Level 10 Self, Community, and Place Part B Learning Plan

Part B Learning Plan – 10 Social Studies, History, Native Studies

This section provides a brief overview of the students’ learning path; inquiries students will be researching; and, the various connections to larger concepts.

Inquiries are identified and connections to Big Ideas are noted. Teachers may begin with any inquiry or combine inquiries to use the approach that resonates best with their students.

The citizenship inquiries incorporate the three perspectives of Social Sciences by exploring historical and contemporary issues through a number of viewpoints, which in Canada’s case must include Indigenous perspectives. Teachers may choose, however, to explore citizenship considerations specifically through the lens of their respective social science areas.

Suggested inquiries may be studied in any order according to student interests.

This citizenship area requires students to form an action plan to address a social justice issue of their choosing. Teachers are encouraged to consider how to incorporate this study of citizenship early in the semester so that students have time to develop and implement their action plan.

Inquiry

What responsibility do we have to each other?

How do make things better?
- What are the considerations when trying to redress injustice?

Big Ideas:

Injustices, historical and contemporary, continue to exist with effects that are evident in social, economic, religious, and cultural areas.
Humans tacitly agree to conform to the beliefs, values and mores imposed on them, implicitly and explicitly, by the various organizations of society or nations, in order to have security, stability, and predictability;
Groups and organizations have processes and strategies to resolve differences and reach resolution so that a collective course of action can be carried out;
Social media plays a significant role in societal and national actions; and,
Plans to affect change for a specific social justice issue requires consideration of multiple issues.

Questions to Guide Inquiry

Essential questions are posed here to frame the context for student thinking and have students begin thinking about the topic. Answers to essential questions establish a baseline regarding student understanding as they identify the basic knowledge that students have and give teachers an idea of what students will need to learn to explore these outcomes. The essential questions and inquiries incorporate the three perspectives of Social Sciences through exploration of historical and contemporary issues, which in Canada’s case must include Indigenous perspectives. Teachers may choose, however, to explore these citizenship considerations specifically through the lens of their respective social science area.

Teacher Note

Essential questions and guiding questions are posed to support teachers as they facilitate students’ explorations of the inquiry. Teachers are encouraged to adjust the wording, omit or add questions as they choose.

Essential Questions: Guiding Questions

What is social justice?
- What is injustice?
- How do we know it is injustice?
Why do injustices exist?
- Why do injustices exist in free and democratic societies?
- What can be done about injustice?
What responsibility do individuals have to address injustices in society?
- How do we decide which injustice to address?
- How can engaged citizens affect positive change?
What responsibilities do governments have to address injustices in society? How can this be accomplished?
- What are the agreements that citizens agree to adopt and support so that they can live together?
- Who is responsible for determining the parameters of these agreements?
- What happens when alternate perspectives are not considered?
- What are the processes that are used to resolve differences?
- How has time impacted current thinking on conflict resolution?

CONNECT TO TOPIC AND SURFACE STUDENTS’ THINKING ABOUT …

This section introduces the concepts and helps teachers gain an understanding of the current thinking of the class. Present essential questions and allow students to think about and talk about. Student answers will give teachers a baseline or beginning understanding of the amount of specific and incidental teaching required to explore these outcomes. Vocabulary is introduced and noted here. This section frames the “We do” portion of the lesson where teachers guide the initial structure of the inquiry.

Teacher Note

Surface student thinking in response to the prompts or hook questions posed.
Add questions from students; adjust the wording of questions as needed.
Record student thinking for later reflection. Teachers may use a ‘Before, During, After’ strategy to note changes in student thinking.

Considering an Action Plan

This inquiry asks students to choose an issue of conflict and propose an action plan or make recommendations to address the ongoing issues. To do this, students will need to understand the social agreements that exist in power relationships and interactions, and identify alternate strategies of behaviour to achieve plausible solutions. Because this plan will take time to understand and develop, students should be encouraged to choose an area to address early in their studies so they can continue to work on their action plan through the semester.

Inquiry

What responsibilities do we have to each other? How do we make things better?

Why do some events trigger change and some not?
What are the considerations when trying to redress injustice?

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Hook Questions – Think about… Talk about…

How do we create positive and meaningful change?
What are the agreements that citizens agree to adopt and support so that they can live together?
- Are all stakeholder perspectives represented?
Who is responsible for determining the structure of these agreements?
- How are decisions made?
What happens when alternate perspectives are not considered?

Students explore a variety of social contracts that exist to understand that in order to have security, stability and predictability in our interactions, humans tacitly agree to conform to beliefs, values and mores imposed on them by various organizations of society. Teachers will be asked to help students identify the agreements that exist between organizations and nations that allow them to work together.

In the action plan, students develop a strategy for resolution of their chosen social justice issue.

Strategies to develop and explore inquiries include:

Surfacing student thinking, posting, and then reflecting on thinking to note how thinking has changed and what has caused the changes.
Jigsaw strategy approach: Students, individually or in groups, explore similar questions, present their findings to the group. The teacher helps students to note similarities, differences, themes. Students are encouraged to develop summary statements to clarify their thinking and describe new learning.
Reflecting on initial thinking to note how thinking has changed. Identify evidence to support the new learning.

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What are the processes that are used to resolve differences?
How has time impacted current thinking on conflict resolution?

Note and record student thinking; surface additional questions.

What agreements govern how citizens work together?

What are the agreements that citizens agree to adopt and support so that they can live together?
Who is responsible for determining the structures of these agreements?
What happens when alternate perspectives are not considered?
What are the processes that are used to resolve differences?
How has time impacted current thinking on conflict resolution?

What social justice issues are students interested in?

Possible areas of injustices:
- First Nations issues
- Gender based issues
- Environmental issues
- Socio-economic issues
- Cultural issues

Identify

What were/are the issues?
- Identify the various stakeholders’ perspectives.
- Why are/were they significant?
What actions were taken to make a difference/effect a change and what was the impact of those actions?
What challenges were/are faced in trying to right this wrong?
How has time impacted current thinking on the resolution of this issue?
How has social media impacted the issue?

Vocabulary

Justice
Injustice
Privilege
Marginalization
Equity
Fairness

Throughout this study, it is critical that teachers help students to step back to see the big picture.

What themes are emerging?
What are the similarities and differences?
What are the connections to the enduring understandings?

The independence level of the class, will determine how much teacher direction is required to do this.

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As a class Think about… Talk about…

What are the similarities and differences between the issues?
What themes are students noticing?

Teachers are encouraged to use the Historical Thinking Concepts constructs in exploring any of the inquiries.

Historical Significance: How do we decide what is important to learn about the past?

Primary Source Evidence: How do we know what we know about the past?

Cause and Consequence: Why do events happen and what are their impacts?

Historical Perspectives: How can we better understand the people of the past?

Continuity and Change: How can we make sense of the complex flows of history?

Ethical Dimension: How can history help us to live in the present?

DEVELOPING UNDERSTANDING

This section is the core of the lesson. It describes the main activity(ies) involved. In inquiry-based learning, the teacher facilitates the activities that lead to the understandings that student make of the essential questions. It is critical then, that students be allowed to raise questions and talk about issues that develop as they explore the learning activities. This forms the “They do” section of the inquiry where students are finding answers to the overarching questions and then searching for themes and patterns as possible explanations. Teachers work with students to clarify understandings.

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Action for Change Symposium/Inquiry

Clarify with students, reasons for choosing the issue they will be focusing on.

Criteria to narrow their focus may include:
- relevance,
- importance,
- proximity,
- interest,
- possible impact [racial, social, economic, political],
- urgency,
- timeline,
- likelihood of success,
- available resources (Might need to examine the availability of resources before moving forward)?

Action Plan to Affect Change

For your particular Social Justice issue, research and identify:

Stakeholder and the issues from stakeholders’ perspectives
What has already been done?
What can be done?
What are the short term and long term targets for change?
What skills/resources do we need to affect this change?
What allies can I access?
What barriers will I face?
How will this help my own growth? (intellectual, moral, spiritual and/or social)

In reporting and reflecting upon their process in addressing a specific social justice issue have students:

Explain, examine, and evaluate their strategy for change.
Identify the impact of their actions.

What criteria did you use in choosing your specific social justice issue?
What were the root causes of the issue?
Where did you find your information?
What criteria did you use in selecting the action you took?

What success did you have?
What challenges did you experience?
What are the barriers to implementing change?

Who has a vested interest in maintaining the status quo, and why?
What are the implications of change for all stakeholders (those with power, those seeking change, those indirectly affected, etc)?

What would you do differently next time?
How did your thinking about the issue evolve during the process?
What are the next steps you will take?

APPLY AND EXTEND KNOWLEDGE

This section includes ideas to “wrap up” the inquiry or apply concepts explored. This section may also include additional reflective questions to promote student connection to the topic. This forms the “You do” section – extend thinking beyond the classroom discussions and inquiry experiences. Pose additional reflective questions that have been raised to encourage critical and creative thinking.

Implement the Action Plan (This will require time. Should be started at beginning of year.)

Have the students assess the impact of their actions. Did they achieve the desired results? What more needs to be done?
Conduct the Action for Change Symposium as a class.
Explore the relationship between economic, social, and environmental efficiencies and the responsibility of Canadian citizenship.

Possible Inquiry Questions for Extension

Do citizens have an obligation to get involved in all social justice issues?
What is needed to encourage people to get involved in social justice issues?
How do citizens determine which social justice issues to undertake?
What influence does social media have in resolution of current social justice issues?

EVIDENCE OF LEARNING

This section suggests ways in which students may demonstrate their understanding. Ideal demonstrations will be in authentic performance tasks. Each citizenship study may have its own smaller assessment piece or be compiled to support one larger performance task assessment. Assessment pieces vary, but should allow students to demonstrate their understanding in a variety of ways.

Have students demonstrate what they have learned about the questions.

How has their thinking changed from their initial thinking?

What evidence do they have to support their thinking?

Have students use the following prompts to make connections to or address any of the essential questions, the enduring understandings, or the inquiry questions to demonstrate their evidence of learning.

What do you think now about…?
What has caused your thinking to change?
What evidence supports your thinking?
Why is this information important to know?
How will you use this information?

Inquiry

What responsibility do we have to each other?

How do make things better?

Why do some events trigger change and some not?
What are the considerations when trying to redress injustice?
How does the process change when higher levels of government become involved? e. regional vs. provincial vs. national

Social Justice Issue Reflection

For each prompt give your reasons and explain your thinking.

How would you rate your resolution of your social justice issue?
What were you most pleased about?
What continues to cause you concern?
What needs to change in order for you to achieve a stronger resolution?

Additional Inquiry Questions for Assessment:

Can all social justice issues be resolved satisfactorily?
Do citizens have an obligation to get involved in all social justice issues?
What would be your criteria for satisfactory resolution of social justice issues?
What is required from the Canadian citizens in order for successful resolution of social justice issues to occur?
What are some of the barriers that keep citizens/people from becoming involved in social justice issues?

Enduring Understandings

Injustices of today have roots in the past.
Canadian society is challenged to manage the co-existence of diverse worldviews.
Canadian citizens work to achieve a balance between rights and responsibilities through learning and action.
Canadian society has inequities and elimination of these is beneficial for all Canadians.
For each individual, becoming aware of racism in Canadian society is an evolutionary process and a precursor to change.
As citizens of local, national, and global communities, Canadians are conscious, self-reflective, and critical of their own beliefs and actions and seek to make positive change.
Citizens show flexibility of mind.

Essential Questions: Guiding Questions

What is social justice?
- What is injustice?
- How do we know it is injustice?
Why do injustices exist?
- Why do injustices exist in free and democratic societies?
- What can be done about injustice?
What responsibility do individuals have to address injustices in society?
- How do we decide which injustice to address?
- How can engaged citizens affect positive change?
What responsibilities do governments have to address injustices in society? How can this be accomplished?
- What are the agreements that citizens agree to adopt and support so that they can live together?
- Who is responsible for determining the parameters of these agreements?
- What happens when alternate perspectives are not considered?
- What are the processes that are used to resolve differences?
- How has time impacted current thinking on conflict resolution?

STUDENT CITIZENSHIP JOURNAL OPPORTUNITIES

Students will continue to explore their understanding of their role as a Canadian citizen and reflect on their perspective in an Ongoing Journal. Consider video journaling and blogging options. Art may be included throughout the journal; some to accompany the journal entry and some that are random drawings and sketching. The journal entries are a record of the student’s thinking and chronicle the student’s changing views of citizenship.

Students are keeping a Citizenship Journal to reflect upon their developing views of citizenship. This section provides prompts for student journals. Students are invited to choose one that interests them or propose their own. Students can also respond to any of the essential questions.

Students are encouraged to respond using a variety of genres.

How much did you think about human rights before this inquiry?
What role does privilege play in human rights?
What is required for true equality?
What surprised you about your learning?

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