Students decide the extent to which they support Canada's pursuit of internationalism and provide specific reasons and examples to support their position.
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 skill that is the focus for assessment (state and support position).
Setting the Context for Learning
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Pose the following question to students: What if all money that is currently earmarked for foreign aid were used to solve poverty and human rights issues in Canada? Discuss as a class. Consider the problems that would be solved and the problems that would be created. For example, would hunger be eradicated? Would our image on the international stage be tarnished?
State and Support Position
- When students are deciding on the extent to which they support Canada's pursuit of internationalism, encourage them to consider the advantages and disadvantages that they determined earlier. Some students may need assistance in weighing the advantages and disadvantages, and some may struggle to allow certain advantages or disadvantages to outweigh others. Decisions such as this are not simply a tally of the pros and cons. For example, the international image that Canada maintains because of its involvement in peacekeeping may outweigh the associated financial and human costs.
- As students begin working on the second part of the summative assessment task, state and support position, connect this skill to the focus skill in Justifying a Decision. Though the focus skill is labelled as "defend choice" in that suggested activity, the skill development is very similar. If Justifying a Decision is completed, encourage students to take the feedback from their work in that suggested activity and apply it to this suggested activity.
- Select an example and model for students the process of stating a position and selecting credible support for that position. Some students may benefit from a structured example.
I believe Canada should (or should not) invest more money in pursuing international affairs because
.
- Brainstorm with students the qualities that make up convincing reasons and examples that support a position. Students may suggest the following qualities for reasons and examples (evidence):
- focused on the topic
- supportive of the stated position
- convincing
- specific.
Formative Assessment
Throughout this suggested activity, you will support students in achieving the following skill that is the focus for assessment:
The following formative assessment opportunity is provided to help students unpack and develop the focus skill for assessment. Feedback prompts are also provided to help students enhance their demonstration of the focus skill for this activity. Formative assessment support is not intended to generate a grade or score.
Formative Assessment: Assessment for Learning Opportunity
State and Support Position
Involve students in peer coaching to provide and receive feedback about the persuasiveness of their justifications of whether or not Canada should pursue internationalism through a set commitment of funds. Consider pairing students who chose opposing sides of the issue to provide coaching to each other. Use the feedback prompts below to provide structure in guiding students through this formative assessment opportunity.
Feedback Prompts:
- Have I provided specific reasons to support my position?
- Are my reasons convincing?
- Are my reasons focused on the topic?
- Have I provided specific examples to illustrate my reasons?
These feedback prompts can be posted on an interactive white board or bulletin board, or incorporated into a feedback tool that can be copied for student use. Samples of tools created for a similar skill within a different formative assessment context may be found in the Social Studies 20-4 Formative Assessment Summary 
.
Linking to the Summative Assessment Task
- As students state and support their position through the suggested activity Canada's Pursuit of Internationalism, they will have completed the Summative Assessment Task – Pursuing Internationalism: At What Cost?
- 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 through the formative assessment opportunity to make enhancements to their work in progress.
- If necessary, continue to use the feedback prompts from the formative assessment opportunity to coach students toward completion of a quality product.
- If student performance does not yet fall within the three levels described in the summative assessment task rubric, work with the student to formulate a plan to address the student's learning needs.
Suggested Supporting Resources
Textbook References
Student Basic Resource—McGraw-Hill Ryerson, Understanding Nationalism:
Afghanistan:
- Pages 191–193 What Are Some Unintended Results of Pursuing National Self-Determination?
- Pages 227–230 How Can Nation–States Promote Internationalism Through Foreign Policy?
- Pages 238–239 Canada and Peacekeeping: Myth and RealityShow more
- Pages 249–254 How Has the United Nations Affected Nationalism?
Poverty and Human Rights:
- Pages 231–234 International Law and Agreements
- Page 237 How Does Canadian Foreign Policy Promote Both National Interest and Internationalism?
- Pages 240–241 Landmines and Foreign PolicyShow more
- Pages 235–237 Criticism of Foreign Aid Policy
- Pages 246–248 How Have Changing World Conditions Promoted Internationalism?
- Pages 255–260 How Have Various International Organizations Affected Nationalism?
- Pages 266–269 What Are Some Contemporary Global Issues?
- Pages 270–277 How Have People Used Internationalism to Address Contemporary Global Issues?
Organizations:
- Pages 224–226 How Do Countries Set Foreign Policy?
- Pages 227–230 How Can Nation–States Promote Internationalism Through Foreign Policy?
- Pages 238–239 Canada and Peacekeeping: Myth and RealityShow more
- Page 283 The View from Here
Teaching Resource—McGraw-Hill Ryerson, Understanding Nationalism:
- Reproducible 3.9.8 Picturing Internationalism
- Reproducible 3.9.9 How Canada's Involvement with Other Countries Affects Me and My Community
- Reproducible 3.10.1 How Canada's Foreign Policy Decisions Affect My LifeShow more
- Reproducible 3.10.2 Comparing Foreign Policy Strategies
- Reproducible 3.10.3 Sanctions Yes or No?
- Reproducible 3.10.4 International Agreements in the Antarctic and Arctic
- Reproducible 3.11.2 Protecting the Common Human Heritage
- Reproducible 3.11.4 Pascal Lamy and Maude Barlow on the World Trade Organization
- Reproducible 3.11.6 Cultural and Language-based International Organizations
- Reproducible 3.12.2 Picturing Global Issues
- Reproducible 3.12.3 Criteria for Rating the Success of International Efforts to Address Global Challenges
- Reproducible 3.12.4 Internationalism and Contemporary Global Issues
- Reproducible 3.12.5 Point-proof-comment Organizer: The Future of Internationalism
- Reproducible A: Ten Steps to Preparing Research
Web Resources
Web Links for Online Sources:
Videos:
- LearnAlberta.ca:
- YouTube.com website:
Distributed Learning/Tools4Teachers Resources:
Critical Challenges:
