Students find meaning in being Canadian

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This article was published 26/06/2017 (3254 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Several students at Robertson School turned the celebration of Canada’s 150th anniversary of Confederation into a meaningful learning opportunity.

Rather than just participating in the regular Canada Day festivity, Grade 5 and 6 teacher Nadia De Luca wanted her students to understand what they were celebrating and how Canada came to be.

De Luca said their social studies curriculum covers Canadian history from the beginning of time to the present day. To make things easier, she decided to take a timeline approach. The class has a large timeline on the wall that is divided into different themes and the students chose a historical Canadian to study.

Instead of doing a typical research report, the students created Facebook profiles (on paper, rather than online) for the Canadians they studied. 

“It was a different way to show their knowledge and to show what they learned. We are trying to infuse that social media. If that famous person had Facebook in their day and age, what would they’ve posted? What would they’ve said? Who would be their friends?” De Luca explained, adding she wanted to integrate the students’ interest to their learning.

Additionally, the students have been watching CBC’s production Canada: The Story of Us as well as shooting videos on iPads about what being Canadian and living in this country means to them. 

Grade 5 student Danica Santiago said she was happy she was able to identify the famous Canadians they’ve studied in the series.

“What I liked most is that we saw our person that we researched,” she said.

Besides learning about Canada, making videos improved the student’s technology skills as they learned to edit videos on Adobe Spark, De Luca said. Some of them incorporated an art project where they illustrated their individuality and their Canadian roots and submitted their videos to Here’s My Canada, a Canada 150 signature project from Historica Canada that invites Canadian residents to express what Canada means to them in a 30-second video. 

Many students in De Luca’s class weren’t born in Canada, but said they appreciate and understand the importance of learning about the changes and progress that happened in the country throughout the years.

“Even though some people here were not born in Canada, we still feel loved and safe,” Henni Biag, a Grade 5 student who was born in the Philippines, said.

They were also part of the Canada 150 Play List voting by ParticipACTION, a non-profit organization that encourages Canadians to become more active. They’ve created a playlist with 150 activities that define Canada’s land and people.

De Luca said she was glad to see that her students are now able to share and express what they’ve learned about the country and that being Canadian means a lot for them. Some students have pointed out in their videos that Canada is a place of opportunities, a safe country, and that their freedom to choose and go to school is valued.

“We all learned something new. I even learned more about Canadian history as well,” De Luca said.

To see some of the videos Robertson School students made, go to http://www.heresmycanada.ca/videos/