Hi,
My partner and I created a unit plan for a First Nations play by Tomas Highway called The Rez Sisters. The play was put on by Saunders Secondary students last year and the playwright himself came to see it! Highway has close ties to London as he completed his undergraduate music degree here before working with urban Aboriginals in Toronto and before he wrote this play. I thought it could be useful for anybody teaching the play itself, planning to teach Aboriginal youth, going to Saunders, interested in a local celebrity or any/all of the above.
My partner and I used a wiki-space to collaborate in the unit's creation. I have to say I enjoyed this Web 2.0 tool.It helped me visualize the creation of the assignment and the different pages forced me to "chunk" my work which helped with my anxiety issues. I guess I'm speaking to the converted, but this technology tool really helped me and I would encourage my future students to use this tool in any written, group projects.
How wonderful that the students at Saunders were able to interact so closely with local literature and local talent. Imagine how proud they must have felt when the playwright came to watch them perform. Were you working with them at the time or just inspired by the situation? I'd like to know if they did a study of the play something like what you've laid out in this unit of if they just put it on.
ReplyDeleteRegarding the wikispaces, is it used somewhat like a website that both of you can edit?
Hi Megan, Thanks for the comments.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, I didn't participate in the production but was aware of First Nations students at the school. I just was researching for our unit plan and so I looked on their school site for some mention of a program for them but didn't see one. During my search for ' saunders' and 'first nations', I happened across the London Beat (May 2011) about he production. In regards to the wiki space, yes, once the it's created, the ' creator' then invites people to participate in the editing process.So you could edit their work and they can edit your work. There is also a messaging and comments features that are supposed to serve like notes to one another during the editing process. As they're very useful, I have seen many examples of educators using this space.
I hope this helps.