1 - FIRST STEP

Alright, let's not waste anymore time. Let's get the show on the road.  Let's get the ball rolling. Other sayings that signify a beginning. This marks the first piece of work you will do for me - and it's a relatively easy one. It focuses on you; your interests, your strengths, your relationship with school, and it will also ask you to think about your goals and intents with this course. What do you want to do next? It's important for me to know where you want to go, so I can help you get there. What are you already pretty good at? Do you know that? Ultimately, a learner who knows themselves is one more able and likely to succeed.

So, what are we waiting for? GO!

1 - START Assignment

ENG3C Skills Passport

2 - Lamb to the Slaughter

Great! You're making good progress, so let's keep it going. For this one you'll read one of the more surprising stories I've read in a while - and I don't want to ruin it with any more details. It's written by Roald Dahl, a man famous for writing children's book (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, etc.) - but he also wrote many adult horror stories, and you're going to read one of those.

You're going to practice using proof for this assignment, and will plan out an essay and write up an introductory paragraph. OK? What are we waiting for?

2 - Lamb to the Slaughter

Story for this assignment

Short Film for the Assignment

Thesis Builder

Essay Outline

3 - Pop Music!

OK. Here is the next assignment - let's dive in! They say that music and food are universals, so let's see if that proves to be true. For this assignment you will read an article from Rolling Stone, summarize some articles from Billboard, and make a slide show explaining your desert island mix! Giddy-up!

3 - Pop Music!

You'll also need this article for the assignment.

If you're unsure of what your slide show should/could look like, or if you just want to know what THE best 5 albums of all time are, you may want to take a look at this SAMPLE.

4 - What's Happening?

NOTE: Zite has been purchased by Flipboard. So the zite app no longer exists. When doing this assignment, simply use Flipboard in place of zite. I will change the assignment as soon as I can to reflect this change, but for now, just use Flipboard whenever the assignment asks you to use Zite. OK? OK. 


This is an awesome assignment, because it asks you to consider the current state of print media - is the magazine dead? See for yourself. Spend some time with FLIPBOARD, one of the newest magazine style apps that may change the way you read.

This assignment will also have you write your first real, complete essay for me, so don't be afraid to ask me questions. I've written a few, thousand! And it's my job. OK?

What's Happening Assignment

Essay Rubric

5 - Wikipedia is Wonderful

You know what wikipedia is, perhaps it's saved you on an assignment or two in your academic past. But those days are about to end. Wikipedia is NOT an acceptable research source for college level research, but that doesn't mean it's useless to you. This assignment will have to use wikipedia as a research tool, as a way to improve your research, and it will have you make the most exciting, amazing, jaw-dropping informative slide show of your life!

5 - Wikipedia is Wonderful

6 - Speaking Assignment

OK. So this is the latest one. And you may not like what's coming - but I know you can do it. This assignment is all about your voice. Believe it or not, it's one of the most important tools at your disposal. The goal of this assignment is to get you to practice using your voice, so if something in here concerns you, then let's talk about it and see if we can come up with an alternative. As is, it's pretty straight forward.

In any event, here is the link to the Speaking Assignment

Also, here are the videos you'll need for the assignment.

1. Clint Smith's TED Talk
2. Steve Jobs on Asking For Help
3. Andrea Palmer's TED Talk

7 - Who? What? Where? When?: A Research Assignment

Alright. This is it. We're nearing the home stretch now, just a few more pieces before the Culminating Task - so let's keep going.

This assignment will go deeper into research principles than did the Wikipedia assignment, and it will help prepare you for the Culminating task as well as the grade 12 course. So pay attention!

Here it is, Who? What? Where? When?

Also, there are a number of videos I need you to watch for this assignment. They're listed on the assignment, but here they are as well.

1. Qualitative vs. Quantitative Research

2. Developing a Research Question

3. Research Question Game/Exercise - just click the 'Researching (general)' option and then 'Research Questions'.

4. Scholarly vs. Non-Scholarly Exercise/Game - wait for it, it can take a while to load.

5. Annotated Bibliography Introduction

As usual, if you have any questions with any of this, ASK ME. I'm your teacher, it's what I'm here for. OK? OK.

8 - The Re-Essay

Oooooh I love these guys! But really, it isn't that bad. In truth, you will all write poor essays at some point - we all do. I've done it, every teacher you've ever had has written some silly, rushed, flawed, broken essays. It's like everything else, a skill that improves with practice.

If I think about it, I have written a LOT of bad essays in my decades of school. Most of them, in fact, I can't read now without cringing. But in my third year of University I was given some terrific advice by an English professor - he told me "Kevin, you don't write an essay, you RE-write an essay". I think he told me that so I didn't cry in his office when he gave me back the D paper he'd just marked, but I took the advice.

Great, thoughtful, easy-to-read essays aren't born simply. They start out as a flawed but decent essay, and they get re-worked. That's what this assignment is for. All you need for this assignment is an essay you've already written and submitted for me, and you'll need the marked up copy I returned to you. Once you have that, and perhaps a red pen, it's time to make this essay better. Use the assignment sheet below to help. Of course, I'm always available to help.

8 - The Re-Essay Assignment

9 - Culminating Task

Yup, it's the end of the road, you're almost done. There's the LAST ASSIGNMENT, which you do...<ahem> last. And before that, there's your chance to shine, the Culminating Task. As the name suggests, this is supposed to be a big expression of all the skills you've learned and developed through the course. There are two parts.

Part A - The Timed Writing Assignment

This is likely done already. You need to write one of these for each of the Senior English courses - which means you do one in 3C, and you'll have to do it again in 4C. We do these pretty much every Friday morning, so sign up and come get it done. If Friday morning doesn't work for you (work), then the onus is on you to arrange something with me at a different time, likely late or early in the day.

Part B - Project

This part is not unlike other ISUs you've done, so no big surprises. There's lots of choice, so let's get together and I can show you the options. This is the one assignment that I want to give to you myself, to ensure you're ready to be successful. So come on in (or contact me) and let's get this done.

10 - LAST STEP!

OK. Can you believe it? You're nearly done this course. At this point, you've done both parts of the Culminating Task, you've developed many of the necessary skills for College, and you're nearly ready to start the grade 11 course. But of course there's one last task - you have to face yourself!

The last task is similar to the first step you took in this course in that it focuses on you. Whereas the first one looked at your skills at the start and your goals for the course, this one looks to see what you've accomplished and what you still need to know. As we said, knowing yourself as a student will help a lot moving forward in your studies, and self-evaluation should be a regular part of your life if you hope to reach your maximum potential. 

So this is it - your last assignment.