Summary
This lesson connects cultural influences with historical media concepts. Students will use a visual dictionary of Native American pictographs to decode a story, reflect on cultural influences in learning and expression, and create their own story endings using pictographs.
Essential Question(s)
What is a pictograph and how does it compare to written words? How does your own culture influence your first experience with new information? How does a visual dictionary help make story translations more accurate?
Snapshot
Engage
Students will solve rebus puzzles by matching images and letters to common words, revealing the puzzles' meanings.
Explore
Using the attached handout that features a series of pictographs, students will translate the pictographs into a story.
Explain
Students will discuss the concept of pictographs, and as a class they will produce anchor charts. The students will use a visual dictionary to aid with symbol recognition and translate another passage of symbols into a story.
Extend
Students will discuss why selected images and themes were so important to the Native Americans of that time using the I Think/We Think strategy.
Evaluate
Students will create an ending to a story they have been translating using pictographs they have discovered.
Materials
Lesson Slides
Pictograph Story Translation Student Handout (attached)
Personal Visual Dictionary Student Handout (attached)
Picture Dictionary Student Handout (attached)
I Think, We Think Student Handout (attached)
Drawing Materials-
Plain Paper,
Pencils,
Markers (optional)
Engage
10 Minute(s)
Explain to the class that Rebus puzzles are a unique form of word and picture puzzles that use images, letters, and symbols to represent words or phrases.
Using Slides 2-5, present students with some rebus puzzles and have them solve for the puzzle’s meaning. You may want them to use dry erase boards or notebook paper to record their solutions.
Afterward students have solved the rebus puzzles, have the students share their solutions and facilitate a discussion about the strategies they used to solve the puzzles. Use the guiding questions on Slide 6 to prompt the discussion.
What visual cues did you use to decipher the puzzle?
Did you rely more on the images, letters, or symbols?
How did context or prior knowledge help you solve the puzzles?
Were there any strategies that proved particularly helpful for solving Rebus puzzles?
Display Slides 7-8 introducing the Essential Questions and Lesson Objectives.
Explore
15 Minute(s)
Next, present students with the following challenge.
Task 1. Give each student the Pictograph Story Translation handout that shows a series of simple drawings. Explain to students that these images represent an early form of written communication used to tell stories. Without providing any additional information, instruct the students to translate the symbols into a story based on what they see and can logically infer. Give the students approximately 5 minutes to translate the images on the first page of the handout and write their answers in the area marked "1st attempt."
Students should have fun and be creative in crafting their stories. However, their narrative should be based on their interpretations of the images.
Next, display Slide 9 and ask for volunteers to share their translation with the class. As the students read their translations, ask them to point to the symbols that match their story.
Explain
25 Minute(s)
Begin by formally introducing the term "pictograph" as a symbol representing a thing or an idea.
Guide a class discussion about how our present-day culture shapes our interpretation of everything we encounter, including how we interpret historical artifacts. Tell students that the symbols (pictographs) examined in the introduction represent ideas from an earlier culture. Without specific knowledge of that culture, we can only interpret the symbols based on our present-day experiences and ideas.
What are some modern symbols that we generally interpret the same way?
Example of student responses: Stop signs, bathroom signs, no cell phones notifications, stop lights, etc.…
Task 2. Distribute the Picture Dictionary handout to each student and ask them to examine the pictographs along with their intended meanings. Show Slide 10.
Instruct students to revisit the first group of symbols on the handout and use the visual dictionary to write their new translation in the area marked "2nd attempt." This activity should take less than 5 minutes.
Afterward, have students share their new translations with an Elbow Partner. Prompt a discussion by asking why they think the two versions were different. Depending on students' responses, clarify that the second translation is more aligned with the historical cultural frame of reference due to their new knowledge from the visual picture dictionary.
Display Slide 11. Guide the discussion to the next part of the lesson by asking the class, “Why would the bear ask the eagle for help?"
Display Slide 12 Have students turn to the second page of their handout. Here they will find that the story from the previous page continues. Instruct students to translate this next part of the story, using the Personal Visual Dictionary. This should take about 5 minutes; then review the appropriate translation with the class.
Extend
20 Minute(s)
Next, to help students understand why these images were so important to the Native Americans of that time use the I Think/We Thinkstrategy to have students critically think about the themes the images represent.
Give each student a copy of the I think/ We think handout. Students first think and record their individual thoughts (I Think) about the themes they notice in the Personal Visual Dictionary and how these ideas are important to Native American culture. Then, they share their thoughts collectively in pairs or teams and record their common understanding in the “We think” column.
Show Slide 13 to guide their discussion.
Evaluate
15 Minute(s)
Please refer back to the initial handout in which the students have translated two passages of pictographs, the beginning of a story, and the middle. To conclude this lesson, ask your students to create an ending to the story by using the pictographs from the visual dictionary. The ending should be thematically similar to the story already translated and reflect on the cultures represented by the pictographs. The students should use only a series of pictographs and not any words or letters.
Display Slide 14. You may suggest that they write out their ending ideas first and then find the appropriate pictographs to draw.
Show Slide 15 to assist students who may struggle with story development. Provide lead-in questions such as “What knowledge could the wise man have that would make the fish return to the lake?” or “Does the wise man tell the bear and eagle to do something specific, or does he take action himself?”
The students could also be asked to complete a brief written Exit Ticket describing what they learned in this lesson:
How can visual communication convey information without writing?
How much does culture shape our communication?
How could we interpret new ideas using our own time and place of reference?
Opportunities for Advanced Learners
Option 1. Have students use a set of modern symbols or emojis and ask them to create their own pictographic story using these symbols. Encourage creativity and imagination as they invent characters, settings, and plotlines based solely on these modern symbols.
Option 2. Have students investigate the unique cultural practices of a specific Native American tribe and present their findings in a creative way.
Option 3. Research the historical significance of a chosen Native American tribe's traditional art forms and discuss how they have evolved over time.
Resources
Education.com . (n.d.). Native American pictographs. https://www.education.com/activity/article/native-american-pictographs/
K20 Center. (n.d.). Bell ringers and exit tickets. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/125
K20 Center. (n.d.). I think, we think. Strategy. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/141