Civics and Citizenship CHV2O Mr.

Gibson
Northern Secondary School Bradley.gibson@tdsb.on.ca
September, 2017 to Jan 2018 http://gibsonteach.weebly.com/
Room 217
416-393-0284 ext. 20075
Credit Value 0.5 Compulsory

Course Overview
This course explores rights and responsibilities associated with being an active citizen in a democratic society. Students will explore
issues of civic importance such as healthy schools, community planning, environmental responsibility, and the influence of social
media, while developing their understanding of the role of civic engagement and of political processes in the local, national, and/or
global community. Students will apply the concepts of political thinking and the political inquiry process to investigate, and express
informed opinions about, a range of political issues and developments that are both of significance in todays world and of personal
interest to them.

Course Outline
Unit Unit of Study Explanation
1 Political Inquiry and Skill Students will briefly learn political thinking skills that will be
Development employed to examine civic and political matters throughout the
course.
2 Governance in Canada Students will familiarize themselves with the political parties,
structures and institutions of Canada.
3 Rights and Responsibilities By the end of this unit, students will demonstrate an
understanding that Canadas constitution includes different
elements, and will analyze key rights of citizenship in the
constitution, with particular reference to the Canadian Charter of
Rights and Freedoms.
4 Civic Action Students will be able to describe and assess the importance of
civic issues on a local, national and global level. Students will
evaluate the ways that individuals, communities and
governments can engage with issues of civic importance.
5 Culminating Assignment Final assignment TBD
* For more information about the curriculum for Civics see
http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/secondary/canworld910curr2013.pdf

Equipment You must bring a binder for all handouts and course materials, writing tools including coloured pencils and
your 2016-2017 NSS student agenda to every class. A USB key will also be needed for some assignments. A camera and
hiking clothing will be needed for the field trips to the Legislature buildings and City Hall.
Homework You will be responsible for completion of two to four hours of homework per week, which will consist of
reading from a variety of sources, written assignments, Internet research, interviews, preparing electronic and oral
presentations and studying for tests and the final exam.

Resources School textbooks, government periodicals and handouts will be used. You will conduct guided
Internet searches and interview others to expand your knowledge of civics. You will read articles, view videos,
watch PowerPoint presentations and hear from members of the community about different aspects of Canada
and its place in the world.

Attendance and Student Responsibility

Northern - Gibson
 Punctual, regular attendance is essential for success.
Students are responsible for all assignments. If you are absent, it is your responsibility to obtain all work missed
immediately upon returning to school. You are responsible for completing and handing in any missed
assignments.
Each student will be given a hard copy of each major assignment in class. In case that you lose your copy or
were absent on the day that the assignment was distributed, you can view and/ or print additional copies of
assignments by going to the Northern folder on the desktop of the computers at school. The folder can be
accessed at home via the TDSB Academic Workspace website found at
https://aw.tdsb.on.ca/sites/awsupport/SiteHome.aspx . Go to the Documents option, find the Pick Up icon and
click on Gibson to find the Civics assignments. You can also go to the class website
http://gibsonteach.weebly.com/.
You may be asked to hand in some of your assignments electronically in the Drop Off section of the Northern
folder. Please be sure to label each of your files with your full name.
All work is to be completed in the time assigned. Once the assignments have been marked and returned, all late
assignments receive a mark of zero.
Students who know they will be absent on the due date must make alternate arrangements to get their
assignment in on time. Students may not make up marks for a class they have skipped.
Students are expected to submit only their own original work on evaluations done in or out of class. Plagiarism is
the passing off of ideas or writings by another as one's own; students will receive a mark of zero for work that is
plagiarized. Cases of academic dishonesty (cheating and plagiarism) will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis,
but each case will involve an investigation, communication with the student and his/her parent/guardian.

Classroom Expectations and Conduct

Please refer to your student agenda for Northerns Code of Conduct, which sets out the general set of policies regarding
classroom behaviour and responsibilities. When in doubt as to how to act in a certain situation, try to think how you would
feel if the shoe was on the other foot.
As you will be using the Internet extensively during this course, you need to be aware of the TDSB On-line Code of
Conduct set out in your student agenda. You will be given access to a computer during most of the course, however if you
are found to visit websites that are not part of the class work, your computer privileges will be suspended for the balance
of the class. Repeated abuse will result in a detention and/or visit to the Vice Principal .

Assessment and Evaluation

You will be given many opportunities for assessment and evaluation including individual and group projects, role playing,
interviews, demonstrations, conferences, reflections and quizzes. 70% of the mark will be based on course work
completed during the term.

The Culminating Activities are worth 30% and will include a field trip, major project, and final exam encompassing all
aspects of the geography curriculum. The day-long field trip is proposed for the last week of April and attendance is
mandatory. More information about the destination, cost and other aspects of the trip will be given in the spring.

Please refer to Ontario Ministry of Education curriculum document for details of Overall and Specific Expectations,
found at http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/secondary/canworld910curr2013.pdf

Northern - Gibson