Lesson Plan Confederation

Unit Governance 1815-1914 of Social Studies 10 Lesson Title Confederation

LESSON PLAN October 9, 2009 Mariko Shimizu 20538039

Rationale The lesson is on Confederation and is part of the unit on governance and will require approximately 75 minutes. It focuses on the reasons and causes behind Confederation in Canada and the major groups involved in making that decision. In the previous two classes, students will have been introduced to the concept of responsible government and the conditions in Nova Scotia, for example, to fully understand the context. It is necessary for students to learn about the origin of Canada as a nation in order to understand why and how we function as a government today. Being on the West Coast, the students will be exposed to sentiments of the Maritimes. Students will examine the primary sources in the textbook with supplementary documents to question, compare, summarize, and draw conclusions. They will be required to defend a position for or against Confederation referring back to materials provided. This lesson will take the duration of approximately two classes. This first class is to introduce the two sides of this argument with special attention to the speeches by Joseph Howe and John A. MacDonald. Students will read over the speeches in groups with each student obligated to a certain job in each group. This lesson will enhance the critical thought in students at the grade 10 level by introducing them to textual primary sources concerning the reasons behind the pushes and pulls of Confederation. In part two of the lesson, which will take place in the next class, students will have to defend a position either for or against the confederation. The disadvantages of Confederation, in particular, are less accounted for in the textbooks. Therefore, students will need to come up with what they may find to be disadvantages of Confederation.

Learning Objectives Students will be expected: •

Apply critical thinking skills including questioning, comparing, summarizing and drawing conclusions

•

Defend a position (For or Against Confederation)

•

Demonstrate effective written, oral, and graphic communications skills, individually and collaboratively

•

Analyze political, economic, social and geographical factors that led to Confederation and to the development of Canada’s provinces and territories

Introduction This lesson is built upon the previous lesson regarding responsible government. Students will learn about the strategies for examining primary sources. Furthermore, students will be asked to look at the speeches in groups and look at the advantages and disadvantages of Confederation. The purpose of this lesson is to engage students in a critical thinking process, and to produce reasonable ideas for how Confederation began. Below is an overview of what will take place during the body of the lesson.

Body of the lesson The lesson will begin with a KWL (know/wonder/learn) activity. Individual students can briefly jot down what they know about Confederation. Next, they can write down questions they may have about Confederation. (2-5 minutes) After that, students will be arranged into groups of three. Each student will have a duty in the group and the handouts (attached) will be distributed along with reading material and a supplementary map. (5 minutes) Student A: Recorder This student will record the thoughts and comments of the other students concerning the speeches. Later in the activity, the recorder will be the speaker for the group. Student B: Questioner This student will question the elements in the speeches presented. Person B will ask questions around the speeches. The questioner will propose their questions to the class upon recap. Student C: Connector This student will connect the elements in the speeches presented with previous material in the texts. Their connections will be requested. They will have approximately 15 minutes for discussion and note-taking.

Closure Students will be asked to report a few main points of the argument and which side they have selected in the Confederation lesson beginning with Person A, Person B, and Person C. This portion of the lesson will require 10 minutes near the end of the class. Students can refresh and complete their KWL charts, in the last column “Learn” on what they have now discovered.

Assessment Worksheets handed out for the group work will be submitted at the end of the first class. Below an assessment rubric is provided to display the criteria for marks.

4 3

2 1 0

Completion of Worksheet Boxes are completely filled with relevant or valid reasons Boxes are almost full; some notes show critical thinking Boxes only contain a few remarks of understanding the texts Notes are sparse; no relevant or valid reasons are given Boxes are empty; no thought was given

Participation of Each Member Each member executed their duties to the fullest with cohesion Members fulfilled their duties to a satisfactory degree with some cohesion Lack of cohesion; some thinking was involved and some discussion Lack of member participation; almost no discussion Member did not participate with each other

Reporting of Observations Each member reported their numerous observations with deep thought and enthusiasm Each member reported a few observations with some critical thinking Reports were brief and shallow; with some points relevant and valid Reports were irrelevant; misinterpreted or fairly farfetched No reports were made; no submission of the worksheet

Students would be asked to evaluate the amount of work each student contributed on a pie-chart with duties as a homework assignment. In the next class, students could hand in their evaluations to corroborate the teacher’s findings.

Extension Students will be given questions regarding the Confederation as well as lead-in questions to the conferences in Charlottetown and Quebec. In the following class, students will discuss more in-depth how Canada was formed and the process of Confederation.

References Cited Cranny, Michael et al. Horizons: Canada Moves West. 1999. Prentice Hall Ginn Canada. Scarborough, Ontario. Cranny, Michael et al. “Confederation: For and Against”. Horizons: Canada Moves West. 1999. Prentice Hall Ginn Canada. Scarborough, Ontario. “Making Sense of Evidence”. 1998-2005. American Social History Productions Inc. Graduate Center, CUNY and George Mason University. March 26, 2006.