CO - For Teachers - Activities

For Teachers - Activities - Service

Conscientious objectors worked on hundreds of projects all across Canada . They served in hospitals, mines, forestry camps, and on farms, highway construction crews, and in the medical corps. The amount of work they did was more than you would expect from their small number. This section gives examples and stories from the many different areas of CO service.

Activities

• Pretend that you are a CO working in a forestry camp in BC. Write a letter home to your family telling them about your experience. Be sure to draw a picture of your camp, your friends, and the kind of work that you are doing. Collect the pictures for an exhibition

• Ask a volunteer service worker to speak to the class about service, volunteering, and what it means to them.

• Write a fictional biography of a CO.

• Write a CO diary. Include information about work, friends, pressures, faith and church life, etc.

• Using photos from the web site, create a photo album. Be sure to add captions to your favourite pictures.

• Design a newspaper front page. Use pictures from the web site and put information in your own words.

• Write and perform a drama focusing on

• a CO in the medical corps helping in a battle

• two COs talking about what they believe

• saying goodbye to a girlfriend/wife/young family

• Draw a map of Canada showing the different places COs traveled and served.

• Contact a local volunteer agency and find out what kinds of service are available today.

• If you were a CO, what kind of service would you have chosen? Write a persuasive letter asking the judge to assign you to a certain type of service.

The “Service” section can help students:

• select information from a variety of oral, visual, material, print, or electronic sources

• draw conclusions based on research and evidence

• evaluate personal assumptions based on new information and ideas

• distinguish fact from opinion and interpretation

• observe and analyze material and visual evidence for research

• listen to others to understand their perspective

• elicit and clarify questions and ideas in discussions

• articulate their beliefs and perspectives on issues

• see the unique pattern of local histories as well as the connection to national and international events.