High School Block:

English Language Arts 111/2/3 Foundational

English Language Arts 111/2/3 Foundational is a required one-semester course worth 4 credit hours (ELA Foundational 111, ELA Foundational 112, ELA Foundational 113). 

In Grade 11, English Language Arts students are expected to listen, view, read, and discuss increasingly complex information and literary texts, representing multiple voices, for enjoyment, learning, advocacy, and personal understanding, collaboratively and independently. With an emphasis on Canadian content, including works by Black, Indigenous and racialized people, students will be exposed to a wide variety of texts representing diverse voices and perspectives (e.g., 2SLGBTQIA+, neurodiversity, age, gender, ethnicity, culture, religion, and ability). Students show increasing sophistication in selecting specific strategies to meet their needs while interacting, reading, and representing. They understand the learning process and strategies that work for them when creating a variety of texts. Texts include a range of forms, such as written language, musical scores, artwork, mathematical equations, dance, formulae, games, networks, advertisements, recipes, outfits, etc. Lessons are designed to allow for differentiation and support, so all learners have access to equitable learning experiences. 

In all levels of English Language Arts 111/2/3 Foundational, the expectation is that educators will adjust course material in breadth, depth, and scope of inquiry dependent on the level of curriculum delivery. The goal for learners is to demonstrate critical thinking and enact skills relevant and necessary to the learning area. The level 3 course adjusts the pace and expectations for reading level while maintaining the integrity of the course content and concepts. The level 1 course is not different in the number of skill descriptors; rather, there are increased expectations in the level 1 course in terms of depth of understanding, and learner self-efficacy. Educators should provide more opportunities in the level 1 course to participate in higher-order thinking activities.

CONTEXTS AND CONCEPTS

LITERACY EXPLORATION

Developing Language

  • analyzing and deepening understanding
  • challenging bias

Identifying as a Reader/Writer

  • selecting reading materials with intentionality
  • demonstrating original, individual writing voice
  • reading for interest and pleasure
LITERACY EXPERIMENTATION

Using Language

  • speaking, reading, and writing with passion about relevant issues and topics
  • advocating for inclusive language

Engaging as a Reader/Writer

  • constructing deeper meaning from a variety of text/text forms
  • assessing and adapting metacognitive strategies
  • using writing as a tool for thinking
  • understanding and enacting transactional relationship between reader and writer
LITERACY APPLICATION

Applying Understanding

  • requesting, obtaining and making decisions about feedback
  • assessing ideas and information for reliability and implications in various contexts

Seeking Understanding

  • questioning societal values
  • deepening and extending emerging understandings
GRADE 11

Strand: Interactions

Big Idea: Expression

Skill Descriptor: Construct and communicate an awareness of self, others, and the world.

Global Competencies: SASM, CL, CM, SGC, ICE

Achievement Indicators:

  • Take ideas, knowledges, and ways of being into account when advocating for, explaining, or presenting perspectives
  • Present with intention, using content, language, and delivery to convey meaning

Skill Descriptor: Persuade, and support ideas and opinions with evidence.

Global Competencies: SASM, CL, CM, CTPS, ICE

Achievement Indicators:

  • Justify perspectives with evidence
  • Consider social context when choosing and communicating evidence
  • Refine arguments by selecting facts, anecdotal evidence, and experiences that consider multiple perspectives
  • Communicate persuasively, citing evidence free from generalizations and bias

Skill Descriptor: Curate and present content to communicate facts, ideas, and opinions considering target audiences.

Global Competencies: CL, CM, ICE

Achievement Indicators:

  • Make informed selections of content to communicate
  • Present content in a manner that connects with audience and purpose

Skill Descriptor: Use language of harmony and respect, self-monitoring and adjusting as appropriate.

Global Competencies: SASM, CL, CM, CTPS, SGC

Achievement Indicators:

  • Advocate for the inclusivity of language
  • Critically evaluate others’ use of helpful, respectful, and equitable language to reflect on and improve use of language
  • Communicate using thoughtful and respectful language free from prejudice, stereotyping, or bias

Big Idea: Exchanges

Skill Descriptor: Seek and provide clarification to synthesize understanding of ideas and concepts, problems and solutions.

Global Competencies: SASM, CL, CM, CTPS, ICE

Achievement Indicators:

  • Ask and respond to perceptive and probing questions to seek further information and extend understanding and/or determine next steps
  • Critically select resources to support ideas, concepts, or claims

Skill Descriptor: Understand and use communication conventions for a diverse set of audiences.

Global Competencies: SASM, CL, CM

Achievement Indicators:

  • Communicate with sensitivity and respect
  • Use conventions flexibly to reflect an understanding of the audience perspective, context, and purpose

Skill Descriptor: Respond personally and critically to a variety of text.

Global Competencies: SASM, CL, CM, CTPS

Achievement Indicators:

  • Respond to oral presentations and stories, and multi-modal text citing reactions, interpretations, and understandings
  • Respond to oral presentations and stories and multi-modal text, providing thoughts and opinions

Skill Descriptor: Adjust interactions to reflect the situation, audience, and purpose.

Global Competencies: SASM, CL, CM, ICE

Achievement Indicators:

  • Use conversational conventions that honour the needs, rights, and feelings of others
  • Engage in active listening

Big Idea: Reception

Skill Descriptor: Critically reflect on the contributions of others to formulate and refine understanding.

Global Competencies: SASM, CL, CM, CTPS, SGC

Achievement Indicators:

  • Consider multiple ways of knowing when evaluating the ideas of others
  • Identify and respond to the perspective and potential bias implicit within a speaker’s contribution
  • Analyze the power of language to influence and manipulate
  • Critically examine the use of language to identify ideas, values and worldviews

Strand: Reading

Big Idea: Word Study

Skill Descriptor: Efficiently use word structure knowledge to independently interpret unfamiliar and technical words.

Global Competencies: CM, CTPS

Achievement Indicators:

  • Competently interpret unknown words using a variety of cues (morphology, dividing into syllables, root words and origins, background knowledge, context clues), references, and assistive technology
  • Explain the choice of strategy when interpreting new words in texts (meta-cognition)

Big Idea: Fluency

Skill Descriptor: Read unfamiliar texts with accuracy and expression, both silently and aloud.

Global Competencies: CM

Achievement Indicators:

  • Read a variety of increasingly complex text forms smoothly and with confidence, rehearsing chunks of texts as needed
  • Flexibly use dimensions of fluency (intonation, stress, pausing, phrasing, tone, and volume) to convey meaning in a variety of increasingly complex texts
  • Self-assess silent reading
  • Rehearse and self-correct chunks of texts as needed

Big Idea: Vocabulary

Skill Descriptor: Use a range of strategies to determine the meaning of new vocabulary in all texts.

Global Competencies: CM, CTPS

Achievement Indicators:

  • Independently and flexibly use different strategies for internalizing new vocabulary words from increasingly complex texts
  • Explain the choice of strategy when interpreting new vocabulary in texts (meta-cognition)

Big Idea: Reading Comprehension

Skill Descriptor: Construct meaning from a variety of text considering the source, intended audience, and purpose.

Global Competencies: CM, CTPS

Achievement Indicators:

  • Construct and articulate literal and inferred meaning of complex texts with connections to the theme and/or purpose
  • Refer to relevant textual details/features when inferring
  • Use text features to interpret information and infer meaning
  • Use text structure and organization to construct meaning
  • Identify and articulate connections between texts across genres by purpose, audience, and/or theme
  • Concisely summarize and synthesize key information from a variety of increasingly complex sources

Skill Descriptor: Self-monitor and incorporate multi-component comprehension strategies to clarify understanding of a range of text.

Global Competencies: CL, CM, CTPS, SGC

Achievement Indicators:

  • Adjust comprehension strategies as needed
  • Explain use of meta-cognitive processes when reading
  • Construct meaning from a variety of text forms, including print and non-print texts
  •  

    Respond accurately to many literal questions when reading longer, denser texts

  •  

    Review and locate information using text

Skill Descriptor: Examine and respond personally to a range of texts across genres, interests, and complexities, citing evidence.

Global Competencies: CM, CTPS, SGC

Achievement Indicators:

  • Describe how a text has impacted changes in personal viewpoint/ideas
  • Express relationships among texts, personal experiences, and prior knowledge to make connections between current social and moral issues
  • Select insightful textual details that support responses and demonstrate an understanding of structure, form, and genre

Big Idea: Text Analysis/ Criticality

Skill Descriptor: Independently select, read, construct meaning from, and evaluate a variety of texts of increasing complexity representing all voices.

Global Competencies: CM, CTPS

Achievement Indicators:

  • Explain preferences for, and choice of, reading material
  • Communicate purpose of text selection related to learning needs
  • Analyze meaning from a variety of text forms, including print and non-print texts
  • Interpret information using text features
  • Explain how events/main ideas are related to theme
  • Assess the truth of a claim by distinguishing between sound and false reasoning
  • Explain how the different elements of author’s style/technique create meaning and impact
  • Identify and reflect on ways in which various diversities, cultures, genders, socioeconomic groups, etc. are portrayed in texts

Skill Descriptor: Critically analyze and evaluate the characteristics, language, form, features, and genre of a range of texts.

Global Competencies: CM, CTPS

Achievement Indicators:

  • Evaluate author’s effectiveness, using textual support
  • Evaluate purpose, structure, and characteristics of a variety of text forms and describe how they contribute to understanding the text
  • Interpret relationships between ideas to draw conclusions or make comparisons with increasingly complex text
  • Support responses with relevant details
  • Explore how purpose, audience, language, topic, genre, and context, are interconnected
  • Challenge bias in a variety of text and suggest alternate perspectives

Strand: Representing

Big Idea: Process

Skill Descriptor: Implement effective writing/representing strategies to enhance clarity and control in multi-modal texts.

Global Competencies: CL, CM, CTPS, ICE

Achievement Indicators:

  • Examine a variety of mentor texts to guide creation
  • Articulate rationale for which writing/representing processes work best in relation to audience and purpose
  • Refine organization frameworks to manage content, collect ideas, and generate new knowledge and perspectives
  • Interpret, select, and combine information using a variety of strategies, resources, and technologies
  • Independently and collaboratively draft cohesive text, making critical choices about what to include or exclude
  • Clarify, strengthen and refine by adding, deleting, substituting, and rearranging text
  • Attend to audience experience, often by reading aloud; adjust elements of composition
  • Apply knowledge of copyright/plagiarism (including the use of A.I.)

Big Idea: Craft

Skill Descriptor: Create with purpose and understand the influence of the writer/creator.

Global Competencies: SASM, CM, CTPS

Achievement Indicators:

  • Develop a specific topic with a main idea/thesis that captures the purpose and audience
  • Sustain focus throughout
  • Develop original, thoughtful, and compelling ideas to support meaning

Skill Descriptor: Define a specific topic with a main idea/thesis/claim that supports an identifiable purpose and specific audience.

Global Competencies: CL, CM, CTPS

Achievement Indicators:

  • Include purposeful paragraphing with skilful transitions between elements where required
  • Craft a purposeful structure to present details that support the main idea
  • Vary internal structure and features to enhance interest while maintaining control
  • Impact the reader with a dynamic and effective introduction and conclusion where appropriate

Skill Descriptor: Select interesting and domain specific words and phrases to convey and enhance meaning.

Global Competencies: CL, CM, CTPS

Achievement Indicators:

  • Use vivid and varied vocabulary; make effective use of words and phrases
  • Employ literary devices to enhance meaning and impact
  • Begin to use language judiciously; attend to parallel structure

Skill Descriptor: Demonstrate evidence of author’s style, personality, and experience.

Global Competencies: CL, CM, CTPS

Achievement Indicators:

  • Skillfully connect with the audience (e.g., communicate feelings, energy, individuality, sincerity, and/or convictions with appropriate tone for the task)
  • Demonstrate commitment to the topic, sometimes by organizing content in a distinctive or unique way
  • Reveal writer’s perspective as appropriate to the purpose, audience and context

Skill Descriptor: Include varied, well-crafted sentences to support meaning and readability.

Global Competencies: CL, CM, CTPS

Achievement Indicators:

  • Arrange sentences into fluid paragraphs where required
  • Vary sentence structure and length for reasons of craft, including the creation of meaning

Skill Descriptor: Demonstrate correct use of the conventions of the selected form with increasing sophistication.

Global Competencies: CL, CM, CTPS

Achievement Indicators:

  • Demonstrate control of internal punctuation, grammatical structures, capitalization, and spelling
  • Skillfully use the conventions of the selected form to enhance meaning, voice, and readability
  • Use a range of text characteristics to enhance meaning where appropriate
  • Reference all source content (including A.I.), using appropriate formatting and available technology