Steps+to+Autonomy+–+1920s+&+1930s

     Usha's comments in Blue.

Your name: Stacy Dunn

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

=== Name of Gr. 10 Textbook examined: Bolotta, Angelo, Charles Hawkes, Fred Jarman, Marc Keirstead, and Jennifer Watt. __Canada: Face of a Nation__ . Toronto: Gage, 2000. (Actually a Grade 10 textbook used at the Etobicoke School of the Arts) ===

Name of more "scholarly" source examined: Lloyd, Lorna(1996) ''Equality means freedom to differ': Canada, Britain and the world court in the 1920s', Diplomacy & Statecraft, 7: 2, 314 — 344 (accessed via University of Toronto Libraries database)

__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! Some interesting points that I found after looking through the sections of the text on the 1920s and 1930s (as well as looking at the index):
 * The text provides a great introduction into the history of Canada (because obviously is it hard to go in depth into every facet of the history of our country, especially in an introductory course at the secondary level). However, in regard to Canadian autonomy, the text book is very vague. In the text, the development of Canadian autonomy is greatly overshadowed by other developments in history, such as discussions of Canada's involvement in the World Wars, the Depression, etc. While the text does explore the various Canadian victories in the war (without much mention about the nationalism that those victories invoked within Canadian citizens), it barely touches upon the Byng-King crisis, the roles of the Governor General vs. the Prime Minister, and the Statute of Westminster. In fact, the following were not even mentioned in the text book at all: The Chanuk Crisis of 1922, The Halibut Treaty of 1923, or the Balfour Report of 1926 (which are all steps in fostering Canada's growing autonomy in the 20s).
 * For example, at the beginning of the chapter devoted to 1929-1945: The statute of Westminster is not even listed in the timeline of highlights during this specific period. The only times that the Statute of Westminster is mentioned in the text is:
 * VERY briefly in a 1 page biography of William Lyon Mackenzie King: “His work succeeded in 1931 when Britain passed a law called the Statute of Westminster” (p. 139)– there is no further explanation offered of what that success entails, nor of what led up to or is included in the Statute.
 * In a section on WWII: “Since the Statute of Westminster, Canada controlled its own foreign affairs and was no longer automatically at war when Britain went to war” (p. 142). Prior to this in the text, there is no adequate explanation of the Statute that gave Canada parliamentary freedom.
 * Finally, the word autonomy is not even present in the index in the back, and the term nationalism is only listed as being used on one page in the text. The fact that these terms are practically nonexistent in the text is reflective of the omission of the foundations of Canada as an independent nation in the Canadian history being taught within the curriculum. While there is mention of growing Canadian nationalism resulting from various things (such as victories in the war effort, and in sports to list a few), the Parliamentary freedom of Canada is significantly overlooked**.**

Thanks, Stacy. This is a very interesting observation. It's almost as if they needed to include the words "Statute of Westminster", for example, to be credible; so they did without really explaining them. On the other hand, perhaps it is a judgement about relative significance. It would be interesting to compare the treatment by other texts to see if it is similar or different. Thanks, again.

- Critical challenge: __Critique the Piece:__ It is 1931 and the Statute of Westminster has just been passed. You are a reporter for one of the leading newspapers in your area. It is your job to write an article to inform the public on **how** significant this statute is in impacting Canada’s autonomy. Within the article be sure to provide a summary of the steps that led to the passing of this Statute, as well as an exploration of the overall importance of these events in contributing to Canadian nationalism.

Nicely done, Stacy. I think the writing of an article is clearly a "design to specs". It is a critique the piece IF you are clear that you want them to take a stand on how significant the Statute of Westminster is. If you ask them to judge it in light of other steps to autonomy (e.g. Chanak Affair, King-Byng Affair, Balfour declaration, etc.), then it is a "judge the better or the best". Right now you've asked them to summarize and explore in the article which, in and of itself, might not lead to critical thinking but if they have to come out with a judgement, than it will. (Thanks Usha! Based on your suggestions, I tweaked it a bit to make it lead to more critical thinking.) Looks good, Stacy - the tweak works!

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__**Lesson Design - Intial Planning Stages (still a work in progress until Friday)**__

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**Identify Key Learning / "Big idea"/ Learning Target:** Students will understand how important it is for a nation to have the ability to self-govern, and how having parliamentary independence contributes to a nation's identity. Well said. =====

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1) __New Report__: The activity that goes with this question is that students are going to write an article to inform the public on how significant the Statute of Westminister is in impacting Canada's autonomy. Within the article, they will have to tie in the various steps (e.g the Chanuck Crisis, Balfour Report, etc) through the 1920s that led to the passing of the statute, as well as explore how these events contributed to Canadian nationalism. Just a heads up - they might not be able to write a whole article during the course of a single lesson; that will probably take more scaffolding. They could plan a news report =====

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Revised: Will scaffold a news report that is to be set directly after the Statute of Westminister is passed. On the first day of the lesson I will provide an outline of the criteria for a news report. I will provide students with a breakdown of the various elements they need to include in their report, such as the 5w's and 1h, 2-3 points that outline how significant the Statute is to Canadian nationalism, and they also must choose 1 or 2 of the other steps taken through the 1920s that they view to be significant as well (so this brings in some judgement, and narrows down the steps towards autonomy that they need to cover in the report). They can fill this throughout the lesson as they learn, and they have a little more time to form an opinion on the significance. Good idea. Manageable within the timeframe of a single lesson. =====

**What dimension of Historical Thinking will students actively engage in during this lesson?**
- __Historical Significance__: How signficant are the events leading up to and including the Statute of Westminister on impacting Canada's autonomy to self-rule? Yes, the topic definitely deals with both but you should probably not make it too hard on yourself and just stick with explicitly addressing one in the lesson. - __Specific Expectations:__ (from curriculum document) - summarize the evolution of Canadian political autonomy from Great Britain since World War I (e.g.,Treaty of Versailles, Balfour Report, Statute of Westminster); - assess the contributions of selected Canadian political leaders since 1914 (in this lesson: William Lyon Mackenzie King); - formulate different types of questions (e.g., factual, causal, comparative and speculative) when researching historical topics, issues, and events; - analyse information, employing concepts and theories appropriate to historical inquiry (e.g., chronology, cause and effect, short- and long-term consequences); - draw conclusions and make reasoned generalizations or appropriate predictions on the basis of relevant and sufficient supporting evidence; - __Content/skills__: Students will need to know how Canadian nationalism was on the rise following World War I, and how Canadians were becoming less loyal to Britian. This leads into an exploration of various events that mark the growing desire for Canada to be a self-governing nation, like the Canada being able to sign the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, The Chanuck Crisis in 1922, The Halibut Treaty in 1923, the King-Byng Affair in 1925, the Balfour Report in 1926, and the opening of new foreign embassies in 1927/8.
 * Background Knowledge:**

**Criteria for Judgement: (rough...still working on)**
- criteria for what makes something significant. An event is significant if... Yes- what IS the criteria for significance? Consider completing this sentence: "An event is significant if.. These are good. You might want to look at the criteria for historical significance in Chapter 9 to see if any of the criteria suggested might work for you. - criteria for an informative news report: you'll need a "qualifier" here. You don't just want any old news report, you want an "informative" or "engaging" or "insightful" news report. Then, you need criteria for what would make it informative or insightful, etc.  good!
 * people are affected by it (whether negatively or positively)
 * it was especially prominent at the time (brought about noticeable change: i.e. socially, economically, politically, etc.).
 * it is something that has never occurred before in a certain area, during a certain time, or to a certain group of people.
 * the magnitude, scope and impact of its consequences were immense.
 * Informs the reader of the who, where, what, why, when and how of the event(s) being covered in the report
 * Connects the content of the report to the bigger picture, to show the impact.

**Habit of Mind:**
Persistence/Perserverance

**Thinking Strategies:**
-

**Critical Thinking Vocabulary:**
__Evaluation:__ To judge or determine quality or worth. I think that evaluation is important in this lesson, as well as within the critical activity, because the students need to evaluate the various steps that led towards parliamentary freedom and to determine the different levels of importance/impact. Ultimately, the critical challenge is asking students to explore how significant the Statute of Westminister is.