1. Project Description
We started planning this unit with a problem that we needed to solve. How are we going to
actualize our new social studies curriculum? The curriculum requires students to analyze the
evolution of Canada as a multicultural nation. We quickly realized that our small rural school
isn’t very multicultural. Our students haven’t had many experiences with people of other
cultures. We wanted to make the learning more meaningful and authentic for students. This
would be a timely pursuit so we decided to integrate the English Language Arts and Social
Studies curricular outcomes.
Objectives:
English Language Arts:
CC5.1
Compose and create a range of visual, multimedia, oral, and written texts that explore,
identity (e.g., What Should I Do), community (e.g., This is Our Planet), social
responsibility (e.g. Teamwork) and express personal thoughts shaped through inquiry.
CC6.9
Prepare a teacher-guided inquiry report related to a stand on a topic, theme, or issue
studied in English language arts.
CC6.8
Experiment with a variety of text forms (e.g., a peer interview, presentation at an
assembly, poem, letter to parents, short review, poster, tableau, graphic organizer) and
techniques (e.g., surprise ending).
Social Studies
IN5.2
Analyze the evolution of Canada as a multicultural nation.
Students built knowledge through inquiry. They were required to synthesize and evaluate the
information through a performance task that had them create a documentary as the final product
of their learning. The Students self-assessed using a student / teacher created rubric to monitor
their progress. They provided specific feedback to their peers to help them “bump up” their
work to the next level on the rubric. The overall project lasted 6 weeks.