Composition 11

Unit 1: Reading as a Writer

The receptive strand a writer builds on: reading and studying model compositions the way a writer reads — for craft, structure, and choices to borrow — while building the reading strategies, First Peoples text protocols, and cultural literacy every writer needs before they draft.

• Narrative structures in First Peoples texts

• Protocols for the ownership of First Peoples oral texts

• The role of story, narrative, and oral tradition in First Peoples texts
• The influence of land and place in First Peoples and Canadian texts

• Reading strategies for studying model compositions
• Reading as a writer — comprehending model compositions

Unit 2: The Writing Process

The productive spine of the course: generating ideas, workshopping them aloud, tracking your own process, drafting and revising, and composing texts that reach a real audience for a real purpose.

• Oral language strategies for sharing and workshopping writing

• Metacognitive strategies — reflecting on your writing process

• Writing processes — drafting, revising, and editing

• Thinking critically and creatively to generate ideas for writing

• Speaking and listening in writing workshops and peer feedback

• Composing texts for real purposes and real-world audiences

• Revising and refining drafts for clarity, effectiveness, and impact

Unit 3: Composition Forms

The forms a composer works in — narrative, expository, descriptive, persuasive, and opinion writing — how form and structure shape a text's meaning, and the confidence to transform ideas into original texts and experiment across genres.

• Form, function, and genre of composition texts

• How the form and structure of a composition shape meaning

• Transforming ideas into original texts across genres and forms

• Experimenting with genres, forms, and styles of composition

Unit 4: Style, Voice & Craft

The craft controls a writer adjusts on purpose: language features, elements of style, literary devices deployed in your own writing, and the usage and conventions that make a finished piece read as polished and correct.

• Language features that shape a composition
• Elements of style — diction, vocabulary, sentence structure, tone

• Literary elements and devices, including figurative language, in your own writing

• Usage — avoiding double negatives, mixed metaphors, malapropisms, word misuse
• Conventions — standard punctuation, capitalization, quoting, Canadian spelling

Unit 5: Argument, Evidence & Citation

Evaluating the sources you build an argument on, expressing and justifying an opinion with real evidence, and giving credit honestly — citing sources and respecting intellectual property so your writing is trustworthy.

• Evaluating source reliability and the credibility of evidence

• Building an argument — expressing and supporting an opinion with evidence

• Citation techniques for acknowledging sources

• Acknowledgements and citations — avoiding plagiarism, respecting IP rights