Teacher's Choice for Activity Six
Perserving Historic Buildings

Objectives

• To understand the "pros" of saving historic buildings.
• To understand the "cons".
• To be able to evaluate fairly assumptions such as "new is always better".
• To be aware of some of the complex issues in preserving historic buildings.

Description

Using the "Discussion Web" strategy, pose the question to the students, "Should old buildings in Vancouver (or anywhere) be saved?"

1. Choose one good question that will allow students to develop compelling arguments for both sides of an issue.
   
2. Provide students with "the question." (i.e. "Should old buildings in Vancouver be saved?")  Students think about the position they want to take.   For every "yes" statement, the student must also provide a "no." Students jot down their reasons for each position on a T-chart or other graphic organizer.  (Individual response, 3-5 minutes)
   
3. Pair-Share: work with a partner. Discuss the question in terms of the evidence that can be found to support the yes/no columns.  Jot down key-words.  See if you and your partner can come to an agreement as to which position you want to take.  (5 minutes)
   
4. Appoint a person from your group to present your group's conclusion and reason(s) for that conclusion. Be sure to include the minority viewpoint if consensus was not reached.
   
5. Each group presents its viewpoint. Teacher or another student keeps track of the reasons for each of the arguments.

Follow-up Activities

Write your own answer to this question. You may include your group's ideas as well as the ideas expressed by other groups.

Log Entry: Did you change your mind after going through this process? If so, what caused you to change your mind? If not, what additional arguments supported your position?

Guided Imagery: Help the student to take on a role of one of the characters in the text by using a strategy like image, cluster, draft (Brownlie, Close and Wingren, 1988).

Hot Seat: The class becomes a talk show. One person is being interviewed about his/her role in the story, or the historical event and must defend his/her actions.

Materials Needed

A Guide to Researching Historic Buildings in Vancouver, City of Vancouver Archives; 1982.  This free book is included in the school kit and pages 37-39 list some of the pertinent legislation for preserving heritage buildings.

Roedde House staff/board members or someone with BC Heritage Trust might be called upon to talk, about the long process of getting the home preserved.

References: Brownlie, F., Close, S., and Wingren, L.  Reaching for Higher Thought: Reading, Writing, Thinking Strategies, Edmonton: Arnold. 1988.

Veronica Hooker Project TEAMS, October, 1989.