Where the Streets Have No Name

Summary:

‘Using primary evidence from Library and Archives Canada, students develop a biographical sketch of Great War soldiers from their community. This biography will be used to determine historical significance of a soldier as part of a civics activation campaign to justify having a street named after “their” soldier in any new urban development. […] Students engage in primary evidence research by adopting a soldier from their local cenotaph and complete a biography. Throughout this process the student is connecting “their” soldier to larger contexts such as the battles that the soldier participated in, unique characteristics of the battles, family connections to their community, and impact of soldier’s death on family and community.’


General Tasks:

Part 1: Students are given information about a soldier’s life, and discuss about the relevancy of the data for a biography.

Part 2: They collect further information by contacting family members, searching in newspaper, analyzing photographs and reading official documents.

Part 3: they write a text justifying that a street should be renamed with their soldier’s name.


Evaluation Criteria:

Application of the historical significance concept; quality of communication; deepness of research; correctness of sources citations.