This course emphasizes the consolidation of the literacy, communication, and critical and
creative thinking skills necessary for success in academic and daily life. Students will
analyse a range of challenging literary texts from various periods, countries, and cultures;
interpret and evaluate informational and graphic texts; and create oral, written, and media
texts in a variety of forms. An important focus will be on using academic language coherently
and confidently, selecting the reading strategies best suited to particular texts and particular
purposes for reading, and developing greater control in writing. The course is intended
to prepare students for university, college, or the workplace.
This course is designed to help students acquire and demonstrate the cross-curricular literacy skills that are evaluated by the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test (OSSLT). Students who complete the course successfully will meet the provincial literacy requirement for graduation. Students will read a variety of informational, narrative, and graphic texts and will produce a variety of forms of writing, including summaries, information paragraphs, opinion pieces, and news reports. Students will also maintain and manage a portfolio containing a record of their reading experiences and samples of their writing.
Eligibility requirement: Students who have been eligible to write the OSSLT at least twice
and who have been unsuccessful at least once are eligible to take the course. (Students who
have already met the literacy requirement for graduation may be eligible to take the course
under special circumstances, at the discretion of the principal.)
This course gives students the opportunity to develop the skills, knowledge, and habits that will support them in their education and career/life planning. Students will learn about global work trends, and seek opportunities within the school and community to expand and strengthen their transferable skills and their ability to adapt to the changing world of work. On the basis of exploration, reflective practice, and decision-making processes, students will make connections between their skills, interests, and values and their postsecondary options, whether in apprenticeship training, college, community living, university, or the workplace. They will set goals and create a plan for their first postsecondary year. As part of their preparation for the future, they will learn about personal financial management – including the variety of saving and borrowing tools available to them and how to use them to their advantage – and develop a budget for their first year after secondary school.
Prerequisite: None
This course explores rights and responsibilities associated with being an active citizen in a democratic society. Students will explore issues of civic importance and the influence of social media, while developing their understanding of the role of civic engagement and of political processes in the local, national, and/or global community. Students will apply the concepts of political thinking and the political inquiry process to investigate, and express informed opinions about, a range of political issues and developments that are both of significance in today’s world and of personal interest to them. This course also includes learning on digital literacy and critical-thinking skills, the mechanisms of government, Indigenous governance systems and structures, the historical foundations of the rights and freedoms we enjoy in Canada, ways in which government policy affects individuals’ lives and the economy, and ways for students to serve their communities.