Exploring Your Community

Activity Description

Exploring an Indigenous Community is a great way to understand how it works and how it affects your own life. Everything we do on the land affects the community and this project will show how important community is to everyone, including the land. This activity will show how students understand and demonstrate how to properly research and find valid and factual information about their chosen community. Below are some specific guidelines they will follow for this activity.

Students will:

explain the significance of people, places or events in their chosen community and participate in the educator led discussion by contributing personal experiences and best guesses.
demonstrate the ability to add on to other’s ideas by responding to their peers’ contributions and asking them questions during the group discussion.
find contact information of a representative of the community they researched to ask additional research questions and any other comments they have about the community. (Time may be limited to how quick of a response comes from the representative, this is a possibility, but should be thought through and organized before hand between Class instructor and community representative).

Things to consider while students are working:

protect their identity by not relaying unnecessary personal information
consult with an educator or guardian before contacting community members
have a parent/guardian aware of which sites they are using
Be aware of which websites to use, refer only to the chosen material provided
- Outside sources are another option but must have Educator approval

Modifications for Diverse Learners

Following Guidelines put forth by the Universal Design for Learning (UDL), Our Interactive Learning Resources aim to include various ways to incorporate (1) Multiple means of representation, (2) Multiple means of engagement, and (3) Multiple means of expression.

Ways in which we may include UDL’s within this step might include:

For students with vision impairments
- Books with large text/braile
- Audio files/websites with text to speech options
- provide a Teaching assistant or other support for vision impairments.
For Students who have Hearing impairments:
- Videos with closed captioning
- Interpreters may participate
- Provide visuals for the students

Learning Outcomes

Throughout and at the conclusion of this step of the resource, students will demonstrate that they are learning to and are able to:

Use materials, tools, and technologies in a safe manner in both physical and digital environments (ADST 3/4).
Use social studies inquiry processes and skills to ask questions; gather, interpret, and analyze ideas; and communicate findings and decisions (Social Studies 3, Social Studies 4).
Recognize causes and consequences of events, decisions, or developments (cause and consequence) (Social Studies 3)

These Learning Outcomes/Curricluar Competencies were taken directly from the BC Grades 3 and 4 Social Studies and Applied Design, Skills, and Technology curriculum. References to grades and subjects of each outcome can be found italicized in brackets following the given competency.

Assessment Plan

In order to assess student’s progress and achievements, we have decided to use a formative way to assess, to see if students are progressing and understanding the concepts of research and reflection.

Students must complete and demonstrate that they have and can follow instructions and complete the Learning outcomes task checklist. Once all check marks are acquired they can move on to the next stage.

This creates a constant dialogue between the student and instructor, ensuring that the student is focused on the learning process, and staying on the topic rather than focusing on just the outcome.

Before moving on to the next phase, the instructor will review the work with the student to notify if anything needs improvement, giving the student the opportunity to practice revision and improve on their research skills.

When a student believes they are ready for the next phase, the educator will review their work with them, and indicate what, if anything needs further work. This gives students an opportunity to practice and improve, so educators are sure they are confident. The checklist will include both the task and related learning outcome, so the teacher and student are clear on what needs to be achieved.

In this stage:

Sharing

Student finds contact information of a representative of the community they researched
Student demonstrates an understanding of asking questions and sharing in discussion

Skills and Technologies

Student protects their identity by not relaying unnecessary personal information
Student consults with educator or guardian before contacting community members

Resources for Students

Educators will provide sources for the students’ research that are safe and family-friendly.

Some examples are:

Official Nation, Band or community websites: https://www.songheesnation.ca/community/l-k-ng-n-language-reawaken, https://komoks.ca/
- Using the specifc Nation or Bands website will provide primary information about the students chosen community. I have added my own band’s website becuase it provides some traditional origin stories of the first K’omoks people.
- Nation sites should be one of the first resources a student should look at becuase it has a lot of information that they need including contact information for a community representative.
Youtube:
- Youtube is a great tool for educational videos on specific topics in the chosen Indigenous community. Not only are they fun and educational, youtube also provides closed captions for students with Hearing disabilities.
- Totem Pole Facts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imOueo_rP1o
- What is a Powwow?: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVkgqmpyDfg