ELA Diploma Exam Preparation Part A – Writing two assignments Monday, June 14 9:00am – noon RVLC, Airdrie Part B – Reading 8 readings with 70 multiple choice questions Wednesday, June 23 9:00am – noon RVLC, Airdrie

Part A – Written Response (50%)  Personal Response to Texts 40% one hour  Critical/Analytical Response to Literary Texts 60% two hours

Personal Response to Texts ASSIGNMENT  What do these texts suggest to you about... ? (texts may be visual, poetry and/or prose selections)  Select a prose form that is appropriate to the ideas you wish to express and that will enable you to effectively communicate to the reader.  Discuss ideas and/or impressions that are meaningful to you  You may respond from a personal, critical, and/or creative perspective. Keep in mind that regardless of the form you choose, you must communicate clearly to the reader.

prose forms  short essay  rant  journal entry  newspaper article  editorial  interior monologue  short story  personal observation  letter  eulogy  interview  rebuttal  screen play  speech  anecdote  commentary et cetera

Critical/Analytical Response to Literary Texts  Discuss the idea developed by the author about...  What idea does the author develop about... ?

instructions  You must focus your discussion on a text other than the texts provided in this examination booklet.  When considering the work that you know well, select a text meaningful to you and relevant to this assignment. Choose from short stories, novels, plays, screenplays, poetry, films, or other texts that you have studied in your ELA 30-1 class.  Carefully consider your controlling idea or how you will create a strong, unifying effect in your response.  As you develop your ideas, support them with appropriate, relevant, and meaningful examples from the text.

CONNECTIONS – Part “A”  Each text studied this term was studied in a particular thematic unit. You will make connections across these units, reviewing the texts to determine what each has in common with a text from another unit.  The connection you make does NOT have to fall under one of the themes studied – respect and injustice, convention and circumstance, or idealism and truth. The potential for connections between any two texts is limitless. You may want to use the Word document "essay questions" for connection ideas.

PREPARE – Part “A” 1. Choose three texts that were studied this semester about which you would feel confident to write. 2. For EACH text, list and describe (in detail) the following: - title, author, genre - important characters - symbols, motifs - theme - brief quotations (3-5?) that are important to the piece as a whole – theme, character, symbolism

texts studied  Hamlet  A Streetcar Named Desire  The Kite Runner  The Shawshank Redemption  “The Iron Road”  “Grinning and Happy”  “Shining Houses”  “The Painted Door”  “On the Rainy River”  “Dulce Et Decorum Est”  “Guilt”  “Field of Vision”  “Where There’s a Wall”  “The Uninvited”  Refugee Mother & Child”  “Students”  “The Lady of Shalott”

Part A – bring:  dictionary  thesaurus  pen / pencil for planning – even if you are writing on the computer  highlighter(s) for marking key ideas / phrases on the exam  Be aware that your books and pencil cases will be checked for extraneous information, which I know that none of you will be carrying, anyway.

Part A – check when finished: Once your assignments have been printed off, and stapled into your exam booklet, be sure of the following:  it is YOUR work  it is complete – all assignments have been printed  it is in the proper order  your 6-digit registration number is on each page  each page is numbered  each assignment is stapled into its appropriate page in the exam booklet  You are NOT allowed to take anything out of the exam room other than what you brought in. This includes any copy of the assignments you completed on the exam.

Part A – et cetera  Bring picture ID.  Aim to arrive at RVLC by 8:30 am for EACH diploma exam you write.  Go to bed early tonight and get a good night’s rest!!

Part B – Reading (50%)  10 reading selections (readings booklet)  70 questions (questions booklet)  three hours  This examination contains questions that refer to more than one reading selection. Read the texts and answer the questions in the order that they appear in the Readings Booklet and Questions Booklet.

PREPARE – Part “B” Write a previous exam under exam conditions – two hours, no breaks, no dictionary or thesaurus. If possible, use an exam from “The KEY” which provides an annotated answer key. DO NOT OVER-THINK / OVER- ANALYZE YOUR RESPONSES!!

REVIEW Part A  essay writing – theory unit  diploma preparation tutorials Part B  theory unit

UNIT FIVE  samples of student writing  Part “A” diploma exams from 1990 to 2010  Lessons 1-3  literary terms list  multiple choice strategies  reading comprehension  Part “B” diploma exams with key