English 20F, 30S, 40S Transactional (Chantelle)

The Transactional Focus course is intended to help students manage the vast array of information with which they are presented daily, and to think critically and independently in order to function as responsible citizens. A student's personal, social, and civic life is enhanced by being skillful in reading and assessing a wide range of oral, print, and other media texts, and by being able to communicate effectively with others.  Students will find many alternative forms of delivery in this class to assist them in achieving curricular outcomes.

Students will complete 4 different blocks of learning.  Each block focuses on a topic that is:  

• current
• local
• global
• and reflective of the world around them
  
  

There are many opportunities to pick topics that you wish to explore. Each block has a series of processes (drafting, annotating and notetaking) and final choice products (presentation, essays, short stories, podcasts, blogs, visual art installations, etc.).

For example, students have examined moral and ethical questions through the topics of Mental Well-Being, Power/ Privilege and (Pop) Culture and researching current concerns using United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. In order to complete a block we independently read novels of choice and/ or short stories.

Through regular in-class discussion, process and product activities and student sharing, our participants come to understand various ways to communicate new understandings of the world around us. Students are always encouraged to express their opinions on the ideas presented in class in order to come to a deeper collective understanding of our world.