NWT Heritage Fairs: Teachers Resources Manual
Heritage Fairs Teacher's Guide
10 Best Practices for Successful Heritage Fairs
Through discussions with many teachers, the following 10 best practice tips for successful Heritage Fair projects were developed.
- Work together as a school community! It is best if everyone in the school is on-board for your school Fair. Develop a committee of staff and parents who, if possible, will work together. This group should include language specialists at the school, as they are usually the educators who are most connected with the community.
- The schools that have the most success with Heritage Fairs are the schools that implement the program from a very early age and develop the skills progressively through the years. For example, in several communities all students from K-9 complete a project. Students in K-3 may complete projects as a group while beginning in Grade 4, they could complete a project on their own or in pairs.
- Share experiences as educators. Help new teachers so they know how and where to get resources.
- Connect with your regional Heritage Fair representative so that you are kept up to date about the Heritage Fairs program from a regional and territorial perspective.
- Provide a quiet space after school. Provide after school ‘work/study’ time for students who need extra help but are not getting it at home. If it is a full school effort there may be enough teachers in the school so each teacher may only need to volunteer for study hall once or twice.
- Plan ahead. Starting in the beginning of the year include project-based learning such as Heritage Fairs in your year plan. ‘Talk it up’ with your class to get them thinking early. Discuss the Fairs at your parents’ meeting at the beginning of the year and include it on your calendar.
- Select a date as a committee for the local Fair. Post it on a school calendar along with regional and territorial Fair dates.
- Get students excited! There are many reasons why students enjoy doing Heritage Fair projects and there are many ways to get them excited including:
- Make picture displays of the Heritage Fairs and have them on display in the hallways for kids to get inspired.
- Engage families. Encourage parent, grandparent and community involvement. Conversations between generations are some of the most valuable. If necessary, provide funding for community members to come into school or for telephone bills in case students want to interview someone from another community. Ask for family members to be part of the organizing committee and/or to be judges.
- Dedicate a section of school library to Northern resources. Heritage Fairs can be stressful if students don’t know where to begin their research process. Having a dedicated section in the library where all Northern resources are located can be helpful. Keep track of topics that are short of resources and attempt to add resources during budget discussions. Keep the resources in a central place so that all teachers have access.
- Find a diversity of judges. During the school Fairs ensure there are Aboriginal and French-language judges where appropriate. Ensure both genders and a variety of ages are also judging. Students should see their communities reflected in the judges.
- Train the judges. It is important that the judges have enough time to go over the forms. Ask all judges to arrive early and have a session on how to judge so that there is as much consistency as possible. Provide food and drinks. Make it fun for the judges as well as for the students. Before students enter the Fair area do a complete walk through with the judges. Discuss each project and have them practice on the project appearance section.
- Have one head judge. Not all judges will have the same set of standards. What is a rating of three for one judge may be a five for another. It is important to have one head judge that will go around and observe each of the projects and to have a check on whether an excellent project may have been missed. Agree ahead of time on a process where if the head judge has a concern they may go back to the group and open the discussion. Don’t rely completely on the numbers on the form unless each student is judged by more than 4 judges.
- Celebrate as a school community! After the Fair ensure have a class party. Acknowledge the hard work and dedication and give students time to reflect on their own performance and effort.
