As we've participated in stands, explored topics, and continued conversations in the vans and over meals throughout the past few days, the image of a giant web keeps popping up in my mind. In many ways, the campaign maps we've examined look like webs, with the lines of the different regiments spreading out across the continent. Certainly, many civilians in the occupied countries must have felt like they were caught in a web with few good options available to them. Those impressions have been essential to my learning over the start of this tour, and are probably what prompted my focus on the web image. Further reflection on this image, however, also extends it to the present in our studying and teaching of war... These too illustrate the web of war as they tie together the essential strands of different fields of study. It becomes evident at our stands that military situations, civilian considerations and international relations are all deeply interconnected.
Seeing how these different threads cross through the events we've explored has been key to appreciating their complexity. This week has reinforced for me how important it is to establish the complexity of these different perspectives in the classroom. Not only is this essential for giving students a stronger understanding of the past, it is essential in preparing them to wrestle with the complexities they'll face throughout their lives. This web theme has also permeated our seminars as we've grappled with best classroom practices. From our seminar about links to other subject areas (where I think we connected to every course a student could possibly take), and how essential that is in drawing on students' strengths and interests, to our linking in of the Big 6 Historical Thinking Skills during our discussions, interconnectivity has been evident throughout. I was lucky to get to run a seminar discussion today on memorials and commemoration and was happy that by the end of the discussion we had tied in significance, cause and consequence, perspectives and ethics. Interconnectivity was evident once again in the relationship between big concepts and the big six. We are fortunate on these tours to have this web clearly on display before us in the curriculum developed by our leaders, in our discussions, and in the sharing of resources, ideas and opinions with educators from across the country. The challenge is in remaining conscious of interconnectivity and different perspectives as we return to work with our students. Keeping an awareness of the complexity of the situations we're studying, and of how to best address these with the diverse individuals in our classes, then becomes an essential understanding itself as we weave our own webs. Katie Wilson Teacher, North Toronto Collegiate Institute Toronto, Ontario
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AuthorsParticipating educators and high school students share reflections on their professional and personal experiences during and after the program. Some posts link to the Gregg Centre for the Study of War and Society's blog, Studeamus bellum causa pacis. Archives
August 2015
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