WWI or the Great War was an awful event that resulted in millions of deaths and wounded. The series of events was sparked by the assassination of Archduke of Franz Ferdinand and had an unimaginable consequence. The war affected all continents and Canada had an instrumental role in the allies’ success. We learnt the life of soldiers (and horses) through books, research and articles. Our main goal was to make a reliable book that covered a WWI event and soldier.

Reading War Horse, we got to experience the historical perspectives of soldiers’ and horses’ life, understanding the hardships of War. Each week we had book chats where we had to write a summary, draw a picture write discussion questions and for the final week we wrote how it connected to the driving question, How can exploring stories and text help us understand the impact of WWI on Canada’s identity? Domino effect our first milestone was about the events that started the war and explaining the “domino effect” through a type of media. We watched many videos on the war week by week and learnt a lot about the war.

The picture shows Europe and the difference in borders. The most obvious is Austria-Hungry taking up a lot of Europe. Franz Ferdinand was travelling in Austria-Hungry when one Slav shot him and his wife. They died and Austria declared to Serbia even though Russia was allied with them. This started a chain of events that we now call WWI.

The book we created is a compilation of the whole class’s work with lots of thought, effort and work put into. I chose to do John McCrae and the second battle of Ypres which both contain a bunch of information. I did a bunch of research and made sure to have reliable sources. Following this, we made our own layouts with a unique twist and different media. My part of the book turned out really good and I was very happy with the end product. The overall book by the whole class was a collaborative project together to make an informative and engaging book.

John McCrae, a famous Canadian poet who wrote “In Flanders Field” and a career soldier was a lieutenant-colonel in WWI. “In Flanders Field” is a popular poem that said every Remembrance Day and is one of the reasons we wear poppies to honour people who have thought in the war. McCrae has been a soldier for almost his whole life, was a successful physician and a professor of pathology. Going into the war at 42 years old he was appointed as a medical officer.
During the beginning of WWI, on April 22nd, 1915 a battle broke out between Germany and the allies in Ypres, Belgium. Canadians were recognized as a determined and formidable fighting force for there efforts to win this battle. This is the first battle where Germany used gas for the first time and left on Mark on the world. A little over 6,500 Canadians died, wounded or captured by holding a critical point of the frontline. 


Comprehend:

When reading, listening and viewing texts I took into account the credibility and if it is primary, secondary or tertiary sources. I wanted to have reliable information so I made sure I had a trusted source. Looking into aspects of a story I used different search terms to find optimal results. Another piece of text that we looked into which was fictional, it still told stories of war and required different types of thinking to understand them. Brainstorming afterwards was a literacy skill that reinsured keeping the memories and helped imagine the texts as they were described. Reviewing the texts with groups helped with explaining difficult parts and understand it deeper.

Historical Perspective:

WWI was not a new subject I have learnt about and seen many things on WWI but when it came to learning more about the war through PLP I wanted to learn more. I did not have to overcome any concerns, beliefs and values but rather, I was open to learning about their experience. The book is engaging and actually fun read allowed me to learn about WWI while still being engaged.

Overall the product was a collaborative book that no one person could do. Each topic had their own unique features based on what the people creating them thought looked good. The book was challenging but easy to create technically. I could have improved my layout as I reversed the order of my topics which messed up the spacing. I was able to explain my topics by writing detailed subtopics and media sharing information. The pages on John McCrae were my favourite and recitation of “In Flanders Field” was the best part.

War was tough and the feats Canada accomplished were instrumental in the success of the allies. Learning about the harsh conditions and the many lives lost trying to fight for there country. Canada was recognized as a formidable fighting force and it separated Canada from Britain’s shadow. Successfully our class made the book and it turned out really well on my part.