By Matt Buie, FSWC Educator

B3.6 Identify a variety of significant individuals and groups in Canada during this period and explain their contributions to heritage and/or identities in Canada.

September marks the return of students to schools across Canada. Every teacher is hard at work setting expectations for their classroom and providing opportunities for students to learn about each other. The foundation that educators build in the beginning of the year is essential to the success of the school year. Many activities will focus on classroom expectations, school procedures, and working with a partner or team.

A great way to help understand someone is to know who they admire. A simple project to answer this question: “Which figure from history do you most admire and why?” can give valuable insight into a student’s personality. The project is simple, but the number of items that can be created is endless. Students can create a poster, a short speech or slideshow, or even a creative video or art piece to showcase their figure from history. It allows students to learn more about others in a different way. This short project also gives the teacher a brief window into a student’s skills such as research, historical knowledge and communication style.

If a student is unable to think of a historical figure, Canada has no shortage of heroic people through the ages such as Terry Fox, Portia White, Ursula Franklin, Viola Desmond, Hide Hyodo Shimizu, Marion de Chastelain or George Klein. Although he was not Canadian, our namesake, Simon Wiesenthal, would also be an excellent choice. This activity is not only a great tribute to amazing figures in history, it also allows students to express themselves in a unique way.