Canada’s Part in WW1

World War One was a devastating War in which millions on millions of people died. I knew almost nothing about the Great War until this unit we just completed in humanities. I love learning about history but most specifically wars. When I heard we were doing a unit on WW1 I was very excited to learn about it. What I was most excited to earn about was Canada’s part in WW1. Before this unit I thought that Canadian men just fought with the British army but I learned that they did way more than that.
Before we could learn about the war we had to learn how it started and to learn how it started we would have to know what Europe was like before the war. We watched three videos on how it started and took notes/made a mind map on them. Here are the three videos and my notes. WW1 Video Part 1. WW1 Video Part 2. WW1 Video Part 3.

As you may know, no one knows exactly how the First World War started but there are many theories on it. Once we had a general understanding of the theories we had to get in groups and make a video explaining the reason we think the war started. I was in a group with Sydney and Alex. We made our video and it was very informative but extremely boring so we had to make a second draft that was more entertaining.

You can read more bout it in my Post I did on it.

After we had learned about Europe before the war and how the war started we learned about what Canada was like before the war. We did some readings on the struggle for human rights in Canada then I had to summarize it in a a paragraph. 

Women and aboriginal people had very few rights during the Laurier era. Women often lived in houses with lots of kids and their only job was to be a stay at home mom. Education for women was not considered important. Back then only male property owners could vote and women felt that because they follow the laws they should have some say in what they are. Women wanted to use there love and caring touch in a more effective way to help the country. Aboriginal people were treated awfully by the governments. Although they had made rules the government often broke them because they wanted to eliminate the aboriginal culture. Over 150 000 kids were forced into residential schools and were treated awfully. They were forbidden to practice their culture and would be severely punished if they even spoke their language. In some schools more than 50% of the students died due to terrible care and lack of medical care. The government even banned the aboriginal people from celebrating their culture with potlatch but many of the villages were isolated so they continued to have potlatches in secret. The government did everything they could to assimilate their culture.

Finally it was time to learn why Canada entered the war. We did a reading and watched a couple of videos about how Canada entered the war and there part in fighting in it. Here are the Videos. After we had a general understating of Canada’s part in the war we read a really cool graphic novel called “Shattered Ground”. It was about a boy who finds his great grandfathers journal from his time in the war and tells the story of what it was like in the war for Canadian men. It has amazing visuals and tells a really good story.

Next we did a couple of readings about life on the battlefront and the technology they used to fight the battles. Life on the battlefront was not pleasant. Bodies were scattered all over the place and men lived in cold muddy trenches filled with rats. The men often got sick and commonly got trench foot which is when your foot pretty much starts rotting. The technology they used in the battle fields was the most advanced technology they had at the time. After learning about life on the battlefront we started to learn about the specific battles that happened during the war. We went on this really cool Website with descriptions of each of the battles. We also had to fill out a chart with interesting facts about the battles and how Canada played a role in the battles. 

Finally it was time to do the final project for this unit. This year as you may know our focus is on podcasts so for this unit we had to make a podcast answering the question “How did WW1 shapes Canada’s identity as a nation?” To do this everyone had to pick a Canadian soldier from the Great War and tell his story. The first thing we did was go on this Website and find a soldier to tell the story of. I found a soldier named Arthur George Knight and he had an amazing story so I picked him. Next I had to make my script. I found that writing the intro was the hardest because it was hard to find a way to hook everyone. After my script was done my teacher critiqued it and I revised it. Then I made some music on GarageBand which I found a little challenging because I’m not very good at using GarageBand. I then found a quiet room and started to record my script. Once everything was done I put the podcast together in iMovie.

Next time we had class everyone got there podcast critiqued by a peer. I got lots of specific, helpful critique from my peer and was ready to do my next draft. Before we did our second drafts our teacher felt like our podcasts didn’t have strong enough hooks so we spent some time in class listening to beginnings of podcast to get a better idea of how to draw people in. After listening to many intros to podcast I rewrote my intro. In class we listened to everyone’s intro and did a class critique which was very helpful. After I had written a stronger hook I edited my script more to make the conclusion stronger. I then recorded my script again then put it together in iMovie. This time I made the music transitions a lot smoother and made sure all of the audio was even and the perfect volume. Finally I was done my podcast and ready to hand it in.

I really enjoyed this unit and I loved the project. It was so interesting to learn about a specific soldier and how he impacted Canada. Canada had such an important part in the great war that before this unit I knew nothing about. It was also a great project to help me improve my podcasting skills. I’m very excited for the chance to use my new skills in another podcast.