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Fireside Chats Teacher's Guide: Volume 1

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Lesson One: Evan Redsky 127 ACTIVATE: YOUR FAVOURITE SONG POLL To begin the lesson, play your favourite song for the class! You can have students try to guess why they are listening to music today. After a few guesses, instruct them that today you will be learning about storytelling through song. Ask students "what is your favourite song?". Pause and let students think to themselves for about 30 seconds. Go around the class and have students say their favourite songs out loud. Remind students to stay respectful and thoughtful with their answers. Write out the list on the board. If a song appears more than once, put a checkmark or star next to it. Ask the question "Do any of these songs tell a story?" Listen to students' rationale and answers about if any of the songs tell a story. Instruct them that many songs are meant to tell stories and that there are whole albums out there dedicated to telling one single story through multi- ple songs. Today, as a class, you will be looking into the journey of Evan Redsky, an Indigenous singer/songwriter who likes to tell stories through his music. Extension: At the end, you will have a long list of songs that you could create into a class playlist (without explicit content). You can save the playlist to listen to while students are working, or as a greeting to start the morning/class! ACQUIRE: EVAN REDSKY'S FIRESIDE CHAT VIDEO Evan Redsky is an Anishinaabe singer/songwriter from Mississaugi First Nation, Blind River, Ontario located north of Toronto. Evan has been working in the music industry for over ten years. Evan has played and toured with rock bands, and then recently has been dedicated to his solo career as a singer/songwriter. Evan grew up with a love of storytelling that manifested itself through both music and performance. From a young age he was constantly writing songs and appearing in plays. While he left home as a teenager to pursue classical acting at Fan- shawe College, he still maintained ties with his community, appreciative of his Indigenous roots and the deep history behind them. Start the video of Evan Redsky's interview with Fireside Chats. In the interview, Evan discusses his career and journey as an Indigenous musician and singer/songwriter. Evan explores his jour- ney to become a singer/songwriter while highlighting some of his obstacles that stood in his way. To debrief the video, ask the class the following questions: 1.What inspired Evan to become a singer/songwriter? 2.What were some lessons/obstacles that Evan faced on his career journey? 3.What advice does Evan give to young Indigenous people who are about to leave their home communities? Students will use the teachings from Evan's interview with Fireside Chats to create their own story through song lyrics. Lesson Plan

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