The first assignment has students rewriting chapter one of their textbook,
The American Journey.

The textbook is so error-ridden it's laughable! Students, guided by a rubric, assemble maps, pictures, and text into the true story of the populating of the Americas.

This is not your father's history class! The theory for the populating of the Americas until the last decade could be summarized in one quick sentence: During the last ice age Asian hunters crossed over the Bering Land Bridge and settled the Americas. That theory is dead! The problem is that it is the only theory put forth by our textbook, The American Journey from Glencoe, a division of McGraw-Hill, is the discredited one outlined above. Mr. Y's Center for the Historically Ignorant has developed a series of eBooks, CDs that are as easy to use as the internet, that set the story straight. These eBooks are installed on all the computers in the classroom.

The first series of lessons grouped under the heading First Americans deals with the 30,000+ years of American history prior to the arrival of the Europeans in 1492. This affords the teacher the opportunity to teach quality lessons centered on the very diverse people we call Indians. Material has been culled from various sources that will provide our students the latest and greatest data, evidentiary material, and exposure to scientific studies that rival that presented in any university in the nation.

The First Americans Comparing the discredited Bering Land Bridge Theory with the Multiple Paths Theory of populating the Americas.

Mapping the Americas In this simple exercise the student will map major features of the Americas. Geographic literacy is an essential component of this class.

Cahokia There was a huge city just east of present-day St. Louis that was the cultural and trading center of a Mississippian culture that had a larger population than Paris or London. It was called Cahokia.

PreColumbian Florida Our state had many thriving cultures and more than a few stories to tell.

The Maya Everyone knows about the Maya, those peaceful people of southern Mexico and Central America. Here are a few things you didn't know...

The Aztecs These are the people Cortes had to conquer to be able to fill his galleons with gold. They have a story to tell as well.

Clash of Three Cultures This video lesson brings all the loose ends together.

Students will understand the following:

1. The traditional and modern theories about the origins of the first inhabitants of North America.

2. The lifestyles and survival strategies of Native Americans who lived long ago in the students’ own geographical area.

3. The manner in which evolving modern theories of human migration are changing the way we look at history and cultivating awareness of racial and cultural stereotypes.

Materials:

1. computer(s) with Internet Explorer (or another browser); word processing software; creativity software (Microsoft PowerPoint)
2. The eBook, First Americans
3. The eBook, Florida History
4. Video: The First Americans

Procedures:

KWL Chart
Divide a piece of large chart paper into three sections: What I Know; What I Want to Know; What I’ve Learned. The last column will be filled in later. Ask students what facts they know about Native American tribes that lived in their geographic area, and enter their responses in the first column. As you proceed to the second column, explain to the students that they are going to perform some detective work by investigating the lives of the Native American peoples who lived in your area long ago. In addition, they are going to attempt to discover how those people may have migrated to your area. The amount of information available to your students may vary according to the region in which they live, but clues to the past can be found if they look carefully. Have the students brainstorm possible resources that might be useful in their search. Keep your KWL chart posted in the classroom so students can add what they learn from their research to the third column.

Cooperative Grouping
Divide the students into groups. Each group will investigate a different aspect of the tribes that lived nearest to you, including lifestyle, clothing, food acquisition, social relationships, religious beliefs and practices, and shelter. At least one group should investigate the traditional and current theories about the migration of people to North America. To ensure equal participation by all group members, have each member pick a job, such as reader, note taker, computer keyboarder, Internet searcher, or reporter to class.

Research
Using the print, online, and primary resources available, the students will gather information to share with their classmates about their particular topic. Make sure students take notes with documentation of each resource used so that appropriate citations can be made later. If specific information on tribes in your immediate area is not available, direct students to the best available sources for tribes in your greater region.

Follow-up Discussion
The questions that follow will help students understand the issues underlying their research and examine ways in which American culture’s assumptions about and stereotypes of Native American life have had an impact in the past and the present. Students can discuss or debate some of the conflicting theories about the earliest North American migrations as well as the political and social issues involving Native Americans. Subjects such as treaty disputes, discrimination against Native Americans, insensitive treatment of Native American burial grounds, and the practice of using tribal names for sports teams can provide stimulating discussions. If they had the opportunity to rewrite history, how might your students have treated the Indians differently? Ask them to predict what the outcome today might have been if we could rewrite history. Perhaps your students’ newfound understanding from their research and discussion will help them to have an impact on the future.

As a class, examine ways in which the American culture's assumptions and stereotypes about Native American life have impacted the past and the present. List some if the issues that arise in your discussion, which may include:

• Conflicting theories about the earliest North American migrations
• Disputes about Native American treaties
• Discrimination against Native Americans
• Insensitive treatment of Native American burial grounds
• The practice of using tribal names for sports teams

After your initial discussion, ask students to choose one issue to research further. Have them write a brief summary of the issue, considering the impact it has on the Native Americans. How would they solve the issue?

In Class Discussion:

1. How did the Native Americans in your area adapt to the local environment? Compare and contrast their adaptations in the past with the adaptations citizens in your environment might have to make today. Discuss ways in which each culture has adapted the most to nature and ways in which each has tried to make nature adapt to it. Which is the best course? What evidence can you supply to support your evaluation? On what cultural values are you basing your assessment?

2. If there were no electricity or other sources of power, how prepared would you be to survive? How could you find food? Build shelter? Survive the winter? What are the five most important resources you would like to have at home if you were to have an extended power outage? Justify your choices.

3. Why do you think the practice of naming sports teams after Native American tribes persists in American society, even though many Native Americans have expressed their displeasure about it? Why do you think they object to the practice? Should society change, or should the Native American minority accept the wishes of the majority?

4. On occasion, archaeologists have dug up the remains of ancient Native Americans. Should scientists be allowed to study these remains? Native Americans feel such remains should be immediately reburied according to Native American customs. Scientists worry that if reburied, the remains will deteriorate and lose their value for present and future scientific study. Are there other options for treatment of these remains? Would it make a difference to you if these were the remains of your ancestors? Why? Defend your point of view.

5. Given the treaties the U.S. government has made with Native Americans, should they as a people have some rights that are different from those of other Americans? Defend your point of view with facts.

6. Decide whether Native American tribes should be compensated for the broken treaties, damage, and disruption they have suffered since Europeans arrived in America. Defend why your view is the fair thing to do.

Evaluation:

You can evaluate the overall project by using a rubric that assesses the quality of work based on the details of your original assignment. Have students participate in the creation of the rubric. Discuss the criteria to be used to assess the process and presentations. What are the minimum standards they should be expected to accomplish? Kathy Schrock’s Guide for Educators offers a comprehensive page of assessment rubrics for group presentations, cooperative learning processes and products, time lines, oral presentations, and more.

Extending the Lesson:

Fleshing It Out
Recent archaeological discoveries of ancient human remains in North America such as the “Kennewick Man” do not seem to be Native American in origin. These discoveries have reopened the question of how the Americas were populated, by whom, and when. Significant to these discoveries is the collaboration between forensic anthropologists, artists, and sculptors, who together have succeeded in “fleshing out” piles of bones into models of what such persons may have looked like. (The Discovery Magazine video The Earliest Immigrants provides a fascinating look at this collaboration of science and art in the reconstruction of the Kennewick Man’s skeleton.)
 
After researching this topic, have your class evaluate the plausibility of different theories by creating their own models:

• Obtain several identical, inexpensive sets of plastic human skeleton kits from a hobby store. Divide the class into groups of four or five and give each group one skeleton. To accompany each skeleton, write a brief scenario of where the bones might have been found, and under what conditions. Note any distinguishing characteristics of the skeleton. For example, “These bones were found along the coast of the state of Washington. The size of the pelvic bones indicates the person was a female. There is evidence of numerous broken bones that did not heal properly, affecting the woman’s posture.”
• Using homemade play dough or purchased modeling clay, challenge groups of students to literally build their concept of what that person might have looked like, by adding “flesh” to its bones. Provide plastic knives or wooden Popsicle sticks as carving tools to add details.
• Have each group present its model and explain the environmental factors and other reasons why their “human” has certain features. Have students hypothesize about other living conditions this person may have experienced. Ask students to speculate on why the different groups of “forensic archaeologists” in your class may have arrived at different concepts and theories.

Native Americans in the Mass Media
For many Americans, attitudes about Native Americans come mainly from movies and television. Have students conduct research on the present-day lifestyles and economic and social problems of Native Americans. Ask them to compare this information with traditional stereotypes portrayed by the television and film industry. Students can combine their analyses of movies and television shows into a database, a PowerPoint presentation, a review for the school newspaper, or a letter to the editor of your local newspaper.

Standards Addressed:

The Florida Sunshine State Standards.

This lesson plan may be used to address the academic standards listed below. These standards are drawn from Content Knowledge: A Compendium of Standards and Benchmarks for K-12 Education: 2nd Edition provided courtesy of the Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning in Aurora, Colorado.
 
Grade level: 6-8, 9-12
Subject area: World History
Standard:
Understands the biological and cultural processes that shaped the earliest human communities.
Benchmarks:
Understands how different human communities expressed their beliefs (e.g., theories regarding the relationship between linguistic and cultural development; possible social, cultural, and/or religious meanings inferred from late-Paleolithic cave paintings found in Spain and France; theories about the ways in which hunter-gatherers may have communicated, maintained memory of past events, and expressed religious feelings).
 
Benchmark: Understands environmental, biological, and cultural influences on early human communities (e.g., how language helped early humans hunt and establish roles, rules, and structure within communities; the proposition that Mesolithic peoples were the first to take advantage of a changing climate; biological and cultural relationships between Neanderthal and Homo sapiens).

Grade level: 9-12
Subject area: U.S. History
Standard:
Understands the characteristics of societies in the Americas, western Europe, and western Africa that increasingly interacted after 1450.
Benchmarks:
Understands the similarities and differences among Native American societies (e.g., gender roles, patterns of social organization, cultural traditions, economic organization, and political culture among Hopi, Zuni, Algonquian, Iroquoian, Mound builder, and Mississippian cultures).

Grade level: 6-8, 9-12
Subject area: U.S. History
Standard:
Understands why the Americas attracted Europeans, why they brought enslaved Africans to their colonies, and how Europeans struggled for control of North America and the Caribbean.
Benchmarks:
Understands the cultural and environmental impacts of European settlement in North America (e.g., friendly and conflictory relations between English, French, Spanish, and Dutch settlers and Native Americans; how various Native American societies changed as a result of the expanding European settlements and how they influenced European societies; the impact of the fur trade on the environment).
 
Benchmark: Understands the nature of the interaction between Native Americans and various settlers (e.g., Native American involvement in the European wars for control between 1675 and 1763, how Native American societies responded to European land hunger and expansion).

Grade level: 6-8, 9-12
Subject area: U.S. History
Standard:
Understands federal Indian policy and U.S. foreign policy after the Civil War.
Benchmarks:
Understands interaction between Native Americans and white society (e.g., the attitudes and policies of government officials, the U.S. Army, missionaries, and settlers toward Native Americans; the provisions and effects of the Dawes Severalty Act of 1887 on tribal identity, landownership, and assimilation; the legacy of the 19th-century federal Indian policy; Native American responses to increased white settlement, mining activities, and railroad construction).
 
Benchmark: Understands influences on and perspectives of Native American life in the late 19th century (e.g., how the admission of new western states affected relations between the United States and Native American societies; leadership and values of Native American leaders; depiction of Native Americans and whites by 19th-century artists).

Grade level: 6-8, 9-12
Subject area: U.S. History
Standard:
Understands the U.S. territorial expansion between 1801 and 1861 and how it affected relations with external powers and Native Americans.
Benchmarks:
Understands how early state and federal policy influenced various Native American tribes (e.g., survival strategies of Native Americans, environmental differences between Native American homelands and resettlement areas, the Black Hawk War, and removal policies in the Old Northwest).
 
Benchmark: Understands the impact of territorial expansion on Native American tribes (e.g., the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole removals, the significance of the Trail of Tears, the original lands held by various tribes of the Southeast and those held in the Old Northwest territory).

Grade level: 9-12
Subject area: U.S. History
Standard:
Understands the struggle for racial and gender equality and for the extension of civil liberties.
Benchmarks:
Understands how diverse groups united during the civil rights movement (e.g., the escalation from civil disobedience to more radical protest, issues that led to the development of the Asian civil rights movement and the Native American civil rights movement, the issues and goals of the farm labor movement and La Raza Unida).