CBC Archives

Explain to students that they will be exploring the Web site in depth in order to raise questions, ideas, and issues about the information they find there. As a class, they will engage in dialogue to discuss the information.

Divide the class into groups of three. Assign each group one of the following sets of clips from the Stratford Festival topic on the CBC Radio and Television Archives Web site: Clip 1; Clips 2 and 4; Clip 3; Clips 5, 9 and 6; Clip 7; Clips 10 and 11; Clips 12 and 13 (Timothy Findley, first additional clip). If you have enough students and computers, assign additional clips on the subject. Depending on available time, you may have students read the entire site before focussing on their assigned clips, or have them focus solely on their assigned clips.

Ask students to view their assigned clips. They should take notes that summarize their clips and from those note, generate at least three questions that can be used to lead a discussion of the material. You may wish to have students’ questions emphasize the content related specifically to your classroom work, for instance, music, drama, or literature.

Have each group present ots summaries to the class and lead a discussion. The students in the audience should contribute to the group-led discussion with comments, questions, responses, clarifications, and insights.

Alternatively, groups can rotate and engage in smaller discussion groups, sharing their information between two or three groups at a time. Check each group’s summaries before beginning this method, and request revisions or additional research where necessary. Circulate among the groups as they discuss.

Students can write a few paragraphs summarizing what they learned from their peers and from their own group study of the Stratford Festival. They can include predictions about the Festival's future.