Lesson Overview

Estimated Time: 60 min

Connections to Financial Literacy

Grade 4 Social Studies

Heritage and Citizenship, Knowledge and Understanding:

  • outline the reasons for and some of the effects of medieval Europe’s expanding contact with other parts of the world

Canada and World Connections:

  • identify and describe a cause-and-effect relationship between the environment and the economy in a province or territory

Grade 5 Social Studies

Heritage and Citizenship, Application:

  • make connections between some elements of modern life and similar elements from early civilizations (e.g., ...money as a medium of exchange, ...trade, social structures)

Grade 6 Social Studies

Heritage and Citizenship, Knowledge and Understanding:

  • describe the expansion of European influence through the founding of the first trading posts
  • identify the results of contact for both the Europeans and the First Nation peoples

Curriculum Expectations

Drama

B1. Creating and Presenting

  • B1.2: demonstrate an understanding of the element of role by selectively using a few other elements of drama (e.g. time and place; relationship; focus and emphasis) to build belief in a role and establish its dramatic context
  • B1.3: plan and shape the direction of drama or role play by posing questions and working with others to find solutions, both in and out of role

B3. Reflecting, Responding and Analyzing

  • B3.1: outline the responsibilities of a variety of leadership and support roles in drama, including the skills and knowledge required, and evaluate their experiences in these roles in different contexts

  • B3.2: identify skills they have acquired through drama activities and explain how they can contribute to success beyond the classroom

Learning Goals

By the end of this lesson, students will

  • identify reasons why nations seek to explore and access other nations’ resources
  • understand the importance of building alliances with neighbouring regions
  • understand how nations with stronger economies can take advantage of nations with weaker ones

Instructional Components and Context

Readiness

Expose your students to the nature of expansionist thinking and the history of colonialism by reading a book such as Encounter by Jane Yolen and David Shannon. Use discussion to help students develop a basic understanding of how and why one nation would want to overtake another for the purposes of that country’s growth and the ‘supposed’ benefit of those being colonized.

Terminology
Social Studies

King / Roi
Emissary / Ambassadeur
Infrastructure

Drama

Meeting / Rencontre
Stranger in role / Étranger en rôle
Writing in role / Écriture en role
Thought tracking / Suivi de la pensée
Tableau

Materials

Paper for writing in role
Chart paper and markers
BLM #2 Script for Emissary from the King


Lesson Plan

Minds On

Whole Class > Meeting with a King Role Play

In role as a king, call for a meeting with the free Roaming citizens, who are all citizens of your country acting as your emissaries. Conduct the meeting while all of the other citizens from neighbouring countries are listening. Tell them that you are sending them on a mission to gather information to help seize control of the Grassland region so that resources can be shared between the Mountain region and the Roamers’ home country to support the development of city infrastructure and new technology.

Connections

Connections: If students are having trouble envisioning how a king might fit into this scenario, review the role of the leader in accessing and distributing the nation’s resources. Explain that once a nation has its own needs met, it can look to building upon its successes by accessing more wealth and more resources to support nation-building projects like roads/bridges/housing for large numbers of people, etc.

 

Action!

Small Group > Planning for Defense Fishbowl Role Play

Assume the identity of a stranger in role as emissary of the king/queen. You sympathize with the targets of the upcoming attack and are risking your life by to sharing this news with them. Pay a visit to the citizens of the Grassland region and let them know that in two days time, all of the king/queen’s forces will be descending on them to seize control of their land and resources. See BLM #2 Script for Emissary from the King to assist with this role play.

Instruct students to come up with a plan of what they will do next in terms of ensuring the safety of their people and providing for their basic needs. Ensure others watch in silence as the group goes through the planning process using the fishbowl technique.

Individual > “What Will the Future Bring?” Writing in Role

Ask students from all nations to imagine that it is the night before the attack. Ask them to write about what thoughts are going through their minds and to describe the future that they see before them. After the writing in role is complete, walk around the room, using the thought tracking convention to hear from a variety of citizens in all of the three nations.  

Connections

Connections: As teacher in role, encourage the group to consult with people from the free Roamers or Mountain region to give advice to the group as a means of broadening the discussion and involving more students in the process of decision making. This part of the lesson addresses the ways in which access to natural resources influences political and economic power as discussed in lesson one. The solutions that students from the Grassland region devise in terms of self preservation will help students make connections later to the challenges Canada faces as a member of a global economy whose own natural resources are finite.

Differentiation: In place of writing in role, give students the option of creating tableaux conveying their thoughts about the upcoming attack with captions to capture the main ideas.

Assessment for learning: Consider filming the discussion for the purpose of observational assessment, or taking anecdotal notes as a means of determining whether or not students are on the right track in terms of understanding what factors make nations vulnerable.

 

Consolidation

Whole Class > Impact of Globalization Discussion and Journal

Engage the students in a discussion about the relationship between geography, resources and power (e.g. the price of oil in North America rising due to wars with Middle East nations who supply it; drought in Somalia causing severe famine every few years, placing burdens on Kenya, a nation supporting Somali refugees).

Invite them to make connections between the dramatized scenario and similar situations in the world today or throughout other time periods in history and record these ideas in a reflection journal in prose format or as a Venn diagram, T-chart or mind map.

Connections

Differentiation: Provide opportunities for students to express their thoughts through a mind map or another graphic organizer of their own design if they are experiencing difficulty.

Assessment for learning: Use the journal entries students write as a means of gaging their understanding of the main ideas in the unit thus far.