November 1 , 2005

...ideas

by Traci Gardner

Focus on Native American Heritage
National American Indian Heritage Month is recognized each November as a time to learn more about the history and heritage of Native American peoples. These resources provide strategies to explore Native American literature and heritage in your own classroom.

Read the Talking Points article "To Feel the Fear of It: Engaging Young People in Social Education" (E) for strategies to use of drama to forge a deeper understanding of historical events and the limits of many historically recorded outcomes. The article focuses on an inquiry project exploring the Cherokee Trail of Tears.

"Making Connections: Hypertext and Research in a Middle School Classroom" (M) describes how students investigated and researched a poem of their own choice by a Native American poet, and wrote a hypertext web of their research journey. See the ReadWriteThink calendar entry for Native American Heritage Month for links to a lesson plan based on this article, as well as additional K-12 resources.

The September 2003 English Journal article "Hoop Dancing: Literature Circles and Native American Storytelling" (S) explores strategies teachers can use to address the misrepresentations of Indian culture through the study of Native American oral traditions and literatures.

Read "Methods of Memory: On Native American Storytelling" (C) to explore ways that memory is seen through an already existing story or recognized as a familiar category of experience that is widely shared in Native American storytelling.

For additional teaching ideas, read the NCTE book Reading Native American Literature: A Teacher's Guide (S-C). See the book's sample chapter for strategies to explore the ways that the words we use to refer to race and racial difference are rooted in cultural bias and stereotype. The NCTE title Roots and Branches: A Resource of Native American Literature (M-S) includes additional themes and lesson plans to explore Native American literatures in context.