Lesson Plan Title: Canada: A Country of Courage and Diversity

Date: March 26, 2018

Subject: History 20 Grade: 11
Topic: WWII
Essential Question: What different cultures made up Canada’s army? Why is it important for you to
recognize your own culture and be accepting of the diverse cultures around you?

Materials:
- Access to YouTube and screen.
- Links to videos are in the Activities section of the plan. If you don’t have access to the computer
copy of this lesson plan, just type in the title that’s written by the link.
- Make sure all students have their journals and proper writing utensils.
- Poster papers and colored markers
- Access to computers and cellphones for research purposes

Stage 1- Desired Results – you may use student friendly language

What do they need to understand, know, and/or able to do?
This lesson will show students just how important Canada was in WWII. Canada’s army was full of many
diverse cultures and showed more courage and spirit than any other army during the war. Students will
understand the contribution of Indigenous soldiers and what their lives were like during the war. They will
then use this information as inspiration to go home and find out what their families culture is and if they were
involved in the war in any part.

Broad Areas of Learning:

Sense of Self, Community and Place- By looking at Canada’s involvement in WWII and the many indigenous
heroes that fought for Canada, students will have a better understanding of what it meant, and still means to
be Canadian. I wasn’t just white Canadians that fought for their country, it was all Canadians not matter their
cultural background.
Lifelong Learners- Students will be able to take their newly acquired knowledge about the many cultures that
fought for Canada and take that knowledge into their everyday life. This knowledge will inspire them to look
outside the box throughout their lives and that our Country involves everyone coming together and fighting
under one unified flag.
Engaged Citizens- With Canada’s army consisting of many different cultures fighting together, students will be
able to take this new idea of what it means to be Canadian apply it to their idea of what it means to be an
engaged citizen. Everyone needs to work together to fight for the same ground. They will learn that working
together, no matter the cultural background, is what produces victory and success.

Cross-Curricular Competencies:
Developing Thinking- Through guided questions and instruction, students will be in charge of researching
Indigenous war heroes and then developing questions about their own cultural identities.
Developing Identity- By looking at Canada’s involvement during the war and how diverse cultures came
together and fought side by side, students will be able to draw parallels to their own identities.
Developing Social Responsibility- With the help of the teacher, students will understand that it is their
responsibility to be aware of their own cultural identity and the identity of others. They will also develop an
understanding that everyone, no matter their culture, must work together to make a country strong.
Outcome(s): Taken from pg.24 of the History 20 Curriculum (no designations were provided)
- Students will understand that distinct populations will seek to secure the decision-making processes which
have an impact on their distinctiveness and well-being.
- Students will understand that there are challenges/issues that are global in that they have global
consequences and will require global involvement in seeking solutions to those issues.

PGP Goals:
4.2 - the ability to incorporate First Nations, Métis, and Inuit knowledge, content and perspective into all
teaching areas.
1.3 - a commitment to social justice and the capacity to nurture an inclusive and equitable environment for
the empowerment of all learners
3.2 - the ability to use a wide variety of responsive instructional strategies and methodologies to
accommodate learning styles of individual learners and support their growth as social, intellectual, physical
and spiritual beings

Stage 2- Assessment

Assessment FOR Learning (formative) Assess the students during the learning to help determine next steps.
By writing answers on the board for the introductory question, that is a good way at assessing the student’s
prior knowledge. You will then further assess the students during the group jigsaw activity by walking around
to each group and assisting them wherever needed. Finally, you can assess their presentations and posters
and the information they provided to their fellow classmates and provide on the spot feedback when needed.
Make sure to pay attention to the information thy chose as important. We have covered researching skills and
what information is important in previous lessons, so they should have a good understanding of proper
research and fact finding.

Assessment OF Learning (summative) Assess the students after learning to evaluate what they have learned.
During the presentations, students will be required to write down the name of each Indigenous war veteran
and a few facts for each in their journals. Like previous lessons, these journals will be handed in for marks to
make sure they have been listening and have a good understanding of what the lesson is about. They will then
have homework where they must research their own family’s culture and their involvement in WWII. They
will then hand these in at the beginning of next class. This is to make sure they can connect the content to
their own identities and the identities of their families.
Stage 3- Learning Plan

Motivational/Anticipatory Set (introducing topic while engaging the students)

Class will begin with the teacher writing the following question on the board, “How did the world see Canada
after WWII?”. Have the students answer the question using their previous knowledge. There are no right or
wrong answers. Then move on to show them the CBC video listed below. This is a great intro to give them
background information when looking at the diversity of Canada’s army.

Main Procedures/Strategies:
 Quick intro on Canada’s involvement in WW2: (15 mins)
Using the notes created using the information from CBC’s website on Canada’s involvement, talk
about Canada’s involvement in the war and what I meant to be a Canadian solider. Work with the
students to answer the question, “How did the world see Canada after WW2?”.
Website: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/remembering-canada-s-role-in-ww-ii-1.871801

 Indigenous Soldiers: Jigsaw Activity (35 mins)

Students will be split into groups and assigned an Indigenous Veteran who was awarded for their
involvement in WWII. Each group will have to do research on their assigned war hero and write up a
small 5 min long poster. They will then present this information to the rest of the class.
Give the students 20 mins to research some short facts about their veteran and 5 mins to write it on
the poster. IT is designed to be quick fact search, write up and not flashy.
List of Veterans: http://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/history/historical-sheets/aborigin

 Journal Entry (10 mins)

While each group is presenting, the other students should be writing the name of each Indigenous
Veteran and a fact or two for each.
Have students go home and find out about their family’s culture and if that culture had a part in
WWII. Students will be handing these entries in at the beginning of next class. If students can’t find
any information about their family, have them look up their family culture’s involvement. (EX. My
family’s culture is Dutch. What were the Dutch people doing during the war?)

Adaptations/Differentiation:
- Make sure when assigning groups to place higher achieving students with lower achieving students so
that they can help each other. This will provide a slight challenge and give the higher achieving
students more responsibility and provide lower achieving students with the proper assistance.
- If students need EAL support. If they don’t have previous devices to help them, have one student read
out the info out loud to the EAL students in case listening is easier than reading for them. Also,
information on most websites can be translated thought the search engine (Google Chrome, Explorer)
- If students have supports or cover content in a separate room, make sure that the specialized teacher
knows what you are doing in class.
- IF you feel necessary, you can extend the lesson to two days. You can’t go wrong with allowing the
students to learn more about their own country and cultures involvement in WWII.
- Don’t forget to walk around and provide assistance where necessary.
 Closing of lesson:
Before the end of the lesson, ask them a revised question from the intro question that they will answer at
home in their journals.
“How do you see Canada’s army and its involvement during WWII? Was your family involved in the war? If
they weren’t, did your family’s culture have a part in the war?”
Remind them of why it’s important to look at Canada’s involvement as a diverse group of cultures coming
together to fight for a common goal. That goal is Canada and being a citizen of such a proud and diverse
nation. It is important to realize that WWII wasn’t just fought by one culture, but many different cultures.
Many of these cultures, though different, learned to work together to succeed and live in harmony. Much like
the students in the classroom must respect and understand each other, so they can work together and
succeed.

Personal Reflection: Lesson hasn’t been taught in a real classroom and is subject to change based on success or
failure of the lesson.

M. Wilkinson ’16 *Adapted from Understanding by Design (McTighe and Wiggins, 1998)
 Reflection/Justification

This assignment was a perfect opportunity for me to delve into the lesson on Canada’s involvement in

the war from my WWII unit plan. The general idea of the lesson plan is to combat the common knowledge that

everyone seems to think is true. That knowledge is that Canada’s army consisted of only young, white, Christian

Canadian boys. This is of course way wrong and was the information I was fed growing up. The lesson starts with

an introduction to the general involvement of Canada in the war through an intro video and motivational set.

With the main theme and question revolving around the many cultures that made up Canada during the war.

We then go on to focus on the Indigenous war heroes that fought in the war and how it wasn’t just white

Canadians fighting overseas. It was a collection of the many cultures that made up our country. This will be

taught through a jigsaw activity where students will form groups and learn about just how important the

Indigenous peoples were to the war effort. By working in groups, students will also learn to work together and

be accepting of all ideas. This group work will foster the culture of the classroom and create a stronger

relationship amongst the diverse students. After the research is done, students will share their information with

the rest of the class where the teacher will instruct the students to write down what the other groups present

and build up teamwork with applause at the end of each presentation. Finally, students will then connect to

their own culture and family history through a small homework assignment that they will record in their journals

for a simple, low key mark. This journal assignment will help unpack their own identity and will help them to

connect to the cultural diversity that was realized during WWII. My main philosophy of education is that we are

all a team. Everyone including students, faculty and the community outside the school. My classroom is just like

the brave men and women who fought side by side to make our country what it is today. On the battlefield, all

cultures were recognized and accepted. In the end, it was the Canadian army, not the indigenous or white army.

The classroom is the battlefield and we must all understand each other and work together to succeed.

Next, I will go through the rubric and choose the criteria I feel I have met, both with my lesson plan and

the revision of my unit plan. I just wanted to reflect on the fact that before I started this assignment, I was trying
to think how I could make a unit on WWII culturally responsive. When I began to go through my unit I realized

that I was already on the right path to fostering a culturally exclusive classroom and I didn’t even realize it. I

mostly just had to change up my wording and add a few things to make sure I communicate it to my students,

but all in all in was a good start to developing an inclusive unit for all cultures and beliefs. I hope you enjoy the

lesson plan and revisions I have made to my unit because It really helped me grow as an inclusive instructor.

Outcome 1 – I feel I deserve a 4 in this category because I feel my plans are very effective in connecting my

lessons to the outcomes and indicators and I utilize my strategies and assessment in a proper manner.

Outcome 2 – I believe this is a 4. I can’t make my goal any clearer and my instruction is designed to help my

students achieve that goal, not just alone but together as a team.

Outcome 3 & 4 – I believe a 4 or 5 is achieved because the lessons I chose need to be related to the outcomes

and indicators or else why would I even bother with this lesson. In addition, my lessons and materials are sub

ready.

Outcome 5 & 6 – This is a 4. Both my formative and summative lessons are easy to follow and focus on the most

important elements and are an excellent way to check where they are at.

Outcome 7 – I have a lot of evidence of where I made changes to my unit plan and just generally increasing my

knowledge of culturally inclusive instruction. I give myself 3-4 because I still feel I need that feedback from

others to fully grow and move forward.

Outcome 11 – 5, because this is what this assignment is all about and me learning both from and with my

students about their culture and my own.

Outcome 12 – 4 is where I sit. I have a good variety of questions both for my essential question, the beginning

of the lesson and at the end of the lesson that help my students achieve the outcomes and understand the

importants of diversity and culture.

Outcome 14 & 15 – Both of these can be anywhere from 3 – 4. My plans reflect my preparation to meet the

needs of different students, however I feel at this point it’s hard to list all the needs because I haven’t had a

chance to try this in the classroom and don’t know the needs of my future students. My lesson is also very

engaging in my opinion and will hopefully provide interest and connect to my students.

Outcome 16 – I strongly believe this is a 5 because my students will have developed literacies in communication,

group work, presentations and self-discovery and reflection via the journals.

Outcomes 17, 18, 19 & 20 – I have grouped all 4 because they pertain to my unit plan and feel that I deserve a 4

in all the categories. The reason I say this because I already felt that I had a strong unit plan to begin with and

this assignment can only make it stronger. I still don’t feel it’s a 5 because I still need to test it in a real situation,

but other than that it’s well on its way.

I feel that with every assignment I am meeting so many of my goals which all revolve around me

becoming a force for change and inspiration as an educator. I want to make lessons/units that engage my

students and help them make connections to the content, themselves and the world around them. With each

assignment, I feel I am moving closer and closer to making my goals a reality.