Halifax+Explosion

Usha's comments in Blue.

Your name: Ben Postance

=**Tasks for OCTOBER 22, 2010 -  Lesson Plan ** =

**__Course:__** Canadian History Since World War I (Academic)

Topic:
Halifax Explosion

**__Time:__** 70 minutes

**__Preparation:__** - tables organized for students to work in groups - agenda on board

**__Resources:__** - primary documents (2 newspaper articles; 2 images) - graphic organizer handout - during-reading organizer

- lesson plan

Overall Expectations:
- assess Canada’s participation in war and contributions to peacekeeping and security - interpret and analyze information gathered through research, employing concepts and approaches appropriate to historical inquiry

Specific Expectations:
- describe Canada’s and Canadians’ contributions to the war effort at home during World War I and World War II, as well as some of the effects the wars had on the home front - organize and record information gathered through research

**__Portal of Historical Thinking:__** - Historical Significance: How do historians decide if an event is historically significant?

**__Key Learning/"Big Idea"/Learning Target:__** - Students will understand that judgments are made by historians about the relative significance of historical events in order to make decisions

Critical Challenge:
- Should the Halifax explosion be considered a significant event in WWI history? critique the piece

**__Link to the Summative Assessment Task for the Unit:__** - Students will use their understanding of historical significance to prepare them to make decisions about what items to include in the 2-page newspaper spread - Students will be introduced to the text form during this lesson

**__Intellectual Tools:__**

**Background Knowledge** - social, political, economic and cultural aspects of the WWI era - understanding of primary documents and specific techniques for examining images (the 5 w’s) and interpreting text documents - how to skim text for the main idea and to scan for significant details

**Criteria for Judgment** Criteria for assessing historical significance

a) how important was this event at the time? b) did this event result in any major changes? c) did this event affect a few people or many people? did this event affect a small geographic area or a large geographic area? d) depth of impact - did this event have lasting effects or short-lived effects? e) is this event widely remembered? f) does this event tell us something crucial about this specific time period?

**Habit of Mind** Empathic: is able to empathize with those in situations different from one's own and in different historical contexts

**Thinking Strategies** Rating Scale: students use a numbered ranking system with numbers from 1 - 5, with 1 meaning the event does not satisfy the criteria at all and 5 meaning the event fully satisfies the criteria

**Critical Thinking Vocabulary** Criteria: a set of standards, rules or tests by which something can be measured or judged **Justify: show beliefs are in line with reason and evidence and are ethically acceptable**

(i) Sharing Objectives – Today in Class Minds On Activity - Year in Review (ii) Thinking strategies – graphic organizer (iii) Critical thinking tools (iv) Primary documents – news reports (v) Critical Challenge - Historical Significance || //Chalk/white board marker// || **Today in Class**
 * = //Purpose and Timing// = || = //Instructional Strategy// = || = //Resources Required// = ||
 * = Preparation before Class: = || = Agenda on Board =
 * **Sharing Objectives:**

(10 minutes)

connecting previous knowledge and attitudes || **- Review Agenda** **- Questions/Comments?**

- previous classes topics have included Canada’s participation in war and contributions to peacekeeping and security, and Canada’s and Canadians’ contribution to the war effort at home during World War I, as well as some of the effects the wars had on the home front.

- In today’s class the topic is going to be the Halifax explosion - This topic will explain some of the specific effects the war had on the home front

- this lesson also contributes to the skills and understanding of the methods of historical inquiry and communication. - specifically, this lesson addresses: organizing and recording information gathered through research, and interpreting and analyzing information gathered through research, employing concepts and approaches appropriate to historical inquiry -

- the key understanding from today’s lesson is: making decisions on the historical significant of events is a major piece of historians’ work
- with this aim in mind, this lesson will dissect the process that historians use to decide if an event is historically significant

- the Critical Challenge for the lesson explores the question:
Should the Halifax Explosion be considered a significant event in WWI history?

– the purpose of this lesson is to develop a clear understanding of historical significance for the summative assessment for this unit, a 2-page newspaper spread. - today’s lesson will help prepare students to make decisions about what items to include in the newspaper spread - today’s lesson is also important because the students will be introduced to the elements of newspaper reports during this lesson || //Chalk/white board marker// || **The Year in Review** (10 minutes)
 * **Minds On:**

connecting previous knowledge and attitudes

building understanding of historical significance || - - before exploring the Halifax Explosion, students investigate the concept of historical significance and how historians make decisions historical significance

Think Pair Share
- Challenge: students imagine they are editing staff at a magazine or newspaper who are planning a year in review special

- on board: What are the most significant events of this year? Try to think about what makes them significant. Be prepared to share your ideas

- students brainstorm individually and record as many answers to this question as possible

- students then share their ideas in groups and discuss why they are significant || //Chalk/white board marker// || **thinking strategies**
 * **Input:**

(15 minutes)

preparation for interpret and analyze information || - student groups report ideas; teacher records on board using T-Chart Organizer

**-** teacher discusses the following criteria for assessing historical significance (re-articulates student responses)

a) how important was this event at the time? b) did this event result in any major changes? c) did this event affect a few people or many people? did this event affect a small geographic area or a large geographic area? d) did this event have lasting effects or short-lived effects? e)is this event widely remembered? f) does this event tell us something crucial about this specific time period?

- teacher discusses the following ranking system from 1 - 5 where:

1 = the event does not satisfy the criteria at all 5 = the event fully satisfies the criteria || //Chalk/white board marker// || **Habit of Mind** **Critical Thinking Vocabulary** **Criteria for Judgment**
 * **Input:**

(10 minutes)

critical thinking tools

build understanding of historical significance || - teacher gives mini-lecture on the following critical thinking tools

a) Habit of Mind -

Empathic: is able to empathize with those in situations different from one's own and in different historical contexts

b) Critical Thinking Vocabulary -

Criteria: a set of standards, rules or tests by which something can be measured or judged

Justify: show beliefs are in line with reason and evidence and are ethically acceptable || //Chalk/whiteboard marker// ||
 * **3. INPUT: Critical Challenge**

(20 minutes)

exploring primary text documents

interpret and analyze information || - teacher restates link to the summative: historical significance/make decisions/newspaper spread

- Teacher distributes the primary text documents - students use text documents to analyze elements of news reports in table groups and report back to class - teacher records on board using CONCEPT WEB; students copy in notebooks 1) attention grabbing headline and first sentence sums up topic 2) short paragraphs 3) facts (who, what, where, when, why, and how) 4) aims to be objective (shows all sides to an issue) 5) identifies sources of quotes/information

- students review documents using skimming and scanning to discover the specifics of the event (what, where, when, how, and why) - students use graphic organizer/rating system and assess the consequences of the event || //Primary Documents:// //2 newspaper reports// //2 photographs//

//graphic organizer handout//

//during-reading organizer// ||
 * # **Closure**

(5 minutes) || - Task for next class: 1) make a note of the main headline from one of the local newspapers and bring it to class next day 2) is it attention grabbing? Can you know what the article is about from the title? ||  ||

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

Name of Gr. 10 Textbook examined:

//Making HIstory: The Story of Canada in the Twentieth Century// by Bain, DesRiveres, Flaherty, Goodman, Schemenauer, and Scully (2000)

Name of more "scholarly" source examined:

//Worse that War// by Pauline Murphy Sutow (1992)

__Your Initial Thoughts:__ Please provide a **brief** (5-10 sentences) initial assessment of the textbook's treatment of the subject. We have not developed any particular criteria by which to assess the textbook so this is really simply you initial reactions, feelings, questions about what you have read. Thanks!

The first thing that is noteworthy in the grade 10 text's coverage of the Halifax Explosion is that it begins with a personal narrative account of the event described from the perspective of school age students. I would agree that this is a logical place to initiate the coverage of this topic because it allows a point of entry into the topic that the students can readily relate to. The text, //Making History,// follows this narrative with a brief explanation introducing students to the concepts of the tragedy of war and how the war affected, beyond the combat participants, ordinary Canadians living in Canada. While the information presented appears to be accurate, the coverage of the topic is brief. For example, the text does not describe concepts such as the importance of the Halifax harbour in the war effort. However, the text does encourage students, as an extension activity at the end of the chapter, to investigate this idea through an analysis of maps. Also, because it is brief, there is little supporting detail to develop a detailed account of the affects on the City of Halifax and its inhabitants. The text does, however, to some degree convey the scale of the tragedy, in terms of lives lost, as well as the significance of the event as it pertains to the impact of war in Canada.

Thanks for your comments, Ben. It sounds like there are certainly some strengths in the textbook coverage but it seems like you would like to see more of the human face of the tragedy and also some uncovering of the importance of Halifax harbour. I wonder if this would be a good place to use literature? I'm thinking of Barometer Rising by Hugh Maclennan but I'm sure there also short stories that might help students see the scale of the tragedy. Just some thoughts. I look forward to hearing more about how you might pursue this.

=Tasks for September 24, 2010 - Critical challenge =

(a) What impacts might the Halifax Explosion have had on Haligonians? on Canadian society? Rank them in importance. Be prepared to explain your reasoning :)

(b) This is of the type: “critique the piece”

(c) Background knowledge required to answer the question:

- the events of the Halifax Explosion - events and general trends leading up to this event, particularly on the homefront, but also on the frontlines

The core of your question "Rank order the impact" is clearly a critical challenge (I might say a "judge the better or best" because they have to decide which is most important from a list of possible choices). Nicely done.

= Tasks for October 8, 2010 - Lesson Design (initial planning stages) =

=Identify Key Learning/"Big Idea"/Learning Target= Students will understand how (that) judgements are made by historians about the relative significance of historical events

=Frame Critical Challenge= Should the Halifax explosion be considered a significant event in WWI history? Well framed. (critique the piece?)

=How will this lesson help students build skills they will need for the summative assessment task for the unit?= Students will their observations and analyses to create news reports. You might want to consider whether it's reasonable (or even desirable) to have them create a news report within the span of your lesson. I'm glad you're thinking of preparing them for the news report they'll have to write for the final summative but that doesn't mean they have to complete it during this single lesson. They could: - be introduced to the text form during this lesson - plan their news report - etc. What do you think?

__THAT'S TRUE! I WOULDN'T EXPECT THEM TO BE ABLE TO COMPLETE A NEWS REPORT ON THIS TOPIC, BUT I THINK I WOULD LIKE TO INTRODUCE THE FORMAT. I WOULD LIKE TO USE NEWS REPORTS PRIMARY DOCUMENTS. I HAVEN'T COMPLETED THE ENTIRE LESSON PLAN YET, SO I AM NOT STILL UNSURE HOW MUCH TIME THE STUDENTS WOULD HAVE TO PLAN/WRITE THE REPORT. THANKS FOR THE TIP!__ =What dimension of Historical Thinking will students actively engage in during this lesson?= Historical Significance: How do historians decide if an event is historically significant?

=Background Knowledge= Specific expectations: Canada's Participation in War, Peace, and Security (p 47) -describe Canada's and Canadian's contributions to the war effort at home during World War I and World War II, as well as some of the effects the wars had on the home front

- the event and its causes - the consequences of the event

=Criteria for Judgement= Criteria for assessing historical significance

1) The prominence at the time a) how important was this event at the time?

2) The consequences of the event a) magnitude - did this event result in any major changes? b) scope - did this event affect a few people or many people? did this event affect a small geographic area or a large geographic area? c) depth of impact - did this event have lasting effects or short-lived effects?

3) Historical prominence a) remembered - is this event widely remembered? b) revealing - does this event tell us something crucial about this specific time period?

Good - you might not need all of these - feel free to whittle these down later.

__THANKS! I SEE YOUR POINT. I THINK I WOULD MAKE A JUDGEMENT IN CLASS REGARDING HOW TO USE THIS CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK DEPENDING ON STUDENT FEEDBACK DURING THE 'MINDS ON' ACTIVITY__ =Habit of Mind= Empathic: is able to empathize with those in situations different from one's own and in different historical contexts

=Thinking Strategies= Rating Scale: students use a numbered ranking system with numbers from 1 - 5, with 1 meaning the event does not satisfy the criteria at all and 5 meaning the event fully satisfies the criteria

=Critical Thinking Vocabulary= Criteria: a set of standards, rules or tests by which something can be measured or judged = =