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From the History Classroom
J.D.M. Stewart teaches history in the Canadian, Business, and World Studies Dept. at Bishop Strachan School, Toronto. Last autumn he proposed to Patricia Fleming, editor of The Fife and Drum, that his students write on some aspect of the War of 1812, with the best essay to be published in the newsletter. In his own words, We need to continue to engage our students in the study of the past. One of the ways of doing that is to give students authentic and meaningful tasks that capture their interest in history and show them that the subject has real value beyond the classroom. This year, in my Grade 11 American History class . . . I decided it would be fun for students to write an article about the War of 1812 for The Fife and Drum newsletter. Rather than give a presentation to the class or some other assignment, writing for an outside publication seemed like a novel way to hook them on the topic that is part of the course curriculum. When students heard that they were writing for a real publication, they were more excited than I had anticipated. They took to the task with gusto and produced a variety of interesting pieces, ranging from the age-old question about who won the war to whether the topic is worth learning about at all. Students conducted their own research in books and on the Internet. They were encouraged to have an opinion and to quote from their research. . . . Everyone in our class appreciated the opportunity. The students who contributed to this endeavour were Sydney De Zen, Vanessa Gentile, Vanessa Guzylak, Tasha Lin, Amelia Maynard, Katherine Moore, Helena Pearce-Reilly, Anisette Ruda, Eily Shaw, Leslie Schwartz, Erin Silgardo, Greer Tanzer, and Ashlon Valliani. Picking the best from a strong field was difficult, but with the help of Nancy Baines, a retired teacher of history at North Toronto CI, and Kyle Wyatt, managing editor of The Walrus magazine (both of whom are directors of The Friends of Fort York), the editors chose Amelia Maynard’s essay.
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