Lesson Overview

Estimated Time:  60 minutes
Grades 4-6 Drama: Financial Literacy and Trade: Origins and Impact: Exploring the way that nations who have been overtaken by another power experience changes in their daily lives.

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

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 be able to

  • understand how nations with strong economies and access to resources can exert power over those with less
  • understand the positive and negative impact that a conquering nation can have on an indigenous population

Instructional Components and Context

Readiness

Read excerpts from works like My Name is Seepeetza by Shirley Sterling (a book comprised of letters from a girl in a residential school in British Columbia), The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis (a story of the impact of Taliban rule on girls), or Ghandi's biography (the story of India’s struggle for independence from England) as a means to gain background knowledge about people whose lives were significantly impacted by the ‘ruling powers’ that governed them.

Terminology

Social Studies

Contact / Contact
Colonialism / Colonialisme

Drama

Role play / Jeu de rôle
Writing in role / Écriture en rôle
Tableau

Materials

Chart paper and markers
BLM #3 Post-Contact Scenario Cards


Lesson Plan

Minds On

Whole Class > Discussion

Launch a discussion with students about the ways in which their lives are influenced by trade with those within the province, across the country and around the world.

Key Questions for Discussion:

Think about the food that you and your family eat regularly. How much of it comes from within the province? The country?
Consider the TV and movies you watch, the music you listen to and the items you own. How much of it is made in Canada?
How might your life be negatively affected if Canada didn’t engage in trade with other provinces and countries?
What are the benefits of having contact with regions other than our own? (e.g. greater variety in food, appreciation for one another’s cultures).
What are the possible disadvantages that can come from trade with other nations? (e.g. an over reliance on items we cannot grow or make ourselves, a loss of cultural identity).
Why do you think that many Francophones in Canada are so adamant about having their language rights protected? What are some consequences when a community’s language is forced out of use?
What can people who are outnumbered by a majority do to maintain their culture and way of ife? 

Pensez à la nourriture que vous et votre famille mangez régulièrement. Quelle proportion provient de la province? Le pays?
Considérez la télévision et les films que vous regardez, la musique que vous écoutez et les objets que vous possédez. Combien est fabriquée au Canada?
Comment votre vie pourrait-elle être négativement affectée si le Canada ne faisait pas de commerce avec d'autres provinces et pays?
Quels sont les avantages d'avoir des contacts avec des régions autres que la nôtre? (par exemple, une plus grande variété de nourriture, l'appréciation des récoltes de l'autre).
Quels sont les inconvénients possibles qui peuvent découler du commerce avec d'autres pays? (par exemple, une dépendance excessive à l'égard d'éléments que nous ne pouvons pas développer ou transformer nous-mêmes, une perte d'identité culturelle).
Pourquoi pensez-vous que beaucoup de francophones au Canada se tiennent sur la protection de leurs droits linguistiques? Quelles sont les conséquences lorsqu'une communauté est forcée à abandonner leur langue?
Que peuvent faire les gens qui sont la minorité pour maintenir leur culture et leur mode de vie?

Record responses on chart paper for future reference.

Connections

Connections: Use information from this discussion to inform the role play to follow as well as the summative reflection assignment.

Assessment for learning: Assess the level of discussion to determine if further research into the topic is required (see texts recommended in Readiness section).

 

Action!

Small Group > Life in a Post-Contact World Role Play

Use the following script to help your students understand the new context that has developed since the king’s invasion.

Script: Since we last met, the king’s army has invaded the Grassland region. Half of the Grassland people escaped to the Mountain region and half were left behind. The Grassland people who stayed behind are now under the command of the Roamers who are doing the king’s work for him. The Mountain nation is having to figure out how to cope with the new refugees coming from the Grassland region who need to make a new life there alongside the Mountain people. This means that for our role play, our groups will now be mixed.

Scripte: Depuis notre dernier rencontre, le militaire du roi a envahi la région Prairie. Un moitié des peuples prairies ont échappé à la région montagneuse et un moitié sont resté. Les peuples Prairie qui sont restés sont actuellement sous la règne des vagabonds qui font le travail du roi. La nation montagneuse devrait décider comment gérer l'arriver des réfugiés qui vient de la région prairie qui essaient de commencer leur vie à côté des peuples montagneux. Cela veut dire que pendant notre jeu de rôle, les groupes seront mixtes.

Distribute BLM #3 Post-Contact Scenario Cards to students. These address changes since the king seized control of the Grassland society. Create new groups as follows:  

Group #1: Half of the Roamers, half of the Grassland nation.
Group #2: Other half of the Roamers.
Group #3: All of the Mountain nation and the other half of the Grassland people.

Provide time for students to read cards and rehearse their role play of the described scenarios. When students are ready, share scenarios with the group.

Whole Class > Are We Better Off Since Contact? Value line

Pose the following question to students: Do you think that the people of ____ (insert the name of the nation that the students created here for the Grassland people) are better or worse off since the _____ (insert name of the foreign nation of the Roamers) invaded?

Posez la question suivante aux élèves: Pensez-vous que les gens de ____ (insérez le nom de la nation que les élèves ont créé ici pour les Prairies) vont mieux ou pire depuis l'envahison des _____ (insérez le nom de la nation étrangère des vagabonds)?

Invite students to place themselves on an imaginary value line where opposite ends of the line represent opposite stances on the issue (i.e. worse off/better off).

Have students at opposite ends articulate why they believe what they do. After both sides have been heard, allow students to reorganize themselves on the line if their opinions have changed.  

Connections

Connections: Value line work will be informed by both the discussion in the Minds On section of the lesson and in students’ participation in and viewing of the role play scenarios.

Differentiation: Students may share their opinions through a fold the line exercise (where the line is folded so those at opposite ends must share their differing opinions), through a mock debate, or through a letter in role to another character in the drama.

Assessment as learning: Participation in the value line activity will require students to apply what they have come to understand about contact issues to the dramatic situation and to consolidate their learning thus far.

Assessment of learning: Use the CODE resource Role Play Rubric from lesson one to evaluate role play in the post-contact scenarios, as students have now had several opportunities to engage in and practice role play throughout unit.

 

Consolidation

Individual > Canadian Contexts Writing in Role

Keeping in mind their beliefs as expressed in the value line exercise, ask students to imagine that they are political strategists who have been called upon to make suggestions about the ways in which Canada should handle itself as a member of a global economy in the coming years. Have students write in role, explaining their suggestions.  

Prompts:

How much interaction/dependence/trade should we engage in with other countries? What should we do to protect ourselves and our resources? Use evidence from the dramatic experience and your own knowledge and experiences to support your thinking.

Combien d'interaction / dépendance / commerce devrions-nous engager avec d'autres pays? Que devrions-nous faire pour nous protéger et protéger nos ressources? Utilisez les preuves de l'expérience dramatique et vos propres connaissances et expériences pour soutenir votre réflexion.

Allow time for reflection, revision and rich development of ideas. Use subsequent classes to revise and refine writing in role pieces. Collect the written work and evaluate using the CODE resource Writing in Role Rubric as a means of gaging students’ grasp of the core ideas in the unit.

Extension ideas:
  • In role as a government official, appoint individuals to share ideas and thoughts developed to the whole group.
  • Have students work in groups of 4 or 5 to develop a series of tableaux that represent the different suggestions that students have made to help Canada protect herself and/or engage in positive trade relations.
  • Have students develop a series of tableaux that compare the consequences of one form of trade relations to an another.

Connections

Differentiation: Allow students to express their understanding through mind maps or graphic organizers of their own making. Supply sentence starters for writing in role and journal prompts for students who have difficulty formulating ideas.

Assessment of learning: Evaluate writing samples once students have had an opportunity to refine and revise them after their original composition during the writing in role exercise. Use the learning goals from all three lessons as success criteria or consult the CODE Resource Writing in Role Rubric.