Canadian+Art+1914-1929

Usha's comments in Blue. Your name: Lesa Smith

===**Initial Reading and Assessment of Textbook Treatment of the Topic** ===

Name of Gr. 10 Textbook examined: //Canada: Our Century, Our Story//

Name of more "scholarly" source examined: MacIntosh, P.G. “The development of higher urban life' and the geographic imagination: beauty, art, and moral environmentalism in Toronto, 1900-1920.” //Journal of Historical Geography// 31.4 (October 2005): 688-722

__Your Initial Thoughts:__ I examined two textbooks approved for Ontario’s grade 10 History course at the academic level: //Canada: Face of a Nation// and //Canada: Our Century, Our Story//; I looked at two separate texts because the first was so limited in what it examined or even presented to the reader in terms of Art/art in Canada, 1914-1929. In essence, according to //Canada: Face of a Nation// the only art in Canada in the aforementioned time period were paintings by the Group of Seven and Emily Carr. The second text, //Canada: Our Century, Our Story//, offered a richer and more diverse presentation and examination of the subject at hand. The text puts forth information about literature, music, film, advertisements, war propaganda, political cartoons, and paintings, along with a discussion of their relevance to broader social, economic, and political issues/contexts. Furthermore, the text offered a multitude of visuals - imagine that! - along with (critical) ways of reading said art/'texts' (e.g. a two-page spread about "Reading Photographs"). I feel that //Canada: Our Century, Our Story// is a more 'useful' text in that it begins to reflect a wider concept of Art/art for a grade 10 academic-stream student.

Question: 1. Is there a place in a history classroom to move beyond just discussing art in relation to defining Canadian identity?   **Good, Better, Best **
 * speaking here to the focus on questions in both texts about Group of Seven landscapes and forming Canadian identity; and to the hope of being inter-disciplinary in a history classroom - that discussions of art as “art” can occur  Thanks for your thoughtful assessment, Lesa, and for looking at 2 different texts. It's interesting that you point out the importance of scaffolding the relevant skill (e.g. reading photographs in this case, perhaps) as a welcome addition. I look forward to seeing how that pans out in your lesson or whether you take a different path.   Yes, I think there is opportunity to move beyond Canadian Identity as the lens for looking at art. I guess we should take a look at the curriculum expectations and see if there is a particular focus that is suggested by the curriculum - not to say we can't branch out from there but that would be a good place to start looking.   Critcial Inquiry Activity   [[image:if_you_cannot_join_him,_you_should_help_her.jpg width="245" height="343"]][[image:shall_we_help_to_crush_tyranny.jpg width="269" height="342"]][[image:fight_for_her.jpg width="258" height="344"]]  Artist: Howell Lith Maker: Gazette Printing Co Ltd Artist: Hal Ross Perrigard       <span style="background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-origin: initial; display: block; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 5.85pt;">

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 83.9pt 0pt 0cm;">Art comes in many forms and during World War I art was present in a variety of forms (painting, photography, music, literature, etc.), and used in a variety of ways (historical representation (i.e. capturing moments), entertainment, social commentary, etc.). The above three posters are examples of war art in the form of recruitment posters/war propaganda.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 83.9pt 0pt 0cm;">Take a look at the posters, compare them, then rank them in order (good, better, best), in terms of their potential effectiveness for recruitment. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 83.9pt 0pt 0cm;">Provide 2-3 reasons for your ranking. You may want to consider the images, wording, composition, colours, etc. in order to make your decision.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 83.9pt 0pt 0cm;">Images from www.warmuseum.ca     <span style="background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-origin: initial; display: block; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 5.85pt;"><span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">You have clearly framed a critical challenge here, Lesa - indeed a "judge the better or the best". I worry that this is more about propaganda than art, though. In your text assessment, above, you mention art of the 1920s too. I wonder if there's a way to keep the focus on art itself (rather than persuasion and propaganda) by keeping the structure of the question (better or best) but including additional art forms (paintings from the 1920s, commercial art, etc.). You mention these other forms above but they don't really come out in your challenge. You have a solid challenge but I'm not sure it gets at your topic in the way you might want it to. What do you think? <span style="background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-origin: initial; display: block; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 5.85pt;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">New/re-worked critical challenge **      <span style="background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-origin: initial; display: block; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 5.85pt;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">  **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Good, Better, Best **      <span style="background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-origin: initial; display: block; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 5.85pt;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0cm 83.9pt 0pt 0cm;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 83.9pt 0pt 0cm;">          <span style="background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-origin: initial; display: block; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 5.85pt;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0cm 83.9pt 0pt 0cm;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 83.9pt 0pt 0cm;">Art comes in many forms and during the 1920s art was present in a variety of forms (painting, photography, music, literature, etc.), and used in a variety of ways (historical representation (i.e. capturing moments), entertainment, social commentary, etc.). The above three images are depictions of Toronto in the 1920s.

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0cm 83.9pt 0pt 0cm;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 83.9pt 0pt 0cm;">Take a look at all three, compare them, then rank them in order (good, better, best), in terms of their representation of Toronto - which do you think best represents your city? Provide 2-3 reasons for your ranking. Neat idea, Lesa. What do you think of this change? Do you like it? I don't want you to change it just for my sake! <span style="background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-origin: initial; display: block; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 5.85pt;"> * Hi Usha - I'm happy with both/either option. i think the first piggy-backed onto some other things in the unit that would make it interesting in expanding context but this new version stands alone (which I think is probably best in this instance!) and I like that it links history to the personal element of the city in which my anticipated students live. AND... just think I now have two ideas in my bag of tricks! <span style="background-color: #ffffff; backgroundclip: initial; backgroundorigin: initial; color: #000000; line-height: 19px; margin: 0cm 0cm 5.85pt;">LESSON DESIGN <span style="background-color: #ffffff; backgroundclip: initial; backgroundorigin: initial; color: #000000; line-height: 19px; margin: 0cm 0cm 5.85pt;">** Identify Key Learning/ Big Idea/ Learning Target ** <span style="background-color: #ffffff; backgroundclip: initial; backgroundorigin: initial; color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; line-height: 19px; margin: 0cm 0cm 5.85pt;">(Written as a statement that students will walk away with – i.e. “Students will understand that…”) <span style="background-color: #ffffff; backgroundclip: initial; backgroundorigin: initial; color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; line-height: 19px; margin: 0cm 0cm 5.85pt;">Student will understand that images and art, as much as (traditional) written documents, can represent and contribute to a better understanding of history and, particularly of Canada’s history – social, political, economic, creative. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; backgroundclip: initial; backgroundorigin: initial; color: #000000; line-height: 19px; margin: 0cm 0cm 5.85pt;">** Frame critical challenge ** <span style="background-color: #ffffff; backgroundclip: initial; backgroundorigin: initial; color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; line-height: 19px; margin: 0cm 0cm 5.85pt;">(The central questions or task students will grapple with) <span style="background-color: #ffffff; backgroundclip: initial; backgroundorigin: initial; color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; line-height: 19px; margin: 0cm 0cm 5.85pt;">Judge the better, best

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; backgroundclip: initial; backgroundorigin: initial; color: #000000; line-height: 19px; margin: 0cm 0cm 5.85pt;">** How will this lesson help students build skills they will need for the summative assessment task for the unit? (What skill or ability will you help them to develop?) ** <span style="background-color: #ffffff; backgroundclip: initial; backgroundorigin: initial; color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; line-height: 19px; margin: 0cm 0cm 5.85pt;">Compelling visuals and captions <span style="background-color: #ffffff; backgroundclip: initial; backgroundorigin: initial; color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; line-height: 19px; margin: 0cm 0cm 5.85pt;">Political cartoon

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; backgroundclip: initial; backgroundorigin: initial; color: #000000; line-height: 19px; margin: 0cm 0cm 5.85pt;">** What dimension of Historical Thinking will students actively engage in during this lesson? **

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; backgroundclip: initial; backgroundorigin: initial; color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; line-height: 19px; margin: 0cm 0cm 5.85pt;">Evidence and interpretation

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; backgroundclip: initial; backgroundorigin: initial; color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; line-height: 19px; margin: 0cm 0cm 5.85pt;"> <span style="background-color: #ffffff; backgroundclip: initial; backgroundorigin: initial; color: #000000; font-family: Calibri; line-height: 19px; margin: 0cm 0cm 5.85pt;">