We gratefully acknowledge, respect, recognize and appreciate that we live, learn and work and teach on the traditional territories of the Kwanlin Dun First Nations and the Ta'an Kwächän Council. 
​Shä̀wnítha / Shro neethun

The Curriculum Documents

All grade 11 students taking English in each secondary school in Whitehorse are enrolled in one of the available English First Peoples courses. 

The overall skills (competencies) and general content (knowledge) is the same as in any other English course, and there is the same degree of rigour; the difference is there is more emphasis placed on the study of literature that is written by, about and regarding the experience of Indigenous peoples - in the Yukon, across  Canada, throughout North America and indeed, around the World. 

It is important to note that these courses are part of the ongoing work that educators are engaging in as part of work on the 94 Recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, particularly recommendations 6 - 12 and 62 - 65. 

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English First Peoples 11 Literary Studies & New Media

The Course Outline

I have created the course outline on a site called Sutori.  

To see units of study for this course, how they link to the curriculum and approximate timeframes, either click on the embedded link or the button below. 

Please note that the plan is subject to change depending on a variety of factors/influences, including but not limited to circumstances outside of the control of the teacher or school. 

EN 11 First Peoples LTSTNM Semester 1 Plan

The Learning Materials

Many of our learning materials will only be available online via the Google Classroom platform, in part because some of them are copyrighted and license agreements stipulate that they can only be posted on password protected digital spaces. 

• Whenever I can, I will make individual copies of Google documents (whether they are in Docs, Slides, Sheets or PDF formats) so that students have copies in their Google Drive Classroom folder that they can print if/as needed. 
• Sometimes some PDFs may be available here on the teacher page. 
• Students are highly recommended to use the G Suite tools for creating materials to be submitted for this course, but they can upload other document formats to their Drive to be submitted. 
• Most work will need to be submitted digitally.  NOTE: Even if/when a student submits work in hard copy form, they will need to go into the Google Classroom Assignment View and mark it as having been Turned In.

Although this is not specifically the English First Peoples course, the curriculum still calls for the integration of Indigenous perspectives and materials, so you may well  Indigenous materials. 

The Book Study

Our Book Study:
The Inconvenient Indian
- A Curious Account of Native People in North America 
​by Thomas King

The Inconvenient Indian

I took a course last year and this is where I got caught up in 'what about the land'. The professor explained about his people's use of the land and hI took a course last year and this is where I got caught up in 'what about the land'.

The Anthology of Literature & Media

Our Literature Anthology:
iLit - Strength & Struggle: Perspectives from First Nations, Métis and Inuit Peoples in Canada 
​edited by Rachel A. Mishenene and Pamela Rose Toulouse,
​published by McGrawHill-Ryerson

iLit Strength and Struggle

iLit Strength and Struggle book. Read reviews from world's largest community for readers. iLit Strength and Struggle: Perspectives From First Nations, In...

The Anthology of Essays (Non-Fiction) 

The Essay Anthology:
Indigenous Writes:
A Guide to First Nations, Métis and Inuit Issues in Canada
​written by Chelsea Vowel

Indigenous Writes

Non-Fiction Considering the complexities and difficulties surrounding questions of Indigeneity and non-Indigeneity in Canada, few would have the expertise and courage required to write "A Guide to First Nations, Métis & Inuit Issues." But this is exactly what Métis author and educator Chelsea Vowel has done.

​The Grading
​Standards Based Assessment & Evaluation

Ms. Carrey does her assessment and evaluation in Google Classroom, and students can see their work progress and results there.  

Students should either submit work in Google Classroom or go into an assignment in Google Classroom and mark it as turned in in person.  

Below you will find the weighted categories for the class.  Specific assignments may have elements that fall into more than one category, but an assignment will be most focused in one category. 

In the descriptions below, there are some examples of skills/content from the curriculum document to help you understand what each category includes. This list of examples is not exhaustive. 

The Categories

10 % - Content & Knowledge      

• Information, facts, terminology etc. 
• Strategies and Processes
• Text features, text forms and genres

20% - Comprehension & Analysis

• Identifying and analyzing bias
• ​Reading/viewing/listening for meaning
  
• Thinking critically
•  Apply comprehension and study strategies (i.e. note taking) ​

15% - Communication, Connections & Collaboration 

• Explore diversity (cultural, varied perspectives) in Indigenous and non-Indigenous texts
• The history of language, and it's influence on personal and social identities

15% - Planning, Creating & Presenting Content

• Planning a research project (i.e. key questions, thesis)
• Planning a project incl. time management 
• Preparing material to be published or presented, and posting/sharing work on the assigned platform

15% Research, Citations & Acknowledgements

• Accessing (seeking, assessing, sorting) information.
• Understanding protocols around ownership and guardianship of Indigenous oral texts.
• Using citations to properly give credit to the creators of source material.
• Quoting vs. paraphrasing vs. original observations.
• Effective use of search engines and databases.

25% - The Final Project 

The Final Project is worth 25% of the entire course grade. 

​It will bring together materials and skills from all of the semester's study/work

So far this semester...

August - September 2020

What did we do/cover during August - September 2020? 

• Classroom expectations (students were expected to review the Classroom Community presentation, based on the Annishnabe 7 Grandfather Teachings (this can be found under the Courses page of this website.) 
• We watched and discussed the Mini Assembly video from the school administration regarding expectations and general PCSS info for this semester. (See the General Info page of this website, under Previous Heads Up > Aug/Sept)
• Students were taken though the process of logging in to their Yukon Digital Cloud Services accounts via the Rapid Identity Portal and accepting their invitations to their Google Classroom. (See instructions on the Digital Tools and Tips and YkEd Google Classroom pages of this website.) (
  • Google Classroom: "I have logged in to Google Classroom" and Assignment [i] Getting Started - My Technology Profile)
• We reviewed/learned about different methods of Note Taking with a focus on the Cornell Note Taking method. (See information on the Handy Dandy for All Students and Parents page of this website under: Useful Academic Skills for Everyone > Study Skills > Taking Notes and Doing Readings.) 
  • Students learned what the different note taking methods are, how they work, their benefits and drawbacks, how to set up and use the formats, and practiced using the technique of the Cornell Note taking Method.
• We dug into our unit on Digital Literacy. 
  • Students learned the basics of using NoodleTools (an online research planning and citation management tool).  They were walked through the login process, set up a project, created a citation, added their project to a teacher inbox and used the comment function.  (See information on the Digital Tools and Tips and the PCSS NoodleTools pages of this website.)
    • (Google Classroom: Assignment [1.8] Getting Started in Noodle Tools)
  • Students learned about Journalism terminology, and did a quiz on that learning.
    • (Google Classroom: Material [1.3] Learning About Fake News and Quiz [1.4] News Vocabulary)
  • Students learned about Fake News and what 8 elements make a story Newsworthy and did assignments on those packages. 
    • (Google Classroom: Assignments [1.5] Fake News Pt 1, [1.6] Fake News Pt 2 and [1.7] Newsworthiness Activity)
  • Students watched part of a video in class (and were to finish watching on their own) CBC The Fifth Estate: Deep Fake Video - The Weaponization of Fake News 
  • Students were provided with a digital 'text' on the Influence of Advertising and had to answer questions on that text. 
    • (Google Classroom: Assignment [1.2] Perceptions of Advertising pt A)
  • We began to watch the film The Social Dilemma on the problems with social media.  Students were provided with active viewing packages they need to complete based on notes they are taking (with prompts) as we progress through the documentary. 

October 2020

November 2020

Stay tuned - coming in November 2020

December 2020

Stay tuned - coming in December 2020

January 2021

Stay tuned - coming in January 2021