As part of doing inquiry work with young
people, it is important that you, yourself as a teacher, have had experience
doing the kind of authentic tasks you ask of your students. This shift in thinking about the nature
and purpose of education calls for a redefinition of commonly-used terms in
educational discourse. For instance, rigour is most often understood as
imparting more sophisticated information to students. However, for Rosenstock
(2011), principal of High Tech High, a school devoted to authentic discipline-based
inquiry, rigour involves “being in the company of a passionate adult who is
rigorously pursing inquiry in the area of their subject matter and is inviting
students along as peers in that discourse” (2011). The key distinction is
between learning about a field of inquiry and taking on the ways of knowing of
the field of inquiry. Rosenstock wants kids “behaving like an actress,
scientist, documentary filmmaker, like a journalist. Not just studying it but
being like it” (2011).
In
assigning the Pecha Kucha assignment I wanted you to engage as a teacher
scholar in an area of inquiry that needs addressing within the social studies
teaching profession in Alberta. By assigning the Pecha Kucha format I sought
manageable "enabling constraints" that integrated technology in a way where you
could hopefully deeply and in a sophisticated fashion respond to the inquiry
question you chose to pursue.
In
order to model this process and hold up my own work to scrutiny I have written a
Pecha Kucha script. As you are reading it consider, based on the criteria we created
together (which I have worked with a bit), how I could enhance my presentation.
Before doing this, however, let's look at some things to think about
as you enhance your own script.
As we developed our assessment criteria is as
follows:
Insightfulness of ideas
-The presentation explores original and
insightful ideas in response to your research question reflecting current
research in the field.
How to achieve success: Draw on research and
literature in the field reflecting the insights of people who have been
thinking about these questions for a long time.
Avoid predictable ideas that
are obvious and would require no research or deep thought. Your ideas should be
original and insightful not banal and commonplace.
Exploration of inquiry question:
-The presentation demonstrates an extremely deep
and original exploration of the topic with a profoundly thoughtful engagement with
the research question.
How to achieve success: Ensure to explain and
define key terms drawing on scholars and researchers in the field. Use sentence
frames like: According to citizenship expert David Smith goal-based education
refers to “quote from his work.”
Avoid introducing an idea
like authentic assessment or goal-based education without clearly defining and
explaining what this means. Focus on taking up three ideas rather than taking
on a whole bunch which you won’t be able to properly elaborate on or explore.
Flow and Coherence
-Thoughts and ideas explored in the presentation
flow from one to the next and are coherently bound together in a logical progression or
sequence. It is clear throughout the presentation from the introduction,
through the body, to the conclusion, the nature of your inquiry question and topic.
How to achieve success: Within the body keep
tying back to the research question to remind the viewer why you are telling
them these new things. Connect ideas together through long transitions such as
Not only does engaged citizenship require that we ____ with young people, it
will also be necessary to _____.
Specifically, _______. According to ____ “quote from a credible source.”
Avoid: sounding 'listy' and just go
from one idea to the next without reminding the viewer why you are telling them
this.
Supporting details/Practicality
-Each of three big ideas taken up in the
presentation is comprehensively supported with exceptionally powerful evidence.
There is ongoing evidence of practical possibilities for how these original and
insightful insights could be applied within an elementary classroom context.
How to achieve success: Ensure to support any
claims you make with research. If you make a claim that taking on citizen
action projects tied to issues of concern in our community will increase
student engagement can you find evidence to support this claim? If you
introduce a big idea from the research, quote the researcher to support your
explanation of why this is an important idea to address in relation to your research question.
Avoid: superficial and overly general supporting
examples like we could help kids plant trees in the community. Use an example
that has actually occurred and explain what the kids did. Avoid generalities
and abstract examples. Evidence should be specific, grounded in the literature
and reflect things that have actually happened.
Engaging/Interesting
The piece from the opening to the end draws you
in. Watching this presentation was time well spent.
How to achieve success:
-Don’t lose your voice in the piece. It is not merely an informational piece but one that should engage the audience. Ask rhetorical questions the viewer might ask.
-Use vivid imagery and show; don’t tell wherever possible.For example, instead of saying there was a flood in Calgary that devastated the city, describe this. After a deluge of rain, the Elbow and Bow rivers overflowed their banks sending a raging torrent of water into large sections of the city. Many homes and buildings had water coming in right up to the second floor leaving thousands of Calgarians homeless.
-Use powerful verbs and adverbs to enhance the level of writing.
-Adopt language that is precise and original.
-Intersperse some short, punchy sentences alongside longer, complex ones.
-Don’t lose your voice in the piece. It is not merely an informational piece but one that should engage the audience. Ask rhetorical questions the viewer might ask.
-Use vivid imagery and show; don’t tell wherever possible.For example, instead of saying there was a flood in Calgary that devastated the city, describe this. After a deluge of rain, the Elbow and Bow rivers overflowed their banks sending a raging torrent of water into large sections of the city. Many homes and buildings had water coming in right up to the second floor leaving thousands of Calgarians homeless.
-Use powerful verbs and adverbs to enhance the level of writing.
-Adopt language that is precise and original.
-Intersperse some short, punchy sentences alongside longer, complex ones.
--------
Let’s judge mine using a four-point scale based
our five criteria:
- Insightfulness of ideas
- Exploration of inquiry question
- Flow and Coherence
- Supporting details/Practicality
- Engaging/Interesting
1. INTRO: Recently Alberta Education
introduced a policy initiative asking teachers to engage social studies through
Aboriginal and Francophone perspectives. Specifically, the program asks
teachers to help students
“appreciate and respect how multiple perspectives, including Aboriginal and
Francophone, shape Canada’s political, socio-economic, linguistic and cultural
realities.”[i]
2. A recent study that I conducted
examining the ways teachers in Alberta are taking up this call published in the
last issue of Canadian Social Studies demonstrates that many educators in the
province are struggling with this curricular initiative. However, before proceeding to discuss how
educators might meaningfully, and richly take up this curricular mandate in
their classrooms,
3.
I want to first consider the question: Why would an understanding of Canadian
citizenship and identity require students, as stated in the Alberta program, to
appreciate Aboriginal and Francophone perspectives, experiences, and their
“particular needs and requirements.” To answer this question it is necessary to
briefly highlight some of the political, historical, and constitutional
developments in this country
4.
that provide the context for why we as social studies teachers in Alberta need to
meaningfully engage issues of identity and citizenship through Aboriginal and
Francophone perspectives. BIG IDEA #1: The first point that needs emphasizing
is that Canada is not (pause), nor never has been (pause), a unitary
nation-state similar to that of the United States or France. Within this model a dominant national group –elite decedents
of English settlers in the US or Whites in South Africa ––
5. have used its power over the state to
privilege its own language, culture, history, and even in some cases, religion.[ii]
Specifically, anyone who did not belong to the dominant national group was
subject to a range of nation building policies meant to either assimilate or
exclude them.[iii]
6. As outlined by the political theorist Will Kymlicka, within
the sphere of education, nation-building policies include the creation of a
national system of education accompanied by a standardized curriculum, whereby
the dominants group’s language, culture and history became the national
language, culture and history.[iv]
7. Although settlers from the British Isles including Scots and
English attempted to create a unitary nation-state, due to a series of historical,
political, and constitutional developments, Canada deviated from this model in
one important respect. (pause). Since its founding the Canadian federation has involved a historic partnership, unique to only Switzerland in Western world that has given significant power and autonomy to a minority national community-the Quebecois. The reasons for this can be traced back to a decisive British military
victory over the French near Québec City in 1759,
8. which caused France to cede most of its possessions in eastern
North America, including New France, to Great Britain. Wanting to avoid
rebellion on the part of the French habitants and greatly outnumbered, the
British government enacted the Québec Act of 1774, which was
unique for its time in that it gave significant authority and autonomy to the Québécois.
9. This included guarantees that the Québécois could practice the Roman Catholic faith, use the French language
in public institutions, and retain French civil law in private matters within
Québec. Later, these accommodations were expanded in the British North America Act of 1867, where authority over language
and education were devolved to Québec at the provincial level.
10. Today, through
control over culture, immigration, and language, Quebec possesses significant
nation-building mechanisms to ensure the continuation of their unique
Francophone identity and language into the indefinite future. As outlined in
the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Canada is a bilingual state that guarantees
that all Federal agencies must be accessible
11. in French and all
Francophone peoples, regardless of where they live in Canada –– numbers
allowing –– must be able to access French language education. In this way Canada
has never been a unitary nation-state, but, rather, a multi-national state. As
a consequence, unlike the US Canadian
12. identity cannot simply privilege one singular national identity as defined by descendants of British settlers. ‘We’ as Canadians must acknowledge and appreciate the distinct place of Francophone peoples within the Canadian Federation.
12. identity cannot simply privilege one singular national identity as defined by descendants of British settlers. ‘We’ as Canadians must acknowledge and appreciate the distinct place of Francophone peoples within the Canadian Federation.
13. BIG IDEA #2: Now one
might so, ok, but aren’t the Quebecois first and foremost Canadian-one among
many other minority groups and identities in the country like Canadians of
Chinese or Sikh descent. The answer to this question is no. New arrivals to the
country and what Kymlicka calls national minorities are not the same.
14. To paraphrase
Kymlicka, the Quebecois, like Aboriginal peoples are different from new
arrivals to the country in that they are a
community sharing a distinct language and culture, who lived, and continue to live, in a defined
territory that then became part, often by war, but sometimes through
agreements, of a larger state.
15.
Because national minorities had their own unique form of governance and
distinct identity, prior to the formation of the state, within a multi-national
governing framework like Canada, the government seeks to ensure that national
minorities are given sufficient autonomy and control within their traditional
territory so they can retain and promote their unique identity into the
indefinite future.
16.
This is not to say that immigrant peoples don’t deserve to be treated with
respect and dignity and made to feel a part of the community of Canada.
However, it does mean the kinds of accommodations and respect minority peoples
should receive goes well beyond providing special programs to help them better
integrate into Canadian society. As reflected in the Alberta social
studies program minority nations in Canada deserve a level of recognition and
respect.
17.
BIG IDEA #3-AHH RUNNING OUT OF ROOM. In claiming Canada has
promoted significant rights for national minorities, it is extremely important
to emphasize that Aboriginal people have had a very different relationship the Canadian government in comparison to the Québécois.
Because of the long history of this relationship and the diverse numbers of
Aboriginal nations involved,
18. it is difficult to
do justice to the question as to why we as Canadian citizens should, as I
stated in a recent article, should ensure that Aboriginal people, communities, and their diverse
perspectives be an ongoing part of how we take up issues of citizenship and
identity in our social studies classrooms.
19.
However, two key points are worthy of note. One thing the program is trying to
do, as I stated in my recent article, is “restore Aboriginal communities, and
their diverse perspectives to a permanent seat of national deliberations around
the future of the country”. Quebec has a seat at this table; it is now time to
renew the historic partnership with Aboriginal peoples.
20.
In doing this we can redress the horrible wrongs that nation-building policies had
on Aboriginal people including the Residential school system that sought to, as Duncan
Campbell Scott, the Superintendent of Indian Affairs stated, “kill the Indian in the child.”[v]
21.
In renewing this partnership, it will be necessary to acknowledge that the land
we currently live on and the benefits that we as Canadians have accrued from
the gift of being born in this country is a direct result of legally binding,
constitutionally guaranteed, agreements between Aboriginal peoples and the
government. Stretching back to the Royal Proclamation of 1763 that provided the
framework of nation-to-nation treaty agreements, we as Canadian people are
treaty people living on treaty land.
22. CONCLUSION: As with Francophone peoples, by helping
students reimagine the nature, place, and role of Aboriginal peoples,
communities, and their diverse perspectives within the Canadian federation,
teachers can thereby realize the spirit and intent of Alberta’s Social Studies
program. This combined with engaging Francophone perspectives in the curriculum will mean we enter into a story of the country that includes a historical foundation resting on three distinct founding nations.
