Expectations
- Be on time for every class, with all necessary materials ready.
- Be polite and respectful to each other, to me, and especially to guests.
- Take notes, and keep your binder organized and up-to-date.
- Hand in projects on time. Late projects will suffer a -20% grade penalty.
- Produce quality work. In particular, all written assignments must consist of full sentences organized into paragraphs.
- Study for tests. Students who have unexcused absences on test days will suffer a -20% grade penalty on that test.
Course Schedule
Some of the units we will be doing in this course follow a standard classroom schedule. Others will be completed over a long time span, or must be done when the seasons permit. Therefore, the timeline below is subject to change.
- Indigenous Peoples of the Americas – 3 weeks
- Geography of North America
- Scientific and traditional accounts of the peopling of Yukon and the Americas. Traditional social structure and land management.
- Early contact between native and non-native people in the Americas.
- Land and Culture – 3 weeks (mixed in with Unit 1)
- We will take advantage of the good weather at the start of the semester to learn experentially about Yukon First Nations use of the land and traditional technology.
- Arctic Son (an absolutely wonderful documentary for rainy days).
- The Federal Election – 3 weeks
- The four “levels” of government in Canada
- The Canadian parliamentary, electoral, and party systems
- Election issues of interest to First Nations people
- First Nations treaties and the Canadian constitution
- First Nations Activism and The Umbrella Final Agreement – 3 weeks
- People and ideas in the struggle to build a more stable and equal society in the Yukon.
- Together Today for Our Children Tomorrow.
- Land rights, aboriginal law, and the Umbrella Final Agreement
- Project: First Nations governments of the Yukon
- Understanding Systemic Inequality in Canada – 3 weeks
- The triangle of oppression
- Colonial Canadian history
- Blanket activity
- Current issues in First Nations communities, and community solutions
- First Nations Art – 2 weeks
- Printmaking project.
- First Nations filmmaking.
- Film review project.
- Indigenous Hip-Hop – 2 weeks
- Poetics of hip-hop.
- Hip-hop as a form of indigenous expression.
- Rap video and/or analysis project.
Thinking Skills
- Critically analyzing historical and political ideas.
- Identifying and critiquing different viewpoints.
- Crafting, defending, and deconstructing oral arguments.
- Managing conflict while discussing sensitive topics.
- Artistic & creative skills.
Assessment & Evaluation
You can see the schedule of due dates on the calendar at misterwilkinson.com/fns12. You can add this calendar to your device by copying and pasting the following iCal link: https://www.google.com/calendar/ical/ibikgf7lmphs73hsm7augpk3hs%40group.calendar.google.com/public/basic.ics
- Final Exam: 20%
- Unit Tests: 20%
- Projects: 40%
- Participation (including homework completion): 20%
