Description of lesson/activity
1. select evidence to prove that the Pre-Columbian Indians of what is now the United States developed diverse cultures worthy of respectful study.
2. present evidence in an organized, written fashion that will be convincing to the reader.
1. The teacher should introduce the task by distributing the accompanying resource "Some Views on Native Americans" to each student. Students should be given time to read and digest the quotations. Then, within their cooperative group, members should discuss whether these quotes fit with what they have learned about their particular tribe. This will give students the opportunity to share their views in a smaller, perhaps less threatening group. Then as a full class, the discussion should be directed toward American Indian tribes in general prior to 1500. Students should be coming to the awareness that these quotes are not accurate descriptions of the cultures that they have just researched and why.
2. Students should then be asked to prove the statement that "Pre-Columbian Indians had cultures worthy of respect." This will be done in the form of an individually written essay. These directions assume that students are familiar with teacher-or department-developed instructions for writing an essay. Students should use information from their "Life Grid" and "Oral Presentation Summary Sheet" (see Question/Problem 2) plus the information that they heard in the whole class discussion (see above) to write an essay, giving evidence to support the above statement. Provide students with the accompanying "Essay Evaluation Criteria" prior to the completion of their essay. Review the criteria with them. This will acquaint all students with the expectations of essay writing at the middle-school level.
3. Essays should be graded using the criteria suggested for essay evaluation. This authentic assessment can provide a summary evaluation of student understanding of the unit.
1. Some Views of American Indians