Class: Social Studies 7A/C

Date: Thursday November 26

Title: Thirteen Colonies Questcussion

Objective: Students will follow their curiosity to decide what they would like to learn about in
regards to the Thirteen Colonies.
Learner Objectives:

General Outcome 7.1 Toward Confederation

o Students will demonstrate an understanding and appreciation of the distinct roles
of, and the relationships among, the Aboriginal, French and British peoples in
forging the foundations of Canadian Confederation
o 7.1.1 appreciate the influence of diverse Aboriginal, French and British peoples
on events leading to Confederation
o 7.1.2 appreciate the challenges of co-existence among peoples
o 7.1.3 compare and contrast diverse social and economic structures within the
societies of Aboriginal, French and British peoples in pre-Confederation Canada

Activities:
Time

Activities

15
Creating Questions:
minutes
Working in small groups, students will brainstorm as
many questions about the 13 Colonies as they can think
of
These questions can be related to any aspect of this topic
Focus on what you are interested in what do you want
to know more about?
Dont worry about answering the questions right now,
just make a list of all of the questions you can think of
5
Share your Best Questions
minutes
put stars next to the best questions your group came up
with
One group at a time, share these questions with the class
teacher makes a list on the white board
5
What are you interested in?
minutes
Using the handout provided, write down any of the
questions that you are interested in learning more about
Rest of Three tasks for students:
Class
1. Finish letter to Mrs. Lewis from Wednesday
2. Finish worksheet from Thursday
time
3. Follow your interests once these other two assignments
are completed, use the computers in the class or the

Assessment
Teacher will
check-in with
groups to see
what they are
coming up with.
Ask students
what they are
interested in and
try to push their
ideas further

Teacher will
discuss with
students what
they are
interested in and

learning commons to search for answers to the questions

you wrote down on your handout. This task is not about
finding out particular information, but about learning
something new. Take notes on the handout about you
have learned

what they are

finding on the
internet for
answers

Plan for diversity:

Open ended inquiry allows students to take their learning in whatever direction they like.
While this will allow many students to work within their own abilities, other students
may struggle with this approach to learning. Teacher will keep an eye out for these
students and see how they are doing with directing their own learning. For those who are
unsure, teacher will help guide the learning by asking/suggesting questions for student
inquiry

Reflection: This activity went over very well with both classes! The students came up with a
wide range of questions, from silly ones, like What was their favourite ice cream flavour and
Where did they go to the bathroom, to rather deep questions such as Were men and women
treated equally and What were their daily routines like. I was surprised by the depth of
interest of many of the students. One student came up with a question he wasnt sure was
appropriate, so I had him tell it to me quietly before sharing with the class. He was wondering
about how gay people were treated in the 13 colonies. We had a great class discussion about how
that question was not inappropriate and one of the students suggested we used LGBT people
instead of gay. Several of the students chose this question for one of their research topics and
approached it with great interest and seriousness. While I had originally planned for this lesson
to only take 2, maybe 3 days, we stretched it to another 4 full days because of student
engagement. We also had great discussions about the process of conducting research and how we
can know if sources are reliable or not.