November 28

ELA Common Post: Developing a Sound Recording (Layering effects in)

One of the creative types of projects you can do in ELA is to develop either a video or audio recording and include sound effects. There’s an assignment like this in both ELA A10 and A30.

You could take the ELA A30 Poetry Project Assignment where you have to pick a Canadian poem and record an oral performance reading it with emotion and plays on sounds, but add some soft background music or other sound effects into the file, for one overall polished creation. It demonstrates creativity, attention to detail, and also that you took the project to a developed/polished level, rather than developing just the basics.

You can use a video making program to add in some quiet background music or one or two sound effects. Remember to use these extras like you use salt & pepper – just a little goes a long way!

There’s also a Poetry Performance to develop in ELA A10 – it’s just a voice recording of a poem spoken and performed, but again you can enhance it by adding sound layers to it. What extra type of mood could you create by different sound choices or music?

Note: Be sure to check at the bottom of the blog post to confirm how to save/submit your project. It must be exported to be shared.

A Guide to Understanding how to Use the Media Types to Layer, Level, and Stagger Your Media Files.

Resources to help support you: 

  1. Sound Effects Websites:
    1. Pixabay: includes music, sound effects, pictures and video. Free to download.
    2. Bensound.com: Another website that includes Royalty Free music, so long as you source the site.
    3. EpidemicSound.com: Another website with both sound effects as well as music. This one also requires a subscription, but if there’s a song/sound effect you badly need, we can talk about purchasing it. (There’s a free trial period.)
    4. Artlist.io: This is another website with instrumental music of different genres and sound. Royalty Free
    5. Musicbed.com: If you’re looking for background music for your project, there are lots of categories and “moods” of music posted here. Many are instrumental, which would be appropriate for a video project. Let me know if you’re interested in music here – we could get a school account to access it. 
  2. Video and Image Files: Creative Commons
    1. Pexels.com: Free creative commons images and videos to download
    2. Canva has both free images as well as templates you can use to create the visuals for your video.
    3. Burst also includes free-to-download images.
    4. Unsplash.com: website with free-to-use images
    5. Audio File Online Converter: Sometimes, the audio files you want to use aren’t in a file format a program will recognize. This online site will let you load your audio file and convert it to a file type that’s usable in your program, like mp3.
      1. This website even lets you use videos and will convert a visual file into simply an audio file. Cool!

  1. Video Making Software/Programs:
    1. iMovieForWindows: can search/download the program. It will be in a very familiar format to what you’ve used before.
    2. Animotica: This is a free video making program from the Windows App Store. You can download it on your school device and it allows you to create an image file (just a black screen for background) that you can then attach your layers of sound files onto.
    3. iMovie: Some people have (surprisingly) successfully developed their Poetry Project on their iPhones. Use a program you’re comfortable with and have access to.

For ELA A30 Projects:

 

 

Preparing to Export and Submit your Video Project:

Regardless of which program you’re using, you can’t share the Project without Exporting it and Saving it in a file type that can be shared.

  • What Not To Do: You can’t just share your Project. To open the project, the computer needs to access the additional files included in the project and that only works on the original device it was developed on. Avoid this mistake.
  • What To Do: Save/Export your project as a Video. That means the program saves all the sound pieces and files together into one single file that can be played on another device. It will also export the video into a playable file type, like Mp4.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Category: ELA A30, ELA - for all grades, ELA 10 | LEAVE A COMMENT
November 14

History 30 1.3.1 Life/Governance in New France – Assignment

We’re learning what life was like, specifically for the colonist building the New France settlements. Their lifestyles and ways of life were influenced heavily by the French traditions of their homeland, but new customs were developed as well to meet the needs of their new and young society. These early years in Canada have left their mark on the Canadian identity and heritage we have today. 

Assignment in Two Stages: Primary Documents Study & Group Creative Project

Image result for note taking

 

Image result for high school podcast

 

Stage One: Studying Primary Sources

  1. We’re going to read through (mostly) primary documents from the French settler experiences in New France.
    1. (Mostly) Primary Documents Reading Package: it contains a variety of perspectives and experiences from first-hand accounts during the early days of French Canada
    2. While reading,  you’re going to individually jot summary notes of main/relevant information from the variety of writings. You’ll have to submit this for evaluation.
      1. There is a Word doc file you can use – with the Cornell Note-taking Method (Make sure you save it properly while using it.)
      2. There is the same document in Google Docs form here.  (It will automatically save as you develop it.)
      3. You can use pen/paper if you prefer. (I’ll have copies.)
  2. After reading, you’ll review the details you’ve noted and draw some conclusions/make some review observations of them as a whole, on the left side of the document and summary for the whole goes at the bottom.
  3. Part of your mark will be based on this note-taking product: the observation points and summaries you develop to represent what life was like for colonist in many ways and the impact different individuals/perspectives played in what later developed into Canadian culture/identity

Stage Two: A Creative Representation of Your Observations

  1. Either individually, in a pair, or small group, you’ll create some type of creative representation of the life of a New France colonist. Your goal should be to include some observations of any/all of the following:
      • lifestyle in general: social status, perspectives, policies, practices, customs/culture developed, life in towns vs country/farms, education
      • occupations: trappers, farmers, soldiers, intendents, merchants, land owners, relationship to environment
      • power structure of governance: alliance/rivalry groups
      • social etiquette or values at the time
      • control over lifestyle/laws/punishments
      • relationship with First Nations traders/people
      • gender roles
      • lives of missionairies or impact of religion
      • economy: wealth generation from resource production/consumers, buying, trading, mercantilism method of France
      • relationship to France/Church
      • technology/innovations of the time
  2. Project Options you can develop include, but are not limited to:
      1. A dating profile, complete with emails exchanged with a potential love connection
      2. A writing project: personal narrative, journal entries, letters exchanged between characters
      3. Create a Twitter identity and develop tweets with fake usernames, to fake users, with relevant hashtags #NewFranceForever
      4. Group: A pair or group performance (10 minutes long min) of a conflict or exchange between colonists
      5. Pair or Group: develop a Podcast to discuss New France living (either in character or as yourselves)
      6. Create a real estate listing, similar like a HGTV Show set in New France
      7. Create music lyrics to reflect the ideas of colonists at the time (multiple songs)
      8. Alternatives: What ideas do you have?
      9. Alternative Creative Writing Project: Letter Writing Between New France Characters (New)
        1.3.1 Assignment Pt 2 Creative – Alternative Choice
        (3 half page letters – rubric attached)
  3. For any of these, students and teacher will co-construct the requirements/scope of the project, in an effort to create a somewhat-equal balance of the scope of the project compared to others
      1. Evaluation for this project will be based on:
        1. Audio recording of the planning session of the project. Through the oral recording, I will assess the quality and quantity of input each group member contributes to the project.
        2. Final Product: evaluated by
          1. Knowledge/Understanding of content relayed: concepts, ideas, interrelationships, events, roles, significance
          2. Thinking with Critical/Creative skills: gathering, organizing, planning, interpreting, synthesizing, detecting point of view, applying historical thinking critically and creatively, connections made
          3. Communication of meaning through various forms: clear expression, logical organization in written/oral/visualizations for different audiences (formal/informal) using the proper conventions/tools
          4. Polish of final product: mechanics and techniques used to develop a completed project

 

 

History Curricular Goals:

  • investigate issues, events, or developments in Canadian history, with a focus on the development of identity and culture
  • select and organize relevant evidence and information on aspects of Canadian history from a variety of primary and secondary sources, ensuring the sources reflect a range of perspectives
  • interpret/analyze information relevant to study using various tools, strategies, and approaches appropriate for historical inquiry
  • use the concepts of historical thinking to assess the impact of various individuals on the development of culture and/or identity in Canada
  • evaluate and synthesize (combine) findings to formulate conclusions or make informed judgments/predictions about the issues and events you’re studying
  • Communicate your ideas, arguments, conclusions using various formats and styles

Specific to this Collision of Cultures in New France:

  • Set the Context: analyze the significance, for different groups in Canada, of various social, cultural, economic, and political practices and developments prior to 1774
    • including comparing various aspects of life among people of European origin living in Canada prior to 1774 related to religion, education, work, relationships with the environment, lifestyles, culture, gender roles, lives of missionaries, life in towns vs farms or seigneuries)
    • and analyze how these people responded to the challenges of life in Canada
  • describe the various practices and developments associated with the emerging economy (wealth generated by production/consumption of goods) in colonial Canada prior to 1774
    • including First Nations trade, the fur trade, fishing, the seigneurial system, mercantilism, land grants, etc.
    • and assess their significance for the development of Canada, including development of identity in Canada, including role of natural resources, alliances and rivalries, etc
  • Interactions and Interdependence: analyse activities of/interactions between various groups in Canada and how their interactions contributed to the development of Canada and identity
    • analyze the roles of various groups in colonial Canada prior to 1774
    • including Cree trappers/guides, FN & Acadian farmers, French/British soldiers, intendents, merchants, Jesuit missionaries,
    • and how they contributed to the development of Canada
  • Diversity and Citizenship: assess the impact of various individuals, groups, and colonial policies prior to 1774 on the development of identity, citizenship, and heritage in Canada
    • including describe the roles of some notable individuals in early Canadian society and assess their contribution to the development of identity and/or heritage in Canada
    • analyze ways in which colonial policy and practices reflected ideas about rights, citizenship, and social status in Canada prior to 1773
Category: History 30 | LEAVE A COMMENT
November 5

ELA A30 Section A5 Being Native in Canada

These are the web resources to support the work in this section.

Moodle Pages Intro: 

Big Ideas: The questions to get you thinking, connect to your prior knowledge and personal experiences, so you can benefit more from the literature in this section. Here’s an explanation of the meaning behind these Big Ideas for A5.

Book Chapter: “The Oka Crisis” Will Ferguson (section pgs 2-4)

  • Oral recording to follow along with while reading the chapter – embedded player below (Waldner 2019)
    You can expand this player and download the audio, if it suits you better.

 

(Optional Viewing: Waneek Horn-Miller was a teenager within the standoff. She was stabbed by a Canadian soldier and later went on to become a Canadian Olympian. )

Poem #1: “Now That the Buffalo’s Gone” Buffy St. Marie (section pgs 4-7)

  • Comparative text: “Standing Rock” song re: NoDAPL pipeline standoff

Poem #2: “The Devil’s Language” Marilyn Dumont (section pgs 8-14)

    • Image Collage: the writer includes many specific references related to the methods and topics the Indigenous students were taught in the Residential Schools, including many forms of formal English speaking and writing, books about caucasian culture, Catholic beliefs, and others. This collage may help you understand the English culture was the focus of these schools.  Note:You can click to enlarge this poster.

After viewing Representation Question in your handout: Which image with the different arrangement of words from the poem (below) is the best representation of the author’s tone, in your opinion?
Note:You can click to enlarge this poster.

 

Documentary Viewing – Choice of films to watch

    • Club Native (Ask me for the DVD or a private link to watch online)

 

    • The Oka Legacy documentary (one young woman’s first-hand experience within the barricades)

 

Category: ELA A30 | LEAVE A COMMENT
November 1

Soc 10 03 Balance of Power – Review/Discussions

After watching the videos about the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, you should review a few key points, so you’re clear in your understanding.

  • Before the Charter existed, Canada’s Constitution document still belonged to the British. Decision-makers in Canada weren’t able t0 make bigger changes to reflect how Canad
  • Image result for canadian charter of rights and freedomsian society had evolved and grown, since the first Constitution document was written in 1867.
  • Pierre Trudeau campaigned in the Federal election saying he would patriate t
    he Constitution document     – have it returned to Canada and refreshed through collaboration of the Provincial Premiers and renew that Constitution document – making it truly Canada’s own.
  • The Balance of (Decision-making) Power was established by Sections 91 (giving Federal responsibilities) and Section 92 (giving provincial responsibilities)
  • When the Premiers met together with the Federal government, understandably they were concerned with being asked to give up any/much decision-making power for their provinces, and a Charter of Rights and Freedoms did that – asked them to give up some powers provincially.
  • Only four provinces were part of the original Constitution document – all the other provinces and territories were gradually added into Canada’s Confederation. The balance of power remained as was originally given by the Constitution Act. Being able to “refresh” the Constitution Act, though, meant provinces could negotiate for more powers within Canada’s workings or, at least, fight against the Federal (central) government from taking too much power.
  • The idea of a Charter, an enshrined, unmovable new addition to Canada’s Constitution (balance of power) unnerved many premiers, believing it reduced their own powers provincially. And it did – it meant provinces couldn’t pass or create new laws that would violate any of the rights given/protected in the Charter. They c
  • ouldn’t pass new laws provincially on things like:
    • who could and couldn’t get married
    • language use per province, especially in multilingual provinces like Quebec and some Maritime provinces
    • who was allowed and not allowed to vote, provincially
    • what religious practices could occur or restrictions on any
  • Quebec was especially strong in their resistance to ANY changes or additions to the Constitution documents. Quebec had been given distinct status and unique rights by Britain before Canada as a nation (the four original provinces together) even existed. Anything to further reduce Quebec’s autonomy, power over their own decisions, was fought and, ultimately, Quebec was left out of some of the final decisions because of that resistance.
  • The “give” the Federal (central) government had to accept in order for the provinces to agree to accept the restrictions The Charter would put on them was a Notwithstanding Clause – an “out” that let a province violate certain Charter protected rights. This gave provinces the flexibility to keep enough decision-making power that they’d accept the Charter as a new part of Canada’s Constitution.
  • The Queen brought the document, the Charter was added to it, and all the premiers and federal leader signed it, except Quebec’s premier, though as an existing part of Canada his signature/acceptance of it wasn’t necessary.

 

What’s so great about the Charter of Rights?

  • It gives so many freedoms and protections to Canadians, even new Canadians, and it is a document admired by citizens of countries the world over.
  • The most significant part of The Charter – it creates greater equality in Canada when it doesn’t really exist.
    • The majority of Canadians cannot vote for new laws that restrict the minorities of Canada.
    • The Charter protects minorities from “the tyranny of the majority” – a quote from Pierre Trudeau.
  • Also, because it’s part of the Constitution document, it cannot be removed. It is entrenched in the Constitution.
    • Previous laws created to help protect minorities or Canadians were made in the form of Bills, but they could be removed or repealled by the next government if it didn’t agree with it.
      • Ex: The Conservative government under Stephen Harper passed the Same Sex Marriage Equality law, but it is only a Bill. When another Conservative government comes into power in the future, they could remove that bill if they had a majority government.
      • Ex: The Liberal government has ennacted a Carbon Emissions Tax Bill. When another Conservative government comes into power, they could remove that Bill.
      • Ex: Howerver, no federal government can remove the right to vote for all citizens – because it is entrenched as part of the Charter.
  • Canada is a country of diversity – we are made of many backgrounds and cultures. That means these protections for citizens are necessary, to protect their human rights.
  • There are limitations, though. The courts help government law makers interpret those laws and help identify times when some restrictions of rights are acceptable and/or when a province can use the Notwithstanding Clause to opt-out of supporting a protected right.

 

So if I asked you, could you develop a response to each of the following questions?

  1. Who is a minority group in Canada or what makes someone a minority?Image result for personal reflection
  2. In what kinds of ways does the Charter protect minorities, and all Canadians?
  3. What is your personal perspective of the Charter in Canada – would you say you’re proud of what it does for Canadians or does it concern you in some ways? And why?
  4. Is the Charter necessary in Canada, in your opinion? Why?
  5. Can you list specific occasions or groups that are protected by the rules within the Charter?
  6. Describe what Canada might look like as a society if there was no Charter. Identify three distinct behaviours or laws that couldn’t exist without it.

Brainstorm your responses and the reasoning behind them and then record an audio reflection discussing your thoughts. Submit making sure the audio file has your name and Social 10 in it.

Category: Social 10 | LEAVE A COMMENT