This past spring I collaborated with Farrah Merali at
Burnett Secondary using a grant from Vancouver Biennale to engage in an inquiry
project with a grade 10 Social Studies class to explore what it means to be an individual in a collective, and
the consequences of assimilation for First Nations people and new immigrants to
Canada. Our big idea was that the past
impacts the present, and more personally, our past impacts our present.
Through
field study (a walking tour through downtown Vancouver, including a viewing of
the Biennale sculpture, Walking Figures) workshops (with Coast Salish teacher/performer Rosemary
Georgeson to understand more about the history of First Nations people in Canada, and her own experience as a First Nations woman in the fishing industry) and ancestral research, students reflected on how personal histories
intersect with personal and community identity. Students then created an i-story
about the history of one of their ancestors, and reflected on the importance of
telling one’s story, and on the impact of ancestors in our lives. Throughout
the project, students learned how to express themselves through film by
creatively documenting their i-stories and learning process in a film.
The link to our project with the Vancouver Biennale is here:
Our filmmaker for this project was Jessica Hallenbeck, and
she was amazing. The film that we made
is posted on her website:
http://hallenbeckconsultants.com/#projects,
under the title, Poem for Walking Figures.
If anyone is interested in this project or in working with the Vancouver Biennale, please contact me Leanne McColl, lmccoll@sd38.bc.ca, or (604)668-6000 ext. 1405.
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