Curriculum Expressions


(These are the curriculum expressions that are the backbone for Ella Inglebret’s curriculum, Honoring Tribal Legacies in Telling the Lewis and Clark Story.)

Big Ideas

  • Honoring Tribal Legacies through exploration of stories related to the Lewis and Clark expedition, as told from different perspectives by tribal and non-tribal peoples.

Enduring Understandings

  • History can be described and interpreted in various ways and from different perspectives.
  • Knowledge of cultural, environmental, political, social, and economic factors affects how we make sense of a particular place and its stories.

Essential Questions 

  • How do different perspectives change the way stories of a place or event are told?
  • Whose perspective is represented in specific stories related to the Lewis and Clark expedition?
  • How do we understand a place?
  • What is important to learn about tribes during and after the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial?
  • How is perspective communicated by particular designers (authors, illustrators)?
  • Why were particular designs and tools selected to tell a particular story?
  • What alternative designs and tools might be used to re-tell a story?
  • How does culture relate to the way a story is told?
  • How does the story of the Lewis and Clark expedition change when tribal perspectives are added?
  • How can you use this experience to make a contribution to cross-cultural understanding?

Key Knowledge Objectives

Students will be able to:

  • Understand that the Lewis and Clark expedition travelled through the homelands of over 100 tribal nations and that each has a unique culture, history, and language.
  • Identify specific American Indian tribes in a nearby area whose homelands were crossed by the Lewis and Clark expedition.
  • Describe contributions that American Indian tribes made to the survival and successful completion of the journey of the Lewis and Clark expedition.
  • Explain consequences of encounters between American Indian tribes and the Lewis and Clark expedition.
  • Describe current priorities of American Indian nations along the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail.
  • Use their knowledge and skills to create a new symbol for the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail that is inclusive of tribal and non-tribal perspectives.

Honoring Tribal Legacies Standard

The Eleventh Standard

Demonstrate environmental stewardship and a sense of service achieved through acknowledgement of the interconnectedness of humanity in historical, cultural, scientific, and spiritual contexts.