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Pics, Pamphlets, and Perspectives

Undoubtedly the strangest I have experienced, these opening weeks of the school year have gone by faster than I could have ever imagined. An absolute whirlwind, adjusting to the new normal at school has proven to be quite an interesting ordeal. The advent of an accelerated format was certainly a rude awakening, kicking off the year with Ms. Maxwell in English, a class that normally runs on a rather decelerated pace in terms of project length. This meant we were in for some changes, but as there was no time to waste, we hit the ground running. With only 5 weeks of intense work ahead of us, we were given the project outline right away, spearheaded by our driving question:

 How can we as historians uncover and share stories about our community?

With the theme and context of our unit being historical perspectives and narratives, our first task was coming up with two ‘Historian’s Oaths’. The point of these oaths was to solidify what we felt was important to include in our historical narratives we would be writing later on. We were to be looking back at these oaths at the conclusion of the project to make sure we followed through on them. After deciding what was most important to me in my historical studies, I settled on the following oaths:

As a historian, I will strive to create an engaging historical experience that captivates the audience, because when intrigue is lost, so is the value of historical perspectives.

As a historian, I will strive to choose an event thats full story is within the reach of me and my resources, because in not being able to complete the entire historical puzzle, I would be doing a disservice to the event itself and its place in history.

After learning what was important to keep in mind as we worked, the next task was writing our first piece on perspectives. Titled “Perspectives In The Cove”, I touched on two important perspectives within Deep Cove that I find interesting. Inspired by the economy of our little town, I wrote a bit about the perspective of business owners and how they have seen the cove change throughout the years. Another perspective I wrote about was the perspective of people similar to my parents, best described as “new-ish residents”! I was inspired by the conversations I have with my parents about what goes on, in, and around the cove, and how their perspective is so much different than mine, likely because of the difference in time spent in the community. Using writing processes to develop an engaging text allowed me to accomplish this milestone in a meaningful way, as well as helping me further my understanding of how various perspectives can be present in the same overall narrative.

From this point forward it was pretty much full steam ahead on the main project of the unit. Teaming up with the Deep Cove Heritage Society, PLP 11/12 was to create an updated version of the society’s existing Deep Cove walking tour. Including new stops and information, this walking tour would produce both a physical pamphlet, as well as a digitalized, Google Maps version. The class was split in two to maximize efficiency towards these products, and from there we began planning. We were all very excited to have the opportunity to create a product as a class that would actually see the real world and could get genuine feedback. The added sense of pressure really helped propel us forward, and made it extra crucial that we complete everything to the best of our abilities. 

The first step to creating the tour was to individually pick a location, or ‘marker’. After not very long, everyone had decided on a marker, and knew where they were heading in terms of this project. The next step was to put our heads down and research, research, research. Needing to collect as much accurate, important, and diverse information as possible in a short time span was tough, but we had so many great resources at our fingertips. My marker was Indian Arm, as I wanted to create something unique, and Indian Arm was less so the story of one location, but rather an entire area, featuring many stories and perspectives. My favourite resource I used while researching was definitely Echoes Across The Inlet, a book written by the DCHS that covered just about everything to do with the area around Deep Cove, with a lot of information on Indian Arm.

Condensing this research down to a succinct historical narrative was the next challenge I faced. With just 100 words to work with, I had to get creative with my narrative, making sure to highlight and include the most important and engaging stories Indian Arm has to offer. Other than the written historical narrative for our pamphlet, we had to create a ‘digital enhancement’ for the Google Maps portion of the project. As per the PLP usual, this could be just about anything, we were free to interpret the task as we wished. My classmate, Kai, whose blog you should check out here, had chosen the Wigwam Inn, a historically infamous inn located at the very ed of Indian Arm, as his marker. It was for this reason we knew we had to team up and do something special to kick off the year. Kai pulled some strings with his dad, and ultimately we planned a little boat trip up The Arm to produce our digital enhancements.

For mine, I wanted to do something visual, specifically something to do with photography. Unfortunately, the actual location of my marker for the tour was limited to being on land, on the shores of the cove. This meant that most people wouldn’t really have much to look at when they arrived at my marker. To accompany my written narrative, I created a Photo Gallery of self-taken images of Indian Arm. It had been a while since I had taken out the camera, quarantine had it sitting on a shelf collecting dust, so I felt it was a great time to take it with me to snap some photos. Aside from the photos and how happy I was with the way they turned out, the whole afternoon on the boat was truly something special. I don’t get up The Arm nearly enough for how lucky I am to live this close, and every time I do, I’m reminded of how spectacular our backyard is. Just getting out there and seeing Indian Arm with my own eyes further instilled my belief that it was important for the people on the tour to at the very least get a 2D glimpse of what our beautiful home has to offer.

Up The Arm: A Photo Gallery

Visit the post for more.

The final piece of creating this project was actually creating it. I was part of the pamphlet team, and towards the end when it was time to put it all together, I took on the lead role, where I would format and create our pamphlet document. I decided to take on this role because I knew I had the resources, as well as the passion and care for it. For the most part, I’m pretty individualistic, and can be very particular in the way things are completed. The ability to work well on a team is something I am always striving to improve at, and I take just about every chance I get to do so. I really wanted to create something that not only I, but my whole class, could be super proud of.

The final stages of completing the product included a lot of graphic design work, an aspect of PLP I really enjoy, and one I have watched myself improve in over the past 5 years. For this project, I used mainly Photoshop, an app thats powerful features I am working on getting more familiar with. As I worked on creating the final document to be printed, I was receiving pieces of work from various classmates in different roles. Although a little bit unusual for PLP, this style of product creation is one I am a fan of, and have benefited from in the past. Projects like last years Macbeth film where I was lead editor are examples of how I work well when put in this situation. As I put the final touches on the pamphlet and saw the classes reaction as Ms. Maxwell walked in with the first copy, I knew we had made something great.

Upon wrapping up this project and sending our classes hard work to the DCHS, I felt both a weight off my shoulders, as well as a sense of pride, knowing we were all happy and confident in what we produced. Big shout out to all my classmates for another successful project, on to the next!