English 12 - Communicate Ideas and Information (Presenting and Valuing)

This sub-organizer contains the following sections:
Prescribed Learning Outcomes
Suggested Instructional Strategies
Suggested Assessment Strategies
Recommended Learning Resources

PRESCRIBED LEARNING OUTCOMES

It is expected that students will demonstrate their understanding of and abilities to use a variety of forms and styles of communication that are relevant to specific purposes and audiences.

It is expected that students will:

demonstrate pride and satisfaction in using language to create and express thoughts, ideas, and feelings in a variety of written, oral, visual, and electronic forms
create presentations in forms that are appropriate to a variety of subjects, audiences, and purposes, including informing, persuading, and entertaining
create a variety of academic, technical, and personal communications, including personal and formal essays, documented research reports, multimedia presentations, panels or debates, summaries, explanations, instructions, letters, and real and invented narratives

To view the prescribed learning outcomes for Communicate Ideas and Information (Presenting and Valuing) in other grades click on an icon below.

SUGGESTED INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES

Observation and use of various forms of exposition through writing, visual representation, and oral presentation will allow students to develop the precision, clarity, and artistry of their communications. Knowledge of and facility with using rhetorical devices and organizational frameworks will further enhance students' language use.

Discuss with students criteria for a good research project, including oral, written, and visual components that demonstrate creative and critical thought.
Have students work individually or in small groups to identify interesting community issues (e.g., putting McDonald's into the Vancouver Public Library, recycling, teen curfews). Ask them to develop well-informed positions and use three or more media to create presentations (e.g., videos, guest lectures, related paintings and photographs). Students might also use transactional forms such as business letters, memos, data spreadsheets, proposals, and petitions to support their research and to include the views of community groups. A student may wish to:
- present both sides of an argument in the role of a newspaper reporter whose audience is the general public
- present one side of a case to a jury in the role of prosecutor in a trial
- give a speech as a politician
- write a letter to the editor as a member of the public

SUGGESTED ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES

Students should have opportunities to present a variety of written, oral, and electronic communications, including several they have chosen to develop because of their particular interests, skills, or postsecondary plans. Assessment should focus on the extent to which they have fulfilled the requirements of the purpose, format, and audience.

When students develop presentations on community issues, some criteria will be specific to particular aspects of their presentations; others can be applied to all components. Criteria might include:
- purpose is clear; focus on topic is sustained
- shows awareness and consideration of audience
- information is relevant, accurate, and detailed
- information from secondary sources is appropriately integrated and documented
- presentation is clear, efficient, and easy to follow
- language is direct and appropriate to audience
- individual components or formats work together to create a unified presentation
- different types of information are appropriately matched to various media
Students could include audience response forms to obtain feedback about their presentations.
Before students work on assignments, discuss the key features that are likely to characterize effective work. Each student develops a personal definition of success for the assignment. Students analyse their work in terms of their definitions. They can also use their definitions to elicit peer feedback.
Collaborate with students to develop criteria and a rating scale for assessing portfolios of work. See the Portfolio rating scale in Appendix D, Sample 3. When they submit portfolios or collections, have them include cover letters introducing their work and highlighting their favourite selections or features.

RECOMMENDED LEARNING RESOURCES

Print Materials

The Business of English
The Canadian Press Stylebook
Canadian Writer's Companion
The Canadian Writer's Market
The Crucible
Develop Your English Skills
Discovering Fiction
Discovering Literature
Discovering Poetry
An Enemy of the People
Essays: Patterns and Perspectives
Henry IV
Henry V
Horizons
Living Theater
Measure for Measure
Othello
Print Out
The Prose Reader
The Research Essay
Speaking for Success
The Taming of the Shrew
Technically-Write!
Voices 2
World Literature
World Literature, Signature Edition
Worlds in Small
Writing Clear Essays
Writing for Results
Your Voice and Mine

Video

Ellen's Story

Laserdisc/Videodisc

In Perspective

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Revised: January 25, 1999

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