Pride in Learning
Scott Masters' students are preserving the memories and stories of Toronto community members for future generations.
Canada’s best history teachers are training a new generation of young historians.
It’s that impact moment in an interview that makes oral history so worthwhile for Scott Masters. Each year his students interview World War II veterans, Holocaust survivors, and, increasingly, members from Toronto’s various cultural communities. When one of his students sits across from a real person, it brings their story to life in a way that isn’t possible in a textbook.
The oral history project is one of eighteen exciting projects nominated for the 2011 Governor General’s Awards for Excellence in Teaching Canadian History. Canada’s History Society has been presenting the Governor General’s Awards since 1996. We’re still astounded by the quality and variety of projects teachers submit each year.
The story of Canada at war is featured prominently in the finalist projects for 2011. Kim Bartlett, from Newmarket, Ontario, asked her students to create care packages to send to soldiers on the Western Front during the First World War, helping them understand the harsh conditions of trench warfare. Cynthia Mundell Hahn’s grade 5 students created a book of memories from Second World War veterans in Sherwood Park, just outside of Edmonton, while Francois Desmarais’ high school students interviewed veterans of the Montérégie region of Quebec.
Cynthia Mundell Hahn from Sherwood Park, Alberta. Courtesy of Cynthia Mundell Hahn.
Pam Calvert from Oakville, Ontario, and Clint Lovell from Barrie, Ontario, each asked their students to research the stories of local veterans, creating unique memorials to community soldiers.
“I’ve always held the idea that history isn’t in the past, we carry it around inside us,” Lovell said. His students created an online video of local veterans that has sparked connections to families across North America. “The students see that they’re part of something larger than themselves. It’s an accident that they’re born here, but the way our country is doesn’t happen by accident.”
For Yossi Suisa and Niv Stillman, who emigrated from Israel, the story of immigration carries a close personal connection. They partnered with colleague Lindsay Anderson and created a classroom project that allows students to interview new Canadians from Calgary about why they chose Canada. “Canada’s history is made up of immigration stories,” Anderson said. “In order to understand Canada as a country, it’s [important] to understand the people that make it up.”
Clint Lovell, second row right, with his students on a field trip. Courtesy of Clint Lovell.
Many teachers are asking their students to take different approaches to presenting history. Gilles Paulin’s students from little Neguac, New Brunswick, created an artistic performance based on all of the knowledge they accumulated during the year. Michael Ernest Sweet and his teaching assistant Raymond Tomasino asked students at their Montreal high school to create a new book, We Who Listened, based on their reading of Holocaust stories.
Shanelle Browning-Morgan from Windsor, Ontario, and Gregory Birkett from Toronto are both teaching the history of the black community in new and engaging ways. Browning-Morgan traces the genealogy of runaway slaves to her students, while Birkett’s students express themselves through visual and written content using poetry, songs, rap music, and more.
Across Canada, more and more students are taking their knowledge of history in the classroom and applying it to community building projects.
Marie-Laure Chevrier’s students commemorated the one hundredth anniversary of the French village of Maillardville near Coquitlam, British Columbia, while Raymond Bedard had his students explore history through actual artifacts. For Chad Howie and Sarah Beech, engaging their students means full-scale re-enactments of the Battle of the Plains of Abraham in their Calgary school gymnasium.
Sylvia Smith, from Calgary, has pioneered Project of Heart, a special study into the history of Indian residential schools. Students researched residential schools and then created individual tiles that formed a travelling display.
With cameras rolling, Andrew Stickings and his students have created award-winning documentaries on the history of Halifax. Flora Fung has redeveloped the education programs of the Hong Kong Veterans Association while also starting local history conferences for students to learn about the history of Oshawa, Ontario.
Elizabeth Phipps of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Courtesy of Elizabeth Phipps.
It’s exciting to see the many new and engaging ways teachers are teaching history to our young people.
“Everyone is encouraged to investigate and look deeper,” says Elizabeth Phipps, Saskatoon teacher. “Student’s gain most when they feel empowered and see themselves as a strategic partner in their education.”
Phipps’ own students created a landscape table of Saskatchewan and tracked changes in the environment over time. The students also created paper illustrations of themselves based on the book Flat Stanley and mailed them to hosts across Canada. Their paper twins visited local sites and were mailed back with photos and histories of the communities they visited.
“The thing that I’ve really noticed about kids is that they understand that history is full of wonderful and exciting mysteries, and once they open their minds and hearts to the possibility, all of the students become historians,” Phipps said.
The six recipients of the Governor General’s Awards will receive their medals at a special ceremony at Rideau Hall in Ottawa this December.
Text by Joel Ralph, Manager of Education and Outreach Programs for Canada’s History.