Overview
Relationships to place are important for understanding future Learning Experiences, especially those that make use of maps, which may not always portray the depth of relations that Mi’kmaq have to Mi’kma’kik. Mi’kmaw ways of mapping space are anchored in deep relationships to the land and water that have been passed on through generations, and are usually carried through stories. In this LE, learners will make their own maps based on the stories they have to tell about the trip they take to get to school. A class discussion will follow, where learners can share their maps and consolidate their understanding.
Learners will...
- Be introduced to some aspects of Mi’kmaw worldview as they relate to place.
- Think about relationships to place and how individual and community experiences impact what those relationships look like.
- Understand that maps are devices that reflect someone’s relationships and experiences; usually the relationships and experiences reflected in maps are shared with a larger group.
- Understand that mapping within cultures is distinct to that culture and impacts how maps are both portrayed and interpreted.
- Learn to ask questions about where maps come from and what maps tell us about the people who made them.
Focus
Working in pairs or small groups, learners are asked to tell a story about their trip to school that morning. Then, they will use their story to draw a story map of the journey, illustrating the points that are important to them. The goal is not to have learners draw actual roads, but instead the sequence of elements of their story on the way to school represented by icons or simple line sketches. Educators may want to prepare learners a day in advance, so they have two trips to compare to tell their story. While the story map is drawn, the activity and learner stories should be shared orally.
- Things for learners to consider when they tell their story (think about making points on a map):
- What defines the points in the story map?
- Do the points reflect relationships (e.g., I passed my auntie’s house) or events (e.g., we had a flat tire there once)?
- How did you get from where you started (home, bus stop, other) to the end point (school)?
- What were you doing on the trip? Did that impact your story map?
- What happened on the trip? Did that impact your story map?
- What did you notice about your surroundings?Are there places you recognize? Why did you recognise them?
- Is your story about the trip to school different from day to day or are some points on the map the same day-after-day? Why?
Following the story-sharing and map-making, learners can share their maps with the class and compare their stories. Educators may want to ask learners to interpret each other’s maps and try to decipher the story the maps are telling. How did learners’ individual experiences impact how they drew their maps? How do their experiences impact how they interpret others’ maps?
PE!
This is an introductory unit — it should be appropriate for all learners regardless of prior knowledge.
This is a great activity to help learners understand that there are multiple ways of relating to space.
Teacher Tip
Story maps should not look like a GPS-style map. Learners are not required to know, or even include, the names of streets, for example. The goal is to map the points of the story in their order. Think of the map as a layout of subway stops: each point in the story is a “stop” between Point A (where they start) and Point B (where they end up).
Mapping and understanding of place comes from individual and shared experiences. Keep this in mind when you use maps in the classroom. What is the map for? Who created it? What is the purpose of that map?
LE Materials
This activity can be done completely with materials that are already in the classroom.
Additional Resources
See the introduction to this section for a description of Mi’kma’kik as well as discussion on the concepts noted above.
sharing our stories