HISTORY ENGAGEMENT THROUGH PERSONAL ACCOUNTS

Amanda Stephens

Vancouver Island University

March 28, 2017

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HISTORY ENGAGEMENT THROUGH PERSONAL ACCOUNTS

Introduction

The first part of this practicum was extremely interesting and insightful. I

had come into my grade 9 Humanities classes with my spirits high, ready to begin a

really interesting World War I inquiry project with the classes. My action research

question was how can I get students actively engaged in history, with such events

like the Battle of Vimy Ridge, through personal accounts? I thought that this was

not only a fun idea for an inquiry project for the grade 9s, but also a really

important project to discover how or if the solider they follow made it out alive from

fighting for our freedoms. The access to these soldiers would have been really easy

for the students as well. They would have to go to the Canadian Letters and Images

Project (CLIP) website, which is a database housed at Vancouver Island University

and developed by Dr. Stephen Davies, as the Canadian story through many wars that

we have been apart of.

Personal accounts, I feel, are the most important pieces of history we in the

21st century have, to properly understand how our ancestors not only lived, but how

they made it out of situationslike World War I, Battle of Vimy Ridgealive. The

battle of Vimy Ridge was an identity defining moment for Canada. Therefore CLIP is

an important part to telling its history. The inquiry project I had in mind for my

Humanities 9 classes would have been finding a Canadian soldier that was there

during the battle of Vimy Ridge. The students would have gone through the CLIP

database to find a Canadian soldier and follow their journey from before, during,
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and after battle. However, if the soldier they picked did not make it through the

battle of Vimy Ridge, then the student would have to find out through the personal

accounts and the World War I War graves database to find out how the soldiers

family coped with the loss. It would also be important to find out how the soldiers

families on the HomeFront were dealing with their loved one being away at war.

Walking into the Humanities 9 classroom, the first thing I noticed was that

the class was decorated with World War I propaganda posters that the students

have made. This was my first indication that I was not going to be able to

implement my action research project. The way that my practicum school works is

that the students have the same academic classes all year round. So my grade 9s

have already worked on World War I in November, leading up to and during

Remembrance Day. Looking at the posters in the room, it gave me a little bit of

perspective on the classes understanding of World War I. I found that the students

had an understanding of how the war affected the families on the HomeFront and

that of war bonds, opposed to understanding how the war came to be and the

soldiers who risked their lives. If I was able to implement my action research

project, I feel working through the personal accounts on the CLIP database would

have benefitted my grade 9s understanding of the Great War immensely. I think

there are two reasons for this; I believe going through the database would help them

gain perspective on the lives of our soldiers and two, it would allow them to draw

their own conclusions of what happened to their soldier and their experience of the
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Battle of Vimy Ridge. I feel that if I had a chance to implement my action research, it

would have overall helped with the engagement of the grade 9s in general. I say

this because socializing and cell phones are a huge problem in one of two

Humanities classes I will be in this practicum.

Literature/Theoretical Framework

For my purposes, I believe the only issue present is how exactly I can get

students actively engaged in history through personal accounts, and how to

properly use primary sources in their inquiry projects. Because we would be

dealing with a certain time period of World War I, it is extremely important to give

the students some background information on why the Battle of Vimy Ridge is

important to Canada and some key points. Other information provided would be

the importance of primary sources (personal accounts) and what they are, as well

where to find them, with background information of CLIP.

First we would start with the Battle of Vimy Ridge. The battle took place in

April 1917, and involved allied troops of Britain and Canada against the Germans.

This battle actual took a lot of planning, beginning in the late autumn of 1916, the

British and Canadians, as part of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), began to re-

examine their art of attack. The historiography had generally depicted December

1916 to April 1917 as a watershed in Great War infantry tactics during which
outdated ideas gave way to innovation.1 This shows the students how much

thought and planning went into their attack against the Germans. In an interview I

found regarding the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge outlined that it

wont just be on a test. Come April, it will be their tours of duty of sorts, as they

participate in the 100th anniversary of Vimy Ridge . . . its often said Canada came of

age during First World War. 100 years later, we still identify with it . . . Canadians

were most likely to attend a war remembrance ceremony, but at 66 percent lowest

when recalling learning anything in school.2 This statement is very true. For

myself, I never knew anything about World War I, or II for that matter. We as

Canadians identify with the Battle of Vimy Ridge so much, that our government has

the Vimy memorial on our twenty-dollar bill, so that we can be reminded everyday

of the soldiers who gave their lives for our freedoms. . . . Canadian Corps began to

come into its own at Vimy Ridge has taken hold in the popular memory and has even

been extended to suggest that Canadas national identity was born at Vimy Ridge.3

The evidence suggests that this battle was the turning point of Canadian

identity. Not only for the soldiers but also for the HomeFront. Canadians began to

realize that they needed to stick together, for better or for worse. Although Canada

suffered many losses at the Battle of Vimy Ridge, they came out of battle victorious.

The Canadian victory, as at Vimy, was the product of a thorough, comprehensive

1 Mike Bechthold, Geoffrey Hayes, and Andrew Iarocci, Vimy Ridge: A Canadian
Reassessment, Waterloo: Wilfred Laurier University Press, 2007, pg. 66.
2 Keeping WWI History Alive for Generations who have Never Known War, Toronto:

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, 2016, pg.1.

3 Bechthold, Hayes, and Iarocci, Vimy Ridge, 66.
plan carried out by well-trained, well-led, and well-motivated troops.4 Shortly after

the war, Canada was gifted land in France and erected the Vimy Memorial at Vimy

Ridge. This stands as a reminder to current and future generations that we will

always stand united, and triumph through war.

Second, when dealing with the personal accounts of the soldiers who

participated in World War Iespecially those who were in the Battle of Vimy

Ridgeit is important for the students to know what they are using, and where they

are gathering information from. When I say personal accounts, what we are

referring to is what is called primary sources.

A primary source is firsthand testimony or direct evidence concerning a topic

under investigation. The nature and value of a source cannot be determined
without reference to the topic and questions it is meant to answer. The same
document or other piece of evidence may be a primary source in one
investigation and secondary in another. The search for primary sources does
not, therefore, automatically include or exclude any category of records or
documents.5

When it comes to historical information, primary sources are one of the leading

documents to look at first because if the validity and integrity of them. Primary

sources will also give the students a sense of how people talked and lived in the time

period in question. Primary sources can be split up into four different categories,

written, oral, visual, and electronic transmission.6 For our purposes, the students

will be using mostly written and visual primary sources through the Canadian

4 Bechthold, Hayes, and Iarocci, Vimy Ridge, 250.

5 Kathleen W. Craver, Using Internet Primary Sources to Teach Critical Thinking Skills
in History, Westport, US: Greenwood Press, 1999, pg. 15.
6 Craver, Using Internet, 18.
Letters and Images Project database, based at Vancouver Island University. CLIP is

very close to my heart for two reasons; one, I am a huge history nerd who is actively

studying the World Wars, and two, I had the opportunity to work for the Project for

about three years, so I have worked with a large amount of the primary documents

that came into the door and that the Humanities students would have looked

through. CLIP is an online archive of the Canadian war experience, from any war, as

told through the letters and images of Canadians themselves.7 However, there are

more documents present on the Project then letters and images. It also includes

diaries, memoirs, cards coming to the soldiers and back home, and even flight logs

from pilots. In the past couple of years, CLIP has grown exponentially. The database

got a revamp, Canadian celebrities are lending their voices to read letters (like

Wayne Gretzky and Alex Trebek) and give them life for the younger generations.

The database approach for our purposes includes:

Some primary source Internet sites serve as individual or group activity

databases. They contain sufficient numbers of primary sources to allow
students to select a category of sources and formulate their own thesis
statements. Census data and other statistically oriented primary sources
lend themselves to this approach.8

It is important for students to note that CLIP is a very important, and very intricate

public primary source database, whos purpose is to make the past available to the

present and preserve it for future generations to enjoy and learn from.9 With the

new curriculum and 21st century learning that is emerging, the CLIP database is one

7 Dr. Stephen Davies, Canadian Letters and Images Project, August 2000,
www.canadianletters.ca/content/about-us, pg. 1.
8 Craver, Using Internet, 27.
9 Davies, Canadian Letters, 1.
of the leading primary source resources for both teacher and student when they are

dealing with any war that Canadians was involves in. It allows us to put a human

face to war and remind us that those statistics of wartime battles, or the names on

the cenotaphs, are for more than simples numbers and names etched in stone.10

Another important note for the students is where and how CLIP got the material

provided on the database. The materials found in this Project come from private

families who have generously shared those materials with the public.11 The fact

that Canadian families are willing to lend the Project their family air looms of war is

incredible. Within the last year, the Project has had hundreds of new collections

coming in every month.

Action Research Outline

This project is going to involve two classes of Humanities 9s, and I will try to

find out how I can actively engage them history whilst using personal accounts

(primary sources). Where it was suppose to take place was at my new school that I

am doing my practicum in. The school is located in Cedar; a little community about

five minutes south of Nanaimo, closer to the Duke Point Ferries. The school itself

was actually just reopened in September, after being shut down for a couple of years

to be converted into an elementary school. However, with the school broad

deciding to also close Woodlands Secondary, Cedar Community Secondary was

reopened and they are still in the process of getting their barriers back because of

the closure. The inquiry project I was going to get the Humanities 9s to do would

10 Davies, Canadian Letters, 1.

11 Davies, Canadian Letters, 1.
have taken place during the March week of practicum and it would have lasted

about a week. Unfortunately, the way the school works is that the students take

academic classes the whole year; so the 9s have already worked on World War I, so

my sponsor teacher did not let me go forward with my action research project.

However, if I were able to go forward with this project, I would have been actively

collecting data by observation everyday for the week, as well as individual

conversations with the students. How I would have collected the data would have

through observation, conversations, and through their actually inquiry projects that

they would have handed into me. I would have conducted the study because I feel it

is extremely important to learn through the past. And with CLIP being a huge part

of the primary sources, it would help with the active engagement of the students

reading through the stories of our Canadian soldiers. The limitations of the study

would be that I didnt get a chance to implement it.

Action Research Project Process/Methodology

Due to the fact that I did not get the opportunity to implement my action

research project, I can only describe how I would have proceeded and the

methodology I would have used. For the actions I would have started the class with

background of the Battle of Vimy Ridge, mostly by telling them some information

and showing them where they can find the rest of the information. The

Constructivism teaching method that had been described to me would have been a

helpful method in the Humanities 9 classrooms because for the students, learning
through experience is a helpful way to get them to actively engage in a history

inquiry project.

The data collection strategies I would have implemented during this project

consisted of collecting the students inquiry projects in the form of their choice.

Some of the ideas I had for the students include a PowerPoint presentation, Prezi

presentation, essay, war letter home, creating a piece of art, etc. Of course the

students would have had the option to display their evidence of learning through a

another form other than the list I had provided, however, it would have had to be

approved by me ahead of time. Other strategies include class and individual

discussions with the students. This would be more of a check-in to see where they

are at in their projects or to see where they are having trouble. Of course

observation of the class is key when discovering whether or not they are enjoying

their projects or whether or not they are actively engaged in history through this

project.

Sources that will be instrumental within the triangulation of this data will

include a couple books that I had found entitled DIY Project Based Learning for ELA

and History and Vimy Ridge: A Canadian Reassessment. Of course there is the

Internet to help the students with background information on World War I, the

HomeFront, and the Battle of Vimy Ridge. However, the CLIP database would have

been the students number source. The reasoning behind the database being the

number one source is that CLIP is full of primary sources where the students can

research a soldiers war experience, whether or not their soldier made it through
the Battle of Vimy Ridge, and how life was for those left on the HomeFront. The

primary documents that the students have to choose from on the CLIP database

including letters, images, memoirs, diaries, and even flight logs. I find that the

choices they have on the database will actively engage the students with the

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soldiers war experience, therefore giving them perspectives of how life was for

Canada and its citizens in 1917.

The analysis of the students projects would consist of their understanding

and what they learned through their soldiers war experiences especially the before,

during, and after war. Because my upcoming Humanities 9s had already worked on

World War I in November, I did not get a chance to implement my action research

project in their classroom. There were no changes made in my research design

because it was not implemented.

The Story of My Action Research Project

For my action research project, I wanted to find out whether or not I could

actively engage my students in history by using personal accounts (primary

sources). I have learned a couple things during the first week of practicum; one, I

was unable to implement my action research project because the grade 9s have

already worked on World War I in November, and two they were currently working

on Canadian Confederation. I feel as if the students would have enjoyed my project I

had planned for them, but of course it is not my classroom to decide what happens

there.
 Another important thing that I had learned the first week of practicum is that

worksheets do not exactly work when it come to learning in the Humanities class.

Because the students were working on Confederation, the teacher had prepared

worksheets for them to work on whilst following along in the textbook. This does

not fit with the 21st century learning that we future educators are trying to do. The

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classroom should not be about sitting around answering questions on a work sheet,

it should be about learning through experience and their own research on subjects

that they are interested in. This is why I thought my brilliant idea for a research

inquiry project would be something fun, enjoyable, and educational for the students

to do.

One example of how the worksheet method is not working for the 21st

century classroom sticks out predominantly in my mind since leaving Cedar. I was

sitting with one of the students who was having a little trouble to help go through

the sheet. While we were working away, I kept noticing that the student was not

engaging at all with what the task at hand was, more focused on get the last

SnapChat in. I had to tell the student that I find it extremely rude that they are on

their phone while I am trying to help them finish the sheet. We disagreed about the

use of the cell phone, but the student did put it away after that. While we continued

to work away, I was noticing that a few of the answers that the student wrote down

were basically word for word what I was saying to them. So after noticing this, I flat

out asked the student, What is Confederation? The student then went on the reply

I dont know. I found this very discouraging due to the fact that the class has been
working on events leading up to and include Confederation for some time. And the

fact that the student could not tell me what Confederation was, tells me that the

student is not learning anything from the worksheets, especially how this year

marks Canadas 150th birthday, which anyone should be able to tell me marks

Canadas Confederation.

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In terms of my action research project, I feel that my grade 9s would have

very much benefitted from the inquiry projects I had planned for them. I believe

this because it consisted of the students doing their own research through CLIP and

other forms of background information of World War I and Vimy Ridge. Through

their own research and what not, I feel that the students would have learned a lot

more then what they were not learning through working through a worksheet and

the textbook. I get it, the textbooks provide background information for students.

But this is the 21st century, and students now have tons of resources at their finger

tips, as well as many books, journal articles, newspaper articles, YouTube videos,

movies, and even databases, to do their research from, not strictly from a textbook.

Further Reflection and Continuing Questions

The most important lesson I will be taking into my teaching career is that

students do not learn from worksheets! Of course worksheets work better for

classes like math because with math, repetition is key when learning equations.

Another lesson that I will take into my practice will be to bring in as much

information as possible so that when I ask my students what Confederation is, they

will be able to tell me that it marked the birth of Canada, not I dont know.
 What I have learned about action research is that if you come into a school

thinking you want to do something with the students, and very excited to do so, try

not to get your hopes up to much. This is because the student already worked with

World War I. Because I did not get a chance to implement my action research

project, I found that my definition did not change too much. To be completely

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honest, I do not think I would use this process of action research in the future.

However, I do believe that I would use this inquiry project with CLIP with my future

students in my future practice.

Conclusion

Like I have mentioned before, the biggest lessons that I had learned id

worksheets dont work and bring in as much information as possible for the

students to learn from. Through the CLIP database, it is very easy to get entranced

by the information there because of the many, many war stories. Another aspect is

the Canadian experience during World War I. Like the website says that it is meant

to put a human face to war and to remind us that those statistics of wartime battles

or the names on the cenotaphs, are for more than simple numbers and names

etched in stone.12 I feel the students would have been actively engaged in history

by going through and reading the experiences our Canadians had during World War

I. It also would have been interesting to see the evidences of learning that the

students would have to hand into me. For my future practice, this inquiry project

will definitely be on the list of topics to cover with my students.

12 Davies, Canadian Letters, 1.

 Bibliography

Craver, Kathleen W. Using Internet Primary Sources to Teach Critical Thinking Skills

in History. Westport, US: Greenwood Press, 1999. Accessed February 5,

2017.

Davies, Dr. Stephen. Canadian Letters and Images Project. August, 2000.

www.canadianleters.ca/content/about-us.

Hayes, Geoffrey, Andrew Iarocci, and Mike Bechthold. Vimy Ridge: A Canadian

Reassessment. Waterloo: Wilfred Laurier University Press, 2007.

http://viu.eblib.com/patron/FullRecord.aspx?p=685657 (accessed February

1, 2017).

Keeping WWI History Alive for Generations who have Never Known War. Toronto:

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

http://ezproxy.viu.ca/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/1838

437083?pq-origsite=summon&accountid=12246.

Wolpert-Gawron, Heather. DIY Project Based Learning for ELA and History. London:

Taylor and Francis, 2015.

http://eblib.com/patron/FullRecord.aspx?p=212895/ (accessed February 4,

2017).