English 10 Course Outline

Mme. K. Taplin
Lake City Secondary School (Carson campus)
Winter Semester 2013
Expectations
English 10 is designed to enhance language skills for students at various levels and
abilities. Using language with confidence will enable you to successfully reach your
educational and career goals. English 10 is also intended to enrich your lives by
cultivating the pleasures of language in all its forms.
The provincial curriculum for English 10 involves listening and speaking, viewing and
representing, as well as the expected reading and writing. We will read a variety of
novels, short stories, articles, essays and poetry in this class. Assignments will involve a
significant amount of writing in which you will interpret the material and make personal
connections to it. You will also be expected to write creatively in prose and poetic forms,
and to present factual information in the forms of essays and news articles.
Finally, this is a course in which students will be encouraged and expected to participate
in discussions and presentations. Your input is a valuable and necessary component of
the curriculum material.

Objectives
Students will:
- refine his/her sentence and paragraph writing skills.
- produce his/her own stories and/or poetry.
- demonstrate the ability to write a five paragraph formal essay complete with
introduction, supporting paragraphs, and conclusion.
- develop and refine different types of research skills to gather information.
- develop strategies to avoid plagiarism.
- research both sides of an issue, choose a point of view, and develop supporting
ideas.
- improve public speaking skills.
- prepare for the Provincial Exam in January, 2014

Curriculum
-

short stories from Inside Stories 2 and/or Top Ten Stories, and other sources
history and works (Julius Caesar and sonnets) of Shakespeare
one of these in-class novels: Chrysalids, Unwind, The Absolutely True Story of a
Part-time Indian, Lord of the Flies
additional independent novel studies of personal choice
note-taking and essay development in a CSS Library research project.
poetry and poetic devices
persuasive writing and the use of bias in an issue
computer technology use to research and produce major projects
grammar and punctuation

Evaluation
Evaluation will be determined through a combination of daily in-class and homework
assignments, quizzes, tests, journals, essays, and participation in class discussions.
Term break down:

50%
20%
25%
5%

assignments, projects, presentations

daily journal work
quizzes and tests
participation and work ethic

Provincial Exam
This exam will test your ability to retrieve information and recognize meaning in poetry
and prose, as well as to interpret and analyze the meaning of various texts. We will
review exam specifications thoroughly during the course. You will also be asked to write
an essay in response to a specific topic or prompt. These will be graded according to the
British Columbia Performance Standards, which we will review in class. The provincial
exam accounts for 20% of the overall grade for the course.

Attendance
Attendance is compulsory. Absences and tardiness create gaps in learning which often
affect your grades. Students will be permitted to make up any missed assignments when a
valid note from home excusing an acceptable absence is presented to the teacher. It is,
however, your responsibility to approach the teacher or fellow classmates to acquire
any missed assignments.

Homework Policy
All assignments are expected to be handed in on time, at the beginning of the class on the
due date unless indicated otherwise. Work handed in after that will incur a penalty
which we will discuss in the first week of class. It should be expected that work
handed in more than a week late may receive a maximum of 50%.

Plagiarism
Do NOT use someone elses work. It is considered theft and you will receive a grade of
0 for any such work submitted.

Course Textbooks
We will be using a variety of texts for this course. It is expected that students return the
books at the end of the semester in reasonable condition. Unless you want to pay for a
replacement book (they are expensive), dont lose or abuse your copy. Please bring your
book to class every period.
In addition, you will be asked to always have a book to read in class. There will be
opportunities to visit the library to pick a new book but you must always have a book in
hand to read for your Independent Reading response log and novel project.

Course Supplies
Please come prepared to class. In addition to your current novel and textbook, bring a
thesaurus, lined paper, pens (blue or black) and pencils. I also ask that you purchase
three (3) duotangs for the semester. You will need one each for: writing resource,
independent reading journal, and poetry portfolio.

Classroom Guidelines

Come prepared to enjoy English and play with the language. Be positive and open
to learning. Expand your vocabulary and share your knowledge with others.
Be respectful to others in the class, as well as yourself.
Arrive on time and with all your supplies, ready to get the most out of every class.
You may only leave the class with my permission.
Hand-Up Policy: Do not talk unless you have been asked to do so. Class
discussions and debates are wonderful, but without this policy a good discussion
can swiftly turn into chaos. Discussions good, chaos bad.
Cell phones will be placed in a time-out zone during class. My goal is to teach
responsible usage and they will be accessed on occasion, with my permission.
Phones found in use at other times will be confiscated until the end of the day.
Persistent misuse will result in a request for parents to come pick up a phone.

A Personal Note.
English is a course that will demand consistent effort. It is important that at all times you
work to the very best of your ability and that you do not allow yourself to fall behind!
If you are starting to feel overwhelmed with your course load, please come and speak
with me so that we can find a way to help make things do-able BEFORE you miss
assignments, rather than afterwards. I have office hours posted and can be available at
lunch by appointment.
Your parents can contact me at the school. If Im unable to take your call, they may leave
a message at the office and I will call back as soon as possible. They (and you) may also
send an email to: karen.taplin@sd27.bc.ca.

**********************
I have read Mme. Taplins English 10 Course Outline and I am aware of
the obligations of this course.
English 10 Block ________ Student Name (please print) _______________________
Student Signature ___________________________________________
Parents / Guardians Signature_____________________________________
Parents / Guardians email address ________________________________________