Bill Roath

Unit: Native Americans Prior to European Contact8th Grade U.S. History

UNIT NARRATIVE

These lessons are intended to make students knowledgeable and understanding of the diversity and cultures of Native Americans throughout what is now the United States as they were at the time of contact with Europeans and Euro-Americans. As not all Indian nations can be covered in detail in the time available, this Unit is organized around culture groups: the Far North, Northwest Coast, the West, the South, Southwest, Great Plains, Southeast, Eastern Woodlands, and Hawaii.

The Unit as I conduct it takes two weeks.

Week 1: This is the information-gathering week. The readings are assigned as homework. The first two days are spent in lecture and discussion on the readings, which are quizzed at the beginning of the third day. The second two days are spent viewing the excerpts from the video series The Native Americans. The fifth day is spent examining and discussing artifacts from the Montana Historical Society Footlocker and from my own collection.

Week 2: This is the production week. Students first choose the culture group each wishes to study. The first two days are spent researching and writing essays about the lifeways of the selected cultures; students then have one week to complete the essays as homework. The next three days are spent producing Indian homes models from the selected cultures.

STANDARDS

Montana Standards for Social Studies:

Content Standard 1—Students access, synthesize, and evaluate information to communicate and apply social studies knowledge to real world situations.

Benchmark 1. Apply the steps of an inquiry process (i.e., identify question or problem, locate and evaluate potential resources, gather and synthesize information, create a new product, and evaluate product and process).

Content Standard 3--Students apply geographic knowledge and skills (e.g., location, place, human/environment interactions, movement, and regions).

Benchmark 1. Analyze and use various representations of the Earth (e.g., physical, topographical, political maps; globes; geographic information systems; aerial photographs; satellite images) to gather and compare information about a place.

Benchmark 2. . Locate on a map or globe physical features (e.g., continents, oceans, mountain ranges, land forms) natural features (e.g., flora, fauna) and human features (e.g., cities, states, national borders) and explain their relationships within the ecosystem.

Benchmark 3. Analyze diverse land use and explain the historical and contemporary effects of this use on the environment, with an emphasis on Montana.

Benchmark 4. Explain how movement patterns throughout the world (e.g., people, ideas, diseases, products, food) lead to interdependence and/or conflict.

Benchmark 5. Use appropriate geographic resources to interpret and generate information explaining the interaction of physical and human systems (e.g., estimate distance, calculate scale, identify dominant patterns of climate and land use, compute population density).

Content Standard 4--Students demonstrate an understanding of the effects of time, continuity, and change on historical and future perspectives and relationships.

Benchmark 1. Interpret the past using a variety of sources (e.g., biographies, documents, diaries, eyewitnesses, interviews, internet, primary source material) and evaluate the credibility of sources used.

Benchmark 2. Describe how history can be organized and analyzed using various criteria to group people and events (e.g., chronology, geography, cause and effect, change, conflict, issues).

Benchmark 4. Identify significant events and people and important democratic values (e.g., freedom, equality, privacy) in the major eras/civilizations of Montana, American Indian, United States, and world history.

Benchmark 6. Explain how and why events (e.g., American Revolution, Battle of the Little Big Horn, immigration, Women’s Suffrage) may be interpreted differently according to the points of view of participants, witnesses, reporters, and historians.

Benchmark 7. Summarize major issues affecting the history, culture, tribal sovereignty, and current status of the American Indian tribes in Montana and the United States.

ESSENTIAL UNDERSTANDINGS

1. The great diversity of Native American cultures and accomplishments (not all Indians were Plains Indians).

2. The sophistication and practicality of Native American cultures and societies.

3. How each Native culture group adapted to and changed their environment.

4. That Native Americans were independent, intelligent actors in their world, with their own joys, problems, cooperation and conflicts, when they encountered Europeans and Euro-Americans.

RESOURCES

The textbook for the Course in my case is The American Nation, by Davidson & Castillo, published by Prentice Hall. Chapter 2, Section 2, “People of North America,” provides the basic textual information for the Unit.

Supplementary readings include selected excerpts copied from:

Native American Testimony, Peter Nabakov, Editor. 1991 by Penguin Books, NY. A collection of oral history stories from Native Americans around the country.

Native American Culture: Daily Life, by Barbara McCall. 1994 by Rourke Publications, Vero Beach, FL. A book for young readers, it explains how Native Americans from the various groups conducted daily tasks, with many color illustrations of activities and artifacts. It is part of an excellent series on Native Americans.

The Native Americans, a video documentary series by Turner Broadcasting System produced in 1994 and available from it. It was produced by and includes the stories of Native Americans, and includes histories and cultural descriptions of the contiguous U.S. culture groups. Since the series includes six 50-minute videos, I show parts from each.

Montana Historical Society Footlocker: “Lifeways of Montana’s First People.” These MHS footlockers contain reproductions of artifacts from various historical periods and people in Montana, as well as articles, lesson plans, and related information. An excellent source for hands-on primary sources, but you have to plan ahead to reserve them to coincide with your lessons.

Internet and library resources as found by the students themselves.

ASSESSMENTS

1. Section Quiz (shown below).2. Chapter Test when the textbook chapter is completed.3. Culture Group Essays (outline & rubric below).4. Indian Homes Models (outline, rubric, and examples below).

U.S. History 8 Name:

Quiz, Chapter 2, Section 2: Multiple Choice, 10 pointsDirections: Choose the word or phrase that best completes each sentence.

1. The type of housing used by the tribes of the Iroquois was the ____.a. tepee b. iglooc. longhouse d. pueblo

2. Most Indians of the Great Plains depended for survival mainly on ____.a. salmon b. buffaloc. acorns d. corn

3. The Hopi Indians of the Southwest are famous for their ____.a. weapons b. leaguec. kachina dolls d. hogans

4. Indians of the Northwest depended for food mainly on ____.a. salmon b. buffalod. acorns d. corn

5. The Nez Perces lived on the ____.a. Great Basin b. Great Plainsc. Eastern Woodlands d. Intermountain Plateau

6. The Pomo Indians depended for food mainly on ____.a. salmon b. buffaloc. acorns d. corn

7. The Iroquois are famous for their ____.a. weapons b. leaguec. kachina dolls d. hogans

8. The Natchez worshipped the ____.a. Great Spirit b. Great Sunc. Kachina d. Buffalo Spirit

9. A clan is a group of ____.a. tribes b. warriorsc. priests d. families

10. Migratory Plains Indians used tepees because they were ____.a. attractive b. portablec. permanent d. sturdy

U.S. History 8Native American Culture Group Project

ESSAY OUTLINE

The purpose of your essay is to describe the general culture and way of life of the Native American culture group you have chosen. It should include descriptions of the following:

1. Where the culture group was located prior to contact with Euro-Americans.2. The geography and climate of that area.3. Examples of the Indian tribes belonging to the culture group.4. How those tribes lived: foods and how they were acquired, shelter and clothing

and how they were made, etc.; whether they were nomadic, semi-nomadic, or lived in permanent homes and villages; and how their way of life fit their environment.

5. Descriptions of their culture: religious beliefs, language, tools and art works, how they decorated clothing and shelter, what they did for fun, who their friends and enemies were, family life, etc.

Your essay should be at least three pages if typed; six if hand-written. There is no maximum length for the essay. It should be double-spaced with one-inch margins around either way; 12-point type if typed, with no extra spaces between paragraphs, title, or name. Be sure to include a title and your name at the top.

You are expected to use at least one additional resource in addition to the required readings, which must be properly cited, according to the classroom chart, at the end of the essay. If you use the actual words of any source, be sure to quote it and give the source of the quote whether a required reading or other, and keep quotations short—no more than three sentences.

The essays will be graded as follows:1. Grammar, spelling, and format: 10 points each for 30 points (see rubric on back).2. Content elements 1, 2, 3 above: 10 points each, with 2 and 3 based on the number

and accuracy of facts described (see rubric on back).3. Content elements 4 and 5 above: 20 points each based on the number and

accuracy of facts described (see rubric on back).

ESSAY RUBRIC

Scoring: Superior—A Excellent—B Good—C Satisfactory—D Unsatisfac-tory--F

Grammar,Spelling,Format

2 or fewer errors per page

3-4 errors per page

5-8 errors per page

9-10 errors per page

more than 10 errors per page

Element 2 more than 5 accurate facts each about geography & climate

4-5 accurate facts each about geography & climate

3 accurate facts each about geography & climate, or an equivalent combination

only 1 accurate fact each about geography & climate, or 2 about one or the other

no description of geography or climate

Element 3 more than 5 tribes named

4-5 tribes named

2-3 tribes named

1 tribe named no tribes named

Elements 4 & 5

more than 10 accurate facts for each element

8-10 accurate facts for each element

4-7 accurate facts for each element

2-4 accurate facts for each element

1 or no accurate facts for each element

INDIAN HOMES MODELS PROJECT DESCRIPTION

This is one of my students’ favorite projects—they really have a ball. And invariably, students who don’t do so well on the essay do great with this.

After students have chosen their culture group, but before the Models Project begins, I ask them to think about how they will go about constructing their models for a day, and I give them examples of what students have done in the past. I also ask them to check on what materials they can bring from home or gather outside. The next day I ask each of them for their plan, and to tell me what more they will need, so that I can acquire those materials that evening.

There are some things that I always provide: Hot glue guns and tons of glue sticks—everyone will use them. Lots of cardboard from boxes (I collect these throughout the year, including

scrounging them from the school office, as they are useful for this and other projects); pieces are used for the model bases and other construction.

Paint (water-soluble, of course) and brushes. Tongue depressors (I order boxes from the drug store) for simulating planks. Indian and animal figures. Sugar cubes (for igloos).

Materials such as pebbles, sticks, bark, and grass are collected from outside (this project is done in the early fall).

Yes, your classroom will be a mess, so leave time for clean up at the end of each period.

I allow students the weekend to finish the models at home if they need or want to.

U.S. History 8

American Indian Homes Models ProjectOUTLINE AND RUBRIC

Your Indian home model will be graded on the following criteria:1. Accuracy of representation.2. Difficulty of construction.3. Details included (for example, painted symbols on tepee; ladders on pueblo),

including of the environment.4. Appropriate extra equipment (for example, canoes, kayaks, campfires, weapons,

pots, household goods, etc.)

Each of these categories is worth 20 points. You begin with 20 points just for producing something. Total points: 100.

Scoring: Superior—A Excellent—B Good—C Satisfactory—D Unsatisfactory--F

Accuracy very accurate and detailed

accurate with multiple detail

immediately recognizable with some detail

recognizable, but little detail

not or barely recognizable with no detail

Difficulty student has worked very hard and with superior organization and concentra-tion

student has worked hard and diligently, concentrating on the work at hand

student has usually concentrated on the project and made a reasonable effort

student wasted significant time and could have used time more effectively to complete the project

student did not concentrate on the project and was bothersome to others

Detail many extra details have been included beyond that necessary for a good model

some extra details have been included

details necessary for an accurate representation have been included, but few extra

some of the details necessary for accurate representation have been included

no detail

Extra equip-ment

the student has produced a complete or nearly complete representation of a homesite

the student has included much of the equipment that would be found at a homesite

the student has included some of the equipment that would be found at a homesite

the student has included 1 or 2 items that would be found at a homesite

the student has included no extra equipment