June 28, 2011

By Jason Misner
COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER, HDSB STAFF

T.A. Blakelock High School unveiled last week a lauded teaching resource designed to enlighten students about a crucial and important battle involving the Canadian navy in World War II.  

Called The Battle of the Atlantic project, it’s a teaching/learning resource initiated by Tom Dykes, a T.A. Blakelock Educational Assistant and developed by T.A. Blakelock staff. The work – recognized by a number of organizations, locally, nationally and internationally – was presented to a member of the Naval Officers Association of Canada on June 22. The binder contains a wide range of teaching resources and contextualized learning activities covering more than a dozen different subject areas, including eight CDs and three DVDs, connected to The Battle of the Atlantic.

Andy Irwin, past president of the Toronto branch of the naval association, presented a plaque to school officials that recognizes the contribution the Oakville school made to the Canadian Navy Centennial – National Essay Contest and The Battle of the Atlantic project. A school wide recognition will occur in the fall.

For Dykes, what started as a way to introduce and examine the critical role of the Royal Canadian Navy during WWII – there are only about a dozen lines in the Grade 10 Canadian text book about the battle – the project is important because he feels it’s vital for students to understand The Battle of the Atlantic.

“I could not have wished for more,” says Dykes, also a retired history and geography teacher. “This project had its beginning in 2008 with an idea I posed to Joanna Anderson, English head, and James Stainton, Grade 10 history teacher, at T.A. Blakelock. The resource has become a vehicle that has the full support of the Canadian Navy, former naval officers, serving officers, the Chief Naval Historian and naval historians in two Canadian universities.”

Dykes continues: “We wanted students to appreciate and learn that in The Battle of the Atlantic, the longest and most important battle of World War II, Canada was an equal and decisive partner with Britain and later the United States. In every subject and at every grade level there is a valid element that can be highlighted to reinforce the historical core information. To this end, we were well served by T.A. Blakelock teachers in every discipline.”

For six years, the Canadian Navy was one of the principal contenders in The Battle of the Atlantic. Beginning the war with a mere 13 vessels and 3,000 men, the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) ended it with 373 fighting ships and more than 90,000 men. In the crisis of 1940, when German armies were marching into France, four destroyers of the RCN, were sent to the English Channel where they provided aid in the evacuation of forces, landed military troops, and carried out demolitions. After the fall of France the Canadian destroyers joined the Royal Navy in the struggle to protect the southwestern approaches to Britain where German submarines vigorously pressed their attacks. By July 1940 all ocean shipping had to be re-routed around the north of Ireland and through the Irish Sea.

Dykes said he hopes to eventually add to the resource a focus on the technological aspects of The Battle of the Atlantic.

Irwin, 86, of the Naval Officers Association of Canada was touched by the detailed work and effort of T.A. Blakelock to impress upon students the role of The Battle of the Atlantic.

“It’s been a wonderful experience, and the young people we met were superb,” says the former WWII naval officer. “I hope they’ll learn more about Canadian history.” 

Likewise, TAB Principal Kevin Caughlin is very proud of the hard work by Dykes and staff to bring this resource to fruition to help students remember a key piece of WWII history.

 “Not only is this a rich resource that brings history to life for students, it also provides vital learning connection to other subject areas,” says Caughlin. “The resource can be used by all teachers to help students make learning connections between this historical event and many program areas including history, geography, world issues, mathematics, language, economics, science, technology, art, family studies, media studies, music and drama.”

Dykes initially presented the project as a concept to the Naval Officers Association of Canada in 2008. The response was positive, he says, and he was invited to consider expanding and completing it as the association’s Canadian Navy Centennial educational initiative.

Over the course of two years, Dykes approached 20 Blakelock teachers from all disciplines and grade levels to determine why their discipline and grade level could fit into the World War II project. Over that same period, the school was able to secure the participation of Canadian, British and German naval veterans who served in the conflict, families of veterans of the conflict, naval historians and authors.

Dykes says he also contacted history departments in four other high schools, one in each of cities directly involved in The Battle of the Atlantic, for their feedback: Halifax, N.S., St. Johns, N.L., Liverpool and Newcastle in the U.K.