4. Selling the Salish World


(This is the Lesson Plan 4 for Julie Cajune’s curriculum, “Sxwiwis – The Journey.)

*We respectfully request that any teacher who downloads any materials being provided by Julie Cajune for this Curriculum, please only use such items in the classroom.  None of these materials is intended for publication in any form without permission; everything is copyrighted.

 

LESSON 11

A QUESTION OF INTENT

JEFFERSON’S LETTERS

CCSS.ELA

  • Literacy.RI.11-12.1
  • Literacy.RI.11-12.8
  • Literacy.W.11-12.1, 1a, 1b, 1c, 1e

Materials

Entry Question

What was the purpose of the Lewis and Clark Expedition?

Learning Objectives

  • Making inferences from prior knowledge
  • Analyzing text for viewpoint and purpose
  • Integrating information from multiple sources and viewpoints to draw conclusions
  • Pose the entry question for students to discuss in their groups.
  • Provide the Four-Square Worksheets and explain that they will be using this process to further answer the question of the expedition’s intent and purpose. Instruct the students to fill in the first square with knowledge they have acquired up to this point
  • Hand out student copies of Jefferson’s letter to Congress. Students use this to fill in the second square.
  • Provide student copies of Jefferson’s letter to Meriwether Lewis. Students use this to fill in the third square.
  • Pass out student copies of Fur Trade facts. Students use this to fill in the fourth square.
  • In their groups, students share their thinking and analysis of the letters and the relevance of the Fur Trade facts.
  • As a group, students discuss and identify the purpose or purposes of the expedition. Was there a singular purpose? Was there more than one? Each group shares their thinking and reasoning with the whole class.
  • Review the Socratic Circle process and arrange the class into two circles. Pose the following questions, or develop your own.
    • Were the United States’ commerce purposes with American Indians ethical?
    • Did Jefferson’s role as President justify his intentions of commerce with American Indian Tribes?
    • Was American expansion inevitable?
    • Could Jefferson have dealt with American Indian Tribes differently?

Assessment

Students write a three-page essay on the intent and consequence of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. In their paper they are to answer the following questions with a thesis statement and then provide supporting facts and summative thoughts: What are the ethical considerations of the Lewis and Clark Expedition and its continued legacy?

 

 

LESSON 12

THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE AND PETE BEAVERHEAD

CCSS.ELA

Literacy.RI.11-12.5

Materials

  • Student copies of Robert Miller’s Lewis and Clark and American Indians
  • text on the Louisiana Purchase from the school’s US History textbook
  • digital map of the United States showing the area referred to as the Louisiana Purchase (there are numerous on-line sources for digital map images)
  • Pete Beaverhead quote: They hadn’t seen our land and they had already sold it
  • oral history passages from Salish-Pend d’Oreille Culture Committee website (select the icon of The Salish People and the Lewis and Clark Expedition)

Entry Question

What was purchased in the Louisiana Purchase?

Learning Objectives

  • Comparing and contrasting differing accounts of an historic event
  • Analyzing text for bias
  • Ask the entry question to stimulate prior knowledge. “What was purchased in the Louisiana Purchase?” Have students discuss this in their groups.
  • Write Pete Beaverhead’s quote on the board. Let students know that he was a member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and a revered Pend d’Oreille elder. Ask students to discuss in their groups possible meanings of this quote in their group. Who is “they” that Pete is talking about?
  • Students now read their textbook information on the Louisiana Purchase. When they are finished, they discuss similarities or differences of their prior knowledge with the textbook information. After doing this in their group, do a whole group discussion of similarities and differences.
  • Hand out student copies of Robert Miller’s essay. Give some background on Professor Miller. Allow time for reading and then discussion in their groups. What is similar to and different from the textbook?
  • Bring up the digital map and discuss how many Tribal Nations might have had territory in the Louisiana Purchase area.
  • As a whole class, discuss the difference in knowing and believing. Give some examples if necessary. Ask students to respond in their group to the question, “What do we know, and what do we just believe in regard to national history?”
  • Play these first three passages from the Salish audio website: Mitch Smallsalmon, pp 2-6; Pete Beaverhead pp. 12-14; Mitch Smallsalmon p. 15

Assessment

Students write a two-page essay on the Louisiana Purchase.

 

 

LESSON 13

ONE GENERATION MORE

CCSS.ELA

  • Literacy.RI.11-12.5
  • Literacy.RI.11-12.6

Materials

Entry Question

Would anything be different for “Trail Tribes” if the Lewis and Clark Expedition had failed to reach the Pacific or had been killed?

Learning Objectives

  • Analyzing text for viewpoint and bias
  • Evaluating text for evidence and support
  • Making inferences
  • Pose the entry question to students in their groups. Share responses as a whole class.
  • Give each group their section of One Generation More to read and discuss.
  • Each group provides the whole class a summary on their section.
  • Now provide groups the complete text to read. After they are done reading the other sections, have groups identify and discuss viewpoints and bias in the presentation.
  • Hand out the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes’ Resolution to students and have them read and discuss within their groups. Discussion should include comparing Julie Cajune’s essay with the resolution. What is similar and different between the perceptions, beliefs, and purposes?
  • Review the Socratic Circle process and pose the following questions or design your own: Does an objective history exist? How should history be taught? Is history inevitable?

Assessment

Use student oral participation in the Socratic Circle as a formative assessment.

Extension

The Missoula Art Museum hosts numerous exhibitions on-line. During the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial American Indian artists responded to the bicentennial through art. The artists’ images and brief biographies are available on the museums’ website. Students can explore the art in their groups and write a one-sentence interpretation of the artist’s perception on either the Lewis and Clark Expedition or the bicentennial commemoration. I would recommend the following artists.

  • Melissa Bob
  • Corwin Clairmont
  • Jason Elliot Clark
  • Ramon Murillo
  • Neil Parsons
  • Gail Tremeblay
  • Melanie Yazzie

 

 

LESSON 14

AMERICA IS ALWAYS BECOMING

CCSS.ELA

  • Literacy.RI.11-12.2
  • Literacy.RI.11-12.4
  • Literacy.RI.11-12.5
  • Literacy.RI.11-12.6

Materials

Entry Question

What do you think President Clinton meant by his statement “America is always becoming, always on a journey” given at the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington?

Learning Objectives

  • Analyzing text for main ideas and themes
  • Evaluating text for voice, style, and impact
  • Synthesizing information to draw conclusions
  • Imagining divergent possibilities
  • Provide several photographs of the march on Washington to each group and have them discuss what they think or know about the event.
  • Discuss some background information on the march.
  • Share President Clinton’s statement made at the recent 50th anniversary of the march. Ask student to discuss in their groups what they think President Clinton meant.
  • America has come a long way in its journey of nationhood since the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Have students discuss in small groups what has changed between perspectives and relationships between American society and American Indian people as well as between American Indian Nations and the US Government. Visit groups to listen to their thoughts and ideas and then bring it back to a whole group discussion.
  • Hand out student copies of Dr. King’s speech and allow time for reading. Ask students to highlight particularly powerful phrases or statements. Share these as a whole class.

Summative Assessment

With Dr. King’s speech in mind, the learnings of the Lewis and Clark Expedition and all of the discussions over the course of this learning journey, students write a three-page response to President Clinton’s statement, “America is always becoming, always on a journey.” Student responses need to include their own ideas and desires for what they want America to become and where her journey should go.