Lesson by Saudah Collins
Essay by Joseph Bruchac (Nulhegan Abenaki)
Grade Level: 3–5
Number of Class Periods: 4
Primary Theme: Native American History
About This Lesson Plan Unit
During the late-nineteenth and twentieth centuries, many Native American children were sent to boarding schools where they were forcibly separated from their own language, religion, clothes, personal belongings, and other cultural connections as well as their families and communities. This practice had a lasting impact on American Indian cultures as a whole. While engaging in this unit of study, students will use a variety of textual and visual sources to learn what culture is, identify aspects of Native American cultures, and analyze the impact of the boarding school experience.
Lesson Plan by Saudah Collins
Historical Background Essay by Joseph Bruchac (Nulhegan Abenaki)
Additional Information About This Unit
Common Core State Standards
Common Core State Standards
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.3.2: Determine the main ideas and supporting details of a text read aloud or information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.5.2: Summarize a written text read aloud or information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.3.3: Describe the relationship between a series of historical events, scientific ideas or concepts, or steps in technical procedures in a text, using language that pertains to time, sequence, and cause/effect.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.4.1: Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.4.7: Interpret information presented visually, orally, or quantitatively (e.g., in charts, graphs, diagrams, time lines, animations, or interactive elements on Web pages) and explain how the information contributes to an understanding of the text in which it appears.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.5.1: Quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.5.3: Explain the relationships or interactions between two or more individuals, events, ideas, or concepts in a historical, scientific, or technical text based on specific information in the text.
Essential Questions
Essential Questions
What are aspects of culture and what may cause them to change or remain the same?
How did boarding schools impact Native American cultures?
Documents
Documents
“Indian Tribes, Cultures & Languages” from William C. Sturtevant and US Geological Survey, National Atlas of the United States, 1967, repr. 1991
Photographs of American Indians, 1908 to 1913, from Joseph K. Dixon, Photographs of American Indians, Ceremonies, Councils, and Little Big Horn, 1908–1920
Letter from General John Pershing to Joseph K. Dixon, September 18, 1920