All Community Read: Teaching Rolling Warrior and Being Heumann

Posted by Facing History and Ourselves Canada on November 16, 2022

  • Looking for resources to weave disability representation into your literature equity and inclusion work?
  • Interested in receiving a free class set of books by disability justice warrior, Judith Heumann?  (first come first serve, read below to find out more!)
  • Are you a middle and/or high school teacher of English Language Arts, humanities, social studies, civics and/or Special Education?

Facing History & Ourselves’ 2022-23 All Community Read will be a collective journey of transformation supported by an educator workshop and author event. We will engage in conversation around the young adult and adult versions of Judith Heumann’s memoirs:

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Topics: Books, English Language Arts, Professional Development, Online Workshop, ELA, Community, English Classroom, English, Disability education, book club

Weaving Disability Representation into your Literature Equity and Inclusion Work

Posted by Keagan Stoyles on April 28, 2022

“Either way, the fact that you are here at all changes everything.  Because this - you and me, looking at these stories together - this is one of the most beautiful parts of being a human; the drive to connect and understand, heal and blossom.  This is the kernel that takes my breath away; the piece that I want to hold on to.”

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Topics: Books, English Language Arts, ELA, English Classroom, English, Disability education, book club

Thoughtfully Choosing Texts in an English Classroom

Posted by Facing History and Ourselves Canada on October 26, 2021

Choosing a piece of literature for your course is an important decision. Take a moment to reflect on the very small number of books you will have the opportunity to introduce to your students in any given year. Stories have the potential to help students understand different perspectives, question their surroundings, and build empathy in meaningful and communal ways. With such an important role to play, these are some of the questions we encourage you to consider when deciding how to develop a course and which texts to teach:

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Topics: To Kill a Mockingbird, Books, English Language Arts, English Classroom, Literature, English

Closing the 2021 School Year by Empowering Student Voice: Videos for Change

Posted by Cora-Lee Conway & Jasmine Wong on April 1, 2021

Knowing that experiences of loss, isolation and disconnection caused by the pandemic have exacerbated the everyday challenges many face, we ask, what could it mean for students if they had an opportunity to tell their story or speak out on an issue that they care about? And what if students could feel heard?  

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Topics: Film, Human Behavior, Upstanders, Video, Upstander, English Classroom, culminating, Digital Learning

Historical Fiction to Supplement Hidden Figures

Posted by Natalie Steele on January 11, 2021

This blog post is the 2nd in a multi-part series. Natalie Steele, an educator with Peel District School Board in Ontario, will be sharing additional resources and strategies for your classroom over the next few months on the topics of Black identities, humanizing stories, amplifying missing voices in the curriculum, and correcting the systemic abuses of history in schooling.

Why Historical Fiction?

One challenge when studying the history of marginalized peoples is often the histories of these groups have a limited amount of primary source materials available for research to draw from compared to the prolific amount of Eurocentric sources. In your search to find primary sources that help students to connect to the humanity of those held in bondage in an inhumane system, you may encounter many barriers, like language, accessing the actual resource because it's no longer in print and/or digital versions are not available, and/or the only copy available is far away with limited access. 

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Topics: Books, English Language Arts, Reading, English Classroom, English, Reading List, Black History

Reflecting on 2020: A Closing Activity

Posted by Erez Zobary on December 14, 2020

Looking for a closing activity before the holiday break?

We have all felt the overwhelming impact of 2020 in our own ways. As stated in a viral tweet made in April by Damian Barr (@Damian_Barr), “We are not all in the same boat. We are all in the same storm. Some are on super-yachts. Some have just the one oar.” Each of us has uniquely been affected by this unprecedented moment in history.

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Topics: English Language Arts, English Classroom, reflection, English, Holiday lesson, pandemic

Digital Classroom-Ready Activities: Using Short Stories to Explore Othering and Students’ Experiences Today

Posted by Heidi Crowley on April 27, 2020

Grade Levels: 7-12

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Topics: English Language Arts, Bullying and Ostracism, Choosing to Participate, Bullying, Empathy, Lesson Ideas, English Classroom, Lesson Plan, Scope & Sequence

Engaging Students in Film Analysis in ELA Classrooms (and Online!!)

Posted by Claire Ahn on April 20, 2020

Claire Ahn, an Assistant Professor of Multiliteracies in the Faculty of Education at Queen’s University, provides a framework to engaging students in film analysis (in the classroom and online) as well as access to film units and resources.

Facing History's 'Close Viewing Protocol' is also a great resource that explores questions surrounding what the filmmaker is trying to convey, the choices the filmmaker has made, the role of images, narration, editing, and sound, and what the film’s purpose might be.

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Topics: English Language Arts, Film, Innovative Classrooms, Online Learning, Lesson Ideas, English Classroom, Tech Innovation, Facing Canada, Digital Learning, Creative

"The Truth About Stories Is, That's All We Are": The Stories We Share In Our Classrooms

Posted by Lori Parkinson on April 9, 2018

This fall, after a suggestion from Jasmine Wong from Facing History and Ourselves, I decided to explore The Truth About Stories: A Native Narrative, by Thomas King with my grade 11 English students. I was familiar with the text but it would be the first time I would be using it in my classroom. When I was in school we were rarely encouraged to be critical thinkers and we certainly were not encouraged to seek out the stories that make up our land. My goal was to learn with my students and explore and make connections. I was going to use the idea of the Oral Story as my jumping off point.

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Topics: English Language Arts, Residential Schools, Truth and Reconciliation, English Classroom, stolen lives, settler educators

Introducing Indian Horse with the Tracks of My Life Project

Posted by Luke Bramer on February 27, 2018

Students love music so, when I tell my grade 11 College English classes that they are going to be creating CDs as their first project, students get excited. Inspired by Facing History’s approach to teaching about genocide, I started the “Tracks Of My Life Project” to engage students in exploring the concept of identity that is foundational to our first novel, Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese.

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Topics: Identity, Music, Residential Schools, Truth and Reconciliation, Indigenous History, English Classroom, trc, stolen lives

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This is where Canadian Facing History and Ourselves teachers and community members meet to share reflections, scholarship and teaching practices that will inspire, challenge and improve teaching and student learning. Our stories provide a window into diverse Facing History classrooms in Canada, and invite you into the discussion.

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