Media used:
For our unit we worked with the movie “Smoke Signals”, as well as the screenplay that goes with it. Furthermore we want to encourage the pupils to work with the internet for research and write emails to the missionary couple in Idaho for further information.
Course Outline: 10 lessons
Lesson 1:
- Mindmap about the five categories Native American tribes, Integration into Society, Modernization and Reservations, Tradition and Beliefs, History
-
Class splitting into five groups→each group will deal with one of the above mentioned topics and receives a worksheet concerning their topic
- Voc. Sheet
Lesson 2 and 3:
- Groups will do research about their topic in the computer lab
- They have to plan and compose mini-presentations about their topic, as well as a sheet of paper with all essential information which will be glued onto a poster
Lesson 4:
- Each group presents what they have found out about their topic (5-10 minutes)
- Afterwards, there will be a discussion/feedback about the five presentations
- Each group will glue their sheet of paper with the most essential information onto a poster
- Posters will be hung up in the classroom, visible for all the other groups
Lesson 5 and 6:
- The pupils will receive an excerpt of the screenplay of “Smoke Signals”
- The have to read it in class and discuss the stereotypes and characters they can find out while reading the excerpt
- They should then talk about how they would have done the scene in the movie
- Scene is shown
- Discussion follows
- Homework: they receive a worksheet with a summary of the movie and should then write where the scene we showed them could be placed within the movie
Lesson 7:
- homework comparison
- some pupils should read out their homework
- a short vocabulary test follows
Lesson 8 and 9:
- In these two lessons, the pupils will see the movie “Smoke Signals”
- As a while-viewing activity they will receive a worksheet with questions concerning the movie and its characters etc.
Lesson 10:
- The last lesson will be used for discussion of the while-viewing worksheet and the movie in general
- The results of the email project will be discussed and evaluated
- An end discussion of the whole unit will follow and close this lesson, as well as the unit “Native Americans”
Bibliography:
Smoke Signals: A Screenplay by (Author). Publisher: Miramax Books (1998)
Smoke Signals: The movie (1998)
Online resources:
http://www.afn.org/~native/
http://www.nativeamericans.com/
http://www.native-languages.org/languages.htm
http://www.mce.k12tn.net/indians/navigation/native_american_chart.htm
http://www.intertribal.net/NAT/NATribes.htm
http://www.42explore2.com/native4.htm
http://www.pbs.org/lewisandclark/native/index.html
www.americanindians.com/History.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Wars
http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/history/A0825127.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_Americans_in_the_United_States
http://stereotype.drumhop.com/
http://www2005.lang.osaka-u.ac.jp/~krkvls/edu.html
www.navajo.org
www.cherokee.org
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_reservation
www.nps.gov/history/nagpra/DOCUMENTS/ResMAP.HTM
www.taospueblo.com
reliogioustolerance.org/nataspir.htm
religiousmovements.lib.virginia.edu/nrms/naspirit.html
ocbtracker.com/ladypixel/legend.html
indians.org/articles/native-american-spirituality
-life.html
-culture.html
journalism.berkeley.edu/projects/nm/julia/history.html