Canadian History Class

     On Friday I shared what was going on in my World Issues class and now it is time to find out what has been happening in Canadian History. I didn't mean to take so long to make this post but I had many pictures that featured students and I wanted to be sure on our division's picture release policy before I posted anything.

This was the title screen of my PowerPoint I used as part of our learning!

     The entire unit that I started has been focusing on "British Colonial Rule" following the fall of New France.  Our very first section that we worked on had to do with the various challenges that Britain faced in regards to governing the French citizens following the fall of New France. As we worked through each of these challenges we looked at the situation from the point of view of the British, the French and the First Nations citizens of the area. Here are some photos of us hard at work!

Analyzing the First Nations perspective of what was occurring in the Ohio Valley.

Documenting how the French citizens felt after being pressured to adopt British policies.

Our British citizens were feeling pretty confident after gaining all the power!

     The main situations or challenges that we looked at were:

- Settling and managing the Ohio Valley

- Organizing and instating the Royal Proclamation 

- The effects of the Quebec Act

- Managing demographics of the Loyalists and the Constitutional Act

After looking at each of these situations from our three points of view, we created posters that highlighted each perspective.

     After finishing up this section we jumped right into the War of 1812! While our first section looked at challenges that Britain faced, this second section explores the relationship between British citizens and the United States. I was really excited about this part of the unit because this year is the 200th anniversary of the famous battle fought right here in North America.

     Our first step was to create a K-W-L chart (what we know, what we want to know, what we learned) so I could get a sense of their prior knowledge. As we went through this I also showed a video that I thought might trigger some of the information that I know they have learned before:

Of course, my students immediately wanted to create a video of their own! We quickly set up a plan that we would take the questions they had from their K-W-L charts and make a video of them interviewing the Grade 12 students and school staff since they are the ones who have had an opportunity to learn about the War of 1812 in the past. The video itself isn't quite ready to go yet but here is a picture of our interview in action! 

Thank goodness for iPhone panorama view! My cooperating teacher is being interviewed on the far right :)

     During our next class we then went through a mock War of 1812 battle. That would take an ENTIRE post to cover and I was being evaluated that day so I don't have any photos but if you would like a copy of the lesson plan let me know and I can send one your way!

     As of right now, we are working on creating graphic novels about the War of 1812 that we can use to teach about the history of the battle with the younger students in our school. If you aren't familiar with the graphic novel created by Canada 1812: Forged in Flame website (I posted about it here), this is where we got our inspiration. 

     That is it for right now but I will update again soon and let you know what we are working on!