Hello world! Welcome back to my blog! Our most recent humanities project called Save Juno Beach has come to an end, and so it’s time to reflect. In this project we questioned: “why is it so important to learn about Canada’s involvement in WWII?”. Our final product was an argumentative essay answering our driving question.
So first things first we has to learn about the war. Studying World War 2 felt overwhelming because there’s just too much historical content out there. We use the N.A.M.E. Acronym to determine historical significance. NAME stands for Novelty, Applicability, Memory and Effect. I remembered the acronym from when we learnt it in our Renaissance project in grade 8. Learning about ww2 was a lot of listening. We listened to Ms. Madsen talk about the historically significant parts of WW2, and Canada’s involvement in it. Typically, lengthy periods of listening can get boring, testing the limits of my attention span. But learning about World War 2 was interesting. I wonder about the complexities of human decision-making during times of conflict. What goes through a leader’s mind when they decide to start a war?
We also tested our knowledge on different aspects of the inter war years, and the war itself, through some fun kahoots. We practiced them until we could get them 100% correct.
I learned that World War II was the deadliest conflict in human history. It spanned the globe from 1939 to 1945 and was a battle between the Allied powers and the Axis Powers. The Axis, led by totalitarian and authoritarian regimes—most notably the fascist regimes of Germany, Italy, and Japan—sought to establish dominance. The Allies, comprised of democratic nations such as Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union, united against these oppressive ideologies. In the end, they triumphed over the forces that threatened freedom and human rights.
After engaging in some group inquiry projects on the legacies of WWII, we employed the historical significance acronym to further investigate the impact of the war. We ranked the criteria from 1 (not at all significant) to 5 (very significant). I argued that the war was very significant. We utilized the P.E.E. formula to develop a short, clear, and structured answer. P.E.E. stands for Point, Evidence, and Explanation. This concept was new to me, but I really liked it because it provided structure to my answers and compelled me to use evidence. I will definitely use this strategy again when crafting strong 3-4 sentence responses. This strategy was also a helpful tool for me when writing my final essay: it reminded me to provide evidence and explain my evidence to backup my point and make my essay more convincing.
With our newly gained knowledge of WWII, we were ready to write our final essays. These essays were supposed to answer our driving question: Why is it so important to learn about Canada’s involvement in WWII? Crafting my essay demanded a considerable amount of effort. First, I had to develop a strong thesis, then plan out my essay, followed by the actual writing, and finally, the revision process to enhance its quality. Writing my essay was a lengthy and tiring journey. I found myself a bit behind in Humanities due to missing three full days of class for school field hockey provincials (we secured the gold, making it all worthwhile). The final essay deadline came really fast.
The most challenging part was composing my first body paragraph about Canada’s contributions to the war. There was an abundance of information to cover within a single paragraph. I overcame this obstacle by condensing my paragraph to be more concise during the revision stage and breaking down the paragraph into manageable chunks.
Overall, I’m super proud of my essay. I did an excellent job of answering the driving question, and I put in a lot of effort to ensure that my body paragraphs support my thesis statement.
Sofia, Kira and I created a pretty display in the hallway of our school in time for Remembrance Day. It turned out great. Each student created a 1-2 sentence answer to the driving question, and then we put these statements in the clouds, above the poppies.
This was my response to the driving question: Learning about Canada’s involvement in World War 2 is essential in understanding the significant contributions we made to the Allied forces, and the sacrifices we made in securing peace. It also provides us with valuable insights on how the war affected our national identity, economy, and international relations to this day.
As we conclude this chapter, I carry with me a newfound understanding of how history shapes our present. The opening 30 minutes of “Saving Private Ryan,” a remarkably well-executed depiction of D-day, left me deeply affected, providing me with a glimpse into the harsh reality of war. This experience has heightened my awareness of global conflicts, making me more inclined to follow current events, such as the Israel-Hamas and Ukraine-Russia wars, with a sense of sorrow.
I also feel like more of a Canadian citizen. I understand more of Canada’s history, making me a more engaged and educated Canadian citizen.
Thanks for reading!