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Lesson Plan 5
Grade/Subject: 7 / Social Studies – Chapter 6: Becoming Canada
Teacher: Miss McGovern
Date: March 11th, 2019

OUTCOMES
Learning Objective(s):

-Get the students to rephrase the information back to me

GLOs and SLOs:

GLOs:
7.1

SLOs:
7.1.1, 7.1.2, 7.1.3, 7.1.5, 7.1.6

ASSESSMENT
Formative:
-Observations during class
-Participation in the government roles activity

MATERIALS

-Chapter 6: Becoming Canada from the textbook  Put the digital textbook up on the smartboard

PROCEDURE (45 min.)

Introduction (5 min.)

Get everyone to come in, shake their hands on the way in, and have them pull out the tables and chairs.

Good afternoon everyone. I know it’s been a long day, it’s the last period, and you’re all a bit fidgety. But, we have
another lesson to get through today and I need your full attention. I have a lot to cover today.

Today we will be talking about a Divided Society.

Body (30 min.)

-So, last we talked, we found out about the slaves escaping through the Underground Railroad, going to “the land of
promise,” known as Canada
-Previous to that, we talked about The Great Migration, and how everyone came to Canada / British North America

-Now as we found out from the Migration, the population grew massively! As a result of this massive influx of people,
tensions grew.
-In time, these tensions caused an armed rebellion.
WHY CAN’T WE JUST BE AT PEACE???

Let’s find out!

Constitutional Act of 1791: Gave the British colonies a new form of government, where each colony had their own
governor and elected assembly

Assembly: a group of people gathered in one place for a common purpose (we had one this morning, and our common
purpose was...)

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In this situation, the Assembly is like a Congress: a formal meeting, or series of meetings for discussion between
political members

Show the chart on the smartboard, and use the pens to underline and circle important points on the chart (pg. 139)
Don’t worry about writing all of this down because this chart is in your textbooks. However, if you feel that something
is extra important, then by all means, write away.

Governor = head of state  appointed (chosen) by some political leaders in Britain

Executive Council = group of people who are allowed to put plans, actions, or laws into effect

Legislative Council = group of people who look at state problems and devises plans (laws) to solve them

Both of these councils are chosen by the Governor (head honcho/boss, picking his workers)

ALL of these people, were Anglophones ONLY (English speaking people from Upper and Lower Canada)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Legislative Assembly = group of people elected by voters who chose them to represent what they want

Voters = general population who cast their vote on an issue

-The majority of Leg. Assembly were Anglophones

-The ONLY Francophones in the mix, were the voters
-And this wasn’t even all of the Francophones!
-Had to own property to be able to vote!

With voting, you would think that people have a say, and their opinion would be heard.

BUT, the power of these Francophone votes only goes up to the horizontal line between the assembly and the councils.
Then it is the decisions of the Anglophone councils that make an actual difference.

Then what’s the point of voting???? To make it SEEM fair to the Francophone peoples.
____________________________________________________________________________________________

OVERALL PROCESS:
1) The people vote on whatever the situation is at the time (could be voting for a new council member, could be voting
for if they want a new law or not, etc.) This information shimmies up the ladder to
2) The Legislative Assembly representatives who state what the people want. This information shimmies up the
ladder to
3) The Legislative Council who look at the situation, make notes, and make a plan of action. This information
slides over to
4) The Executive Council, who look at the plan of action, makes some cuts, adjustments, and additions, and
makes an updated plan of action (law). This information shimmies up the ladder to
5) The Governor, for the final stamp of approval to pass the law/make the change happen
____________________________________________________________________________________________

To make this situation MORE UNFAIR:

-The council members who were appointed by the Governor, were actually the friends and relatives of the Governor
-Makes his job easier as he has more control, and simply picks the people he likes, who will favour his interests, rather
than people who deserve those positions

In Lower Canada, these people were known as Château Clique.

In Upper Canada, these people were known as the Family Compact.

Reformers: people who thought this was unfair, and wanted to make changes. They demanded change year after year,
but always were denied.

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Conclusion (10 min.)

Okay now I have a quick activity for us to embody this governmental hierarchy, BUT it is only going to work IF we
keep quiet and allow each other to perform our designated roles. Can we do it??? (yes we can!)

-Assign one table to be the Francophones  as the Francophones, what is your role? (voters)
-Have them take a quick vote by show of hands, whether or not they want school uniforms (most will vote no)
-Write the ratio of votes on the board
-The Voters have 10 seconds to decide on one person in the class to be their representative in the Legislative Assembly

-The selected person will then have to stand and state out loud to the class what the wish of the voters is

-As a political leader in Britain, I will choose my Governor to be ________

-___________, please pick 2 friends in the class to be your Executive Council
-Now please pick 2 more people to be your Legislative Council

-Our Legislative Assembly representative: _________! You have stated the wish of the Voters. Now, who are you
sending this information to?? (the Legislative Council)

-Now, more often than not, the Anglophones that made up the councils and the governor, wanted the EXACT
OPPOSITE of the people. SO, let’s pretend for a moment that you guys actually WANT the uniforms.
-Let’s say you make some notes as to why uniforms are actually great for society
-Who would you send your information to? (Executive Council)

-As the Executive Council, you guys will always go for what the Governor wants, and HE wants UNIFORMS.
-So, you make what kind of proposal? (a law)
-Then you will propose this law to???? (the Governor)

-___________! As the Governor, please stand and give us your final say as to whether or not you will pass the law to
bring uniforms into schools. (please say yes)

Now you have all experienced how the process of information travels in this form of government.
______________________________________________________________________________________________

Homework tonight:
-Practice making cue cards like we learned last Friday in Learning Strategies, by writing out the process in which
information travels through these political groups

-Model how to do the folded paper cue cards, and the empty chart

Tomorrow, you need to show me that you did them so that I know you understand it. It is not summative, but I need to
know you get it for formative.

Reflection

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