Cite

Lesson Plan: Dr. Bryce and Primary Source Analysis

By: Yuntian Shi

Yuntian Shi

Education Collaborator

Yuntian Shi is a pre-service teacher based in Toronto. He is currently in the Master of Teaching program at the University of Toronto, and he holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and History from the University of Ottawa. He is interested in Social Studies curriculum and education policies. He has always been passionate about improving the quality of social studies education to create a better society.

Note for Educators

Before beginning this learning experience with your class, plan ahead for how to do so in a thoughtful and trauma-informed way based on your knowledge of your students. Who is in your room? What might they need throughout this learning? Consider whether the presence of a guidance counsellor or other social-emotional support specialist would be helpful. Consider what you might need to say and do to preface this lesson, based on what your class already knows and what you know about your class (including individual and collective needs).

To learn more about how to support students in cultural safety specifically, read Charlene Camillo and Starr McGahey-Albert’s blog.

Minds On (10 minutes)

1. Hand out the entry ticket below as a printed page or assign it digitally as a Google Form.
   
   
2. Students should complete the entry ticket individually. The teacher can circulate to see what kinds of answers students are writing down, but students will not share their responses aloud with the class to ensure that harmful or inaccurate information is not shared.
   
   
3. The teacher can then share with the class common accurate responses they saw amongst the students’ answers. If you need time to read through the tickets, ask students to engage in silent reading (or another routine that works for your class) while you scan student answers.
   
   It is crucial that you as a teacher have some background learning about residential schools before engaging in this conversation with your students. You can learn more via Where Are the Children (Legacy of Hope), Timeline of Residential Schools (Canadian Encyclopedia), “A National Crime” by Miles Morrisseau, and via many National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation resources.

Action (40-50 minutes)

Background Learning (35-40 minutes)

1. Depending on your students’ existing knowledge of residential schools, you may need to engage in direct instruction about the history of residential schools before proceeding with this lesson.
   
   If that is the case, you can use the resources shared above: Where Are the Children (Legacy of Hope), Timeline of Residential Schools (Canadian Encyclopedia), “A National Crime” by Miles Morrisseau, and via many National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation resources.
   
   You could also use one of Defining Moments Canada’s interactive StoryMaps as an introduction to residential schools: the Reconciling History Walking Tour (created in partnership with the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society) or Using Records to Explore Residential Schools (written by Kaila Johnston).
   
   
   
2. Introduce Dr. Bryce and the history of his 1922 pamphlet, The Story of a National Crime, by using one (or many) of these resources, as is best for your group:
   
   
   • “A Multi-Passionate Man of Medicine: Towards a Broader Understanding of the Life, Times, and Work of Dr. Peter Bryce” by Dr. Adam Green (article)
     
     
   • “The Good Doctor”: Peter H. Bryce, Education, Public Health & Family Legacies by Dr. Christopher J. Rutty (article)
     
     
   • “Dr. Peter H. Bryce: Bold & Relentless Public Health Pioneer” by Dr. Christopher J. Rutty (article)
     
     
   • Peter Bryce and the Story of a National Crime (video)
     
     
3. You could ask your students to read/watch one specific resource, to choose one from the list individually, or to engage in a jigsaw activity where a different group of students is assigned to each resource and then engages in a round-table conversation as an “expert” in mixed groups (with one student from each resource group).
   
   You might have students select 4-5 key learnings about Dr. Bryce, his work, his times, and his legacy, or you might develop specific questions to guide them—whatever works best for your group.

Class Discussion (5-10 minutes)

1. Invite students to share what they learned about Dr. Bryce, his work, his times, and his legacy, from their engagement with the resources. The teacher could take notes on the chalkboard/whiteboard, or students could write down one of their key learnings on a post-it note and bring it up themselves (either to the board or to chart paper).
   
   
2. In conversation, ensure students understand what kind of work Dr. Bryce did in residential schools. What do they know so far about what connects Dr. Bryce to residential schools? What did he do there?

Consolidation (5 minutes)

1. On the back of their original entry ticket, on a Google Form, or via post-it note, ask students to record their biggest takeaway from the lesson: a key learning, something that surprised them, a curiosity they still hold. Do they still have questions about Dr. Bryce and his work? They can write that down too.
   
   
2. Let the students know that in the next lesson, they will be reading Dr. Bryce’s pamphlet, The Story of a National Crime. Invite students to let you know ahead of time if they have any concerns about how they might respond emotionally so you can support them to the best of your abilities.

Minds On (5 minutes)

1. Invite students to take a moment to review and reconnect independently with their notes from the previous lesson: what they already knew and/or learned about residential schools and Dr. Bryce, and what they are still curious about. This is a solo activity to get them into the right headspace and context for engaging with Dr. Bryce’s The Story of a National Crime.

Action (60 minutes)

1. Place students in small groups (3-4 students) in order for them to engage in a primary source analysis of Dr. Bryce’s pamphlet.
   
   
2. Share with the students both the written text of The Story of a National Crime and the audio version, recorded by Miles Morrisseau.
   
   
3. Share with students the glossary to the pamphlet, and encourage them to reference it whenever they need throughout their reading/listening.
   
   
4. Ask students to fill out the chart at the bottom of this section (or something similar) as a group while they read/listen. Students could work on individual sheets of paper or a shared Google Doc, whatever works best for your group.
   
   
5. While filling it out, they can consider the following guiding questions (or feel free to create your own or co-create them with your students):
   
   
   • What can we learn about the harmful legacies of residential schools in Canada through Dr. Bryce’s 1922 pamphlet?
     
     
   • What information about residential schools was available to the government of Canada by 1922, given that Dr. Bryce shared it in his pamphlet?

Consolidation (10 minutes)

1. Ask student groups to select 1-2 quotations or facts that they included on their chart that they feel are the most significant or important to share with the rest of the class.
   
   
2. Invite each group to share what they selected with the class. Repeats/similarities across groups is not an issue, and groups shouldn’t change what they’ve selected if they hear another group share it.
   
   
3. In closing, the teacher can draw connections aloud between what the groups have shared. Were there similarities? Differences?
   
   
4. Let the students know this is not the end of the learning and conversation, and that you will return to their charts and analysis in the next lesson.
   

Minds On (5 minutes)

1. Remind the students of the guiding questions from the previous lesson’s reading/listening activity, either the following or the ones you developed yourself:
   
   
   • What can we learn about the harmful legacies of residential schools in Canada through Dr. Bryce’s 1922 pamphlet?
     
     
   • What information about residential schools was available to the government of Canada by 1922, given that Dr. Bryce shared it in his pamphlet?
     
     
2. Invite students to scan back through the chart they created as a group in response to reading/listening to Dr. Bryce’s The Story of a National Crime.
   

Action (60 minutes)

1. Ask students to gather back in their reading/listening groups.
   
   
2. Using the information they gathered in their charts yesterday, ask students to generate a response to one of the guiding questions. Depending on the dynamics of your class you might want the students to brainstorm this in their groups and also create the response in their groups, or you might want them to work independently (or a combination of both). Make the choice that is best for/with your group.
   
   Student responses can be in the form of a typed paragraph, a slide deck, by using chart paper, etc. Their responses should foreground Dr. Bryce’s pamphlet, the quotes/facts they gathered, and their notes about the significance of those quotes/facts.
   
   
3. Once students have finished preparing their responses, invite them to share what they’ve generated. This can be informal or more presentation-style, whatever works best for your group.
   
   
4. The teacher can draw connections between student answers in wrapping up this portion of the lesson. If it hasn’t already come up in student work, the teacher can also draw attention to common themes that come up when we discuss the harmful legacies and impacts of residential schools, namely on health, education, culture, community, and childhood. In terms of what the government had knowledge of in the early 20th century, the teacher could also draw inferences/make connections to agency in relation to such knowledge, including the role of the government and the press to act on and share what they know.
   

Consolidation (10 minutes)

1. As an exit ticket, ask students to reflect on (or write about, by hand or on a Google Form) the following questions:
   
   
   • When reading Dr. Bryce’s pamphlet, how did you select what quotes and facts should be gathered into the chart? How did you make decisions about what was significant?
     
     
   • What was it like for you to work collaboratively in determining what was significant?
     Were there moments where it was helpful? Challenging?
     
     
   • How did you select which quotes and facts from the chart would be included in your response to the guiding questions? Was it challenging to narrow it down? Did you find certain overlaps in themes and ideas that made it easier to make decisions?
     
     
   • Over the last few lessons, we have been learning about Dr. Bryce’s work in residential schools. His pamphlet was written in his voice, from his perspective. What biases do we need to keep in mind when we consider his position and privileges? Whose voices and stories might be missing from Dr. Bryce’s pamphlet?