(This is the abstract for Shane Doyle’s curricular unit, “Tribal Oral Traditions and Languages in the Plains Region of the Lewis and Clark Trail.”)
This unit is comprised of four lesson plans varying in length from one to two 50-minute lessons. They span the history of the Plains Indian people and examine ideas, values, and historical and contemporary perspectives that are directly tied to students’ daily lives and experiences. They are interdisciplinary, covering such topics as history, art, music, archaeology, ethnography, literature, and oration. Each lesson is designed to reach James A. Banks’s social action level, the highest level of multicultural integration, so that students have the opportunity to apply their understanding to real-world situations in ways that have a significant lasting impact. The lessons rely heavily upon classroom discussion and interaction (see information on discussions below), seeking to establish a collaborative environment that gives students voice and agency in addition to an opportunity to acquire a sense of dedication to and within a learning community.