Women+and+WWI

Usha's comments in Blue.

Your name: Jamie Roberts

**Initial Reading and Assessment of Textbook Treatment of the Topic**

Name of Gr. 10 Textbook examined:Canada: Face of a Nation

Name of more "scholarly" source examined:Hometown Horizons: Local Responses to Canada's War Effort

__Your Initial Thoughts:__ Please provide a **brief** (5-10 sentences) initial assessment of the textbook's treatment of the subject. We have not developed any particular criteria by which to assess the textbook so this is really simply you initial reactions, feelings, questions about what you have read. Thanks!

The grade ten textbook Canada: Face of a Nation presents a very brief account of women's roles in WW1. It is covered in literally 2-3 pages with a brief focus on the social, political and economic effects of women's increased roles. It discusses that women filled the labor gap, joined voluntary organizations in droves, and even touches on the issue of asymmetrical pay for women and men doing the same work. It is a good start, but doesn't provide and statistics or amount of information one would require to build an entire lesson. On the other hand, the scholarly source gives more detailed information about the interactions between women in their new roles and the existing establishment. Information on women s involvement in the Red Cross and the IODE (Imperial Order of the Daughters of the Empire) is more inclusive showing actual events and membership numbers. Also, which I think is great, is that the there is a social and gender commentary included. What i mean by that, is that the author gives us some perspective into "how" society greeted women in their new role.

Thanks for your comments, Jamie. I think you have a germ of a great idea here that I hadn't thought of. It would certainly be very interesting (and encourage historical thinking) to ask students to discern what they can tell about the changes in women's lives from statistics and perhaps from other primary source documents. I also like that you are interested in the other side of the story (i.e. how society greeted this change). I look forward to hearing how you might proceed.

Hi Usha, I really got thinking on this and actually came up with a few questions....

__QUESTIONS__ Your 1st 2 questions are clearly framed as critical questions - they require students to make a judgment. The second 2 are not yet framed as critical questions: #3 asks students to list a number of ways and #4 asks kids to predict (which is a type of judgement but I'm not sure it's particularly challenging). Either way, though, you don't need to frame separate questions and then, separate tasks (which you've got listed under the heading "Activity"). You need to select one of these to pursue as the focus of your entire lesson and then we'll scaffold it through the lesson plan. So, to help you choose, I'll comment on each of your ideas below.

Did Canadian society effectively utilize women during the war effort from 1914-1918? Although structured as a critical challenge, this one seems a bit dicey to me because it references "using women effectively..." Not sure it's as rich as some of your other ideas below.

Can we attribute women's increasd role in Canadian society during the war directly to women gaining the right to vote? Again, well structured but the timelines don't work out very well with many women not receiving the vote until after the war (depending on province, status, etc.)

In which ways did women contribute to the war effort from 1914-1918? Although not framed as a critical question, you could tweak this so it becomes a "judge the better or the best" - e.g. Which of their many contributions was most significant...? IF you tweak it in this way, it matches your first activity below related to proposing a charity group or organization that would be significant (see below for more feedback on that one)

With women playing an increased role in society, can we identify potential problems upon the returning of Canadian men from the war.


 * FINAL QUESTION**

O f the many contributions women made to society during the period between 1914-1918, which do you feel was most significant?

I would then use my design to specs activity of creating a poster/visual representation.(Design to Specs)

And as you have stated below my portals for this activity will be to foster historical significance along with historical perspective. I also think its entirely appropriate to include continuity and change into the mix there.

ACTIVITY

This is a take on the "design to specs"

During WW1, women formed all sorts of charity groups and organization in order to support the troops. The task is to design a poster for an organization YOU think would have been important. You will need to state the type of group you are forming and why. You will also need to decorate your poster with appropriate pics and drawings that illustrate the particular goals of the group. Also on the poster you will need to include a message explaining why your group will be helpful during the war. For example, you could start a family support group! Think of all the things your poster could contain that might be appealing for a family who's husband has gone off to war. The core of this critical challenge (i.e. propose a charity group or organization that would have a significant impact on the war effort) is very interesting. It will challenge students to think about historical perspective (i.e. what would have been important/appealing to families at the time) and historical significance (i.e. what type of organization would have the most significant impact). I love it. I think we can talk about the "create a poster" part a bit to decide whether it is reasonable for a 1-2 day lesson. Maybe they could sketch it out and use it to convey their ideas rather than worrying about how the poster looks. But these are details that we can consider later in this process.

This is a critique the piece

I may show three pics: one with a women at home, one with a women in the factories and one with a women accompanied by a war officer going to the house of a women who has just lost there husband. By showing these three images i could get the students to break off into small groups and come up with what the pics mean, and what they tell us about women's contributions to society during the war.....My only concern is that this activity might be too easy! What do you think Also an interesting idea. This seems to me to be more of a "decode the puzzle" - i.e. looking for clues to draw a conclusion about what the photograph conveys. However, you'd have to have a lot of detail in the pictures for it to be the focus of a lesson. It might work as an opening activity, though, so don't throw it out. Alternatively, you could use it as the focus of a lesson if you frame it as a "judge the better or the best" perhaps - i.e. which picture best illustrates the most significant role of women... or something like that.

This would be a re work the puzzle, i think?

My last activity is to use the question about women gaining the right to vote. My idea would be to cut up either a series of statements or pics that would be arranged OUT OF ORDER. There task would be to put it in the historical timeline THEY feel best represents the series of events that lead to womens suffrage. This activity might be more about suufrage than the war, but i still thought it had potential. I have not worked this activity through yet but i put it down just to throw some ideas out there. What do you think? It's useful to have students consider chronology because it is central to historical thinking about cause and consequence. For this to be a critical thinking task, however, the focus would have to be on looking for clues and justifying your order of events (i.e. a "decode the puzzle") rather than on getting the right answer. Does that make sense?

All in all, some excellent ideas, Jamie. Now you have to choose which one you're going to focus on to frame the lesson. Then, you can see if the others can be used as scaffolding or not.

Hi Usha, Just wanted to post a couple of comments on the HW assignment.

I went to www.curriculumn.org website to get my lesson. I decided to look at Gr. 10 Applied History from the Catholic board. I choose Activity 3 "Canada's Involvement in WW1 from Unit 1. I gotta say I would have to give it the lowest score, so 1 I guess! The learning/teaching strategies outlined while pertinent to the course material don't foster alot of critical thought in my opinion. It outlines activities such as: filling in a map of Europe outlining the triple entente and the triple alliance, lots of overhead stuff with the students copying notes, and also involves a lot of textbook work. I didn't see much on the 6 strategies we have been taught. There was no sign of decode the puzzle, critique the piece...ect..... none of that. I was very surprised about this.


 * Lesson Design - Intial Planning Stages **

**Key learnings** - My key learning is for students to understand the significant ways in which women contributed to the war effort. Which kinds of jobs they were employed in, what kinds of support organizations they created and in general how the role of women changed.

**Critical Question** - O f the many contributions women made to society during the period between 1914-1918, which do you feel was most significant? Good.


 * How will this lesson help students build skills for summative assignment? ** - My lesson/activity is going to be for the students to create their own group/organization for whatever aspect they feel was most significant contribution of women during the war. Women became involved in many aspects of society they had traditional not be involved with, Therefore it will be the students responsibility to assess the data and decide what they feel would be the most significant contribution.

possible ideas could be "females for factories" - a group of women willing to work in munitions....or it could "females for family support" a support group for families.....

Basically the students have creative control over what they can do.

I feel that the students will need to think critically about the info and decide what they feel is most significant. Therefore critical thinking skills, open-mindedness and attention to detail would all be things the students would learn


 * Dimensions of Historical Thinking **

I feel there are three dimensions I can address within my lesson. Women contributed greatly to the war effort in many ways, and without there support it would have been alot tougher at home and abroad. That in itself illustrates historical significance, however, im taking it one step further in asking the kids to decide what THEY feel is most significant. I also think hosotorical perspective cabn be covered. As you mentioned earlier, when deciding what they feel was the most important contribution, they will need to almost place themselves in that time period. In reality, all are important, but i feel it would be very interesting to see what the students could come up with. I also think Continuity and change can be looked at. The fact is, women really eveolved during that time period. By presenting this lesson i feel it will force them to look at the changing nature of the place of women in society. You're right that this task will touch on a number of different dimensions of historical thinking. To keep it reasonable for yourself, though, pick one that you will explicitly mention to the students.

I__**ntellectual Tools**__

**Background Knowledge** - After looking at the curriculum doc my lesson will cover aspects of the social,political movements within the citizenship and heritage section. It will also cover the inquiry section with interpretation and analysis. I must say, in the context of a history class 'm not sure i would choose women and WW1 as the topic for a 2 day lesson. For the simple fact is that it doesn't cover a lot in the curriculum. It is certainly very important to know about, I just think i would group it in with something else. As for content, the students would need to know how the role of women changed in a social, political and economic sense. They need to know what their role in society was before the war, during the war and what happened after the men arrived home. Good. Also, please cut and paste the relevant curriculum expectations here.


 * Criteria for Judgement ** - Im assuming this section would deal with what is the criteria for the most signifigant impact women at home during the war. I would lay out a criteria like: Did it help/benefit society? Were many women involved? Was it an organized movement? Was it crucial to the war effort itself? Yes - you've got it.

For creating an organization then showing that in a visual representation I will need to layout criteria for the students to follow: Does the poster contain all the info i request (this is a requirement but not necessarily criteria) ? Is it creative? is it engaging?

I feel a little lost when it comes to criteria. Its seems simple enough yet i'm having difficult time making up a rubric! No worries - we'll work on it!


 * Habit of Mind ** - I think critical thinking and inquiring mind would be two that i would hope they learned out of this assignment

Thinking Strategies - Im not sure on this


 * Critical Vocabulary - ** I think analysis and hypothesis. In the end, its their own interpretation based on information i have provided for them and possible some information they have seeked out on their own. I want them to really think about womens contributions to society and tell me what they feel is the most significant....what they feel is the most important based on available info!!!!

CONCERNS.... I feel im on the right track with the lesson i'm just having some doubts. In concept i think its a good idea but i still have some reservations about the whole poster concept. For example...... in my own head im framing the lesson as the social, economic, political?? contributions of women. Certainly one can make a poster for a charitable organization, but im just wondering if it applies to working in factories. Above i gave the example "Females for Factories" the truth is did women organize in that way - I think this is a valid concern ? and is that lame? I want the students to see the whole picture yet i'm afraid with this lesson they will just focus on the social aspects i.e. family support/working in shelters/nurses. Perhaps we can discuss next week and i can flush out a few concerns? Yes, let's talk about this more.