Unit Plan: Indian Residential Schools

Interdisciplinary / Grade 5

Big Ideas

Canada’s policies and treatment of minority peoples have negative and positive legacies.

Concepts:

  • Policy
  • Consequences
Essential Questions

Students will keep considering…

  • What is the impact of government policy?
Evaluative Criteria

Summative Assessment

  • Students will provide either a written or oral response that address the BIG Idea that Canada’s policies and treatment of minority peoples have negative and positive legacies.

Formative Assessment

  • Class discussion
  • Teacher check in
  • Group work
  • Think pair share
  • Timeline
Monitoring Progress

N/A

Resources

WEBSITES

TEXTS

Reflection

How will teachers and their students reflect on and evaluate the completed project?

Teacher Reflection

  • What aspects of the unit went well?
  • What did students struggle with?
  • What did you struggle with?
  • What would you add/revise the next time you taught this unit?
  • Were there any unintended outcomes?
  • Were students engaged?
Downloads

Stage 3 – Learning Plan

 

EXECUTE THE LEARNING PLAN

LEARNING EVENTS:

  • These learning events/activities are suggested activities only. 
  • In some cases the plans are not fully completed lesson plans. 
  • The teacher may choose some lessons/activities to span over several lessons. 
  • Teachers may add, revise and adapt these lessons based on the needs of their students, their personal preferences for resources, and the use of a variety of instructional techniques.

Learning events are enriched for students when teachers consider the “WHERE TO” acronym and guiding organizer by Wiggins and McTighe.

> Click here for more information on WHERETO.

Where To

Where: Where are we going in this lesson Why? What is expected of my students during and after this lesson? • Present the performance task to students early in the unit • Post essential questions; students can generate their own questions as well • Check for  misconceptions
How: How will I hook and hold student interest during this lesson? • Use a provocation as an entry point • Present students with a mystery or challenge
Equip: How will I equip students for expected performances? How will I make sure to teach the foundational skills so that they can understand and complete tasks? • Access understandings and experience with solid instructional practices • Consider strategies that work for divers e learners • Incorporate literacy 44 strategies
Rethink and Revise: How will I help students reflect, rethink and revise their ideas, writing, and tasks? • Have students rethink the big idea • Have students reflect on  their learning  to build understanding
Evaluate: How will students self-evaluate and reflect on their learning after each lesson/task?

Some ideas for self-evaluation include:

• Ticket out the door • Rubrics and checklists • Formative assessments and feedback
Tailor: How will I tailor learning to varied needs, interests and styles? (refer to the NVSD Adaptations Checklist). • Differentiate to your students with the product, the process and the content
Organize:   How will I organize and sequence the learning in each lesson and transition to a new lesson? • Start with the end in mind
Please note that the order in which teachers present this to their students is not mandated to the order of the acronym.

The Learning Events should always be prefaced by focusing on the essential questions:

  • What is the impact of government policy?
Acquisition-Meaning-Transfer

> Click here to learn more about A-M-T (Acquisition-Meaning-Transfer)

Unit Hook

The Learning Events should always be prefaced by focusing on the essential questions:

  • What is the impact of government policy?

 

UNIT HOOK
1) Explain to students: “Together we are going on a journey to examine the history of Canada’s government policies and
how they led to the Indian Residential School System.”

2) Read the following from Speaking Our Truth to hook students

What to Pack for Your Journey

For most trips you would pack a suitcase or backpack with clothes, deodorant and a toothbrush. You do pack a toothbrush, don’t you? Because this journey is different, I’m asking you to pack simple things:

  • A willingness to listen to and have meaningful conversation with others
  • Curiosity
  • Openness
  • An ability to reflect on difficult things

Please take care of yourself on this journey. Listen and learn from your heart. I hope this book will inspire you. Some of it might hurt and make you angry. That’s okay. Use it as fuel to help make change in a positive way. —Monique Gray Smith

Lesson 1 - Pre-Contact

The Learning Events should always be prefaced by focusing on the essential questions:

  • What is the impact of government policy?

 

Lesson 1

1) Access background knowledge about local First Nations communities. Who are the local First Nations in North Vancouver? (Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.)

2) Read a Squamish Nation traditional oral story “The Sisters” in The People of The Land.

3) Students use graphic organizers during the story telling and try to retell the story to each other.

 

Lessons 2-3 - Pre-Contact

The Learning Events should always be prefaced by focusing on the essential questions:

  • What is the impact of government policy?

 

Lessons 2-3

1) Who are the Indigenous People in Canada and what was life like pre-contact? Review with students the definition of Indigenous People. (First Nations, Metis and Inuit are the Indigenous People of Canada.)

2) Read aloud  Shi shit etko by Nicola Campbell

3) Have a class discussion about who were the teachers and what knowledge was being taught. Review that the teachers in Indigenous communities were the elders and knowledge was passed down from generation to generation.

4) Activity: Students design a memory bag and draw or bring in items from home that they would take with them if they had to leave their families for a long time. How would the items they chose remind them of who they are and where they come from?

 

Lessons 4-8 - Contact

The Learning Events should always be prefaced by focusing on the essential questions:

  • What is the impact of government policy?

 

Lessons 4-8

Lesson 4
1) What government polices led up to Residential Schools?  Indian Act FNESC black line master.

2_ 100 Years Years of Loss timeline: Photocopy timeline and cut out key dates and polices for students sort)

Lesson 5
1) Students create a time line of the events leading up to and when Residential Schools started and ended.

Lesson 6
1) Students explain the discriminatory assimilation policies and decision making that led up to Residential Schools.

Lesson 7
1) Read the story Shin Chi’s Canoe by Nicola Campbell

2) In group discussion have students identify what the students experienced in the story. Ask student to infer how those experiences may have had life lasting impacts on the families in the story.

Lesson 8
1) Where were the Residential schools in Canada and British Columbia? Maps FNESC black line masters.

2) Ask students to identify how many residential schools in Canada, BC, and North Vancouver (St Paul’s Residential School).

3) If possible, plan a walking field trip to the St Paul’s Residential School Monument in North Vancouver.

Lessons 9-10 - Reconciliation

The Learning Events should always be prefaced by focusing on the essential questions:

  • What is the impact of government policy?

 

Lessons 9-10

Lesson 94
1) What government polices led up to Residential Schools?  Indian Act FNESC black line master.

2_ 100 Years Years of Loss timeline: Photocopy timeline and cut out key dates and polices for students sort)

Lesson 5
1) Students create a time line of the events leading up to and when Residential Schools started and ended.

Lesson 6
1) Students explain the discriminatory assimilation policies and decision making that led up to Residential Schools.

Lesson 7
1) Read the story Shin Chi’s Canoe by Nicola Campbell

2) In group discussion have students identify what the students experienced in the story. Ask student to infer how those experiences may have had life lasting impacts on the families in the story.

Lesson 8
1) Where were the Residential schools in Canada and British Columbia? Maps FNESC black line masters.

2) Ask students to identify how many residential schools in Canada, BC, and North Vancouver (St Paul’s Residential School)

3) If possible, plan a walking field trip to the St Paul’s Residential School Monument in North Vancouver

Lesson 9
1) The government apology  (Gr 5 FNESC black line master) 

2) Ask students to share their thoughts about the apology in small groups.

Lesson 10
1) Ask students to reflect and respond on why it matters to them to learn about Residential Schools.

The following resources are made available through the British Columbia Ministry of Education. For more information, please visit BC’s New Curriculum.

 

Big Ideas

The Big Ideas consist of generalizations and principles and the key concepts important in an area of learning. The Big Ideas represent what students will understand at the completion of the curriculum for their grade. They are intended to endure beyond a single grade and contribute to future understanding.

Visit the Ministry of Education for more information

Core Competencies

orangecommunicationCommunications Competency

The set of abilities that students use to impart and exchange information, experiences and ideas, to explore the world around them, and to understand and effectively engage in the use of digital media

bluethinkingThinking Competency

The knowledge, skills and processes we associate with intellectual development

greensocialSocial Competency

The set of abilities that relate to students’ identity in the world, both as individuals and as members of their community and society

Visit the Ministry of Education for more information

Curricular Competencies & Content

Curricular Competencies are the skills, strategies, and processes that students develop over time. They reflect the “Do” in the Know-Do-Understand model of curriculum. The Curricular Competencies are built on the thinking, communicating, and personal and social competencies relevant to disciplines that make up an area of learning.

Visit the Ministry of Education for more information

Additional Resources

 

First People's Principles of Learning

To read more about First People’s Principles of Learning, please click here.

For classroom resources, please visit the First Nations Education Steering Committee.