Social 30-1 Edmonton Central

Class 1:
During the first part of the Social 30-1 prep course we will focus on review of the main course and curricular concepts that are essential for success on both the written and multiple choice components of the Diploma Exam. As we work our way through the curriculum, special attention will be given to source analysis, with key skills and strategies being provided. Working with sources during the course review will give students important skills in concept synthesis and source analysis, both of which are essential on the diploma exam. As we progress though the course, we will work on and discuss many multiple choice exam questions. This will enable students to build important skills and strategies to hone their multiple choice skills and tailor them directly towards the ways in which Social Studies questions are frequently written. Throughout the review we will look at the historical development of liberalism and its viability as an economic ideology. We will also review the connection between liberalism and political ideologies. We will conclude the review by examining the different types of sources that are now being used on the new "dash 1" Diploma Exam.

Class 2:
The last session of the course will focus directly on the two 30-1 writing assignments. As both writing assignments use sources as prompts, we will review the student expectations for each task. We will practice the skills of interpreting sources as well as identifying the relationships that exist between them. For assignment II, we will practice the skill of identifying an ideological perspective and making this analysis the foundation of the argumentative essay. We will do a general review of political and economic liberalism as students need to connect their writings to this ideology. We will also do an in-depth examination of the categories on the scoring guides and we will take a critical look at some pieces of writing in order to determine what constitutes excellent (and not so excellent) diploma exam writing.