Textbook Resource
Our Land and People by Shields-Ramsay, P.; Ramsay, D
Our Land and People
Each chapter also concludes with a short review and a transition to the next chapter. Like the Voices of Canada, this book is also divided into two units - one is exploring the geographic regions of Canada while the other one is learning about the ongoing history of Canada. Both these units build upon the skills, attitudes and knowledges that are listed in the Program of Studies. At the end of the first unit, students create a Tour map while at the end of the second unit, they work on building a history museum.
Moreover, this book also includes a Teacher Resource guide that gives teachers step by step instructions for activities they could plan to use in their classroom. Each chapter also includes a guide that shows how this chapter aligns with the outcomes and suggests activities for differentiated instruction. I noticed that The teacher resources does not include assessments for individual chapters as the other textbook Voice of Canada did.
While comparing the two textbooks, I noticed that Voices of Canada assessments focused on skills rather than knowledge learned. It also focused on specific concepts that were learned during the reading of the chapter and asked students to do activities while building on the skills. On the other hand, Our Land and People summarized the chapter in one activity (building a museum or creating a tour brochure) not leaving room for any creativity from students in creating a task that fits their preferred learning style. For this reason, I will rate this book as "Strong" as it explains the subject matter thoroughly but falls short in the freedom of activities for the individual student.
Reference:
Shields-Ramsay, P., & Ramsay, D. (2007). Our land and people . Toronto: Thompson Canada