Formative Assessment
Throughout this suggested activity, you will support students in achieving the following skills that are the focuses for assessment:
The following formative assessment opportunities are provided to help students unpack and develop the focus skills for assessment. Feedback prompts are also provided to help students enhance their demonstration of the focus skills for this activity. Formative assessment support is not intended to generate a grade or score.
Formative Assessment: Assessment for Learning Opportunities
Describe Reconciliation Efforts
Involve students in a think-pair-share activity with peers to provide and receive feedback on the comprehensiveness of the information recorded in their graphic organizers. Use the feedback prompts below to provide structure in guiding students through this formative assessment opportunity.
Feedback Prompts:
- Is the information on topic?
- Have I included information about:
- the apologies from the Canadian government?
- the apologies from the churches?
- the commemorations?
- Have I provided enough information about the apologies and related perspectives so that someone who previously did not know about this issue would be able to understand?
These feedback prompts have been incorporated into the Describe Reconciliation Efforts: Peer Coaching Tool 
, which can be copied or adapted for student use. Samples of tools created for a similar skill within a different formative assessment context may be found in the Social Studies 10-4 Formative Assessment Summary 
.
State and Support a Position
Involve students in a self-reflection following their participation in the talking circle, tribunal or U-shaped debate or discussion to examine the effectiveness of the support they have provided for their position. Use the feedback prompts below to provide structure in guiding students through this formative assessment opportunity.
Feedback Prompts:
- Did the support I provided for my informed position make sense?
- Were my reasons convincing?
- Did I use respectful language as I presented my position and support?
- Did I listen with respect to others who expressed a different position?
These feedback prompts have been incorporated into the State and Support a Position: Student Self-reflection Tool , which can be copied or adapted for student use. Samples of tools created for a similar skill within a different formative assessment context may be found in the Social Studies 10-4 Formative Assessment Summary .
Linking to the Summative Assessment Task
- As students describe reconciliation efforts and state and support a position through the suggested activity Examining the Apologies, they will have completed the first two portions of the Summative Assessment Task: Building a Positive Future .
- Students should consult the assessment task and the assessment task rubric to ensure that they have provided the information required.
- Encourage students to use the feedback received during the formative assessment opportunities to make enhancements to their work in progress.
- If students have not yet selected a format for their final product, encourage them to do so now. The summative assessment task suggests that students might write a personal response or create a video or other multimedia piece to post on the newspaper's electronic editorial page.
Students describe reconciliation efforts that have been undertaken to address the consequences of residential schools on Aboriginal peoples. They then state their opinion as to whether or not they believe Canada's efforts have been effective in addressing the legacy of residential schools.
Instructional Support
A number of possible tasks are provided in this suggested activity. It is not intended that you work through all of the tasks, but rather select those tasks and resources that will best meet the learning needs of your students. The focus should be on ensuring that students have the background and support to be successful with the skills that are the focuses for assessment (describe reconciliation efforts, and state and support a position).
Setting the Context for Learning
- This suggested activity builds on the skills that students have been working on in previous suggested activities (i.e., describing and explaining impacts) and extends their skills by asking them to state and support a position regarding the effectiveness of the official apologies in addressing the wrongs of residential schools.
- Discuss with students what their response would be if they received an apology in return for a harmful wrong that was done to them. Discuss the role that their personal experience and perspectives play in their response.
- Let students know that during the next few classes, they will examine how Canada has addressed the effects of residential schools on Aboriginal peoples through the apologies that have been made to Aboriginal peoples.
- Let students know that as they work through their inquiry over the next several classes, they will be working on the skills that they need in order to be successful with the Summative Assessment Task: Building a Positive Future .
- Share the summative assessment task and the assessment task rubric with students. Point out the different parts of the task, and let students know that they will be working on the various parts of the task as they proceed with their inquiry.
- The language of the assessment task rubric is clarified through the formative assessment opportunities provided for each suggested activity. The boldfaced descriptive words in the rubric are also clarified in the Summative Assessment Task Rubric Glossary .
Describe Reconciliation Efforts
- Point out to students that the term reconciliation as used in this context is a process of attempting to right the wrongs done through the institution of residential schools in Canada. During this suggested activity, students examine the official apologies given to Aboriginal peoples.
- The website of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada contains the following statement regarding the Royal Commission Report on Aboriginal Peoples:
This report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples concerns government policy with respect to the original historical nations of this country. Those nations are important to Canada, and how Canada relates to them defines in large measure its sense of justice and its image in its own eyes and before the world.
Involve students in a discussion on why the Government of Canada and the people of Canada have a responsibility to actively pursue a solution to the legacy of residential schools.
- Help students build background knowledge about the apologies provided by government and church organizations. The terms "historical imperialism" and "historical trauma" are important to address through the inquiry.
- Literacy strategies such as guided reading, word walls and graphic organizers could be used to assist students with accessing and recording information during their inquiry. Possible graphic organizers include the following:
- Questions that students may address during their inquiry include the following:
- Why was the apology considered necessary?
- What was the goal or purpose of the apology?
- Did the apology meet this goal or purpose? From whose perspective(s)?
- Was the apology an appropriate way for the Canadian government to respond to the legacy of residential schools?
- Why is Prime Minister Harper's apology for the residential school experience on behalf of the Canadian government considered to be a significant event in Canadian history?
- How does or can the apology address the effects of residential schools on Aboriginal peoples?
- Visual and textual sources could include, but are not limited to, the following:
State and Support a Position
In this portion of the suggested activity, students consolidate the information gained from their examination of the official apologies, as well as their prior research, to consider the question, "How effective have apologies been in addressing the effects of residential schools on Aboriginal peoples?" Students may need support to understand that opposing positions on the question can both be appropriate; what matters most is the quality of the reasons that students provide in support of their position.
- Ask students to generate criteria for what they would consider to be an appropriate apology. Students may suggest that the offender needs to apologize, needs to do whatever is possible to right the wrong, must ensure that the wrong is not repeated, and so forth.
- Based on the criteria generated, ask students to consider their response to the following statements:
- The apologies recognize the wrongs of the past that occurred in residential schools and address the effects on Aboriginal peoples.
OR
- The apologies do not recognize the wrongs of the past that occurred in residential schools and do not adequately address the effects on Aboriginal peoples.
- Conduct a U-shaped debate or discussion to help students consider their position regarding the statements.
- A talking circle or tribunal (see page 32, Aboriginal Perspectives 10) may be a way to help students examine their beliefs before conducting the debate or discussion.
- Remind students that in addition to their response, they also must be prepared to explain why they hold the position that they do.
- Discuss with students the need to be respectful as they contribute and listen to the contributions of other students.
Suggested Supporting Resources
Textbook References
Student Basic Resource—Oxford University Press, Living in a Globalizing World:
- Pages 165–169 Responding to the Legacies
- Page 172 Voices: Two Views of Self-Government
- Page 173 Chapter Summary and Reflection (Apply and Extend Ideas, Question 1)
Student Basic Resource—Duval House Publishing, Aboriginal Studies 10: Aboriginal Perspectives:
Teaching Resource—Oxford University Press, Living in a Globalizing World:
- RM 0.2 Venn Diagram (to compare sources)
- RM 0.3 Analyzing & Discussing Issues (comparing perspectives)
- RM 0.4 Recording Information Show more
- RM 0.5 Fact, Opinion, and Bias Graphic Organizer
- RM 0.10 Paragraph Organizer
- RM 0.14 Reading to Find Information
- RM 0.15 Note-Taking Strategy
- RM 0.17 Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats (S.W.O.T.) Analysis Template
- RM 0.23 One Structure for Presenting a Position in Response to an Issue
- AM 1 Demonstrating Understanding Rubric
- AM 2 Generating & Organizing Ideas Rubric
- AM 4 Considering Multiple Perspectives & Viewpoints Rubric
- AM 15 Discussing Issues Rating Scale
- AM 20 Persuasive Writing Assignment Rubric
Teaching Resource—McGraw-Hill Ryerson, Exploring Globalization:
- Reproducible TOT 4 Practise Identifying and Asking Powerful Questions
- Reproducible 1.1.4 My Presentation Proposal
Teaching Resource—Duval House Publishing, Aboriginal Studies 10: Aboriginal Perspectives:
- Pages 423–429 Protocols
- Pages 433–434 Talking Circles Protocol
- Pages 479–482 Rubrics Show more
- Pages 521–531 Appendix E: Earth Voices Video Series
Web Resources
Web Links for Online Sources:
Knowledge and Employability Studio:
Videos:
Distributed Learning/Tools4Teachers Resources:
Critical Challenges:
Community Resources (e.g., Elders, Knowledge Keepers, Cultural and Community Experts)
- Arrange for interviews with Elders. Contact your area's FNMI liaison (within your school or jurisdiction, or through the community Friendship Centre).
Stories and Other Media (e.g., films, stories/literature, nonfiction, graphic novels)
- Hank Williams First Nation (film, 2005, Peace Country Films, Aaron James Sorensen [Director], 92 minutes)
