Capstone Project for SS11

In this course, we have explored the question “How should we live?” and unit topics related to:

• global population and development
• economy and environment
• experience of place
• big ideas in philosophy
• local history and geography

Now, you will turn your attention to a way of bringing these topics together, a “capstone project” to show how you have built understanding during this course. This is a replacement for a final exam.

You can choose one of the options below, or you can design your own capstone project. You will have some class time for this (June 6-8, June 11-14), but library or lab time may be intermittent -- they are booked up solid but we can squeeze in a few at a time. Friday June 15th will be a chance to play games or share activities with the whole class. Monday June 18th will be a gallery walk -- all the rest of the students/groups will set up in the class to show what you have done.

You can work alone or in a group. Obviously, if you work with with a group then each person should have a distinct role and the overall project should a) be able to go forward if someone in the group drops the ball, and b) show how it is more than the work of one person.

In order to create a memorable and substantive project, you will need to manage your time well. Each day you have time for this, you need to be focused on a task that brings you closer to completion. Your project should be a balance of: 

• your ideas: think, reflect, decide on what ideas you will include -- make predictions, ask questions.
• research and information: use class notes, books, websites, people, and/or direct observations
• creating: make or build something that holds your ideas and research in place

The project should introduce elements, skills, or themes from the course. Try to build in concepts from each of our units -- either from your own work or what you learned from others. You can start this off by asking one or more questions like this:

• What kind of development is necessary to meet the needs of all people without exhausting all of the resources?
• How can economic activities be set up so that community and environmental health is maintained or improved?
• What kinds of patterns, values, or systems exists in a community that promote happiness, inclusion, prosperity, health, or other things you find important? 
• What kinds of personal, social, or political philosophies are most useful for encouraging people to live in harmony with each other and the planet?
• What lessons can we learn from our local region, both positive and negative, about sustainability and adaptation to the environment
• How can we achieve sustainable development, so that a planet of 11 billion people can live outside of poverty but within the means of their environment

Option A. Design a Sustainable Town or City

What services does a city need to provide?  How should a city use the land it occupies (site), and how should the city interact with the area around it (situation)? Using large paper or any other kind of media (digital, materials) put together a design for a modern healthy city that makes good use of local resources and energy sources, provides a good quality of life for its residents (including economic opportunity), and has a balance with the environment. Your project will more or less be a map.

Have you ever played a resource-based board game like Settlers of Katan (there is a copy in the class if you want to have a look), or perhaps a city-building game online?  Maybe you've built places using minecraft or lego, or looked over a city map to sort out where things are. If so, you have an idea about what kinds of things a city might need in order to thrive: transportation systems (multiple forms) power supply, sewage and water, greenspace and parks, industrial areas (heavy and light), business district, residential areas (different kinds), entertainment and recreation facilities for a variety of users, safety infrastructure (fire/police/paramedical), hospitals, schools, and so on. You can build up (high rises) or our (take up more space), but every choice will have its limits -- you may have notices this from games about cities -- they usually provide limits on resources to provide challenge for the game players. For example, there is a limit to water, timber, minerals in the area, or limits to how many people can live in an area before infrastructure needs to be upgraded.

What kinds of philosophies will guide your city?  How many people will it support?  Is it by the ocean or does it have a river?  Are there mountains nearby, or farm lands, forests, rangelands, mineral deposits?  Are there specific ways that many people there make a living?  How is it powered? Does it provide services for youth? For Elderly?  For homeless and street-involved people?  How will you deal with fire protection, crime, and poverty?

However you design your city, the key or "legend" will be important -- try to include the why and how on your map or construction as far as possible rather than separate paper.  Use labels, text boxes, notes on the map itself, and a good key. Make it very clear on the map how you have designed the city for sustainability.

Option B Notes: Create a choice-based Survival Game

Read the notes above for Option A -- this will help start your thinking.  How could you design a game that builds in choices about resource use, lifestyle decisions that impact the environment, choices about jobs, transportation, entertainment & recreation, and consumption of goods?  This could be a board game, computer game, card game, dice-based game, or something else from your creative mind.  Try to build in concepts from each of our units -- either from your own work or what you learned from others.

Option C. Something different

Perhaps you’d like to write a song or a play, make a video, or build something.  Check in with the teacher if you'd like to do something other than Option A or B.  Like the other two options, Option C should reflect concepts from each of the course units, and should address the question "How should we live?"

Local History Inquiry

Take some time to investigate the history and geography of Prince George and its region. Our library has a collection of local history resources to trigger your investigation. Many online sources will support this as well -- the Exploration Place photo collection is a good place to start.  The assignment that follows is straight-forward: as you learn about this history and geography of this region, find a topic you would like to explore in more depth and conduct some basic research.  Document your learning (e.g. record sources and notes -- no more than one page) and prepare something either to display (very small poster or card) or present (quick talk or sharing of your learning) or respond (e.g. a sketch, map, or creative writing).  Keep this assignment "tight" -- 2 days of library time assigned to this up front.

I am putting together a local history page here with some links: http://www.pacificslope.ca/local-history-geography.html

Rwandan Genocide documentary response

 

Shake Hands With the Devil.  This documentary sticks with you -- the idea that human life could be valued so little by so many is shocking.  One hopes that the global community can learn from horrific events, but sadly we seem to repeat them too often.

Good reference on the genocide (read this if you still have questions after watching the documentary): http://www.unitedhumanrights.org/genocide/genocide_in_rwanda.htm

SS10 students -- having watched the documentary based on the book, and learned a bit of the background to the Rwandan Genocide of 1994, what do you think?

Why do you think it happened? What might have prevented it? What could prevent it from happening again somewhere else? What do you think of Dallaire's struggle?

Leave a comment with your thoughts.

Big questions in Philosophy

Modern take on 'The Thinker"
...found on pinterest!

I've found this to be an interesting week taking a closer look at Philosophy -- the ideas and people that have influenced Western and global trends in philosophy, the nature of philosophic thought, and your own questions about living one's life, about common sense and logic, about perspective, happiness, and self-knowledge. We're not done with the in-class lessons, ye, but now would be a good time to identify some research projects for your unit project. Almost anything within the loose boundaries of "Philosophy" is fair game, but it should centre around a driving question -- something open-ended and meaningful to you. Not too vague and not too specific -- a question that will lead you into inquiry. We'll brainstorm a few, but you have already generated many examples. Your response should involve taking your own question seriously and considering how other people (past or present) have tried to answer it. Strategic use of quotes will be important. Your own conclusion might agree or disagree with the so-called experts, but will at least acknowledge how you arrived at your response. The second aspect to this project is to think about a creative way to express your findings. Some writing is expected, but also a response project, something that physically shows your thinking, whether as a metaphor or direct representation. We may refine this project as we work on it, but that's a start. When you are ready, please share your driving questions in the blog comment section.
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Sample questions (from you):
Why do good things happen to bad people?
Are there such things as selfless deeds? Do people do nice things only to benefit themselves?
Nature vs nurture - how does upbringing affect how people live?
Is human nature good or bad? Why are some people so evil (stinky)?
Why are we here/what is our purpose/what is the meaning of life?
Is happiness the most important thing
Why do we dream? What are dream for?
What makes a person strong?
Is the meaning of life the same for animals as humans?
Is love at first sight possible? What is love?
Is there life after death (or before birth)? What happens when we die?
What is a job for? Do we need careers to be fulfilled?
What came first, chicken or egg? (could be about the role of science in our understanding of life)
How did religions come about? What purpose or function to they fulfill? Is God real?
Why are there different languages? Is a universal language possible?
Why are there different currencies? Is a world economy or government possible?
Why do we have to pay for university? Should access to education be universal?
Should we be more connected to nature?
Is there life on other planets, if so when do we meet and what should we say?
Why are we attracted to things that we know are bad for us?
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Looking for ideas? Have a surf through some of the videos tagged "Philosophy" at TED
https://www.ted.com/topics/philosophy

Protected Places, and Places in Need of Protection

After watching this amazing TED talk on the scientific, aesthetic, and ecological value of the Redwoods, I hope you are curious about other places near and far that have achieved some kind of protected status or are in need of protection. Spend some time with the WHEN and WHERE -- find some places that you can use to further your thinking and read (or view) a bit about them. Think about WHY certain places need protection, and protection from WHAT? Think about HOW places these sensitive or important places should be conserved and managed, and about what kind of human uses should be permitted or even encouraged in these areas. What are the threats to these places? How are these threats handled? What kinds of laws or practices have been used to protect these places, or should be used for places that are not yet protected?

Start by finding THREE possible places that would work as case studies. At least one should be protected already in some significant or legal manner, and at least one should be an area that needs better protection.  One of the sites should be local (in British Columbia, better yet in the Central Interior). List them in a blog comment below -- with the briefest of descriptions. As you might guess, you will be choosing one of your three to study further as a case study.

Here is an example of an area that already has special protection, but has ongoing challenges that threaten its unique characteristics: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/wood-buffalo-national-park-threatened-report-1.4404850

People who stayed in Chernobyl

Documentary on Cherbobyl: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j96dsu-ZTtI

The Babushkas of Chernobyl - trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrZcGUNFtG8

Why stay in Chernobyl? Because it's home.: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93hbqLBp_HI



Your reaction? We'll discuss some follow-on questions in class. What do you think about what you saw and learned?

Special Places

Special Places -- what makes them "work?" After we spent some time looking at how people interact with the spaces at D.P. Todd, it might be nice to consider places that are special to you.

We start with an unusual word: topophilia.

 

"The word 'topophilia' is a neologism, useful in that it can be defined broadly to include all of the human being's affective ties with the material environment. These differ greatly in intensity, subtlety, and mode of expression. The response to environment may be primarily aesthetic: it may vary from the fleeting pleasure one gets from a view to the equally fleeting but far more intense sense of beauty that is suddenly revealed. The response may be tactile, a delight in the feel of air, water, earth. More permanent and less easy to express are the feelings that one has toward a place because it is home, the locus of memories, and the means of gaining a livelihood" - Yi-Fu Tuan, Topophila, p. 93

 

Affective ties with the material environment... in other words, topophilia means the love of place. This is an important idea that impacts the way humans interact with the world. Special places make us more connected to ourselves, other people, and the environment. This will be the subject of a short writing assignment.

What is a place that you love? A special area in nature that brings back strong memories, a place you love to visit because of the things that have happened there. Maybe it's a built-up space, like the home of a grandparent or an amazing restaurant? Maybe it's a natural location like a beach, mountain vista, bike trail, or fishing spot. Or in between, like a cabin. Maybe you'd like to write about your earliest experience with a natural world, a powerful memory in nature. What is the inventory of this location -- the topography, components, objects, characteristics? What do your senses remember? Consider the visually elements, but also smells, textures, and sounds. What is the story of this place... what is your history with it?  Think about this and write leave a comment below with your response. Start with a word document -- do your writing there (no more than one page) and then copy/paste into a blog comment here. You can also submit a hard copy if there is some reason you do not want your writing piece online.

Biosphere Reserves

This week we learned about the Biospehere Reserve at Clayoquot Sound. The video we watched is up on the Knowledge Network website until Dec 5 -- Episode 2. What are biosphere reserves? What are they not? Why would an area seek the this designation. Choice another existing biosphere reserve (in Canada or elsewhere) and start out by answering those questions. Then, do some writing (or use a graphic organizer) to explore what led to the creation of that biosphere reserve and what resulted.  This is about Cause and Consequence.  You may find that you weave other concepts into your writing such as significance, close examination of evidence, continuity & change (e.g. the patterns that are in place vs new ideas), perspective-taking, and ethical dimensions connected to the issues or challenges faced by the biosphere reserve.  This is an open-ended task -- learn about a biosphere reserve and develop questions and ideas about "WHY."  You are encouraged to use an 11"x17" paper to record your inquiry. Pics/maps welcome.

Prince George Study

Prince George, 1953, from the Wally West Collection

We have a great little collection of local history resources in our D.P. Todd library. Take a look through and find a topic that you find interesting. Maybe it relates to where your street name came from (and how most streets in town are named), or where the old ski jump used to be (and what that says about early recreational opportunities), or how the city developed as separate communities before becoming Prince George (and why this was controversial). Perhaps you can look at the transfer of lands that resulted in the Grand Trunk Pacific taking over the Aboriginal Reserve in what is now downtown Prince George, or how most of the early education in the area took place in one-rooms schoolhouses, or the process that led to the establishment of UNBC.

After you'd had a look and found a topic, develop an inquiry question that the resources can help answer. Try to find additional sources, print or online, to support your inquiry. Refer back to your "What is Social Studies" document that outline historical and geographic thinking. Use the 6 concepts to help develop your inquiry.  Is there anything significant about your topic? What use can you make of evidence and how reliable is it? Has the situation you're looking at changed over the years or remained the same? What led to this situation, and what resulted?  What are some varying perspectives on this topic from the time period? What are some ways we judge the situation now -- has the perspective changed with time.

Finish up with a two-part response:

1. Record your inquiry question here as a comment on the blog post.
2. Prepare your response to you inquiry question (including leading questions based on the 6 thinking concepts) as a "one pager" to hand in.  Include references and a small photo or image if you like. The format can be any way you like -- written, web, boxes of info that relate to the 6 concepts, a visual representation, even a sculpture or constructed art piece.

Human Experience at D.P. Todd

Task: go out and take some photos that relate to the human experience at D.P. Todd Secondary. Make a note of where they are taken on a map of the school. You can develop your own criteria for "human experience," but here are some ones we developed together in class:

• safety features & processes
• natural light vs artificial light
• meetings places
• high traffic areas
• places to eat
• food service
• programs in operation
• sound and music
• state of technology
• use of tables and seating
• state of repair & equipment
• accessibility (e.g. inclusive of disabilities)
• private vs public places
• connection to nature
• doorway & entrance experience
• noise levels & places to make noise
• evidence of celebration
• temperature or climate control
• communication systems
• fun/happy vs sad/depressing
• evidence of history/tradition
• student-centered creations

TED Talks on Sustainability

Geography 12 in-class assignment

As we explore topics related to resource ethics, sustainable development, and human interaction with the environment it is useful to turn to what others have to say. To do that, TED is a great start.

Check out the TED Talks on the topic of Sustainability: https://www.ted.com/topics/sustainability

As of this posting, there are four playlists with 10-14 videos in each one.  Take a look at all of the titles within each playlist before you commit to watching any of them.

Select two video talks to watch and think about. If you start watching one and you don't get it or it repulses you, choose another right away.

After each of the two talks, answer the following questions/prompts. Use a word file to record your response.  You can submit this word file to your teacher, or you can paste your responses into a comment to this post -- either option is fine.  Please complete this assignment within the allotted time.

Questions:

1. TED talk title, speaker, and date.
2. Very brief summary of what was presented (e.g. 2-3 sentences).
3. What is significant or important about the topic/content of the talk?
4. What evidence does the speaker use to make their argument or bring their points across? Do you think the talk would be seen as accurate by other people in this field of study?
5. What do you understand about the "problem" after watching the talk (e.g. cause and effect, historical or geographic patterns, solutions, consequences, etc.)
6. What do you think about the speaker's perspective? Do they represent a broad base of opinions, a particular set of biases, or a narrow perspective based on their experience or education or privilege? On what evidence are you basing your evaluation? Do you think the 
7. What actions are suggested by the talk -- are their ethical obligations to pay attention to, or judgements that should be made about how people have treated this problem in the past?
8. Do you have any other opinions or reactions to the video talk?

Mass Wastage Case Studies

Find a natural disaster which has affected humans, preferably related to one of the types of mass wastage studied in class, and which is documented on the internet. This could be a landslide, avalanche, rockslide, mudflow, etc. Avoid tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanoes, seaside erosion, etc., unless they directly include an element of mass wastage (we deal with these elsewhere in the course).

Using the comment feature on this blog post, provide the following:

1. Name/date of event
2. Summarize or describe, briefly, the causes and patterns at play for this mass wastage event (origins, physical processes involved)
3. Summarize or describe, briefly, the significance and impact of the mass wastage event (human cost, affect on cultural features like buildings or roads)
4. What is your personal response to the source (opinions, reactions, analysis, conclusions)? What would be your plan for prevention or response if you were in charge of emergency services?
5. Record the Web location (full url) of your source/s (a second source is one way to check for accuracy); do not use wikipedia as a final source (although it is a good start for orienting yourself to the event)

Topophilia

What is topophilia?

"The word 'topophilia' is a neologism, useful in that it can be defined broadly to include all of the human being's affective ties with the material environment. These differ greatly in intensity, subtlety, and mode of expression. The response to environment may be primarily aesthetic: it may vary from the fleeting pleasure one gets from a view to the equally fleeting but far more intense sense of beauty that is suddenly revealed. The response may be tactile, a delight in the feel of air, water, earth. More permanent and less easy to express are the feelings that one has toward a place because it is home, the locus of memories, and the means of gaining a livelihood" - Yi-Fu Tuan, Topophila, p. 93

Affective ties with the material environment... in other words, the love of place. This is an important idea that impacts the way humans interact with the world. Special places make us more connected to ourselves, other people, and the environment. This will be the subject of a short writing assignment.

What is a place that you love? A special area in nature that brings back strong memories, a place you love to visit because of the things that have happened there. Maybe it's a built-up space, like the home of a grandparent or an amazing restaurant? Maybe it's a natural location like a beach, mountain vista, bike trail, or fishing spot. Or in between, like a cabin. Maybe you'd like to write about your earliest experience with a natural world, a powerful memory in nature. What is the inventory of this location -- the topography, components, objects, characteristics? What do your senses remember? Consider the visually elements, but also smells, textures, and sounds. What is the story of this place... what is your history with it?  Think about this and write leave a comment below with your response. Start with a word document -- do your writing there (no more than one page) and then copy/paste into a blog comment here. You can also submit a hard copy if there is some reason you do not want your writing piece online.

Contemporary Aboriginal Issues

First Nations in Canada face ongoing challenges related to justice, land, equity, and the legacy of residential schools. Within these challenges are the same themes as our course: identity, economy, environment, politics, autonomy, etc.  We have explored these issues in class, sometimes in details and sometimes in the context of other topics.

Here is a chance to explore one or more on your own.  Please choose an option below and respond with a comment.  Your comment can simply be about what you learned from exploring this issue.  Think of it like a paragraph response -- probably best to type it up first then pasted it in to the comment section.

Option 1: Land
Reference: Oka Crisis Remembered: http://www.cbc.ca/firsthand/episodes/the-oka-legacy -- articel and video. You can also find other references with a quick search -- perhaps look for other viewpoints on the Oka Crisis.

Option 2: Residential Schools
Reference: Where are the Children: http://www.cbc.ca/firsthand/episodes/the-oka-legacy -- lots to work with here, including video testimonies of residential school survivors. Warning: potentially disturbing content

Climate Change

To add to what you've already learned about Climate Change, check out one of these Ted Talks: https://www.ted.com/topics/climate+change.

Pick one (or more) to watch, and then provide a summary of what you learned: main ideas of the talk, what the presenter was trying to get across, your reaction, etc.  Leave your summary as a comment in the comment section of this blog post.  Include your first name!

Shake Hands with the Devil - Rwandan Genocide

Shake Hands With the Devil.  This documentary sticks with you -- the idea that human life could be valued so little by so many is shocking.  One hopes that the global community can learn from horrific events, but sadly we seem to repeat them too often.

Good reference on the genocide (read this if you still have questions after watching the documentary): http://www.unitedhumanrights.org/genocide/genocide_in_rwanda.htm

Having just watched the documentary based on the book, and discussed a bit of the background to the Rwandan Genocide of 1994, what do you think?

Why do you think it happened? What might have prevented it? What could prevent it from happening again somewhere else? What do you think of Dallaire?

Leave a comment with your thoughts.

Cold War Nuclear Detonations

Here is a timelapse video showing all known nuclear explosions from 1945-1998 by Isao Hashimoto https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9lquok4Pdk

Some other links connected to this topic:

Hiroshima memorial project

http://www.openculture.com/2011/07/hiroshima_bombing_remembered_with_google_earth.html

...and the Google Earth layer that goes with it

http://hiroshima.mapping.jp/ge_en.html

Ground Zero simulator - pick a location and nuke it

http://www.carloslabs.com/projects/200712B/GroundZero.html

WWII Links

Social Studies 11

Hey class,  there are a thousand directions you could go on the interwebs to learn about WWII and in particular Canada's role in WWII.  Let's start out with a great site: http://www.stormingjuno.com. Help me add more quality websites to the list -- I'll update this blog post with them.  Leave your suggestions in the comment section. Find/pick ones that included primary sources and a Canadian connection.

Becoming a Country

Here are a variety of activities for Wed., Apr 13th, 2016.  Please don't be shy about asking the substitute teacher to come over and see what you are up to.

The Confederation Era is the time period where Canada became a country or "confederated." This happened in the 1850s-1870s when Queen Victoria ruled over Britain (thus we also call it the Victorian Era) and the British North American colonies decided to join together.

Options.... try as many of these activities as you can -- if you don't like one, move on to the next.

Offline activities:

1. Complete questions from class handout "3C Need for Reform"
2. Read a bit about the "Confederation Era" in Canada.  Suggestion: Horizons textbook (basically anything in Chapter 3)

Online activities:

1. Complete your "New Home" journals
2. Check out Early Settlers Life in Upper Canada 1800's (activities) -- https://sites.google.com/site/smartclickeducationservices/early-settlers-life-in-upper-canada-1800s
3. Try this game to get an idea what life was like during the "Victorian Era": http://www.mccord-museum.qc.ca/en/keys/games/17
4. Read an article about Confederation (encyclopedia article) -- http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/confederation/
5. Drag and drop the flags of the 13 provinces and territories in the order of when they joined the Confederation (game) -- http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/games/conf/index.asp
6. Road to Canadian Confederation (quiz) -- http://www.funtrivia.com/playquiz/quiz18417915172f0.html
7. Fathers of Confederation (trivia game) -- http://www.mccord-museum.qc.ca/en/keys/games/13
8. Fathers of Confederation (info/facts) -- http://canada.pch.gc.ca/eng/1408122550222/1408364702611
9. Try doing a video search for Canadian Confederation and see if one of the results interests you. Use headphones, please. I thought this "intro to Canada" by Rick Mercer was quite good, funny, too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtQ6sIqtE6U
10. Take a look at the cartoon below. What do you think is the message? Who do the men represent? The baby is called Confederation but what does that mean? Who doe the baby stand for? What does it matter who the "father" of the baby is?  If you like you can leave your response in the comment section below.

Life in the Trenches

A Canadian trench on the Western Front of WWI http://www.firstworldwar.com/photos/trenches.htm

In SS11 class, you've heard or read some "letters from the front." You've taken notes on WWI, watched clips, reviewed posters and other primary sources, and hopefully gained a sense of what life in the trenches was like. Now, take about 20-30 minutes to explore the following sites to get a new feel for some of the details of the front lines in Europe as experienced by Canadian soldiers, then begin the assignment:

Canadian Letters & Images Project
http://www.canadianletters.ca/

Letters from the front
http://www.canadiangreatwarproject.com/transcripts/transcriptMain.asp

First World War Project
http://www.firstworldwar.com/photos/trenches.htm

Historica's Canada at War
http://canada1914-1945.ca/resources/

Calgary Highlanders
http://www.calgaryhighlanders.com/photos/1914-18/10th.htm

Interactive Trench Game
http://www.warmuseum.ca/cwm/games/overtop/index_e.shtml

Canada’s War Museum on WWI
http://www.warmuseum.ca/cwm/exhibitions/guerre/home-e.aspx

Artwork of World War One
http://www.warmuseum.ca/firstworldwar/objects-and-photos/art-and-culture/official-art/

Assignment: 

Option 1
Write fictional letter home from a Canadian man on the front lines or a Canadian woman actively involved at or near the front lines. Assume the person has served at least one of the Battles of Ypres, the Somme, Vimy Ridge, and Passchendaele, and perhaps knows about the other three or maybe different battles that Canada participated in, like the 100 Days Offensive.

Your interview or letter should aim to inform your Canadian audience at home about the conditions of war and include details about a minimum of 5 of the following:

• trench warfare 
• life in the front lines 
• the roles of technology in the war 
• the quality of military leadership 
• morale of Canadian soldiers 
• the effectiveness of Canadian troops 
• the impact of war on civilians and towns 
• hospitals and medical treatment 
• the roles of women in the war 

Write your rough draft on a word file -- save it to your home folder when you start to avoid grief later. This is a detailed account, not just a quick note to tell your folks that "war is hell." Weave in some personal research on Canada & WWI from your classwork, the Canadiana Scrapbooks, and the weblinks above (or other websites).

Optional: if you have a relative or person your family knew that served in WWI, you may wish to consider them as a "test subject" for this assignment -- e.g. write the letter from his/her voice or construct an interview with this person. This may require additional research on your part.  You could also write this letter as an exchange between a reported and a soldier if that helps you with the writing -- maybe the question and answer formate appeals to you. Poetry is also an option.

Option 2
Instead of a letter home informing your audience about the conditions of war, maybe you'd like to make a work of art instead.  This could include: sketches, painting, sculpture, or carving. It should directly relate to some aspect of the Canadian experience in WWI and be done in a style that is (arguably) believable for the time period.

Battle of Quebec activity

JOURNAL ENTRY OR BATTLE RESPONSE
Now that you have attacked or defended Quebec City during our recreation of the Battle of Quebec, I'd like you tell a bit of a story about it. Imagine you were a commander or a soldier involved in the battle -- the one you invented as a group rather than the one that actually took place -- and write about the experience. What happened? What was your role? What did you go through, what did you feel and think about the events? What observations or comments can you make about Quebec, the surrounding area, the steps leading up to the assault on the fortress, or anything else of importance in September 1759? How did it turn out? Your response could take many forms -- for starters, you could simply write it as a journal entry. Use a word file for this. If you'd like to share it with others, copy it from your word file and paste it as a comment on this blog entry. Use the big 11x17 map you used in class to record notes, jot down comments, add details, and so on. It can be rough, it is just a planning map, but I'd like you to hand it in with your journal entry or battle response.


By the way, here is an interesting map that show more of the Quebec area than the map we used for the class activity: http://clements.umich.edu/exhibits/online/1759/1759-Items/10a.Jefferys%20Environs%20of%20Quebec.jpg.

Holiday Traditions

Check out some interesting links:

Christmas through the decades: http://www.queensofvintage.com/christmas-through-the-decades/

Christmas through the decades (tv show):  http://www.history.ca/christmas-through-the-decades/video/full-episodes/the-60s/video.html?v=584782403949#christmas-through-the-decades/video/full-episodes

Christmas in the early 1900s: http://www.cardboardchristmas.com/papateds/Christmas1920s.html

1920s Christmas: http://www.cardboardchristmas.com/papateds/Christmas1920s.html

Kwanzaa Traditions: http://www.novareinna.com/festive/kwanzaa.html

Hanukkah Traditions: http://www.hanukkahcelebrations.com/traditions.html

Connections to Winter Solstice:  http://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/december-solstice-customs.html

A guide to Festivus,  Holiday for the Rest Of Us: http://www.dailydot.com/entertainment/festivus-complete-guide-seinfeld/


You get the idea... so, what are your holiday traditions?  Not everybody celebrates Christmas, but every family has some kind of traditions that are important to them at this time of year, often revolving around food.

Use the comment feature below to mention your favourite holiday tradition, celebration, meal, or activity.

Eskimo Tags

Check out this article about "The Little-Known History of How the Canadian Government Made Inuit Wear ‘Eskimo Tags'."

http://www.vice.com/en_ca/read/the-little-known-history-of-how-the-canadian-government-made-inuit-wear-eskimo-tags

It is yet another troubling example of how Canadians treated each other in the past, not necessarily one to another, but a government to it's people.  How does this compare to other past injustices in our country?

This topic is quite relevant this week -- the final publications of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission have been released.  Here is a news link to the story; it includes a summary (and a full link) to the Report's 94 Recommendations -- it's worth having a look. 

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/truth-and-reconciliation-94-calls-to-action-1.3362258 

Are there a few of the 94 recommendations that could be achieved quickly (e.g. within a year)?

Leave a comment below with your thoughts on either the "Eskimo Tags" or the Truth and Reconciliation recommendations.

Confederation Activities

Confederation (encyclopedia article) -- http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/confederation/

Drag and drop the flags of the 13 provinces and territories in the order of when they joined the Confederation (game) -- http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/games/conf/index.asp

Road to Canadian Confederation (quiz) -- http://www.funtrivia.com/playquiz/quiz18417915172f0.html

Fathers of Confederation (trivia game) -- http://www.mccord-museum.qc.ca/en/keys/games/13

Early Settlers Life in Upper Canada 1800's (activities) -- https://sites.google.com/site/smartclickeducationservices/early-settlers-life-in-upper-canada-1800s

Fathers of Confederation (info/facts) -- http://canada.pch.gc.ca/eng/1408122550222/1408364702611

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Check out some of the above links before beginning your "Confederation News" piece.

Your task: create a headline and brief article for a newspaper on July 1st, 1867 explaining what all the fuss is about. Leave your article as a comment on this blog post. It is highly recommended that you write it our first on a word file and then pasted it in as a comment.

So you want to come to Canada?

You are on vacation in another country (you choose which one) and you make friends with someone who is interested in and extended stay or even moving to Canada.  They ask you to tell them what Canada is all about and what they should expect.  They want to know what makes Canada different from other countries.  What do you say? Leave a comment below with your response.

Rwandan Genocide documentary

Shake Hands With the Devil.  This documentary sticks with you -- the idea that human life could be valued so little by so many is shocking.  One hopes that the global community can learn from horrific events, but sadly we seem to repeat them too often.

Good reference on the genocide (read this if you still have questions after watching the documentary): http://www.unitedhumanrights.org/genocide/genocide_in_rwanda.htm

Having just watched the documentary based on the book, and discussed a bit of the background to the Rwandan Genocide of 1994, what do you think?

Why do you think it happened? What might have prevented it? What could prevent it from happening again somewhere else? What do you think of Dallaire?

Leave a comment with your thoughts.

Letters from the Front - Apr 2015

Lunch in the trenches at Fort Oglethorpe

http://www.firstworldwar.com/photos/trenches.htm

You've heard or read some "letters from the front" in class. Now, take about 20-30 minutes to explore the following sites to get a feel for some of the details of the front lines in Europe as experienced by Canadian soldiers, then begin the assignemnt:

Canadian Letters & Images Project
http://www.canadianletters.ca/

Letters from the front
http://www.canadiangreatwarproject.com/transcripts/transcriptMain.asp

First World War Project
http://www.firstworldwar.com/photos/trenches.htm

Calgary Highlanders
http://www.calgaryhighlanders.com/photos/1914-18/10th.htm

Interactive Trench Game
http://www.warmuseum.ca/cwm/games/overtop/index_e.shtml

Canada’s War Museum on WWI
http://www.warmuseum.ca/cwm/exhibitions/guerre/home-e.aspx

Create an interview between a reporter and a soldier or a fictional letter home from a Canadian man on the front lines or woman actively involved at or near the front lines. Assume the person has served at least one of the Battles of Ypres, the Somme, Vimy Ridge, and Passchendaele, and knows about the other three or maybe other battles that Canada participated in, like the 100 Days Offensive.

Your interview or letter should aim to inform the Canadian public at home about and include details about a minimum of 5 of the following:

• trench warfare 
• life in the front lines 
• the roles of technology in the war 
• the quality of military leadership 
• morale of Canadian soldiers 
• the effectiveness of Canadian troops 
• the impact of war on civilians and towns 
• hospitals and medical treatment 
• the roles of women in the war 

When you've done a good draft (not necessarily your final draft), post your interview or letter here under Comments. This is a detailed account, not just a quick note to tell your folks that "war is hell." Weave in some personal research on Canada & WWI from your classwork, the Canadiana Scrapbooks, and the weblinks above (or other websites). Posting comments can sometimes be tricky (Blogger can drop your comment, or the internet connection could drop), so it is highly advised that you do this on a Word Doc first and then paste it into a comment here.

Be sure to include your name & last initial (e.g. Marcy W) so I can sort out who did what. After that, look through some of your classmates' work and offer at least one comment to a classmate offering constructive feedback. Some letters will be selected for further editing and publication online.

Optional: if you have a relative or person your family knew that served in WWI, you may wish to consider them as a "test subject" for this assignment -- e.g. write the letter from his/her voice or construct an interview with this person. This may require additional research on your part.

I'm really looking forward to the results.

Industrial Revolution Games

Try one of these

Who wants to be a Cotton Millionaire -- http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/victorians/launch_gms_cotton_millionaire.shtml

Muck and Brass -- http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/victorians/launch_gms_muck_brass.shtml

Let me tell you about Canada

You are on vacation in another country (you choose) and you make friends with someone who is interested in and extended stay or even moving to Canada.  They ask you to tell them what Canada is all about and what they should expect.  They want to know what makes Canada different from other countries.  What do you say? Leave a comment below with your response.

Heritage Project feedback

What an amazing couple of weeks we've had experiencing presentations from SS10 students on their Heritage Inquiry they've been conducting off and on over the last few months.  I invite this group of students to leave a brief summary of what they did for the Heritage Connections project.  Use the comment button below to leave your feedback.