Following the trip to Dundurn Castle on Monday December 3rd, each Hamilton campus pre-service teacher will create a brief description of an activity that could take place before or after a field trip. Click the comments button below to leave a brief description of your field trip activity.
12 comments:
Sir Allan MacNab was a political figure important in the history of Canada pre-confederation. Therefore, a pre-trip in class activity for grade 8 students could include a webquest concerning the steps towards confederation. A suggested site would be: http://www.collectionscanada.ca/confederation/023001-2300-e.html. This site includes teacher resources. Following the trip one could continue to use the same format to teach the students about how the parliment system changed and investigate the roles of the Prime Minsters using the following website: http://www.collectionscanada.ca/primeministers/kids/index-e.html
Julie M
Group E
While at Dundurn Castle we were told about the way of life of the poor and the rich. We were given an explanation of how children as young as 8 years old that came from poor families would often leave their homes in order to be employed in the home of a person of higher class (a rich person) as servants or help around the house. It was also explained that these children would not get an education, but would just work for a living, an on the rare occasion get some instruction on reading from a cook or a butler if they were lucky.
Along this very same line we were told about the lives of children that came from wealthy families. It was explained to us that these children went to school and were given an education, teaching children how to read and write and so forth. However, though adults knew that education was crucial, they were still somewhat ‘backward’ in terms of gender roles. It was said that the gender roles of men and women were programmed into people at a very young age and this was very obvious from their toys. Precise examples would be that women would receive gifts or toys such as Tea sets, cookers, etc, preparing them for a life of taking care of a home, whereas boys were given toys or gifts such as toy soldiers or canons, imbedding in them their duty to fight and be in the service.
A great activity that can be done after the visit to Dundurn Castle and that would touch on a specific grade 3 expectation that states ‘compare and contrast aspects of daily life for early settler children and children in present day Ontario –social studies, Curriculum Strand,” would be to have students fill in a Venn Diagram and show the similarities and differences in the lives of children from the past (taking into account their social status), and the lives of children from today.
Lena.Z Group E
The History curriculum expectations for Grade 7 state that students "use inquiry/research and communication skills to identify social, economic, political and legal changes in the colonies between 1837 and 1850". A visit to Dundurn castle fits in perfectly with this expectation as it gives students a glimpse into the lives of Canadian people of that time period.
Before taking the class on this field trip, the class ideally would study the key issues and events of the rebellions of 1837-38 including the roles of key figures. The class could then be given a role-play project with each student playing a role in the conflict. Students would need to research their role in the historical events, using a "variety of primary and secondary sources to locate relevant information about key personalities involved in the rebellions". (Inquiry/research and communication skills)
The Great Paperchase tour of Dundurn Castle would be an excellent way for students to learn about and use primary sources to research the daily lives of people of that time period. Primary sources are often difficult to obtain in the classroom setting and a fieldtrip to Dundurn would give the students experience with this type of research.
Students would then take their research back to the class and incorporate their discoveries into their role play project to make the presentation as "real-life" as possible.
Susan W. - Group E
Heritage and Citizenship: Grade 2 – Traditions and Celebrations
- Outline traditions of various cultures that are passed down from earlier generations (e.g., celebrations, names);
- Identify community celebrations that reflect their own heritage and/or their Canadian identity (e.g., Remembrance Day, Victoria Day, Aboriginal Solidarity Day, Chinese New Year).
In meeting with the grade two curriculum expectations outlined above, for Traditions and Celebrations, an excellent pre-activity associated with Dundurn Castle would be to look at the changes that cultural traditions have had over the years. Recognizing the cultural diversity of members of the class, students would be asked to do a small research project (on any tradition/celebration but Christmas) and show how it has changed over time. Students could speak with family members, friends, neighbours, etc, about traditions they had as children. Students would be asked to share their information with the class. As the teacher, prepare the students for the class trip by questioning what they believe the common traditions associated with Christmas are today. Brainstorm a list of things that students think might have been celebrated differently/similarly in the 1800’s. Students would then travel to Dundurn Castle where they would go back in time to experience Christmas in the 1800’s. They would participate in activities and games experienced in that time period, as well as observe decorations and other traditions of that era. A class discussion after the trip would be effective for reviewing the previous ideas that students had shared. Working through the brainstormed list of Christmas traditions with students would allow students to make connections to what has changed, and what has remained a tradition. A further extension would include students writing a journal entry predicting how current traditions will change in the next hundred years.
1. Pre-Trip Activity: The Detectives:
At the end of this activity students will have an understanding of how artefacts, e.g., journals, clothes, toys, other personal belongings, magazines, newspapers, political cartoons etc. help historians interpret a time period, or tell a story.
Teacher will display a number of modern everyday items, (for example, see above, as well as the following, books, IPods, DVD’s, calculators), with the owners’ (fictional) name attached (optional, could be anonymous). Students will be divided into small groups and each group will choose/be given an item. Their task is to pretend they are detectives, and using the item as evidence, create a profile of the owner of the item (optional: graphic organizers could be supplied by the teacher to direct and focus students).
Each group will share their profiles, indicating what evidence, assumptions etc. they made to create the profile of the owner.
Conclusion: Teacher will explain the importance of primary and secondary sources to historians, developing the analogy between detective and historian. Students will be encouraged to pay particular attention to the types of artefacts they will see in the Dundurn Castle Tour and how historians use them to make interpretations of the time period they are studying (1837-38).
4.Post-Trip Activity – The Detectives – Part 2
Students will take on the role of an historian/detective and study/investigate copies of primary source documents from key players in the rebellions of 1837-38. Using stimulus questions provided by the teacher, in for example a worksheet or graphic organizer, students will summarize the main point, issue or conflict described in the document as well as the feelings and emotions of the author. As an extension, or cross curricular task, students could convey the author’s ideas, opinions, point of view and emotions in a role play activity. As an art extension students could create a political cartoon depicting the ideas/issues/conflict in the primary source document under investigation (of course after studying the elements and characteristics of political cartoons).
Denise Group E
Dundurn Castle, a restored house is an excellent venue to discover the power of primary documents and artifacts to open the world of our past. The field trip program can introduce students to the skills of historical inquiry and communicating their discoveries about real historic questions. This can be incorporated to Grade 7 History curriculum, Conflict and Change. Students should be able to use a variety of primary and secondary sources to locate information.
With a hands-on activity using documents and maps, students examine issues confronting the citizens of a rapidly expanding city. During an interactive tour at Dundurn Castle, students discover how artifacts can be used to provide insights into the daily lives of people.
Students after the field trip should be able to describe and analyze conflicting points of view about a series of historical events
1. An interesting, engaging activity that I would introduce to my Grade 8 class to help prepare for a trip to Dundurn Castle would be a general overview of the life of Sir Allan Napier MacNab, with particular attention to the significant public role he played in The War of 1812, The Rebellion of 1837, and his becoming Prime Minister of the United Province of Canada. A particular focus should be given to the regional interests, and how MacNab made a great deal of money by capitalizing on those interests. I feel it would be interesting to see that they are not going on a field trip to the home of an obscure politician from the time period, but someone who knew Sir John A. Macdonald himself, and was a prominent personality himself. There would also be an interesting insight gained in seeing how such a public figure lived his private life. Among others, www.wikipedia.org has a very comprehensive profile of MacNab.
2. At a meeting with the trip volunteers in which police checks were in order, there would still be items that need to be addressed. Division of the students among the volunteers, so that each is responsible for a small number, is one issue. Proper seatbelt restraints is another, as is valid driver’s licences for all drivers. Meeting places upon arrival at the site would need to be agreed upon. Although Dundurn is not a huge site, there should be some discussion on protocol should a student become separated from the group. Finally, there should be an agreed upon method to account for all students before leaving the site, and a place and time to which all trip members should return.
3. In Grade 8 History, students study Confederation. This field trip would address the following expectations: (By the end of Grade 8, students will:)
- use [...] primary and secondary sources to locate relevant information about the regional interests of [Upper Canada] before [...] joining the Dominion of Canada
- describe and analyse conflicting points of view about a historical [...] personality
- analyse, synthesize, and evaluate historical information
4. After returning from the trip, the next Social Studies period would contain an activity where students revise their earlier information gathered about MacNab, and explore further sources. Specifically, what they should be looking for are differing points of view, possibly even historical information that, thanks to their exposure to a primary source, may be discredited or at least suspected. For instance, students may wish to explore the nature of the monetary dispute between MacNab and Jarvis.
Chris S.
Group E
Dundurn Castle takes us back to the year 1855 when the home’s original owner, Sir Allan Napier McNab, was at the height of his career as a lawyer, landowner, railway magnate, and Premier. Although most of McNab’s belongings were sold off after he died, all of the paint, wallpaper, carpeting, furniture, and accessories in Dundurn Castle have been carefully selected by historians to paint an accurate picture of what life in this home might have been like in 1855. The home’s many rooms, including those used by the McNab family as well as those used by their servants, provide an opportunity for visitors to compare the lives of these two different groups of people at this point in Hamilton’s history.
An interesting activity that could follow a trip to Dundurn Castle would be to have students write a response about what they think life might have been like in this home, comparing the lives of the different people living there. In this response students would be asked to talk about things that they saw in certain rooms of the castle, details that they noticed, what this made them think about, and how the trip made them feel. After students have written their responses, there should be an opportunity for a sharing of these responses with the rest of the class. Every student, no matter what age, will have noticed and responded differently to different rooms and items around the house, so this activity will introduce other students to new perspectives and ideas on things they themselves did not notice or never even thought of. Following the students responses, the teacher could then also go into more of a lesson about life at this time, depending on what the students do or do not know after having the chance to discover these things for themselves.
A field trip to Dundurn Castle is an excellent venue to incorporate in a grade 7 unit in history on the “Conflict and Change” strand of the curriculum. Dundurn Castle is the home of Sir Allan MacNab who supported the royalist cause in Upper Canada during the Rebellion of 1837. Dundurn Castle provides a program called “The Great Paper Chase” which enables students to experience “the power of primary documents and artefacts to open the world to our past . . . introduces students to the skills of historical inquiry and communicating their discoveries about real historical questions”. Two specific expectations of the Ontario curriculum which this field trip addresses are: use a variety of primary and secondary sources to locate relevant information involved in the rebellions (e.g., primary sources: artefacts, journals, letters, statistics, field trips, period documents and maps; secondary sources: maps, illustrations, print materials, videos, CD-ROMs, Internet sights); analyse, synthesize, and evaluate historical information (e.g., Papineau’s Ninety-two Resolutions).
A pre-field trip activity would be to introduce students to the concept of primary and secondary sources. The website http://ohq.tpl.toronto.on.ca/gr7-intro.jsp provides the class with an interactive site to examine what constitutes a primary source and how it is different from a secondary source.
The following agenda items should be discussed with trip volunteers:
• The volunteer should stay with their assigned group of students.
• The volunteer should be given the agenda for the scheduled activities and it should be reinforced that students cannot deviate from this agenda.
• Any significant behaviour issues should be brought to the attention of the teacher.
• Students are expected to be respectful to the volunteers and museum staff and any concerns should be brought to the attention of the teacher.
• Volunteers are responsible for their assigned number of students and should know their whereabouts at all times.
An activity which could be done after this field trip would be to break off into groups to re-examine the information they have seen at Dundurn Castle and evaluate and place this primary data within the context of a secondary sources such as a textbook. How do the two sources compare? What similar types of information do they provide and what is different?
Part of the grade 8 history curriculum for Canda: A Changing Society, requires students to look at past technological developments in Canada and compare and contrast them to what we had today. A cool activity for students after the trip to Dundurn Castle would be to compare the technologies the McNab family had (the plumbing-flushing toilets, the dumb waiter, the bell system in each room) and compare them to what we have today. They could expand on this by working on a creative writing letter from the future that explains specific technological advances from present day that have become obsolete.
Caitlin S.
group E
The Grade 7 History curriculum "Conflict and Change", deals with students examining primary and secondary sources to locate information on the causes of the rebellion of 1837-38 in Upper and Lower Canada. Dundurn Castle runs a curriculum based field trip program that explores the life of Sir Allan Napier MacNab and his family. The field trip, "The Great Paperchase", allows the students to examine and discuss the various primary and secondary sources that were consulted to restore the castle, learn about the MacNab family, and discover the lives of those living in the 19th century during the rebellion.
An important pre-field trip activity would be to explain the importance of collecting research when looking at events that take place in our past. Students will learn about the difference between primary and secondary sources from 1837-38 by examining materials provided by the teacher on some key historical events during that time. Following this activity students will have a class discussion about what they learned from the different sources they consulted and which sources provided the most useful information.
Following the field trip at Dundurn Castle, students will have had the opportunity to formulate questions to help with their research and analyse and evaluate primary and secondary documents from and about the MacNab family to help them answer the questions posed. An excellent post-field trip activity will be to have the students use the information they gathered from their trip to Dundurn and information they collected during the pre-field trip activity to design a creative presentation. The presentation will include a role-playing skit, a poster that highlights major points and pictures that represent what they have learned about the time period, and a lastly, a short oral presentation where they will use the poster as a guideline for discussion about the topic.
Lauren S
Group E
While touring Dundurn Castle, we learned a lot about the Sir Allan MacNab and his family. There were various pictures and artefacts that represented the family and their daily lives. I understand that most of the items in the Castle are not original pieces, but as stated by the tour guide, using various primary resources, they pieced this home together.
The part that I found interesting, and as the tour guide mentioned, the students would find interesting as well, was the actions of the children who lived in the Castle. This made me consider a post-field activity that would make demonstrate the students’ understanding of how the MacNab children lived.
Incorporating Language Arts curriculum, students can address various parts of the curriculum (depending on their grade) in a journal entry by one of the children living in the MacNab home. NOTE: different requirements would be stated depending on the grade. This may also be a journal entry by one of the young workers who lived in the home, but I believe it would be richer with information if the students used a MacNab child.
This would be a great demonstration of how well the students were listening too!
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