Summary
In this lesson, students review, analyze, and evaluate the history of Native American education, focusing on boarding schools, specifically Carlisle Indian Industrial School, terminology, and their transformation over the past 150 years. Then, students analyze primary sources from the past, learn about extant boarding schools, and envision the future of Native American education.
Essential Question(s)
Why did the U.S. government use assimilation to educate Native children? How did assimilation in education affect Native people?
Snapshot
Engage
Students formulate a S-I-T evaluation of a clip from the miniseries Into the West.
Explore
Students examine the actual student records of Native children who attended Carlisle Indian Industrial School and discuss the school’s impact on their lives.
Explain
Students use the Why-Lighting strategy to read and annotate an article summarizing the history of Native American education from the past to the present. They then use the Honeycomb Harvest strategy to show their understanding of terms and concepts.
Extend
Students use the Choice Board strategy to explore three different resources focusing on the past, present, and future of Native American education.
Evaluate
Students reevaluate the essential questions and determine what the future of Native American education might look like.
Materials
Lesson Slides (attached)
Carlisle School Note Catcher handout (attached; one per student)
History of Native American Education handout (attached; one per student)
Honeycomb Harvest handout (attached; one per student or small group)
Student devices with internet access
Pens/pencils
Notebook paper or scratch paper
Engage
15 Minute(s)
Use the attached Lesson Slides to guide the lesson. Ask students take out a piece of notebook paper, or provide students with scratch paper. Begin with slide 3 and introduce the S-I-T (Surprising, Interesting, Troubling) strategy to students. Tell students to think about something surprising, interesting, and troubling as they view a video about the first Native students to arrive at Carlisle Indian Industrial School, the first off-reservation boarding school.
On slide 4, play the embedded YouTube video of the clip from TNT’s Into the West.
After the video, provide time for students to write down something surprising, interesting, and troubling from the video. Have students discuss their thoughts with a partner, then ask students to share their discussions with the class.
Display slides 5–6 to review the essential questions and the learning objectives. Give students 3 minutes to identify examples from the clip in which students were forced to reject their tribal cultures. You do not need to introduce students to the term "assimilation," as they will learn it during the lesson.
Explore
30 Minute(s)
Display slide 7 and distribute the attached Carlisle School Note Catcher handout to each student. Have students use a personal device to access the link on the slide. Tell students the website is a historical record of Native students who attended Carlisle Indian Industrial School. Complete the first two questions on the handout as a class.
Then, ask students to search the records of the two students listed on their handout. Students can search using tribes, names, or dates. Documents found in their records may include student information cards, behavioral reports, reports after leaving, letters, financial information, postcards, pictures, etc.
While reading through the students’ documents, students will jot down in their notes about what impact (positive or negative) the school had on the students.
After about 25 minutes, ask some students to share what information they have found about the Native students from the past and the impact Carlisle had on their lives.
Explain
30 Minute(s)
Display slide 8 and pass out the attached History of Native American Education handout to each student. Introduce students to the Why-Lighting strategy. Ask students to highlight any vocabulary that is unfamiliar to them and any interesting information. After highlighting, they should write notes in the margins that detail the reason for highlighting sections of the text. When students are finished, have students discuss what they have highlighted.
Display slide 9 and place students in small groups of three if desired. Introduce the Honeycomb Harvest strategy to students and pass out sets of the Honeycomb Harvest cards to each student or small groups. Provide time for students to arrange the hexagons to best represent their understanding of the relationship among the terms and concepts relating to Native education. Be sure to clarify that there are no right or wrong answers as long as students can justify their choices for the arrangement of the hexagons.
After providing time for students to create their honeycomb shape, have each student share their reasoning with another student. If small groups complete their harvests together, ask that they rotate to another group to see other arrangements to compare and contrast. Emphasize that it is likely that students will also produce a variety of arrangements.
Extend
30 Minute(s)
Display slide 10 and have students navigate to the link on the slide. Introduce the Choice Board strategy to students. The linked choice board has three columns titled: "Past," "Present," and "Future." Under each title are five sources relating to Native education from the past and present, along with implications for the future.
Ask students to choose one link from each column to view. While they are engaging with the source, they are to keep in mind the overall guiding question: "How does this type of education affect Native students of that time (Past, Present, or Future)?"
Provide time for students to explore their chosen sites as partners, encouraging students to discuss the guiding question as they view the links.
Evaluate
15 Minute(s)
Display slide 11. Have the whole class share out their favorite sites and discuss how the information from those sites affected Native students’ education. You can use the two guiding questions: How has assimilation affected education in today's Native communities? What does the future of Native education look like?
After students have answered the guiding questions, refer back to the essential questions: Why did the U.S. government use assimilation to educate Native children? How did assimilation in education affect Native people? Have students respond to the questions on a piece of notebook paper. Collect the handouts to review and check for student understanding of the lesson content.
Resources
Carynfmiller. (2011, September 17). Into the west-Carlisle Indian School [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfRHqWCz3Zw&t=528s
Dickinson College. (n.d.). Carlisle Indian School digital resource center. https://carlisleindian.dickinson.edu/
K20 Center. (n.d.). Choice boards. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/926
K20 Center. (n.d.. Honeycomb harvest. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/61
K20 Center. (n.d.). S-I-T (Surprising, interesting, troubling). Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/926
K20 Center. (n.d.). Why-Lighting. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/128