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TEACHER'S GUIDE: DESCRIPTION OF ACTIVITES

Task

Your class will create a class magazine. Explain to the class which format of magazine they are going to be creating. Divide students into small groups and assign each group a category to research. Each category has three or four sources of historical information. The work the students produce will be their group’s contribution to the magazine. The magazine will be about people, places and events as well as life in general in the 19th century. Articles will be based on the categories listed below.

Assign one of the following ten categories to each group: Conflict, Education, Crime and Investigation, Periodicals, Personal Stories, Poetry and Song, Satire, Science, Settlement, and Travel.

Each group’s task involves the following:

  1. Reading the documents within their category.
  2. Answering the three questions in the category, using the annotations in each document as well as skimming and scanning techniques to answer the questions.
  3. In small groups, students research and complete an activity (the third question) that will be a contribution to a class magazine. Graphic organizers provided for each research activity will help to get them started.

Process

  1. Review how to use primary sources for historical research. – If necessary, provide students time to review Using Primary Sources. Ideally, the students are already familiar with using primary sources. However, this is a good place to start for those students who are learning this for the first time or those who need a refresher.
  2. Assign categories and have students read associated documents and questions. – Create groups for the project and give each group a category to explore. Be sure students read and understand the introduction to the category, the summary of each document and the questions their group will be answering.
  3. Have students research the questions in their category by skimming and scanning and using the annotations for each document in that category. – Remind them to use skimming and scanning techniques and the annotations for each document to help them to answer their questions. Use the skimming and scanning page for those who need a refresher.
  4. Have students record their research using the graphic organizers provided. – Copy and distribute the appropriate number of graphic organizer sheets to each of the groups. In some cases there is more than one organizer in one category and occasionally, more than one page per organizer. The organizers are specific to the category. Students should be encouraged to make extra notes of their own if they have more information to record.
  5. Help the groups to plan their submissions again with the help of the graphic organizers. – With the members in their group, have students consider how their submission to the class magazine will look. Have them use their notes on the graphic organizers to provide a rough outline for their work.
  6. Students create their contribution to the magazine. – Have students divide up the work and create their final copy for submission to the class magazine.
  7. Have students submit and share with the other groups in the class. – Provide time for the groups to share their work with the other groups. As a class, and with your guidance, students can decide where each submission will fit in the magazine and how best to order them.
  8. Have students publish all of the contributions in the form of a magazine. – Provide the materials needed to complete the magazine and offer guidance on how to do this. Provide class time to research and publish the class magazine.

Categories

In this section, the three questions for each category are provided. For each category, notes on how to adapt the questions to accommodate a radio magazine are included in italics.

Conflict
  1. The documents in this section examine these conflicts from particular points of view. For each document, what is the point of view expressed about the conflict? What message about the conflict does the author want you to take away? Support this with evidence from the document.
  2. Create a timeline of conflicts that affected Ontario history from 1800 to the end of World War I in 1918. Include a brief description of the conflicts and their connection to Ontario. Use books from your school library as the basis of your research. Ask your school’s teacher-librarian to help you get started. The online edition of the Canadian Encyclopedia is another source for this information.
  3. AS PART OF THE CLASS MAGAZINE: Submit the work produced from questions 1 and 2 above. Use a Conflict Evidence Organizer to present your responses to question 1. Include a paragraph that will introduce the theme of conflict and explain the work that you are submitting.

For a radio magazine submission, have students prepare a script from the notes they have made using the graphic organizer.

Education
  1. For each of the documents answer the following questions:
    1. What is the primary source document?
    2. Who wrote the document?
    3. When was the document created?
    4. Where was it published?
    5. Why was the document created? What is its purpose?
  2. From each of the documents, gather pieces of information that you find unusual or interesting. They may be things that differ from the way schools work today or they could be vocabulary words that are no longer commonly used. Explain why you have included them on the list. The source document and page number should be clearly indicated.
  3. AS PART OF THE CLASS MAGAZINE: Create a timeline of the history of Education in Ontario during the 1800s. Your timeline should include between eight and ten events. Each of these events should be summarized into a short paragraph to accompany the timeline. Use the Archives of Ontario web page, Lessons Learned: the Evolution of Education in Ontario as a starting point for research. The Education Timeline Organizer will help you to get started. Your completed timeline will include a title, important dates and associated summary paragraphs. In addition, include some of the unusual or different facts from question 2. These can be added wherever your timeline has the space.

For a radio magazine submission, have students prepare the timeline with the graphic organizers. Have this group prepare a script which includes an introduction to the timeline and the summaries of the 8 to 10 events they have chosen.

Crime and Investigation
  1. For each of the documents answer the following questions:
    1. What is the primary source document?
    2. Who wrote the document?
    3. When was the document created?
    4. Where was it published?
    5. Why was the document created? What is its purpose?
  2. Based on the answers for question 1, what can you say about the authenticity of the documents? Which of the three sources provides the most reliable information? Which is least reliable?
  3. AS PART OF THE CLASS MAGAZINE: Write an article for the classroom magazine that outlines what the fields of crime and investigation were like in the 1800s. Your article will contain a description of each of the three events, an explanation of how evidence was used in the investigation, and a summary of the decisions reached in each investigation. Use the Investigation Evidence Organizer to make notes as you research. The final copy submitted to the magazine can be in chart format or paragraph format. In either format, full sentences are required – not simply point-form notes.

For a radio magazine submission, have students prepare a script from the notes they have made using the graphic organizer.

Periodicals
  1. What history is recorded in these documents? Whose history is told?
  2. What significance do these periodical have as historical documents? Consider where it was published, the topics discussed and who the intended audience might have been.
  3. AS PART OF THE CLASS MAGAZINE: Design a layout for the classroom magazine. Using the Layout Criteria Checklist, create a template for the contributions of other groups. The Magazine Layout Template will help you organize the various pages that will be submitted. Throughout the process, you will need to consult with your teacher, as well as the other groups, to make sure you are on the right track.

For a radio magazine submission, have students use the graphic organizers and adapt the Layout Template to reflect how an audio version of the same material would sound. This group needs to know how the other categories are adapting their responses to create a radio magazine.

Personal Stories
  1. What is the point of view of the author for each of these stories? How can you tell this? How does this affect the way you read it?
  2. Is there an intended audience for each of these stories? If so, who was it written for? Why might a person buy this book? What type of person might be interested in this story?
  3. AS PART OF THE CLASS MAGAZINE: Write a one page explanation of what everyday life was like in the 1800s based on evidence from the stories. It will involve some detective work – a good researcher is also a good sleuth! From each of the stories find information that provides you with a better understanding of what it was like to live in this time period. Focus on the day-to-day routines, household items used, prevailing attitudes, etc.,. You may want to focus on what is missing. For example, there were no automobiles when any of these stories were published, so what was the main form of transportation? Is there any evidence to support this? If so, include it in your research. Use the Sleuth Fact Finder to get you started.

For a radio magazine submission, have students prepare a script from the notes they have made using the graphic organizer.

Poetry and Song
  1. What are some of the common themes in the music and poems in these documents? For each document, who is the intended audience? How do you know this?
  2. Frequent reference to God is made in these three documents. Why do you think religion played such an important role in the poems and songs in these documents? Compared to today, how has this changed since these were published? Why do you think this has changed?
  3. AS PART OF THE CLASS MAGAZINE: Create one epitaph about an historical person and one song or poem about an historical person or event you have studied in history. Use your textbook to gather facts and information that will help you create your verses. Record your collected information in the Verses Information Organizer and then create an outline for your work with the Storyboard Organizer.

For a radio magazine submission, have students prepare a script from the notes they have made using the graphic organizers. Group members will need to prepare an introduction to the epitaph and the song or poem to provide context.

Satire
  1. These documents are considered to be examples of great humour of the time period. Are they funny to you? Why do you think they were meant to be funny? Think of examples of satire within the world of comedy today. How do they differ with satire from the 1800s?
  2. Look at the illustrations in Grip’s Comic Almanac and in The Fall of Man. How much understanding of the topic do you need to find these humorous? Collect a few political cartoons from newspapers. How much of the humour depends on your understanding of the topic being satirized?
  3. AS PART OF THE CLASS MAGAZINE: Create an information sheet on satire and a satirical comic strip. For the information sheet, introduce satire by definition and explain what it means using a current example of satire. For each of the documents, describe what is being satirized and provide examples from the text as evidence of this. Include some historical background about the event being satirized. Use the Satire Information Organizer to start you off. For the satirical comic strip, create a comic strip to tell the story of The Children of Mrs. Dominion. Use the Storyboard Organizer to get started and the Comic Strip Template for the final version.

For a radio magazine submission, have students add the extra step of preparing a script for a radio drama to tell the story of the ‘comic strip’.

Science
  1. For each of the documents answer the following questions:
    1. Who are the authors of these sources?
    2. Who published these documents?
    3. Why was the document created? What is its purpose?
  2. Based on the answers for question 1, which of the three sources is most reliable? Which is least reliable? What can you say about the authenticity of the science in these documents?
  3. AS PART OF THE CLASS MAGAZINE: The types of science referred to in these documents differ greatly from one document to the next. Using the Science Evidence Organizer explain the type of science represented in the document and provide evidence of this. From the information gathered write a one page article explaining the state of science and some of the ways science was used in the 1800s. Use your response from question 2 to help fill in your answers.

For a radio magazine submission, have students prepare a script from the notes they have made using the graphic organizer.

Settlement
  1. What were some of the types of work an immigrant could find in Ontario? What were some of the ways that immigrants were enticed to settle in Ontario? How would you have responded to an offer to settle in Ontario? What would have attracted you and why?
  2. Some of these documents are considered to be true primary sources and some are not. What clues are there to tell you which are primary sources and which are secondary sources?
  3. AS PART OF THE CLASS MAGAZINE: Create a two page advertisement to attract new immigrants to Ontario. Use the Immigration Ad Criteria Checklist, the Information Gathering Worksheet and the Immigration Ad Layout to complete the task. Check the criteria checklist for what to look for in your reading, gather the information you have learned about in your Information Gathering Worksheet and then, using the Immigration Ad Layout Template, map out how your ad will look.

For a radio magazine submission, have students add the extra step of preparing a script from the notes they have made using the graphic organizers. Instead of mapping out how their ad will look, this group will need to plan how it will sound.

Travel
  1. For each of the documents answer the following questions:
    1. What is the primary source document?
    2. Who wrote the document?
    3. When was the document created?
    4. Where was it published?
    5. Why was the document created? What is its purpose?
  2. For each of the documents, record the pieces of evidence showing that tourist facilities or infrastructure for travel were in place. Record this information using the Travel Infrastructure Organizer.
  3. AS PART OF THE CLASS MAGAZINE: Create a Travel Highlights Map of Ontario. Based on the documents in this section, the map should show the location of the sites of interest and provide a summary for each one. Use the Highlights Map Criteria Checklist to start you off. Your teacher will help you find a suitable map of Ontario for you to work from.

For a radio magazine submission, have students prepare a script for an ‘audio map’ from the notes they have made using the graphic organizer. The group members will need to use words and sounds to paint a picture of the province. The summary of the sites will provide the bulk of the script.

Assessment

Students’ work will be assessed in a variety of ways. During the research process, each groups’ cooperation will be assessed by the teacher using an Observational Checklist. Each group member will have a chance to assess the level of cooperation and progress the group has made using a Group Assessment sheet. This assessment can be used as a reflection for the students and collected as part of the teacher’s overall assessment.

An Assessment Rubric will be used to assess how thoroughly each group responded to the questions, how well they used the research skills to gather information and how their portion of the class magazine turned out. Since the OTM covers a broad time period in Ontario’s history, the rubric was created to be sufficiently general. While not prescribed, it is suggested that each of the achievement categories could be matched up with several curricular areas. The Knowledge and Understanding section could be applied to some of the more general History expectations. The Thinking and Inquiry section could be applied to some of the research skills covered in the Ontario School Library Association’s Information Studies: K-12. The Communication section could be applied to some of the more general Writing expectations of the Language curriculum. Finally, the Application section could be applied to the Media Literacy strand of the Language curriculum.

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