QUEBEC ROOTS: THE PLACE WHERE I LIVE
Writing and photography about your community
• Public: Elementary, Secondary schools
• Language: English
• Length of the activity: 5-6 months
• Free
• Registration deadline: September 24, 2010.
Partners: MELS, Canada Council for the Arts, LEARN, Community Learning Centers
- Description
- Requirements
- Abilities
- Involvment of the school boards
- The book
- Project Schedule
- Participating Authors and Photographers in 2010-2011
- Information - Contact
"Quebec Roots: The Place Where I Live" allows students in classrooms across Quebec to create a book of photographs and texts about their community. Classrooms that are geographically distant from one another are grouped together and students can create their books for peer readers and the general public.
Students will be asked a key question that will prompt their creativity, and in turn lead to a structure for their book: How would you describe your community to people who have never visited it?
As a means of exploring their responses to this main question, students will look at various photographs and discuss how they create atmosphere, show relationships, and illustrate ideas or concepts. In the pre-production phase of the project, students will use the author's writing, the photographer's work, and their own, to develop the kinds of photographs and writing that will be included in their book.
© Monique Dykstra
- Involvement in the project represents approximately 25 to 35 hours of work.
- Length of the first workshop in class is a full day. Teachers have to clear their students’ schedules for the visit of the author and the photographer.
- We ask teachers who want to register to have good skills in technology and photography. Technical support will be provided but teachers have to be very comfortable with new technologies or very willing to learn.
- Teachers must obtain signed permission slips for each participant.
Teachers who are interested in having their students participate in the project should be prepared to create and guide students through multiple tasks and learning situations that will enable them to bring the seed of their idea to fruition:
As such, teachers should have the ability to:
- Help the class narrow down the theme they have chosen into something realistic and manageable given the timeframe;
- Assign tasks (in a variety of genres) that will generate writing samples that best illustrate the students' unique definition of community;
- Ask appropriate questions to elicit the most focused writing samples;
- Generate activities that will elicit writing that represents the authentic voice of their students;
- Have a clear vision but also be flexible enough to step back and see where a spontaneous suggestion or moment of creative inspiration takes the project;
- Have a good comprehension of photographic composition and editing.
Involvement of the school boards
The Quebec Roots project is a free education programme offered by Blue Metropolis Foundation with the support of the Ministère de l'Éducation, du Loisir et du Sport (DGFJ), the Canada Council for the Arts, LEARN and CLC.
School boards are asked to cover the teachers' release and their travel and accommodation expenses for the two-day orientation meeting that is held in Montreal at the beginning of the project.
- Blue Met will send a letter to your school board so they can approve the terms of your participation.
- Your registration will be finalized when your school board has agreed to cover the costs associated with your participation.
Quebec Roots: The Place Where I Live 2010, 2009, 2008 and 2007 books are available for purchase. Click here to find out more
Project Schedule
N.B. This timetable is subject to change.
■ October 18th and 19th, 2010: Preparation - Orientation days in Montreal
Teachers will attend a two-day preparatory meeting to become familiar with the project structure and the technology used for videoconferencing and collaboration. In most cases, this session will also give teachers the opportunity to meet the author and photographer with whom they will be working.
Teachers will receive support materials and a project guide. The guide will offer suggestions, options and possible approaches to developing and managing the project in the classroom. Teachers will use the project materials to develop learning scenarios and to carry out appropriate activities with their students. At all times, the teachers will be the ones making decisions regarding the selection and development of specific activities in their classroom.
There will be technical support to set up videoconferences.
■ November - December 2010
Project planning in the classes:
Back in the classroom, teachers will use the project materials and other resources to brainstorm and discuss the concept of community with their class. Students will start writing and taking pictures.
Preliminary texts and photos must be sent to the authors and the photographers before scheduling their first visit in class.
First meeting between the author, the photographer, the teacher and the class. One full day in class.
Each group will participate in an in-class or online workshop with the author and photographer. The guide provides suggestions to prepare for this exchange. During this initial meeting, the author and photographer will draw on their own work and experience. They will share their ideas about the creative process: how they go about breathing life into characters, settings and landscapes; how they illustrate different kinds of relationships in a community; and how they evoke atmosphere, feeling(s) or a sense of what makes a community "tick" in photographs and writing.
■ November 2010 to March 2011: Production of the book
On-line meeting space
There will be an on-line meeting space where classes will be able to share their work and have exchanges with their author and photographer. Students will be able to communicate with the author and photographer on an occasional basis. Individual teachers will decide on the roles and responsibilities within their own classroom.
Creation of the photos and texts
Once they have taken photographs and written texts, students will make a mock-up of their 12 pages for the book and will send them to Blue Metropolis, and also to their author and photographer to give them time to review the material before the videoconference.
Students will send the original material - the text, the photographs and a first draft of their layout - to Blue Metropolis. A graphic designer will use the students' ideas for the final design.
■ February 2011: Closing videoconference
Before the last modifications of their work, each class will have a one-hour, online or face-to-face session with the author and photographer. The focus of the dialogue during the videoconference will be the content of the students' drafts, and they will receive feedback from the author and the photographer.
■ April 28th 2011: Book launch
At the Blue Metropolis Montreal International Literary Festival, a group of students from each class will have the opportunity to participate in the launch of the book.
■ May to June 2011: Assessment
Written evaluation by all participants.
Participating Authors and Photographers in 2009-2010
Monique Polak
Carolyn Marie Souaid
Joel Silverstein
Monique Dykstra
Thomas Kneubühler
Five years of Quebec Roots
Information:
Florence Allegrini,
Educational Programmes Coordinator
(514) 932-1112, ext. 30
florence.allegrini@bluemetropolis.org