Assignment #8 - The Real Riel

Good Tuesday morning, pals!

I hope that you had an absolutely wonderful LO-O-O-ONG weekend! I'd love to hear what you did this weekend, you can leave a comment and let me know what you did for Family Day! I don't know if you realized, but yesterday was not only Family Day, it was also Louis Riel Day, a holiday celebrated in the province of Manitoba.

Louis Riel was a colourful character who helped to form the country you know and love today. There is a lot of controversy surrounding his legacy. Some people see him as a Father of Confederation, while others see him as a traitor.

In this class, we think a lot about the impact of the things that we do. We've talked a lot about what the world will look like in the future. I wonder if Louis Riel ever thought about how much impact his actions would have on present-day Canada.

Your assignment is to read about Louis Riel to try to understand some of the reasons why people feel so strongly about him, either positively or negatively. You will then write an imaginary interview between you and Louis Riel, giving him an opportunity to talk about himself and defend his decisions. You have to make sure to introduce him, like an interviewer would, telling your audience a little bit about who it is you are talking to and why he is important. Then, you will write three (or more) questions to be asked by you and answered by him. You must write both the questions and the answers.

You should write this as a new post on your own blog and in the form of a script. For example,

Miss Pollock: Welcome, Mr. Banana-Pants. We are so happy to have you here today to talk about all your experiences.

Mr. Banana-Pants: Thanks so much, it's my great pleasure and passion to be here with you today.

(Note: Your interview will obviously be much, much superior to this. It may be difficult to do that, but I have faith in you.)

I suggest that you begin your research by using a search engine (such as google) and entering "Louis Riel", or reviewing some of the information on wikipedia.org or another online encyclopedia. Once you've found out some basic information, you should go into more depth with your search. For some bonus marks, leave a comment here to let us all know where you found great information and what your process was for working on this assignment.

I will be evaluating your Interview with Louis Riel based on the following criteria:

-link to this question

-links to source websites (at least three different sources used)

-interesting questions asked

-insightful answers provided

-accuracy of information

-layout of your post

-conventions: spelling, grammar and punctuation

***UPDATE: (Feb 18th 12:03 p.m.) Jamal in E7B found a one-minute long video about Louis Riel. You can check it out by visiting his blog.***

***UPDATE #2: (Feb 18th 2:13 p.m.) Hanifa in E7A also found a wonderful site with lots of information about Louis Riel.***

***UPDATE #3: (Feb 23rd 1:11 p.m.) The lovely Carly in E7/8 has found two sites that have not yet been linked to. Check out her first link and her second link.***

***UPDATE #4: (Feb 23rd 1:16 p.m.) Magnificent Jessica has found a site for research as well. Remember that each of you have to use three sites for reference!***

***UPDATE #5: (Feb 24th 8:32 a.m.) Hasan has found two sites that he thinks are really helpful.***

***UPDATE #6: (Feb 24th 8:33 a.m.) Ahoy,Metis (yes, you do say it like "Matey"): Tale and Firas in E7/8 have learned about what Metis means. Tale has even created an explanation for you to check out.***

***UPDATE #7: Froher in E7/8 found a site that she found helpful.***

***UPDATE #8: Russell in E7B found a site that he liked.***

***UPDATE #9: Marsha has made a post describing lots of great sources.***

***UPDATE #10: Alem in E8C found a really cool site about the Mysteries of Canada. It has a terrific article about Louis Riel.***

***UPDATE #11: Firas in E7/8 has written an excellent interview.***