Grade 9 Social Studies: Course Outline
Franklin Rempel, Instructor
Welcome to Social Studies
I’m looking forward to learning about Canadian Social Studies with you. This course will help you learn what Canada
Topics/Outcomes
- The Lay of the Land
- Media
- Consumerism
- Democracy
- Responsibility (mine/Canada’s)
The Lay of the Land – Study the make-up of Canadian social, cultural and political geography, as well as where in the world there are issues that Canada
Media – Study the way currents events are portrayed in the media, how these portrayals affect our perceptions and how media otherwise influences our lives.
Consumerism – study why we buy the things we do, what this says about who we are, and explore some of the alternatives to a consumer culture.
Democracy – Study the affect of majority rule on minority groups, the value of non-violent conflict resolution and how Canada
Responsibility – Study our responsibilities as a nation in a global environment as well as our responsibilities as individuals in a democratic society.
Assessment
Assessment is a key part of learning. As such, we’ll be doing as much work on understanding and learning from our assessment as we will in learning new things. For my part, I will do my best to provide specific, descriptive and immediate feedback, for your part, I am looking for an attitude of learning, and openness to the idea that we are all here to learn.
Percentage Breakdown
Guest Teacher Work 10%
In Class (Practice) Work 15%
Projects (Show Me Work) 50%
Final Summative Project 25%
Summative Assessment
There will be a final, wrap-it-all-up project during the last few weeks of the year. This will incorporate each unit, and will be worth 25% of your final mark. There will be no written exam during the exam period at the end of January. There will be no midterm exam for this course.
Expectations
- I will respect you, your classmates and myself. In return, I expect you to respect yourself, your classmates and me.
- From time to time throughout the year, it will be necessary that I be absent and a guest teacher will be there in my stead. When this is the case, there will be a stand-alone assignment given that will be worth points towards the 10% guest teacher mark. These assignments will be due at the end of the period that the guest teacher is supervising, and will be generally paper and pencil work.
- Be here on time, with the stuff you need for class, every class.
- I expect us all to abide by the Miller handbook. I would highlight the policy regarding the use of cell phones found on pages 26 and 27, as well as the bullying/harassment policy on page 10 and the media policy on page 13.
Mostly though, we are here to learn. As your teacher, I see myself as a kind of guiding learner, someone who helps you use the tools you need to learn all you can. Your learning however, must be done by you and is your responsibility. To that end I hope you come to this class ready to engage in the issues of Social Studies and learn all you can about the world around you.
