctors?
  • “Ordinary, said Aunt Lydia, is what you are used to. This may not seem ordinary to you now, but after a time it will. It will become ordinary.” (Atwood 32)
  • I don’t think I could ever find that place ordinary!

Summary

An introduction to a very strange place! The role of women seems to be tightly controlled by men in Gilead – see how this develops throughout story.

When studying from your Cornell Method notes, cover the right-hand side of the page and recite the main ideas by looking at your cue words. The content of the notes will be much more memorable because as you go through the process, you are not just reading back what you wrote during the time you were taking notes; you are already working with the information. You are analyzing it, organizing it, and summarizing it in the last step.

There are many different ways of taking notes and it important that you develop a system that suits your learning style. This may mean just using the Cornell Method because you find it organized and easy to use, or it may mean developing your own method based on pieces of the strategies introduced to you in this lesson.

The Cornell Method guidelines

How do you choose which part of the text makes a good note? What makes a good cue word or summary? Read through the following guidelines:

Study note

Remember, the guidelines have to work for you. You know best what will help you remember the material you are reading. And a summary you’ve created yourself, in your own way, will be the most helpful in understanding what you are reading, and in reviewing the material later.

  • indicates major idea(s)
  • indicates supporting idea(s), concept(s), example(s)
  • explains topic(s) and idea(s)
  • is brief and efficient
  • includes specific terms or words that would be useful as cues
  • helps you recall information
  • creates a direct link to main idea(s)
  • uses a specific word (or phrase), linked to ONE concept
  • brings up one idea directly in this context
  • contains main ideas
  • contains the cues
  • condenses the complete text/topic

Journal format

The format of your reading journal is up to you.

Here are some format suggestions that you may find helpful:

  • a slide presentation with multiple slides of images and text, with detailed reflections in the speaker notes
  • a blog with sequential entries
  • an interactive digital journal
  • a digital folder containing a separate file for each journal entry
  • an audio journal with ongoing entries
  • a physical pen-and-paper journal, which includes drawings and images

You will be asked to submit your reading journal electronically to your teacher for feedback and a grade. If you create a pen-and-paper journal, you will need to take photos of it or scan it to create digital files to upload. If you create your journal using a digital journaling tool, you will need to provide a sharable link to where your journal is hosted.

Reading journal checklist

You will need to include 10 entries in your reading journal. Your entries will be based on specific incidents in your novel as well as interpretations of your novel as a whole.

For three of the 10 entries, you will have the choice of what to do. Your choices will depend on what you are discovering and are curious about in your novel.

The remaining 7 entries will be based on the prompts provided.

Ten journal entries: requirements checklist

Create a reading schedule.

A short written reflection about why you chose your novel.

Notes about character development in three parts.

  • What have you learned about the main character(s) from the first third of the novel?
  • How have the main character(s) changed, grown, or revealed themselves in the second third?
  • How have the main character(s) changed, grown, or revealed themselves in the final third?

Explanation of your novel’s biographical and historical context based on your research on

  • the life of the author
  • the time in which the author was writing
  • the novel’s setting/time period

Notes on resilience in response to the following questions:

  • How do the characters demonstrate resilience?
  • How is the concept of resilience linked to themes in the novel?
  • What is the author saying about the role of resilience in people’s lives?

Include significant quotations. You may need to reference other journal entries.

Analysis of novel using literary lenses

Examine how one or more of the following literary lenses informs your interpretation of the novel:

  • psychological lens
  • gender lens
  • socio-economic lens
  • contextual lens
  • archetypal lens

Notes on text-to-text connections

Make ongoing comparisons between your novel and other texts or media that you are familiar with, such as:

  • films or television shows
  • texts you have read in this course (short stories, personal essays, poems, plays)
  • other novels you have read

No. 8: Your choice from the list of prompts Group A “Sentence starters…”

No. 9: Your choice from the list of prompts Group B: “Questions to consider...

No. 10: Your choice from the list of prompts Group C: “Alternative responses…”

Consult the "List of prompts for reading journal entries" document for inspiration. Press “List of prompts for reading journal entries(Opens in a new window)” to access the document.

Your reading journal entries will vary in length and composition and will be a mix of text and multimedia.

Your entries may include:

  • images from the setting or time period of the novel (including art or other pop culture artifacts)
  • images of what the main character(s) might look like, things that might be in their home, and so on
  • images inspired by themes in your novel
  • references to other media or texts (for example, song lyrics and poems)
  • links to videos or audio recordings (for example, an interview with the author) that provide added context and perspective for your interpretations
  • links to videos or audio recordings you have created
  • reflections and explanations based on textual evidence from the novel

You can decide how your own reading journal will look or read, but keep in mind that you will be graded on the care you have taken with the presentation. .

As you read and create your reading journal, you can refer to the "Reading journal requirements" document. Press “Reading journal requirements (Opens in new window)” to access this document.

Rubric

Your teacher will assess your reading journal using the following rubric. Press each tab to access the expectations and success criteria.

Expectations:

  • demonstrates complex and accurate knowledge of literary lenses
  • identifies and explains relevant perspectives and interpretations using examples from the novel
  • explains appropriately and logically how biographical and historical contexts can inform interpretations and opinions
Level 4 Level 3 Level 2 Level 1
With a high degree of effectiveness With considerable effectiveness With some effectiveness With limited effectiveness

Expectations:

  • uses multimedia, links, images, audio and artefacts appropriately and creatively
  • uses examples from the novel to make relevant and significant inferences
Level 4 Level 3 Level 2 Level 1
With a high degree of effectiveness With considerable effectiveness With some effectiveness With limited effectiveness

Expectations:

  • includes journal entries that are organized, logical, and clear
  • uses appropriate language for the purpose and audience
  • uses conventions accurately
Level 4  Level 3 Level 2 Level 1
With a high degree of effectiveness With considerable effectiveness With some effectiveness With limited effectiveness

Expectations:

  • uses multimedia to demonstrate depth and significant interpretation and analysis
  • applies literary lenses to show depth of understanding of character and theme
  • makes connections (text- to-self, text-to-text, text-to-world) with breadth and depth
  • completes 10 required entries
Level 4 Level 3 Level 2 Level 1
With a high degree of effectiveness With considerable effectiveness With some effectiveness With limited effectiveness

Consolidation

Trail notes

Ontario Parks, yours to discover throughout the year!

As you begin to chart your course to fulfill the culminating project “Reading journal requirements” and other course requirements, make sure to pace yourself. All good hikers prepare well before attempting a hike and take some breaks along the way. Make sure to ‘pack what you need’ or in other words, have tools and strategies at your disposal to stay motivated as you complete your learning journey.

You’ve chosen a novel you hope you’ll enjoy. But reading a novel is a long hike.

If you feel less engaged when reading …

You may want to try one or both of the following options:

Consider setting a background music playlist. However, not everyone is agreement with this strategy! Read this excerpt from the following article from The Guardian on this subject “The best music to listen to while reading – or is it sacrilege?”

When we asked what music you listen to while you read, your suggestions came thundering in. We have now put together a crowdsourced playlist for soothing background music that, according to you, goes well with any read at all. Have a peruse below, pop your headphones in and let us know how it goes.

But lots of you simply cannot even conceive the idea, as this small sample of replies proves:

Connor Cusack commented January 6, 2016 on Twitter saying @GuardianBooks No music! Both demand (and deserve) your full attention. You cannot indulge one without neglecting the other.

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/ books/ booksblog/ 2016/ jan/ 20/ the-best-music-to-listen-to-while-reading-or-is-it-sacrilege"

If you wish, you can access the full article to check out the playlist and gauge public opinion on this matter for yourself!

If you wish, venture out of your home and tote your book to a favourite coffee spot, your local public library branch, or an outdoor space of your choosing. Just remember, use such health and safety precautions as are called for in your region.

The important take-home message is to determine if these strategies make you feel comfortable.

Staying the course

As you engage with the course content, you will be developing the skills and strategies needed to stay motivated and be successful as a self-directed learner.

Self-directed learners are aware of how they learn best. They are confident and know when to ask for support. Self-directed learners set goals and make realistic plans to meet those goals. In other words, they make a commitment to their own learning and take responsibility for it.

Reflective writing

Reflective writing is one important strategy that self-directed learners use. Throughout the course, you will use reflective writing to think more deeply about your learning and make your learning visible.

You may find it helpful to consult this information about reflective writing:

When learning, it’s valuable to pause for a moment and look back at what you have been doing. For this reason, you will be asked from time to time to write about your experience in your notebook.

Useful reflective writing looks at a past experience to analyze what has happened and why. You can consolidate a positive learning experience and consider what made it positive and how you might use the same methods again for more positive learning experiences.

Maybe an experience didn’t go as well as you had hoped at first. How did you adjust what you were doing until you got the results you were looking for? That can be an even more valuable type of reflection than thinking about a positive experience – that’s real learning!

You might feel critical of yourself or something that has happened. Make sure it’s constructive criticism. Don’t kick at yourself or others but look for a better solution for next time.

And remember, in this course, the reflections in your notebook are for you – you don’t need to worry about structure, style or any of that school stuff … that’s what the assessments are for.

You can find additional samples and explanations of reflective writing by conducting an internet search.

You have completed the first learning activity of your journey.

Reflect in your notebook

In your notebook, reflect on what you have accomplished already – you’ve created some goals, chosen a novel, found out what your culminating activity will be like and learned about some techniques you can use to be a successful learner.

What do you most want to keep in mind as you continue?

Consult the Acknowledgements (Opens in new window) for this course.