Conscription+Crisis

Usha's comments in Blue.

Your name: Matt Leslie

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

Name of Gr. 10 Textbook examined: __Canadian History: A Sense of Time__, by Gini-Newman, Garfield, Michael Bowman et al. McGraw Hill-Ryerson, 2006.

Name of more "scholarly" source examined: __History of the Canadian Peoples, vol 2 1897 to the Present__, by Margaret Conrad and Alvin Finkel. Pearson Longman, 2002. I used this textbook for a second year Canadian history course in University.

__Your Initial Thoughts:__ This Grade 10 text book does a decent job of describing the passing of the Military Services Act in 1917, which introduced conscription, and in turn, caused the "conscription crisis". It begins by defining the term conscription and explains that as the war dragged on the amount of volunteers for the military began to lag, as more and more soldiers were dying in battle. It also makes a point of revealing how conscription divided the country's French and English speakers. Unlike some of the other textbooks I looked at, this one seemed more inclusive -- discussing Prime Minister Borden's decision and asking students to imagine what it must have been like for him, and if s/he would do the same thing in his position. It also gives a brief bio about Quebec politician Henri Bourassa and his strong opposition to conscription. Moreover, it also has a section on the reactions of the French Canadians, and the riots in Montreal and Quebec City, as well as, the reactions of Aboriginal People's in Canada at the time. Overall, I think it does a good job of recounting the historical facts, yet one could argue that it lacks any sort of critical engagement, as to whether conscription served its military purpose. It does nothing to create a sense of debate in the students, it merely states the facts.

Thanks for the assessment, Matt. It seems that although it might present various perspectives, it doesn't ask students to critically engage with those perspectives. And the question about "Would you do the same thing in his shoes..." seems like a decidedly "type 2" question. It sounds like you already have a few ideas for a critical challenge here. Looking forward to hearing more.

Question: Leaving the current war efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq aside for the sake of this assignment, imagine if the USA declared World War III on all countries opposed to democracy, and Prime Minister Harper decided to impose conscription on all able-bodied men and women between the ages of 18-27 to help fight for the US cause. Imagine you and your friends all fit in this age group and were being called to "serve your duty for the country". Would you support this mandatory call to arms and fight for democracy or would you oppose it? If life as you knew it was threatened to change for the worse, would you join in the effort or would you oppose the idea of conscription and attempt to protest the mandatory conscription and the possibilty of dying for something you do not believe in or understand? Work in groups of four and come up with a scenario for either yes or no and clearly explain your reasons why you have made your decision and what you would do. Matt, this is an interesting idea but not quite a critical challenge yet. Right now it's framed as a personal preference question (i.e. would you join) that is likely to provoke a gut response. However - it is an excellent idea for an 10 minute opening activity (a mental set/"minds on" activity) that could hook kids and have them practice the thinking in a familiar context and then introduce them to the historical context. That's what's needed here - a critical question (parallel to the one you've framed above) about the historical context of conscription. What are your thoughts?

Yes, Usha I thought you would say it was actually too tough for Grade 10 students to properly assess, but I see how it is still a Type 2 question and needs to refer back to the history. I'll need some time to think about it more...

__ New Question __ : Rework the Piece

You are the oldest son in a family of three boys. Write a letter to the Prime Minister stating why you and your brothers should not have to leave home to fight in the war. Better - it's clean, straightforward, clearly a critical challenge and will frame the learning of the day.



__Identify Key Learning__ To understand the reasoning behind conscription (the call for compulsory military service) and its impact on Canadian citizens and English and French relations. Good start - consider just extending this a bit to state WHAT you want students to understand about the reasoning and its impact. E.g. "Students will understand that the outcome did not align to the stated aims..." or "... there is debate about whether conscription was justified..." or "... that Canadians had widely varying perspectives on the necessity of and impact of conscription...." Do you see what I mean?

__Frame Critical Challenge__ Pick one of these options: a) You are the oldest son in a family of three boys. Write a letter to the Prime Minister stating why you and your brothers should not have to leave home to fight in the war. b) You are the mother of three boys. Your husband has already died in overseas battle. Write a letter to the Prime Minister stating why your sons should not have to leave home to fight in the war.

__How lesson will help students build skills for the summative assesment task__ Their minds-on activity will be looking at a letter written by Lieutenant Colonel Allison H. Borden (a cousin of the Prime Minister) in which he appeals to the boys and girls of Nova Scotia schools to help in the war effort. The letter is pro-conscription and very persuasive in its attempt to raise the number of soldiers. The critical challenge letter the students will be assigned could be framed as a letter to the editor, and will help them empathize with the individual Canaidan family during wartime, and make them critically develop a judgment towards the anti-consription view over the pro-cronscription view.

__Dimension of Historical Thinking__ Cause and Consequence and/or The Moral Dimension

__Background Knowledge__ //Curriculum Expectations// page 47 (French-English Relations) - describe how the conscription crisis of World War I created tensions between English Canada and Quebec page 52 (Interpretation and Analysis) - analyze information, employing concepts and theories appropriate to historical inquiry page 52 (Interpretation and Analysis) - identify different viewpoints and explicit biases when interpreting information for research or when participating in a discussion

//Content and Skills// -understand why French/English relations became strained, and why Quebec was so against the idea of conscription -recognize the different views regarding conscription (pro and anti) -critically analyzing primary resources -empathisizing with the individual and family dynamic struggling with the mandatory call to duty

__Criteria for Judgement__ Weighing the pros and cons of a situation. How was conscription considered a good thing in the eyes of government? How was conscription considered a bad thing in the eyes of the individual? Why the French and English had differing opinions on the topic. A bit of a clarification here - you've got a good start but perhaps we can streamline this a bit. Students will need criteria to help them make a decision. What are they making a decision about - your challenge asks them to decide how to effectively frame a letter. They are not deciding whether conscription was a good or bad thing since both the letters are arguing that they should NOT have to fight. So in this case, students only need criteria for what makes a convincing letter.

If, however, you do want students to decide whether conscription was a good or bad decision, then you might need to tweak the challenge a bit. And then, students would need criteria for what makes a good government decision. So, a good government decision is one that: - -  -

Does that make sense?

__Habit of Mind__ Critically minded Empathic

__Thinking Strategies__ Organizing the facts Perhaps looking at statistics of casualties and numbers of men Borden wanted to enlist, and how in the end only half of those conscripted went overseas and by then the war was in its final phases. Necessity?

(As you can see I'm a bit iffy on this section right now) No worries - we'll talk about this more.

__Critical Thinking Vocabulary__ Reasoned Judgment and Perspective - having them veer towards an anti-conscription stance for their assignment, yet keeping it relative to the individual, yet still having them fully aware of the Quebecois stance, as well as, looking just as carefully at the pro-conscription view.

(I think maybe so far, the issue of French-English relations isn't properly articulated in the lesson, so I may have to do some tweaking)

**DOCUMENTS FOR LESSON PLAN ON WWI CONSCRIPTION CRISIS**
__**Primary Documents for Lesson Plan: These three images will be used in my lesson plan and are part of Appendix B**__







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