To prepare for any long journey, you need to ensure you have adequate supplies.  As an English student, words will support and sustain you throughout this course.  To ensure you're ready for the next stage in your journey, you'll complete this vocabulary exercise. However, you don't need to worry.  You will not be evaluated on what you know and don't know. 

Answer the following questions.  If you do not know what the word means, leave it blank.

1. In your own words, define each of the following terms and use each in a separate sentence:
   1. pitch
   2. preemptively
   3. indecisive
   4. confound
   5. daunting
   6. humanities
   7. convoluted
   8. fulcrum
   9. consciously
   10. vicariously
   11. social justice
   12. repository
   13. elicit
   14. commiseration
   15. invested
   16. whet
   17. call-to-action
   18. inextricable
   19. tenacious
        
2. For each word, indicate whether you knew it before the course or learned it during the course.  For the words you don't know, identify ways in which you might determine the meaning of the word (e.g., using context clues, identifying the meaning of prefixes or suffixes, or using an online dictionary).  Then, select three words you did not know and define them.

Seek out two texts that address a similar issue to the one raised in your novel and that relate to the course's bildungsroman focus, as well as the course's main inquiry question: how do the texts with which we engage affect and influence us and our place in the world?  

After finding these two texts, answer the following questions:

1. What type of texts did you select?
2. Why did you select these two texts?
3. Where did you find these texts?
4. How do these texts relate to the course's bildungsroman focus?
5. How do these texts relate to the course's main inquiry question: how do the texts with which we engage affect and influence us and our place in the world?  In other words, these two texts will not only relate to the idea of growing up and maturing, but that have also influenced you, your beliefs, or your understanding of your place in the world.

Throughout this unit, you have taken detailed notes on your novel, and as well, you've conducted external research to find the information for your social justice issue TED Talk.  Review them as you answer the following questions:

1. How did note taking affect your understanding of the novel and your social justice issue?
2. Identify three strategies (one before, during and after reading) you used to help you understand the novel and/or research texts.  For each of the three strategies, briefly explain how it specifically helped you understand them.
3. Who do you believe is the intended audience for the novel?  Justify your answer.
4. Based on your own experience, do you find the novel convincing in terms of how it addresses the social justice issue on which you are presenting?  Explain why or why not.
5. What effect would a change of one of the characters' gender or ethno-cultural background have on the way the events are described in the novel?
6. How does the organization of the novel contribute to its meaning?
7. Identify one text feature from either the novel or a research text and explain how it helps to communicate meaning.
8. Identify one element of style from either the novel or a research text and explain how it helps to enhance the text's effectiveness.
9. How could hearing or seeing the novel (e.g., as a film, video game, etc.) help you to better understand it?

Proofread, edit and revise your essay. 

Make sure your essay package includes:

• your polished essay;
• an MLA-formatted Works Cited page; and
• a list of ten improvements you made to your essay, along with a brief explanation for how each change made your essay more effective.

Record your TED Talk.  Also create a MLA-formatted Works Cited page.

After recording your presentation, using the medium of your choice, answer the following reflection questions:

1. Describe the topic, purpose, and audience for the TED Talk you created and why you made these choices.
2. Identify one element that went well and one aspect that could have been improved.  How would you improve it?
3. Identify a variety of conventions and/or techniques appropriate to the TED Talk you created, and explain how each of the conventions and/or techniques you chose to use in your TED Talk helped you to communicate key ideas and to engage your audience.

Well done! You've showcased how much your skills have grown in such a short period of time.  Before continuing your ENG2D journey, it's time to take a moment to pause and reflect on what you've learned, and where you need to go.  To do this, you'll reflect on your growth as an English student by answering the following questions:  

1. How did the novel you read affect and influence you and your place in the world?
2. What are your strengths as a communicator?  Find an example for reading, writing, oral and media studies from Unit 4 that showcases and celebrates these strengths.
3. Which optional sidequests did you complete?  What did you learn from them?  Which ones did you not complete?  Why was this the case?
4. Which mandatory subquest best prepared you for the OSSLT?  Why?
5. As you move into the final unit of this course, what will be your specific focus for improving your English-related skills? To answer this question, you must first review the Learning Goals and Success Criteria at the beginning of the unit to  determine the area/s on which you most need to focus. Next, you will need to outline some specific steps you will take to improve the quality of your work or the proficiency of your skills.