ELA 9 Student Choice Novel
Unit
Mr. Steel
In conjunction with our Read Across
Canada literacy program, students in my class will be given the opportunity to
read a novel that they have never read before (I will check through the list of
novels they have already submitted to me on their mileage records!) and to
investigate this novel as a means of fulfilling the objectives of the ELA 9
curriculum. Each student novel must be shown to me first in order to ensure
that it is sufficiently challenging and that its content is appropriate. During
this unit, students will be expected to:
1.
Read quietly in class from their selected novel. At the end of each class students must submit a journal or notes that
they have taken about their readings. These notes ought to include some
information about the plot, the characters, the setting, the action that
transpires in the story, notes on any symbols or metaphors noted by the
student, as well as any questions that the student might have about what he/she
has read. Each student
reflection/journal entry must end with a statement concerning a central theme
that arises out of the reading that they have just completed. We will be
reading our student choice novels each day for the first week of this unit.
Students who do not finish their novel in class should finish it at home, since
the following week we will be moving on to narrative essay writing and project
preparation.
2.
Write an in-class mock exam narrative
essay that will be due at the end of the period. Every student will have
finished their novel by the end of the first week of this unit. Students will next be asked to pick from
among the themes that they have identified in their journals and write a
narrative essay that explores ONE of these themes.
3.
In groups of no more than three,
students will decide from among their novels which novel to present as a
project to the rest of the class. Students are expected to work diligently
and cooperatively, and to be prepared to present when their time comes. Student
presentations ought to:
Student
presentations may take the following forms: