Rewriting History: Grade 10 Academic Canadian History

When you hear the phrase “rewriting history”, what comes to mind first? It’s often used to indicate that the victors in a conflict have glossed over details to make their actions seem more honourable. If you spin the tale just right, nothing seems as bad or as corrupt or as violent as it really was.

At Virtual High School, we want rewriting history to mean just the opposite. We are committed to expanding our awareness and understanding of issues related to inclusion and equity. We aim to celebrate and listen to the diversity of voices within our school community, which starts with making sure that those voices are represented in our course content. This involves expanding our definition of historical accuracy to include more perspectives and evidence from different groups across time.

We’re proud to announce the relaunch of our CHC2D: Canadian History Since WWI (Academic) course this week! Our revamped course covers over 100 years of social, economic, and political developments from 1914 to present day. Students in this course can expect to examine the role of conflict and cooperation in Canadian society, Canada’s evolving role within the global community, and the impact of key individuals, organizations, and events on the identity, citizenship, and heritage of Canada.

What’s Been Updated in CHC2D?

A large selection of videos, interviews, images, primary source documents, and interactives have been added to existing units to improve learning and overall experience. All maps, diagrams, and gifs have also been updated to include alt text for our ReadSpeaker tool, which will help students with visual impairments to understand the context of each piece of media.

The sections on the Holocaust and residential schools have seen significant expansion and improvement. You can expect to find new primary source materials from the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum archives, interviews from Holocaust survivors, details on the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, and features on the local and global resistance to the Holocaust. New videos and interviews have been added to the lesson on residential schools to highlight recent developments in Canadian politics. All units in the course contain information chronicling Canada’s changing relationship and policies with Indigenous peoples.

Updated lessons in the final unit include Black Lives Matter, COVID-19, the Harper years, the Justin Trudeau era, and modern influential Canadians. We’ve incorporated new biographies on significant people in Canada’s history, like Corporal Francis Pegahmagabow, Louise Brooks, and Gord Downie. More case studies have been introduced in an effort to focus on minority groups and their experiences throughout the time frame of the course.

What’s New in CHC2D?

Each assignment now includes tools to help you succeed and improve your skills as you progress through the course. Things like graphic organizers, precise instructions, assessment checklists, and full exemplars are provided so that you’ll have a clear understanding of the expectations.

We’ve also used new interactive tours, like the Canadian War Museum Virtual Experience, and gamification in our lessons to help bring the past to life. As you work your way through CHC2D, you will now be awarded specialty badges for completing each unit. We consider these badges a reward for a job well done!

Are There New Assessments?

Of course!

We’re giving you lots of opportunities to flex your creativity with a variety of assessments in this course. For example, you might be asked to illustrate diary entries, create historical trading cards, hunt for hidden artifacts, and much more! It is our hope that you will use your research and investigative skills to examine the primary and secondary source materials that we’ve provided to immerse yourself in Canada’s history as it comes to life before your very eyes.

Check out the CHC2D course outline today to get started on your journey into the past.