Have a whole-class discussion about the personality traits that make each of us different from one another. Ask students to consider if they have a personal characteristic that might contribute to making them unique. Invite students to share their ideas about well-known people who are memorable and why that might be so.
Ask students if they know anything about Kim Campbell and her personality traits. Create a class list of her personality traits. Then write this definition on the board:
Confound: to amaze, leave speechless, mystify, perplex, or baffle
Explain to the class that Campbell has been described as having confounded voters and politicians as a “tart-tongued, unapologetically determined, razor-sharp intellectual.”
Have students work in groups of three or four to explore the clips
Introducing Avril Campbell,
Inside a backbencher's office,
An 'unspeakably lonely' life,
Prime Minister Kim Campbell, and
No new jobs, Campbell promises, including the Did You Know? sections, on the topic Kim Campbell: First and Foremost on the CBC Digital Archives website. As they work, have groups search for words, phrases, or quotes that describe Campbell’s personality. Next to each item listed, students should also provide supporting details.
Using the information from their completed chart, students, working on their own, will write a newspaper article that describes Campbell. The article should offer a character study and explain why she was described as confounding voters and politicians.
Assessment Tip
You can assess students’ written newspaper articles by using a checklist that includes the following:
key words, phrases, or quotes used to describe Campbellsupporting evidencea review of each clip to support research
answers to the main question, “Why was Kim Campbell described as being able to confound voters and politicians?”
Have students share their articles with the class. Students should be prepared to ask and answer questions based on their research. Post articles on the class Web site or bulletin board.
Students can prepare a scrapbook page of visuals and text to describe Campbell.
