EDPB 505 Language Arts Unit Plan Daniel Richardson

This unit plan will focus on a Language Arts based approach to First Nations learning, connection
to land, family, culture and an introduction to residential schools. It has been created with the
information and recommendations set forth in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Interim Report.
I have included the first three lessons of the unit. These are based on the books Shi-shi-etko by Nicola
Campbell and When I Was Eight by Christy Jordan-Fenton and Margret Pokiak-Fenton. The first three
lessons will also include a video titled Shi-shi-etko and another titled Teaching about Residential Schools
to children! The remaining LA lessons will focus on the residential school experiences of an Inuit girl
named Olemaun and her subsequent reuniting with and rejection by her mother in the book Not My
Girl. I will also include a Social Studies lesson where the students will look at images and blueprints of
actual residential schools, the daily schedules of students in residential schools and compare these to
their own lives. The second cross curricular lesson that I will plan will be an Art lesson which will result in
the culminating project of the students creating a Memory Bag like the one the Shi-Shi-Etko made
before she went away to residential school. The Memory Bag will allow the students to put all the work
that they will have done during this unit in to one personalized place for me to assess and finally for
them to take home.

Learning Outcomes
It is my hope that by the end of this unit the students will have a better understanding of the following
concepts as related to First Nations learning and culture:
Learning is focused on connectedness, on reciprocal relationships, and a sense of place.
Learning involves generational roles and responsibilities.
Learning recognizes the role of indigenous knowledge.
Learning is embedded in memory, history, and story.
Learning requires exploration of ones identity.

Description of Learning Activities and Strategies

My unit will include the following learning activities and strategies:
Pre-reading activities
Guided or independent student practice
Reflection
"What I know, what I want to know, and what I learned"
Making meaning
Analyze and interpret

In the first lesson we will start with the pre-reading activities of a sort and predict and a T-chart
What We Know-What We Wonder discussion. As a class we will discuss what we know about First
Nations People, their culture, and their connection to the land. We will that proceed to a sort and
predict based on vocabulary from the book. Before we read the book, students will work in pairs to cut-
out and sort the words into categories that they think are relevant and predict what the story is about.
Students will be given sticky notes so that as I read the story they can write down questions to place on
EDPB 505 Language Arts Unit Plan Daniel Richardson

the board. These questions will be placed in our What We Wonder side of the T-Chart for later
discussion.

In the second lesson we will return to our What We Wonder questions and discuss them. We will then
watch a short video recreating the story of Shi-shi-etko. A large part of her story is her walk of
remembrance through the forest. We shall then brainstorm a list of words about a forest journey. What
you would see, hear, touch, taste, and smell as you walked through the forest. With this list of words the
students will then be asked to perform a writing prompt based on the title A Walk in the Forest. At the
end of the lesson we will reflect on where Shi-shi-etko was going. The story never says residential
school it on says she is going off to school. With this new found knowleged students will be asked to
make meaning of what the forest walk and the memory bag meant for Shi-shi-etko.
The third lesson will start with a discussion of what a residential school is and what it is not. We
will begin with another T-Chart What We Know-What We Wonder discussion. Students will again
place sticky notes on the board of what they think goes on in a residential school. At this point we will
read the story When I Was Eight and what the short video about what a residential school is. Students
will then work in groups to come up with a definition in their own words of what a residential school is
and present this to the class. We will finish up with a look back at and a discussion about our starting
questions.
The final two Language Arts lessons will follow along similar lines as these three lessons.
Students will write out a schedule of what their average day is like. These will be compared to actual
daily schedules as written down by residential school survivors. The final lesson will look at the rejection
of a residential school student by her mother when she returns home. The girl has been culturally
assimilated and her mother says she is no longer her girl. At this point we will circle back to the story of
Shi-shi-etko and how her connection to the land, her family and her culture were so important to her
and in both cases this was taken from them.

Assessment Methods
Assessment methods will be both formative and summative. Some of the formative methods that I will
use will be written reflections, checks for understanding and class deliverables. These will include things
like our KWL sticky activities and discussions, questioning of students about previous lessons and our
group collaboration and presentation.
The summative assessments that will be used will be though the submission of the portfolio of work or
Memory Bag as we will call it. This will include all of the things that we created (writing prompt, sort and
predict, daily schedule, drawings, etc.)

Assessment Criteria
The student listened to and responded to the stories.
The student asked and answered questions about their background knowledge.
The student listened to and responded to narrative and non-fiction text.
The student summarized understanding of key vocabulary through writing and presentation.
The students work that is handed in was neat and complete
EDPB 505 Language Arts Unit Plan Daniel Richardson

The students work demonstrates a deeper knowledge of what learning from a First Nations perspective
is about (holistic, connected, generational, spatial, and reciprocal)
The students work demonstrates a deeper knowledge of what the land, culture, and family meant to
the First Nations learner.

Curricular connections of lessons:

Language Arts Lessons
BIG IDEA:
Language and text can be a source of creativity and joy.
Exploring stories and other texts helps us understand ourselves and make connections to others
and to the world.
Texts can be understood from different perspectives.
Using language in creative and playful ways helps us understand how language works.
Questioning what we hear, read, and view contributes to our ability to be educated and
Comprehend and connect (reading, listening, viewing)
Access information and ideas from a variety of sources and from prior knowledge to build
understanding
Use a variety of comprehension strategies before, during, and after reading, listening, or viewing
to guide inquiry and deepen understanding of text
Synthesize ideas from a variety of sources to build understanding
Consider different purposes, audiences, and perspectives in exploring texts
Apply a variety of thinking skills to gain meaning from texts
Identify how differences in context, perspectives, and voice influence meaning in texts
Explain the role of language in personal, social, and cultural identity
Use personal experience and knowledge to connect to text and develop understanding of self,
community, and world
Respond to text in personal and creative ways
Recognize how literary elements, techniques, and devices enhance meaning in texts
Show an increasing understanding of the role of organization in meaning
Demonstrate awareness of the oral tradition in First Peoples cultures and the purposes of First
Peoples texts
Identify how story in First Peoples cultures connects people to land
Create and communicate (writing, speaking, representing)
Exchange ideas and perspectives to build shared understanding
Use language in creative and playful ways to develop style
Communicate in writing using paragraphs and applying conventions of Canadian spelling,
grammar, and punctuation
Develop and apply expanding word knowledge
Use oral storytelling processes
Transform ideas and information to create original textsengaged citizens.
EDPB 505 Language Arts Unit Plan Daniel Richardson

Social Studies lessons

BIG IDEA:
Europeans produced conflict and cooperation which shapes Canadas identity today.
CURRICULAR COMPETENCIES
Students will develop competencies needed to be active, informed citizens:
Use Social Studies inquiry processes (ask questions, gather, interpret and analyze ideas, and
communicate findings and decisions)
Ask questions and corroborate inferences about the content and origins of different sources
Sequence objects, images, and/or events and recognize the positive and negative aspects of
continuities and changes in the past and present (continuity and change)
Differentiate between intended and unintended consequences of events, decisions, and/or
developments and speculate about alternative outcomes (cause and consequence)
Take stakeholders perspectives on issues, developments, and/or events by making inferences
about their beliefs, values, and motivations (perspective)
Make ethical judgments about events, decisions, and/or actions that consider the conditions of
the time and place, and assess appropriate ways to respond and remember (ethical judgment)
CONCEPTS AND CONTENT
Students will know and understand the following concepts and content related to
Contemporary Canadian Issues:
Discriminatory government policies, including the Head Tax and Komagata Maru; and the
responses and reactions over time, including residential schools and internments.
First Peoples land ownership and use
Art Lesson
BIG IDEA:
Engaging in creative expression and experiences expands peoples sense of identity and
belonging.
Works of art influence and are influenced by the world around us.
Exploring and creating
Explore connections to identity, place, culture, and belonging through creative expression
Explore a range of cultures, and the relationships among cultures, societies, and the arts
Reasoning and reflecting
Connect knowledge and skills from other areas of learning in planning, creating, interpreting,
and analyzing works for art
Examine relationships between the arts and the wider world
Communicating and documenting
Interpret and communicate ideas using symbols and elements to express meaning through the
arts
Express, feelings, ideas, and experiences through the arts
EDPB 505 Language Arts Unit Plan Daniel Richardson

Schedule based on current practicum class

Ultimately I would schedule the lessons to run like this if possible.
Language Arts lessons
Social Studies lesson
Art Lesson

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

840-900 Attendance/Announcements/Morning Activities
900-1015 Language Arts Language Arts Language Arts Language Arts Language Arts
Social Studies Social Studies Social Studies Social Studies Social Studies
Science Science Science Science Science

1015-1030 Recess
1030-1145
1145-1215 Recess
1215-1240 Eat/Read Aloud
1245-130 Art
130-220

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

840-900 Attendance/Announcements/Morning Activities
900-1015 Language Arts Language Arts Language Arts Language Arts Language Arts
Social Studies Social Studies Social Studies Social Studies Social Studies
Science Science Science Science Science

1015-1030 Recess
1030-1145
1145-1215 Recess
1215-1240 Eat/Read Aloud
1245-130 Art
130-220