2018 welcome back & mini unit on Acadia

Language

As a way to ease back into a new calendar year, a few members of the class embarked on a Community Circle exercise to share some moments from the Winter holiday.  I say embark because there are many students who have not completed this and need to on Tuesday.

https://educationrickshaw.files.wordpress.com/2017/10/my-day-started-out-a-bit-rainy-1.png?w=504&h=378

History

French explorer, and the "father" figure of New France, Samuel de Champlain, found himself, among the many places, in Port Royal in 1605.

https://www.biography.com/people/samuel-de-champlain-9243971

This location and the surrounding areas became the settlement of Acadia.  A comprehensive timeline of Acadian settlement can be seen here:  http://www.cbc.ca/acadian/timeline.html.  In the 17th Century, Acadian settlement looked something like this:

https://www.acadian.org/definitions.html

Just to be clear, no matter what is said about the Acadian settlement, it is important to recognize that the Mi'kmaq were the Indigenous people of this region.  From my research, I have learned that the two groups existed very well together.  The Acadians, according to this article, were not interested in expanding or pushing out the original inhabitants (http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/acadian-mi-kmaq-grand-pre-friendship-1.4243615).

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/just-us-cafe-canada-150-wolfville-mikmaq-mikmaki-indigenous-1.2733401

Like the acknowledgement statement read at our morning announcements, the school board in Halifax is doing something similar:  http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/halifax-regional-school-board-mi-kmaq-lands-declaration-1.2551752

The Bay of Fundy is one of the regions where Acadians settled.  It is quite beautiful and a place you should aim to visit.

http://bayoffundytourism.com/

By 1713, the British had begun to make their claims of the territory under the Treaty of Utrecht.

https://umaine.edu/canam/publications/st-croix/acadian-deportation-migration-resettlement/

The tensions between France and Britain were not confined to what was happening in North America.  On the world stage, each nation was looking to be a dominant player for "commercial and global supremacy."  Consider these two maps from the 1975's Historical Atlas of Canada:

While the British appeared to have control of Acadia, according to history, there was a fear of a sizeable population who would not swear allegiance to the British crown.  Even though the Acadians had signed an oath of neutrality, there was still the fear that the Acadians could be a threat to the emerging British occupation of North America.  So, the great -- or not so great -- deportation began.

https://www.canadiangeographic.ca/article/mapping-acadian-deportations

Additional maps can also be seen here:  https://umaine.edu/canam/publications/st-croix/acadian-deportation-migration-resettlement/  A summary of the expulsion can be found in the Canadian Encyclopedia entry:  http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/the-deportation-of-the-acadians-feature/

This lesson can be seen as an example of Continuity and Change.  The Acadian culture is alive and well.  Although the deportation's intent was to rid the area of Acadians, many resisted, fought, went into hiding, and, after 1764, returned to the Maritime region.  The original Acadian communities were now taken over by settlers from New England, according to the Canadian Encyclopedia.  The culture of the community is tight and well preserved.  Here is an old video from 2009 highlighting some of their collective histories:

I am reworking this short unit for you to develop some skills in note-taking.  The curriculum expectation is Grade 7 specific -- the expulsion of the Acadians -- and the note-taking will be beneficial for all students.

Here is an example of some jot notes from p. 80 of the textbook.

FYI:  The 13 colonies:

http://mrkash.com/activities/colonies.html

For the Grade 8s, we will look at the issue of Louis Riel and the Northwest Rebellion of 1885.  Like the Grade 7 exercise, we will use the textbook as a guide and supplement some of the work with posts on the blog.  Each exercise will culminate with a short, open-book test and use some forms of Media (http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/search/?keyword=Acadians) to assess your inferencing and comprehension skills.