Colonel By Secondary School
ENG 4U
Course Description:
This course emphasizes consolidation of literacy, critical thinking, and communication skills. Students
will analyse a range of challenging texts from various time periods, countries, and cultures; write
analytical and argumentative essays and a major paper for an independent literary research project; and
apply key concepts to analyse media works. An important focus will be on understanding academic
language and using it coherently and confidently in discussion and argument.
*From The Ontario Curriculum Grades 11 and 12 English
Prerequisite: ENG 3U
Term One: September to January
Unit 1
Echoes 12 Anthology: Short non-fiction & Personal Response
Eval: Personal Response & Photo Narrative Assignment
Unit 2
Poetry: Select Passages from William Shakespeare’s Hamlet
Eval: Close reading of an assigned sight passage
Unit 3
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
Eval: Interactive Orals: Culture and Context examined
Term Two: February to June
Unit 4
The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway
Eval: Literature Circles
Unit 5
Media Study (ongoing throughout year)
Eval: written analysis of a print advertisement
Unit 6
Independent Study Unit
20th-21st Century Novel Study
includes academic essay
Ongoing in Four Stages, Nov-April.
& individual oral presentation
Summative Evaluation
May-June
Assessment & Evaluation:
Students will be evaluated by level using the Ontario Curriculum Expectations in four main
areas: Oral, Writing, Reading, and Media.
Course work will comprise 70% of the final grade and Summative Evaluations 30%.
Mr. Vitzthum’s Guide to Success in English
 Be here. It’s amazing how well you can do just by showing up and
paying attention!
 Leave your assumptions about your own performance behind.
Consider this a fresh start.
 Get the mark that you want. To get it, you’ll have to earn it:
o Plan ahead.
o Ask questions.
o See me if you need support – I always help people that want
to help themselves.
 If you need extra time for an assignment, ask well in advance.
o Never arrive empty handed! School policy is now that you
bring in a completed Evaluation Contract in place of a missed
assignment.
 Be active in class! Just sitting without saying anything all class is
boring; keep yourself engaged! If you decide not be an active
participant in class you won’t do as well;
o Be respectful of those who are active and engaged.
 Visualize your own success
 Take notes. Learn how to do it now. (You’ll thank me later.)
 Smartphones and laptops -- please use them appropriately.
 Academic honesty. It counts and affects your future!!
 Finally, be kind and courteous to others. In the words of Morrisey
from The Smiths:
It’s so easy to laugh / It’s so easy to hate / It takes strength to be gentle and kind.