Koluskap: Wolastoqewi-atkuhkakonol - Stories from Wolastoqiyik

Section One: Project/Lesson Overview

Grade: 12

Subject: English Language Arts

Lesson Title: Wolastoq Journey

Lesson Description: Using images of Wolastoq from Madawaska to Saint John, oral reminiscences and text commentaries, examine ecosystems, past and present and the human impact on the environment.

Time required: 4 x 60 minutes

Specific Curriculum Outcomes:

• use writing and other ways of representing to extend ideas and experiences, reflect on their feelings, values, and attitudes, and describe and evaluate their learning processes and strategies 
• use note-making, illustrations, and other ways of representing to reconstruct knowledge 
• choose language that creates interesting and imaginative effects 
• create an organizing structure appropriate to the purpose, audience, and context of texts
  - select appropriate form, style, and content for specific audiences and purposes
  - use a range of appropriate strategies to engage the reader/viewer 
• demonstrate awareness of what writing/representation processes and presentation strategies work for them in relation to audience and purpose 
• consistently use the conventions of written language in final products
• experiment with the use of technology in communicating for a range of purposes 
• demonstrate commitment to crafting pieces of writing and other representations 
• use a range of materials and ideas to clarify writing and other ways of representing for a specific audience (e.g. graphs, illustrations, tables)
• gain a greater appreciation and understanding of Wolastoqiyik and their history, culture, and conditions

Section Two: Project/Lesson Implementation

Equipment/Materials Required: Access to Wolastoq Journey content

Lesson Procedures/Teaching Strategies:

Impart the following using resources indicated:

1. Introduce the subject by examining and discussing the importance of the river to Wolastoqiyik: habitation, transportation, source of food and medicine, a place of ceremony, trade, travel and portage routes, and respect for the river. Make it clear that Wolastoqiyik are forever tied to Wolastoq. 
2. Have students examine the Wolastoq Journey Learning Object content: images and audio to enhance their understanding of the importance of the river and its many uses. 
3. Discuss and examine the elements of short story development. 
4. Using the web site, Koluskap: Stories from Wolastoqiyik, introduce Koluskap to the class so that students have a firm understanding of his significance to Aboriginal cultures, specifically Wolastoqiyik. Have students research Koluskap further as time permits. 
5. Discuss the significance of the oral history, storytelling tradition in Wolastoqey culture:
   a) When meetings were held often a Talking Stick or Eagle Feather was passed around so that all members of the community could offer their opinion on a particular discussion. And great pride was taken in Wolastoqew stories. Oral history was the way in which the knowledge was passed from generation to generation.
   b) The stories helped teach youth and adults alike how their behaviours affected others around them. The stories often used comedy to portray to the listeners a lesson without directly singling out any individual. This was done so that the individual would have an opportunity to learn from the message instead of being embarrassed because of their behaviour.
   c) Storytelling was a way to keeping family and friends together by listening to the adventures of Koluskap and other individuals from their families who walked these lands long ago.
   d) When a story was told it brought the narrative back to life through a concept called dream time. We are always dreaming even when we are awake. This is the “magic” that exists all around us and allows us to shift into different worlds and different bodies, through our inter-relation with all things. When people stopped believing in the dream time, they stopped believing in the “magic” that existed all around them.
6. Have students read the contemporary story written by Marie Perley and discuss how it represents the points above. Examine the images of the Wolastoq Journey Learning Object and ask students to match an image to each of the eleven paragraphs. 
7. Invite a Wolastoqew elder and/or storyteller to class for a storytelling session and to discuss the meaning and significance of Wolastoq and the oral history tradition.

Assignment:

1. Using the Marie Perley story as an example, and the images, audio reminiscences and text of the Wolastoq Journey Learning Object as inspiration, have students compose an illustrated short story that features Koluskap and Wolastoq as main characters. 
2. Assignments may be in the form of text, illustrated talk, or a combination. 
3. Ask students to identify a target audience for their presentation: pre-school, primary school, middle school, or adults. 
4. Students will present assignments in class.

Suggested Assessment Strategies:
Students should be graded informally for their time on task and commitment to the project. Student positions should be graded by the teacher on a rubric similar to the following scale:  incomplete; not quite there yet; good effort; excellent work
Content
• Establishes a clear purpose and consistently maintains focus
• Selects quality content
• Arranges presentation using own words
• Always written with the audience in mind
• Entices the listener.
Delivery
• Extremely well-rehearsed, smooth delivery in a conversational style
• Highly effective enunciation, expression, and rhythm keep the audience hooked
• Consistently uses correct grammar
• Volume of voice enhances presentation
• Audience is engaged and interested

Students should also complete a self-assessment.

Section Three: Project/Lesson Resources

Web-Based Resources:
http://website.nbm-mnb.ca/Koluskap/index.php  

Disclaimer: The recommended web-resources included here have been scrutinized for their grade and age appropriateness; however, contents on links on the Internet change continuously. It is advisable that teachers preview all links before recommending them to students.

Section One: Project/Lesson Overview

Grade: 9/10

Subject: English Language Arts

Lesson Title: To Be or Not to Be?

Lesson Description: Using historical images of Wolastoq from Madawaska to Saint John and selected oral histories, students will explore the changes to the river system, the implications for Wolastoqiyik socially, politically, economically and culturally, and finally debate the perceived benefits of industrial development along the river system.

Time Required: 2 x 60 minute classes

Specific Curriculum Outcomes:

• use note-making, illustrations, and other ways of representing to reconstruct knowledge 
• choose language that creates interesting and imaginative effects 
• create an organizing structure appropriate to the purpose, audience, and context of texts 
• use a range of appropriate strategies to engage the reader/viewer 
• analyze and reflect on others’ responses to writing and audiovisual productions and consider those responses in creating new pieces
• demonstrate awareness of what writing/representation processes and presentation strategies work for them in relation to audience and purpose 
• gain a greater appreciation and understanding of Wolastoqiyik and their history, culture, and conditions

Section Two: Project/Lesson Implementation

Equipment/Materials Required: Access to Wolastoq Journey content

Lesson Procedures/Teaching Strategies:

1. Introduce the subject by examining and discussing the importance of the river to Wolastoqiyik: habitation, transportation, source of food and medicine, a place of ceremony, trade, travel and portage routes, and respect for the river. Make it clear that Wolastoqiyik are forever tied to Wolastoq. 
2. Have students examine the Wolastoq Journey Learning Object content: images and audio to enhance their understanding of the importance of the river and its many uses. 
3. Divide class into several groups. Using the postcard image of the Mactaquac Hydro-Electric Dam, have students brainstorm the impact of the construction, completion and long-term use of the dam on the river’s ecosystem. Circulate among the groups encouraging students to think of the economic, social, political and cultural ramifications as well as the environmental. Have groups report back to the entire class.
4. Assignment: Divide the class into two groups. Each group will research, discuss and prepare opposing positions concerning the issue of continued industrial development of the river system. One group will be in favour of development, the other will be opposed. 
5. In groups or individually, students will debate one another. Students will use peer assessment to critique form and format of debate, individual and group performances, and determine which argument is more persuasive. Students can reflect upon these issues in a journal entry. 
6. Invite a Wolastoqew Elder to class to discuss the role of Wolastoq, their concerns and their ideas for the future. Are any minds changed? Why or why not?

Suggested Assessment Strategies:

Students should be graded informally for their time on task and commitment to the project. Student positions should be graded by the teacher on a rubric similar to the following scale: incomplete; not quite there yet; good effort; excellent work

Content
• Establishes a clear purpose and consistently maintains focus
• Selects quality content
• Arranges presentation using own words
• Always written with the audience in mind
• Entices the listener

Delivery
• Extremely well-rehearsed, smooth delivery in a conversational style
• Highly effective enunciation, expression, and rhythm keep the audience hooked
• Consistently uses correct grammar
• Volume of voice enhances presentation
• Audience is engaged and interested
• Arguments are respectful and courteous

Students should also complete a self-assessment.

Section Three: Project/Lesson Resources

Web-Based Resources:
http://website.nbm-mnb.ca/Koluskap/index.php  

Disclaimer: The recommended web-resources included here have been scrutinized for their grade and age appropriateness; however, contents on links on the Internet change continuously. It is advisable that teachers preview all links before recommending them to students.

Section One: Project/Lesson Overview

Grade: 10

Subject: Science

Lesson Title: Sustainability of Ecosystems

Lesson Description: Using images of Wolastoq from Madawaska to Saint John, examine ecosystems, past and present, interactions between humans and the environment and the human impact on the environment

Time Required: 3 x 60 minute classes

Specific Curriculum Outcomes:

• propose a course of action on social issues related to science and technology, taking into account human and environmental needs
• explain why different ecosystems respond differently to short-term stresses and long-term changes 
• analyse the impact of external factors on an ecosystem 
• plan changes to, predict the effects of, and analyse the impact of external factors on an ecosystem 
• select, compile, and display evidence and information from various sources, in different formats, to support a given view in a presentation about ecosystem change 
• communicate questions, ideas, and intentions, and receive, interpret, understand, support, and respond to the ideas of others in preparing a report about ecosystem change 
• gain a greater appreciation and understanding of Wolastoqiyik and their history, culture, and conditions

Section Two: Project/Lesson Implementation

Equipment/Materials Required: Access to Wolastoq Journey content

Lesson Procedures/Teaching Strategies:

1. Introduce the subject by examining and discussing the importance of the river to Wolastoqiyik: habitation, transportation, source of food and medicine, a place of ceremony, trade, travel and portage routes, and respect for the river. Make it clear that Wolastoqiyik are forever tied to Wolastoq. 
2. Have students examine the Wolastoq Journey Learning Object content: images and audio to enhance their understanding of the importance of the river and its many uses. Discuss the importance of living in harmony with the environment and ecosystem equilibrium 
3. Divide class into several groups. Using the postcard image of the Mactaquac Hydro-Electric Dam, have students brainstorm the impact of the construction, completion and long-term use of the dam on the river’s ecosystem. Circulate among the groups encouraging students to think of the economic, social, political and cultural ramifications as well as the environmental. Have groups report back to the entire class. 
4. Assignment 1: Working in the same groups, or individually, have students do environmental impact studies for one of the following: a new pulp and paper mill, a new hydro-electric dam, a new sewage treatment plant for a riverside city. Students must compile research, show evidence and report the results of their study. As above, encourage students to think of the ecosystem in broad terms, including the economic, social, political and cultural ramifications. In reporting back to class, discuss the pros and cons of each project and decide as a class if each project should or could proceed. 
5. Invite an Wolastoqew Elder to class to discuss the role of Wolastoq, their concerns and their ideas for the future 
6. Assignment 2: Working in the same groups, or individually, have students research ways to reverse damage to an ecosystem, ecosystem-friendly ways of using the river and the sustainability of the Wolastoq for future generations. 
7. As an extension activity, conduct a field trip to a riverside ecosystem

Suggested Assessment Strategies:
Use standard performance-based assessment tools: research and presentation. Recommended criteria:
• demonstrated understanding of connection between the environment and social issues
• demonstrated understanding of biodiversity
• demonstrated understanding of Wolastoqiyik culture and respect for eco-systems

Section Three: Project/Lesson Resources
Web-Based Resources:
http://website.nbm-mnb.ca/Koluskap/index.php  

Disclaimer: The recommended web-resources included here have been scrutinized for their grade and age appropriateness; however, contents on links on the Internet change continuously. It is advisable that teachers preview all links before recommending them to students.

Section Four: Additional Information

Modifications: Assignments above may be adapted to any river ecosystem. 

Section One: Project/Lesson Overview

Grade: 9

Subject: Social Studies

Lesson Title: Charting the Evolution of the Good River

Lesson Description: Students will jigsaw thematic maps of Wolastoq that detail its natural resources, Aboriginal peoples, geography and means of transport. They will then put the information together to form a thematic map including all of this information. Student-generated maps will then be compared to a contemporary (post-dam) map of the area using Google Earth.

Time Required: 2 x 60 minutes

Specific Curriculum Outcomes:

• Compare the ways cultures meet human needs and wants
• Compare and analyze how culture is preserved, modified, and transmitted 
• Explain how government policies, expenditures, regulations and trade agreements influence productivity and living standards 
• Explain the complexity that arises from the interdependent nature of relationships among individuals, human organizations, and natural systems 
• Analyze selected issues to illustrate the interdependence among society, the economy, and the environment. 
• Acquire, organize and analyze geographic information 
• Use geographic tools, technologies, and representations to interpret, pose and answer questions about natural and human systems 
• Use location, distance, scale, direction, density, shape and size to describe and edplain the location and distribution patterns of physical and human phenomena. 
• Describe and analyze how ecosystems are created, influenced and sustained by physical processes 
• Analyze the influences of human and physical systems on the development of distinctive characteristics of place 
• Analyze how the movement of people, goods and ideas have shaped, and continue to shape, political, cultural and economic activity 
• Analyze ways in which social, political, economic and cultural systems develop in response to the physical environment 
• Analyze and explain the effects of causality and change over time 
• Analyze and evaluate historical and contemporary developments in order to make informed, creative decisions about issues.
• gain a greater appreciation and understanding of Wolastoqiyik and their history, culture, and conditions

Section Two: Project/Lesson Implementation

Equipment/Materials Required: Access to Wolastoq Journey Learning Object content
Blank maps of the Saint John River Valley, or of New Brunswick as a whole. See the Teacher’s guide to the Canadian Identity text for a good blank map of New Brunswick.
Internet access for the web site, Koluskap: Stories from Wolastoqiyik, and Google Earth
Computer lab access with access to Google Earth.

Lesson Procedures/Teaching Strategies:

Day 1

1. As an introduction to the subject, discuss the historical significance of Wolastoq, the change in name and the river’s importance to Wolastoqiyik. 
2. Students will be given a blank map of New Brunswick, and a list of places to identify, such as Fredericton, Woodstock, Grand Falls, Neqotkuk (Tobique First Nation). They should compare their results to a current map of the province before proceeding. 
3. Students will compare their map of the province with the animated map of Wolastoq on the Koluskap: Stories from Wolastoqiyik web site introduction. What do they notice about the place names? Why are these different? Students will examine page 44 of the Canadian Identity text, “Settlement patterns”, before they proceed. 
4. Students will work in groups, using the information from the Wolastoq Journey Learning Object and Koluskap: Stories from Wolastoqiyik web site to identify:
   • the natural resources of the area
   • the Aboriginal peoples indigenous to the area
   • the geography of the river
   • traditional stopping routes or travel routes of the area (found in audio content) 
5. Students will jigsaw this information to create complete maps of the Saint John River Valley that contain all of this information.

Day 2

1. Students will use Google Earth to find contemporary maps of New Brunswick and the Saint John River Valley. What differences can they find between the maps they created through the jigsaw process and the contemporary map of the area?
2. Students will read about the construction of the Mactaquac Dam on page 156-157 of the Canadian Identity text, “changing settlement patterns case study”. 
3. Students will use the internet to search for other dams on the Saint John River, and will place those on their jigsawed map. 
4. Students will reflect on the cultural and environmental changes incurred by the construction of these dams in a reflective journal entry to be submitted with their map. Particular emphasis must be paid to the cultural, social, economic and political impact of the changes for Wolastoqiyik

Day 3

Invite a Wolastoqew Elder to class to discuss the importance of Wolastoq, the changes over time, and the Elder’s thoughts on healing the river.

Suggested Assessment Strategies:
Students will be formally evaluated on the completion of their maps and reflective journal – content and presentation elements – as well as informally for the time on task and commitment to the project within the jigsaw groups.

Section Three: Project/Lesson Resources

Supplementary Resources:
Fitton, Avis et al. Canadian Identity and Canadian Identity Teacher’s Guide. Toronto: Thomson, 2006.

Web-Based Resources:
http://website.nbm-mnb.ca/koluskap/index.php 
http://www.elements.nb.ca/theme/energy/sjriver/sjriver.htm , “The Destruction of a River” opinion article by Mark Connell
http://www.nbpower.com/en/commitment/education/generating/hydro/mactaquac.aspx
Disclaimer: The recommended web-resources included here have been scrutinized for their grade and age appropriateness; however, contents on links on the Internet change continuously. It is advisable that teachers preview all links before recommending them to students.

Section Four: Additional Information

Modifications: If a computer lab is not available, the teacher can use a laptop and projector with external speakers in order to provide the online content of the lesson plan.

Section One: Project/Lesson Overview

Grade: 12

Subject: Social Studies

Lesson Title: Healing Wolastoq

Lesson Description: Using images of Wolastoq from Madawaska to Saint John, examine ecosystems, past and present and the interactions between humans and the natural environment.

Time Required: 3 x 60 minute classes

Specific Curriculum Outcomes:

• evaluate complex issues by asking and answering geographic questions and by acquiring, organizing,and analysing geographic information 
• evaluate issues concerning the diversity and sustainability of Earth’s ecosystems 
• analyse the interactions within and between regions 
• evaluate how physical and human systems shape the features, uses, and perceptions of place 
• analyse the causes and consequences of human modification of the environment on systems within the environment 
• gain a greater appreciation and understanding of Wolastoqiyik and their history, culture, and conditions

Section Two: Project/Lesson Implementation

Equipment/Materials Required: Access to Wolastoq Journey content
Audio/Video equipment

Lesson Procedures/Teaching Strategies:

1. Introduce the subject by examining and discussing the importance of the river to Wolastoqiyik: habitation, transportation, source of food and medicine, a place of ceremony, trade, travel and portage routes, and respect for the river. Make it clear that Wolastoqiyik are forever tied to Wolastoq. 
2. Have students examine the Wolastoq Journey Learning Object content: images and audio to enhance their understanding of the importance of the river and its many uses. Students may require a geography refresher to understand the exact location of the images and places referenced in the audio. Discuss the importance of living in harmony with the environment. 
3. Have students research each image to determine what changes have occurred since the original was taken. Discuss the pros and cons of the changes and the social, political, economic and cultural implications for Wolastoqiyik. Students will research and acquire contemporary images of as many locations as possible to illustrate the changes to the landscape. 
4. Assignment: Using the historical and contemporary images, audio and their own research materials, students will prepare a video report of the history of the river, the changes over time, the impact of those changes and what the future holds for the sustainability of Wolastoq – how can Wolastoq be healed? Presentations must include references to how physical and human systems shape the features, uses, and perceptions of place for Wolastoqiyik (past and present) and non-Aboriginal populations (past and present), interactions between humans and the river, interactions between the different regions of the river system. 
5. Students may wish to interview people with first-hand knowledge of the river, its uses, the changes and suggestions/concepts for future sustainability. Students should be encouraged to work with a Wolastoqew community to explore the perspective of Wolastoqiyik.
6. Students will write a draft copy of their video script and conduct peer assessments of the documents. 
7. Working with a partner or in small groups, students will record and edit their videos, adding music and transitions as required.

Suggested Assessment Strategies:
Students should be graded informally for their time on task and commitment to the project. Student videos should be graded by the teacher on a rubric similar to the following scale: incomplete; not quite there yet; good effort; excellent work

Content
• Establishes a clear purpose and consistently maintains focus
• Selects quality content
• Arranges presentation using own words
• Always written with the audience in mind
• Title entices the listener.

Delivery:
• Extremely well-rehearsed, smooth delivery in a conversational style
• Highly effective enunciation, expression, and rhythm keep the audience hooked
• Consistently uses correct grammar
• Volume of voice enhances presentation

Technical production:
• Transitions are smooth, spaced correctly, and without noisy, dead space
• Makes every effort to anticipate and filter out unwanted ambient noise
• Effective use of music
• Sound remains at a consistent level throughout
• Video length keeps the audience interested and engaged

Students should also complete a self-assessment.

Section Three: Project/Lesson Resources
Web-Based Resources:
http://website.nbm-mnb.ca/Koluskap/index.php  

Disclaimer: The recommended web-resources included here have been scrutinized for their grade and age appropriateness; however, contents on links on the Internet change continuously. It is advisable that teachers preview all links before recommending them to students.