Labour+and+Winnipeg+General+Strike

Usha's comments in Blue. Sorry for the delay in responding to this Josh. Thanks for getting caught up.

• //Teacher// : Josh Cornehlsen • //Grade// : 10 • //Course// : CHC2D - Canadian World History (Academic) • //Unit// : 1914-1929 • //Topic// : Labour struggles and the Winnipeg General Strike of 1919


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

• //Grade 10 Textbook Examined// : //Experience History// (p. 50-51)

• //My Initial Thoughts// : The textbook in question gives a brief two-page description of the events that took place in Winnipeg in June of 1919. After a concise description of the possible causes of the protests (few jobs for returning soldiers, influx of immigrants, revolutionary ideals carried over from the Bolsheviks, the greed of Capital), the authors detail what happened leading up to and during the General Strike and the crackdown on Bloody Saturday. (Later in the book, on page 85, workers' strikes are discussed as they relate to the rise of the oil and gas industries and the subsequent fall of the coal industry.) Although the description of the General Strike is basic, the authors do a respectable job at presenting the various perspectives of those involved: the protesters, the public, the government, and the Royal Mounties. The text is followed by some comprehension questions and the critical question: //Which of the above factors do you consider most responsible for the bloodshed? Explain//. The teacher's guide relates the topic to present-day unemployment insurance and welfare, and suggests that related activities might include a role play, an opinion piece, or a comparison to recent strikes. I was pleasantly surprised with the possibility for engagement and critical thinking in such a short section of the text.


 * Lesson Design – Initial Planning Stages (Stage One)**

• //Key Learning / Big Idea// : Students will understand that … - a) after the war the job shortage was intensified by the fact that all three groups (women who had worked for the first time during the war, immigrants, men who were returning from war) wanted work and workers’ rights. - b) large groups of people who organize to fight for their interests have significant influence and can affect government action and policy. Well framed key learnings

• //Critical Challenge// (central question or task that students will grapple with): Was the Winnipeg General Strike inevitable? Which factors were most significant in bringing it about? Was the government morally justified in reacting as it did? These are all excellent critical questions. But, 3 might be too many for a single lesson. Consider which one is the main focus of the lesson - the other 2 might be scaffolding.

• //Skill-Building// (how the lesson will help students build skills that they need for summative assessment): This lesson will increase the students’ ability to … - analyze primary resources, - gather and interpret evidence, - frame and express arguments, - think critically about how national events are portrayed in the media and academic texts good - it would also be useful to explicitly say how these skills will be helpful for them when they are building their final summative (i.e. the newspaper spread).

• //Dimension of Historical Thinking// (that students will actively engage during lesson): Evidence and Interpretation – Students need to gather evidence and consider various points of view - the government, the business owners, the immigrants, the protesters, and the general public – in order to determine why the General Strike took place, what actually happened, who was at fault, and whether or not the federal response was justified. When I read what you've got here and also see what you've got under criteria (below), it seems to me that you would like to focus on whether it was justified - which might fit better into the Ethical Dimension. Of course, students will be looking at evidence as they should always be doing - but if you are going to focus on that dimension of thinking in class, it means that you will be helping students understand the nature of evidence, assess evidence, decide which evidence will be most useful, etc. In what you're proposing, it seems that you want to focus instead on using the evidence to grapple with the issue of whether something was justifiable or not.


 * Intellectual Tools** (that will need to be explicitly taught and formatively assessed)

• //Background Knowledge// : (specific curricular expectations that will be addressed) - identify contributions to Canada’s multicultural society - identify the major groups of immigrants that have come to Canada since 1914 and describe the circumstances that led to their decision to emigrate - explain how the labour movement has affected social, economic and political life in Canada - explain how and why social welfare programs were created

• //Criteria for Judgement// : a) Criteria for answering the critical challenge questions: - criteria for a just government policy/action yes - this is what you need criteria for. So, you need to articulate WHAT criteria students will use to decide if a government policy/action is justified. Try finishing this sentence to see if it helps clarify: "A government policy is only justified if it.... -  -  -

- criteria for a decent working condition and salary - criteria for a person living in Canada to receive equal rights and treatment b) Criteria for developing an effective product: - not yet applicable

• //Habit of Mind// : - Question the facts; don’t take any one account at face value or jump to conclusions.

• //Thinking Strategies// : - Consider other possible courses of action and their hypothetical outcomes. - Test the fairness of decisions and actions by sensitively imagining oneself in the predicament of others.

• //Critical Thinking Vocabulary// : - Reasoned Judgement: A belief or conclusion arrived at through careful thought, reflection and consideration of evidence in light of criteria. - Empathy: the ability to imagine oneself in another’s place and understand the other’s feelings, desires, ideas, and actions.


 * Primary Resources** (that could be used to enhance historical exploration during lesson)

• Historical accounts of the strikers themselves - __Winnipeg 1919: The Strikers’ Own History__, by Norman Penner. • A government report describing the events that took place - __Manitoba Royal Commission’s Report Upon the Causes and Effects of the General Strike__. • A photograph taken during the strike of strikers tipping over a cable car. Taken from the website: http://sophrosyne.radical.r30.net/wordpress/?p=6021


 * Lesson Plan - Stage Two**


 * Mental Set** : A trigger activity for a lesson on the Winnipeg General Strike

//Materials needed// : Photocopies (one for each small group) of the photo and corresponding questions (or the ability to project both with an LCD projector).

//Plan// : • Teacher shows the students the photo and gets them to work in small groups (3) and answer the questions (on reverse side). The teacher reminds the students that each student in the group should fill in one box for the group. Answers do not need to be in complete sentences. • After 5 minutes the teacher assigns each group an identity and asks, “What Would You Do?” this is an excellent question to get students thinking about what is the "right" thing to do which is central to your question about whether an action is justified. (See groups/prompts below.) Students in each group discuss their ideas and come to a consensus. • When the class comes back together, a spokesperson from each group announces their decision.


 * CRISIS IN THE STREETS!**

- Questions 1 and 5 can be discussed orally. - For Questions 2-4, write your ideas down in the boxes.
 * Instructions** : Look at the photo and answer the questions below.



1. Discuss what you see in the picture.
 * 2. Who are all the different groups of people responsible for this situation? ||  ||
 * 3. Short-term solutions? ||  ||
 * 4. Long-term solutions? || 5. Discuss: How do you think this problem was actually resolved? ||
 * **What Would You Do?** ||
 * A) The person living in front of this garbage || Garbage collection has stopped for three weeks. You have two huge bags of garbage stinking up your house and you want to get rid of them. At the same time, the smelly garbage outside your door is also driving you crazy. ||
 * B) The garbage collectors || You currently make $22,000 a year and are struggling to pay the bills. You don’t want to quit because it is hard to find another job. You went on strike three weeks ago because your union is demanding a pay-raise of 10%. The city government is willing to pay you 5%. ||
 * C) The Mayor || The garbage collectors’ union is demanding a pay-raise of 10%. The city budget is already overdrawn and the city is in debt. In order to avert a crisis you offer them 5%, but they don’t budge. You are worried that other municipal workers will join the strike and that the city will confront chaos. ||
 * D) An average citizen || You live on a quiet street where most of the residents pay to have their garbage collected by a private company. Your street is clean. When you go to work everyday, you see that the rest of the city is a mess. ||
 * E) An unemployed man || You have gone many months without a job and are desperate to find work. The city has announced that they will hire temporary workers to collect the garbage for $15/hour. If the dispute is not settled, your job may become permanent, and you would make $22k/year (what the collectors were making before the strike). ||