Normal School, Winnipeg, Circa 1910 With permission from the Manitoba Archives

While our overall website was created to educate the public on our monument, and about the work of Nellie McClung and her peers in the women’s movement, this section was created specifically for teachers, and ultimately their students.

Presently, this section of our site is in its infancy. As a Foundation, we hope that now that the Monument to Nellie McClung and the ‘Famous Five’ has been established, that it will continue to inspire future generations of young women (and men) about the value of our hard-won democratic rights, and how important it is that we as a society continue to exercise them. It has been said by many that education is a right, but we believe it is also a gift – one we must appreciate as individuals, and as a community strive to nurture.

So presently, you will find on this site Learning Plans, Links and Resources. And in the future? We’d like to see this site evolve to become a community of educators, students, historians and citizens, all interested in discussion, debate, sharing knowledge, and exchanging opinions. And if those opinions are wry and witty – well, we’d like to think that Nellie would’ve joined in too.

Manitoba Curricula

The Learning Plans have been designed to meet the Manitoba Social Studies curriculum, with gracious input from those who design and write our provincial social studies programs. In Manitoba, Nellie McClung and the history of the Women’s movement is presently studied in Grades 4 & 6, and in Grade 9 & 11.

Our Learning Philosophy

Our esteemed content contributors are steeped in both experience and expertise. As retired teachers, principals and consultants, they firmly believe that all children/students can learn; they simply need to be taught in a manner that recognizes their various learning styles, and they especially need to be provided with material that they can read themselves. In this sense we refer to ‘reading’ as comprehension, or making meaning. As a result, in our Learning Plans we've really concentrated on helping teachers learn new strategies especially for activating prior knowledge, building vocabulary, and providing them with different ways to help students learn - to go way beyond lecturing or telling students about Nellie McClung and the women’s movement.

Tied very closely with this is the concept of ‘the gradual release of responsibility’ (download for Gradual Release of Responsibility doc.): Teachers begin with the outcomes - the knowledge of what students must learn- and they support students as they gradually take ownership of their learning.

We hope you find our contributions useful, and look forward to hearing your feedback and comments any time. Contact Us