Residential Schools: Teacher's Resource Guide: Grades 9-12

A fictionalized work that portrays the life of a 12-year-old girl who uses her diary as way to remember her family, her language, and her Aboriginal identity while attending a residential school. She also writes down many things that happen in the school as a way cope with her time there.
Suggested Grade Levels: Grade 5-12 (ages 10-17)

A boy is forced to attend a residential school far away from home. While there, Red Wolf is given a new name and made to change his appearance. In addition, he has to learn Christianity, Western customs, and is told to reject his Aboriginal culture and language. The novel also depicts his struggles with identity and adjusting to life after the school.
Suggested Grade Levels: 9-12 (ages 14-17)

Using government documents, archival images, maps, and the testimonies of residential school survivors, the author, a residential school survivor himself, provides a comprehensive overview of the residential school system and the steps taken towards truth and reconciliation in Canada. It also includes a chapter on Aboriginal life, customs, and traditions before residential schools.
Suggested Grade Levels: 9-12 (ages 14-17)

As part of the series, Righting Canada’s Wrongs, this volume focuses on Aboriginal peoples, the residential school system, and the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. With its stunning visual imagery – paintings, artifacts, photography, archival images, and primary documents from the Government of Canada – this work is an excellent resource on residential schools and for any general Canadian social studies curricula. It contains seven chapters that explore the following topics: Aboriginal life prior to European contact; conflicts during contact; the development of residential schools; life in the schools; closure of the schools; adjusting to life after residential school; and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
The first chapter, dedicated to examining Aboriginal life prior to contact, is extensive in its examination of elements of Aboriginal life – language, culture, religion, housing, food, medicine, clothing, and education systems. A comprehensive section on Aboriginal life prior to the schools is used to enhance the students’ understanding of colonial policies and how the development of the residential school system negatively impacted the children and their families. In addition, the chapter dedicated to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission highlights important findings from the Commission’s work and is one of the first examinations of the TRCs Calls to Action for youth ages 14-17.
Suggested Grade Levels: 9-12 (ages 14-17)

An asset to any Language Arts curricula, Moving Forward includes the poems, artworks, short stories, and essays of fourteen First Nations, Métis, and Inuit artists and writers. Each section contains questions and activities that can be utilized in the classroom to enhance learning and comprehension.
Suggested Grade Levels: 10-12 (ages 15-17)

This graphic novel/album provides a narrative based on a true story. In 1966, Chanie Wenjack ran away from his residential school, accompanied by two friends. The boys stayed with relatives of the other two boys and soon Chanie felt left out and set out on his own along the railroad tracks in an attempt to get home to his family. Though he had a map, he was unable to read it. His family was over 600 kilometres away. The music and images are beautiful and haunting, seeking to imagine what Chanie must have been thinking and experiencing as he trudged toward home in freezing temperatures, wearing clothing that was ill-suited to the conditions. An animated film with a brief preface and postscript including Downie and Chanie’s family was produced by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). The media provide a unique experience and the book/album/film should be quite popular, especially in the short-term with Downie’s current fame, and could be used in high school classrooms. The tragic story alone should provide some perspective on residential schools and the imagery and lyrics narrating his last days provide insight as to exactly why someone would run away from a residential school.
Suggested Grade Levels: 9-12 (ages 14-17)

Using select quotes, newspaper articles, primary documents, photographs, and graphic short stories, UNeducation Volume 1, highlights prominent themes to deepen students understanding of residential schools – political events, cultural assimilation, colonial laws, and the legacy of the system are examined in a unique and visually stunning way.
Suggested Grade Levels: 8-12 (ages 13-18)

When Dan, a high school student, must complete an assignment about residential schools, he interviews his friend’s Kokum, Betsy. This is the first time Betsy has ever shared what happened to her while in the school. Sugar Falls depicts life for children in the school and the emotional, physical, and sexual abuse they experienced. The theme of resilience is also represented as Betsy changes her name to Betty, in honor of her friend who died while attending the school.
Suggested Grade Levels: 10-12 (ages 15-17)

Ends/Begins tells the story of two brothers, James and Thomas, who are taken away from the comfort of their home communities and placed into a residential school. The story reveals the deplorable living conditions and hidden abuses children faced while there. It also explores the impact and legacy residential schools have on Aboriginal peoples today by shifting between past and present narratives. This book is the third installment in the four-part series, 7 Generations.
Suggested Grade Levels: 10-12 (ages 15-17)