In ENG4U, this assignment asks students to critically examine how the Western Literary Canon was formed and to question whose voices and values have traditionally shaped it. After exploring issues of power, exclusion, and cultural authority, students become “canon makers” themselves by creating four clear guidelines that define what makes a work meaningful or important to them. They then build a rubric based on those guidelines and use it to evaluate 3–5 selected works across different forms of media. All of this is compiled into a Google Sites website that includes their criteria, evaluations, creative highlights of their favorite works, a podcast, and a personal reflection on the process. The purpose is to help students move from analyzing who controls literature to thoughtfully defining and justifying their own standards of literary value.

Please click on the photos below to view the sites!