 |
|||||||||||||||
|
|
Parks Canada - Teachers' Corner - Memories of WarMemories of War Lesson Plan
LESSON PLANPDF Format (14 pages, 53 kb)
 OverviewThis lesson invites students to think critically about the way in which we memorialize war. Starting with the concept of a war memorial, students analyze a series of war memorials drawn from diverse historical contexts, and interpret some of the fundamental messages encoded within monuments. Students also conduct independent research into Canadian war memorials and their messages, ultimately crafting their own war memorial based on their choice of a significant Canadian person, place or event related to World War I, II, or the Korean War. Learning expectations / competencies / outcomes for the lesson plan
Duration of the lessonClass time: 300 minutes + research time Required Materials / Preparation
Teacher BackgroundThis lesson is self-contained, and does not require any significant prior knowledge on the part of students. The activation of some general historical knowledge is to be expected, however, particularly when the students review the war memorial exhibits. Teachers should prepare by reviewing all of the materials, and may wish to do a little additional reading concerning the historical contexts of the war memorial exhibits. Reviewing the information links provided for student research is also advised. ProcedureI. PRIMER Have the students listen to the voices of Canadian Veterans from WWI, WWII, and the Korean War, either as a whole class or at individual workstations. Questions for discussion:
Resources: Veterans Recollect II. DEFINING A CONCEPT 1) Begin by asking students individually to write a definition of the concept war and then elicit responses. Many students experience difficulty defining concepts, particularly abstract concepts, and most probably have never been shown the characteristics of a good definition. The following 6 Rules of Definition are taken from David Kelley’s The Art of Reasoning with Symbolic Logic (1990). Share these rules with the students and have them evaluate and re-write their definitions in small groups, so that each group provides a single definition. Elicit the results and evaluate as a class, attempting to reach a consensus.
2) Once the groups have presented their definitions of war, it might be worthwhile comparing other commonly used definitions: (a) War is “an act of force to compel our enemy to do our will.” (b) “War [is] an actual, intentional and widespread armed conflict between political communities.” (c) “War … is an armed conflict with at least 1,000 military battle deaths, where at least one of the parties is the government of a state.” (d) War is “Hostile contention by means of armed forces, carried on between nations, states, or rulers, or between parties in the same nation or state; the employment of armed forces against a foreign power, or against an opposing party in the state.” (e) “An armed conflict1 [is] a political conflict in which armed combat involves the armed forces of at least one state (or one or more armed factions seeking to gain control of all or part of the state), and in which at least 1,000 people have been killed by the fighting during the course of the conflict.” (f) “A ‘major armed conflict’ is defined as the use of armed force between the military forces of two or more governments, or of one government and at least one organized armed group, resulting in the battle-related deaths of at least 1000 people in any single calendar year and in which the incompatibility concerns control of government and/or territory.” Note: The term ‘war’ has Germanic roots (werra = confusion, strife). 3) Have students define the term war memorial. Again, their definitions should follow the 6 Rules, and to be complete should identify the main purpose or function of a war memorial. Follow up by sharing and evaluating definitions. This time, the class must reach a consensus on how to define this term. Critically, encourage students to explore the question of why we memorialize war. Ensure that everyone records the resulting definition, as it will form the basis of the evaluation scheme later in the lesson. Some other definitions of memorial include: (a) “Something, such as a monument or holiday, intended to celebrate or honor the memory of a person or an event.” (b) “Preserving the memory of a person or thing; often applied to an object set up, [or] a festival (or the like) instituted, to commemorate an event or a person.” (c) “A structure erected to commemorate persons or events.” Note: The term ‘memorial’ has Latin roots (memoria = memory). 1 Many scholars and organizations use this term in an effort to create a more concrete definition than one could for war, which has a broader range of meanings (e.g. a card game, a 'price war', the 'war on drugs'). III. WAR MEMORIALS THROUGHOUT HISTORY 1) Distribute the numbered War Memorial Exhibits (PDF). This handout contains 12 examples of war memorials throughout history, one per page. The memorials are numbered in chronological order by date of construction, but are untitled. Students may work in small groups or individually with the worksheet, Reading Symbols: Surface and Deeper Meanings. As the exhibits circulate, have students generate hypotheses to answer the following questions for each exhibit: On the Surface
Deeper Meanings
2) After the students have seen all of the exhibits, review them one by one using the War Memorial Exhibits Powerpoint presentation, answering the surface questions and probing for the deeper meanings. Through discussion, elicit students' interpretations of each monument's core message, reinforcing the connection between the ideas being communicated and the symbols employed to carry those ideas. Either student groups or the teacher may facilitate. If students are facilitating, the War Memorial Summaries may be cut along dotted lines and given to student groups. Each summary also includes a short list of 'Additional Facts' to stimulate interest and aid memory.2 3) Provide student groups with the complete War Memorials Summaries handout (7 p.), which contain a description and a small image of each monument. Invite the groups to:
4) Facilitate a class discussion around these two questions, using the class-generated definition of a war memorial as a tool for evaluating the exhibits. Points to consider:
2 Teachers may choose to use these facts in the review process. For instance, encourage the groups reporting on a specific memorial to invent 'false facts' in addition to these, and have the other students try to distinguish truth from fiction. IV. CANADIAN WAR MEMORIALS Canadians, like other peoples through history, have known war all too well. Canadians have also struggled with the meaning of war while attempting to remember the hardships and sacrifices of all those whose lives have been scarred by war. War memorials in their myriad forms abound from our smallest towns to our largest cities. In this part of the lesson, students are encouraged to conduct an independent investigation into a war memorial of their choice. Students should examine these Canadian memorials in the same way they examined the exhibits above, and report to the class with the following information:
As much as possible, encourage students to find and investigate the memorials themselves. These memorials may be just down the street, and accessible on foot, or far away and accessible only through the Internet. A Selected Resources list (PDF / HTML) is provided.3 Points to consider:
3 Link to "Commemorating Canada`s History "on the Selected Resource list may be of particular use in demonstrating the range of people, places, and events that the Canadian government has commemorated. V. EVALUATION: DESIGNING A CANADIAN WAR MEMORIAL 1) The concluding activity requires students to consolidate their learning by designing a war memorial to communicate a core message. Their memorials should be based on a nationally or local significant person, place or event related to World War I, II or the Korean War. To provide structure to this activity, have students complete the Designing a War Memorial worksheet as a first step. This worksheet helps students identify their memorial's desired outcome(s), intended audience, core message(s), and methods of communication 4. Briefly reviewing these in advance of project work will provide useful feedback and guidance. 2) Considerable latitude should be given to student creativity, the ground rules being only that:
Students need not actually build a memorial, but should sketch plans and/or write a detailed description. Encourage models. A number of students may have sufficient computer expertise to create 3-D graphic models. 3) To heighten realism, consider having students present their designs to a panel of reviewers (local historical society members, politicians, veterans). If external reviewers aren't available, consider dramatizing the presentation and review process. 4 These elements are based on actual guidelines used by Parks Canada as a thinking framework for interpretive activities or media. EvaluationStudents design and present their own ideal war memorials. Designs are evaluated according to how well they match a class-generated definition of a war memorial, as well as how well the student follows the process of identifying outcomes, targeting an audience, formulating a message, and creating effective methods of communicating that message through the memorial.
Additional assessment possible through:
Extension(s) to the LessonA). Grades 10-12: 1. For additional Parks Canada lesson plans related to World War I and II, please see:
2. Use the three documents provided to fuel a debate on the proposed memorial in Nelson, BC. Notice how the debate is embedded - perhaps unconsciously - within the language used (e.g. identifying people as 'draft dodgers' versus 'war resisters' significantly alters the listener's perception).
B.) Grades 7-8:
AcknowledgementsThis lesson plan was prepared in 2005 by Jonathan Fowler, B.A. (Hons.), M.A., B.Ed, DPhil Candidate; Senior School History teacher, Armbrae Academy, Halifax, N.S. Curriculum ConnectionsVersion Adobe Acrobat PDF, 69.7KB
Note: To read the PDF version you need Adobe Acrobat Reader on your system. If the Adobe download site is not accessible to you, you can download Acrobat Reader from an accessible page. If you choose not to use Acrobat Reader you can have the PDF file converted to HTML or ASCII text by using one of the conversion services offered by Adobe.
|
|||||||||||||
|
|
|
||||||
