Activities

There are two types of activities: Package Activities and Object Activities.

Package Activities are project-based activities designed to accommodate one or more classes. These activities involve the use of historical thinking concepts while exploring the whole package, resulting in a more comprehensive experience.

Object Activities are short inquiry-based activities that typically take 5–25 minutes. These activities encourage students to think critically about the objects being presented, and to use historical thinking concepts.

Both types of activities were created with the guidance of educators from across Canada, and incorporate current educational theory and approaches.

Package Activities

Explore project-based Package Activities by scrolling down.

Historical Gallery Walk

This activity is designed to take place over two classes.

Brainstorm and Presentation Planning (class one)

Instructions:

Place students in small groups.
Instruct them to choose two of the women from this package to examine in-depth.
Students will examine two women from this package through the lens of historical thinking to create a presentation that will be shown on a gallery walk.

Guiding Questions:

Once students have selected their two women to focus on, ask them to consider the following:

What were some of the political, social or environmental factors that affected this person’s story?
How did this person confront, disrupt or challenge anti-Black racism?
How do the actions of this person help to create or maintain a positive Black identity?

With the guiding questions in mind, use the package contents to answer in written form. Students will then decide how they wish to present their information using a visual medium (poster, PowerPoint, slideshow, infographic, Prezi, etc). Each presentation should provide a brief history of the women (birth date/place, notable actions/achievements), a response to each of the guiding questions, and a visual (photo, audio clip, etc).

Discussion and Gallery Walk (class two)

Instructions:

Put students in groups of four so that eight different women are represented (or as close as possible). Give students 15 minutes to discuss the following:

What are some commonalities between all the women you learned about?
What were some of the social and political factors that affected their stories?
How has time affected or not affected the ways in which women confront anti-Black racism?

Once students have completed their discussions, have them go back to their original working groups to finalize their presentations. Choose one person to present and allow the other students to walk though the space.

Extension activity: Depending on time and availability, you can also invite others into the space to view the presentations. You can open the space up to other learners or community members.