Glory movie

The Socials 10 curriculum for whatever reason does not mention the American Civil War. I guess the writers do not want a course on Canadian history hijacked by American history. However, the learning outcomes do mention learning "factors leading to confederation", of which the American Civil War is in many ways the most important. Or at least the most interesting...
In the absence of textbook material I have resorted to watching clips from a movie to show images of the American Civil War. This particular movie is my favorite one set in the civil war, and one that has an engaging story as well as a historical feel. There is some pejorative language to avoid, but you can pre-select scenes that will lead to good discussion. It won't teach the students many important historical facts, but it may get them interested and engaged about history.. In fact, it is engaging enough that many students will go home and rent the whole movie.
The movie is available in different formats, so check it out... Glory (Special Edition)

Days of the Rebels

Margaret Atwood is a famous Canadian author and wrote this non-fiction book called "Days of the Rebels" in 1977. The most interesting part for me was the focus on the social context of the time. You really get a sense of what it would have been like to live in the early 1800's in Canada and what the 'regular' people in Canada were going through. Of course, it also details what happened in the aftermath of the rebellions and the backlash against those who dared to speak against the government.
There are interesting sections throughout the book, although much of it I was familiar with. The most useful part in Socials 10 is the second chapter that includes primary source quotes from the journals of pioneer women. The Socials 10 learning outcomes talk about the role of women in Canadian history, but there is very little in the textbook apart from a short biography of Emily Stowe to satisfy this. However, you can use some of these primary source quotes or even the whole chapter by Margaret Atwood as the basis for a brainstorming exercise "what was life like for pioneer women" or "write a journal from the perspective of" assignment.
I did a quick search and the cheapest place to purchase this seems like amazon.
Days of the rebels: 1815-1840 (Canada's illustrated heritage)

Education and the Manitoba Schools Crisis

Its always a risky topic to bring up education as a current event in Social Studies class, especially considering the current job action. This particular article may not be the best to discuss in a classroom depending on the number of special needs students that you have. However, education has long been an important political issue in Canada. In fact, at the end of the 19th century, it was probably the most divisive issue in Canada that highlighted the fissures in our country at the time. Since then, it has been a deciding issue in several Provincial elections (and perhaps in the next BC election?). In my experience, students really engage well in this topic and it leads to good discussion and understanding of historical issues.

Today the issue is how to adress special needs in the classroom? A hundred years ago, the issue was how to address different forms of Christianity and different languages in the classroom?

In 1870, the Canadian government signed the Manitoba Act which created the Province of Manitoba and guaranteed the rights of the French-Catholics to their own schools and official language. In 1890, the Manitoba government signed the Manitoba Schools Act, which reversed this and made English the only official language and removed funding for Catholic schools, making public (protestant) schools the only option. Of course, this became a political issue not just because of education but because of the federal-provincial government relationship involved and that is a whole other topic in itself.

But the Manitoba Schools Crisis brought up questions that are still relevant today (and good discussion material for Socials class):
Should minority groups, such as French-speaking Canadians in BC or English-speaking Canadians in Quebec, have the right to school in their own language?
Should minority religious groups have the right to their own schools? To what extent should these schools be funded?
Should some students receive more funding than others? Why?
Is 'public' school really for everyone? or just the majority cultural group?
etc.

Prince Albert and Queen Victoria

After the beaver, the next two most important symbols to recognize were Prince Albert and Queen Victoria (Canadian Postage Stamps #2 and #3). Looking at stamps from other countries, I would have expected Queen Victoria to be first. It would be natural to recognize the head of state before the beaver, no?

Now if I didn't already have some familiarity with the British monarchy, I would think that a "prince" is the son of a king or queen (in this case Queen Victoria's son). However, that is more of a modern interpretation of the word (or maybe just the simplistic vocabulary definition I was given as a child). The word "prince" in the past was used synonymously with "lord".  Here is the definition from Mariam-Webster:

1

a : Monarch, Kingb : the ruler of a principality or state

2

: a male member of a royal family; especially : a son of the sovereign

3

: a nobleman of varying rank and status

4

: one likened to a prince; especially : a man of high rank or of high standing in his class or profession

So Prince Albert was Queen Victoria's husband or "consort", but apparently although he was royal himself was a little beneath the Queen. Therefore, she did not grant him the title of "King consort" but rather the lesser title of "Prince Consort".

Despite the fact that he was a mere "Prince Consort", he was recognized first by Canada Post. Is this because he was male, just more interesting or popular than the Queen, or maybe it has no significance at all?

Either way, everyone seems just a little more interested in the topic of British monarchy (and our Canadian head of state) now with the publicity around Will and Kate. We can ask these prediction questions such as: Does Kate get called the "Queen Consort" or "Princess Consort"? Who is more popular: Will or Kate? If Canada were to produce separate stamps, who would be more likely to get the first one: Will or Kate?

Gapminder

"Gapminder" is a fascinating website that visually represents all types of historical data. In particular, if you load gapminder world, it will display the graph above of life expectancy and GDP over time. (It also tracks population with the size of dot). I selected "Canada" from the list and it created a graph of how Canada has changed over time. Notice that in the early 1800's (when Socials 10 'starts') the life expectancy in Canada was less than 40!

I use this website to introduce what life might have been like in the early 19th century, but of course the students just want to know which country is the biggest dot and which country is the richest, etc... I figure that can't hurt, and I know some students go home and check out the graph when they get home.

Fathers of Confederation

This book says "grades 4-8" and the front cover looks like it is for children, but it is one of the most useful teaching resources that I ever bought for Socials 10. The book is 76 pages of resources on Canadian confederation. It consists of good overview notes on confederation with a simple worksheet, and then a picture and description of every "father of confederation".  I don't think it is at all useful or important for students in Socials 10 to memorize names or details about the Fathers of Confederation, but there are lots of other interesting activities you can do with this. I use this resource in class by cutting up the descriptions and then organizing a 'mock conference'. They each read a summary of their character, we do a "human bingo" with it and then each person writes a very short speech to communicate their character's opinion on confederation.
I did a quick search online, and found an updated version of the resource for a decent price here. It even has a link to the table of contents and first few pages of the book. Check it out.

Election Corruption and The Pacific Scandal

I was just scanning the news for current events that relate to Canadian history, and found this article in the Globe and Mail:   Canadian-owned firms are funding U.S. election campaigns

There is usually something in the news about nefarious ties between corporations and government. I usually like to have a few of these on hand when we get to the Pacific Scandal in class.

Of course, this topic usually leads to me to side tangent on American politics and examples of corporate ties to government (such as the funding sources of the current President)

"I admit I took the money and banked the election with it, is there anything wrong with that?

Empire of the Bay

This book is an epic tome with two volumes based on Peter Newman's previous books: "Company of Adventurers" and "Caesars of the Wilderness". Based on oft-quoted primary sources (journals, diaries, company records), it details the history of both the Hudson's Bay Company and the Northwest Company. It includes weird facts about the fur trade, crazy stories of adventure, detailed description of key individuals, and more. I didn't get bogged down in some of the minutiae of the Hudson's Bay Company business arrangements and stock holder meetings, but was captivated by some of the specific sections that happen to relate to Socials 10. 

-The detailed description of the beaver itself

-The meetings of "the Beaver Club" including a list of attendees

-The walking journeys of Samuel Hearne

-The Battle of Seven Oaks, including an eye-witness recollection of what was said

-The explorations of Mackenzie, Fraser, and Thompson

-The exploits of George Simpson, including his treatment of women

-The background story on John McLoughlin

etc.

This is the first book recommendation on my blog, probably because it the most often referenced in class. My copy of this book has a bunch of sticky notes and highlights for sections that I will read out in class or from where I have pulled quotes for worksheets or test questions. 

Empire of the Bay: The Company of Adventurers that Seized a Continent

The First Postage Stamp

My interest in history began when I was a young lad, and my dad bought my a Canadian stamp album. I have recently pulled it out again to revive my philatelic hobby.  Of course, how this relates to Social Studies 10 is Canada's choice for the first stamp. The most important symbol of our country at the time... the Queen? the Maple Leaf? Jacques Cartier? no, the Beaver. Unfortunately as you can see in this picture, this particular item is missing from my collection.

Of course, after this scintillating discussion of national symbols, students in grade ten are much more fascinated by the beaver itself. They all know that beaver furs were traded for hats, but a much more intriguing substance is found in the beaver's behind. In early Canadian history, beaver anus goo was used to treat headaches and according to wikipedia, is now used as "natural flavouring" in products such as vanilla and raspberry extract. I first ran across this factoid in the epic book called Empire Bay by Peter Newman, which contains a whole section on the beaver itself.

Just a warning to be wary of your word-choice when discussing this topic. As you may know, the Beaver magazine recently changed its name for this very reason.. Read the story here. Apparently, national symbols change over time just like the English language.

Why I enjoy teaching Socials 10

Social Studies 10 is a great course to teach. I like the subject matter, the possible themes, the flexibility, and lack of Provincial exam. I also like that there are no popular events (such as world wars) and not an amazing wealth of quality resources already out there to sift through. It forces me to look harder and be more creative. I do not like the textbook I am provided, as there is very little to fall back on for those days when I am feeling less than organized.

I find it frustrating to look online for resources and spend time trying to recall sites that I remember looking at before. I have decided to become more organized and collect my resources together in one place, specifically focused on Socials 10. Last year, I created a simple website site for my students that has resources for them. Now, I want to try creating a site for sharing with other teachers. Until I do a lot more posting, it is clearly a work in-progress. However, I am hoping this might generate some sharing in return, and maybe even some conversation about teaching and Canadian history.

I like the idea of a blog format that I can update over time, as well as building some static pages to collect resources. I have looked at a few example blogs and liked the format of this one called Social Studies and History Teacher's Blog, but I haven't found any blogs specifically focused on early Canadian history.