Pre-assessment
Ancestral Women Taking Back Their Dresses
The first time I travelled to Europe to visit museum collections, I was overwhelmed by the sheer volume of cultural material from across the globe. I was looking for “our stuff” and I found it. When I got back, the first thing people would ask was, "Did you bring them back?" It was difficult to explain, to older people in particular, why I couldn't do that. I couldn't explain it to myself. One day when I was feeling very frustrated, I thought, "The only way we're ever going to get that stuff back is if those women, the artists, just go there and get it." So these are my superheroes, and my imaginary vindication. Our female ancestors fly across the ocean, invade the museums and take back our possessions. The women have blasted the doors of the museum open, thrown their cotton print dresses away, and reclaimed their traditional dresses. Every dress in the painting is a real dress in a museum collection. I felt much better after I finished. By painting this I took something back. I brought them home.
– Sherry Farrell Racette
Métis/Timiskaming Algonquin/Irish
Pre-assessment
At the beginning of the unit, I assessed 24 juniors in knowledge about 10 unit concepts.
WORLDVIEW
COLONIZATION
GENOCIDE
CULTURAL GENOCIDE
ASSIMILATION
ERASURE
RESISTANCE
SURVIVANCE
RESILIENCE
INTERGENERATIONAL RESILIENCE
AVERAGE SCORE: 2.34 out of 10 points
MEDIAN SCORE: 2 out of 10 points
RANGE: 0-6 points
Pre-Reading Survey
At the beginning of the unit, I surveyed 24 juniors in US History about their reading habits.
How often do you read for fun?
*Literally never **Maybe a couple times a year
How do you like to read?
*I already told you, lady, I don't read