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Campfire Stories with George Catlin--An Encounter of Two Cultures

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Campfire Stories with George Catlin--An Encounter of Two Cultures DOCUMENT RESUME ED 472 005 SO 034 515 TITLE Campfire Stories with George Catlin--An Encounter of Two Cultures. INSTITUTION National Museum of American Art, Washington, DC. PUB DATE 2002-00-00 NOTE 141p. AVAILABLE FROM Smithsonian Institution, American Art Museum, Washington, DC 20560. For full text: http:// catlinclassroom.si.edu. PUB TYPE Guides Classroom Learner (051) Guides Classroom Teacher (052) EDRS PRICE EDRS Price MF01/PC06 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *American Indian History; Art Education; *Cultural Context; Frontier History; Heritage Education; Interdisciplinary Approach; *Painting (Visual Arts); Primary Sources; Secondary Education; *United States History IDENTIFIERS *Catlin (George); Guided Practice; National Arts Education Standards; National History Standards; Native Americans; Standards for the English Language Arts ABSTRACT This lesson plan collection focuses on attitudes and opinions held by Native Americans and European Americans about the United States. The lesson plans are arranged in four sections:(1) "Ancestral Lands" (Debating for Land; Making Treaties and Weaving Wampum; Pipestone Quarry and Westward Expansion: Whose Rock Is It Anyway); (2) "Catlin's Quest" (Inside Catlin's Head; Letters from the Frontier: Reading and Writing Primary Documents; Creating the Past: Understanding Artifacts; Connecting to the Past: Making a Memory Box); (3) "Chiefs and Leaders" (Leadership Past and Present: Preliminary Activity; Symbols of Power in Native American Clothing; Cracking Catlin's Code'; Quiz Show! What Were You Thinking? What Did You Say?); and (4) "Western Landscape (Native American Folklore; Mandan Buffalo Dance and You; At Home on the Prairie). Each lesson outlines educational objectives; addresses national history and language arts standards and skills and visual arts standards; suggests interdisciplinary connections and length; notes materials needed; provides content introduction; offers guided practice and independent practice activities and a wrap-up activity; and lists Internet resources. Contains a selection of George Catlin's paintings and a vocabulary list. (BT) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. Campfire Stories with George Catlin An Encounter of Two Cultures http://catlinclassroom.si.edu/ kr) Smithsonian Institution American Art Museum Washington, D.C. 20560 (/) 2002 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research and Improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) Lit) This document has been reproducedas received from the person or organization originating it. Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality. Points of view or opinions stated in this document do not necessarily represent LP ST COPY AVAILABLE official OERI position or policy. Table of Contents for Lesson Plans Ancestral Lands Debating for Land 5 Overview: In this lesson students will learn about the varying attitudes and definitions of land ownership held by Native and European Americans by studying a variety of primary documents from the nineteenth century. They will learn about how various treatiesthe Homestead Act and the Dawes Act affected both Native and European Americans. Students will discuss these issues in the form of a debate, and will also write journal entries. Cross-Curricular Connections: Language Arts, Social Studies Making Treaties & Weaving Wampum: Communication Across Cultures 12 Overview: In this lesson students will be exposed to the cultural and artistic importance of wampum belts to the Native American tribes that George Catlin encountered on his travels, and the importance of the belts in American history as markers of relations between tribes and the U.S. Government between 1776 and 1878. Students will gain insight into the differing ways in which these cultures expressed ideas, values, and policy through objects, written documents, and oral traditions. Cross-Curricular Connections: History/Social Studies, U.S. Government, Visual Arts/Art History Pipestone Quarry & Westward Expansion: Whose Rock is this Anyway? 19 Overview: This lesson is designed to emphasize how individuals' worldviews affect their method of expressing themselves and of telling stories. People describing the same thing will convey very different things depending on their worldviews (composed of their personal philosophy, religion, and even their job or discipline). Students will compare primary documents and analyze themotives of the speaker, and the author's intended audience. They will respond to these comparisons in writing and then by creating a representation of what they studied for a timeline. Cross-Curricular Connections: History, Geography, Sociology, English (Language Arts) 1 BEST COPY AVAILABV,IF, Catlin's Quest Inside Catlin's Head 40 Overview: In this lesson, students will be asked to examine Catlin's life and to determine how various decisions he made affected its outcome. Students will be asked to interpret, elaborate on, and reenact events occurring in Catlin's lifetime by writing, drawing, and role-playing. Cross-Curricular Connections: Social Studies, Language Arts, Theatre, Art Letters from the Frontier: Reading and Writing Primary Documents 50 Overview: By immersing themselves in primary sources (George Catlin's letters), students will learn the difference between objective and subjective writing styles. They will draw facts out of the letters to create newspaper articles in Activity 1, and write their own letters as if they were members of the Catlin family in Activity 2. These activities are designed to enliven historical figures, to connect the "current events" of the past with the current events of the present, and to help students read and interpret historical documents. Cross-Curricular Connections: History/Social Science, English/Language Arts, and Psychology Creating the Past: Understanding Artifacts 58 Overview: After studying the historic events of Catlin's life, this project allows students to imagine the material culture of the time. They will become archaeologists and anthropologists, looking back on previous cultures for clues as to the motives and inspirations for the choices that shaped their lives. Each student will bring in a fabricated artifact from Catlin's life, resulting in a museum exhibit in the class. Cross-Curricular Connections: Anthropology, Archaeology, Language Arts, History, Visual Art Connecting to the Past: Making a Memory Box 62 Overview: Artists across cultures and throughout time have sought to incorporate the multifaceted connections between past and present in their artworks. In many ways, Catlin's lifelong quest and the eventual creation of his "Indian Gallery" can be seen as an attempt to connect what he felt to be the "past" of American Indian society to the "present" of nineteenth-century westward expansion by European Americans. As is evident today, Native American culture is very much alive and present in the fabric of America. Catlin, however, made it clear that he viewed his subjects as a "vanishing race" and sought to preserve their images for future generations. In this activity, students will create their own memory box, linking the past and the present, and in so doing examine Catlin's ideas and motives. Cross-Curricular Connections: Anthropology, Archaeology, Language Arts, History, Visual Art 2 4 Chiefs and Leaders LeadershipPast and Present: Preliminary Activity 64 Overview: Studying leadership qualities is highly important for students of all ages so that they can identify and develop their own. In this preliminary lesson, students will be introduced to several Native American leaders, both past and present, and will be asked to examine their different styles of leadership. Cross-Curricular Connections: Social Studies Symbols of Power in Native American Clothing 67 Overview: Power shirts, often made of tanned animal hides and adorned with objects such as fur, beads, and locks of hair, were highly important in the culture of many Native Americans. These shirts, which were associated very closely with the identity of their wearer, contained various symbols representing success in war, spirituality, special abilities, and outstanding achievements. After studying these shirts, learning to understand their significance to Native Americans, and discussing the symbols they contain; students will identify achievements in their own lives that reflect leadership and power. They will document these achievements in symbolic form on shirts that they create. Cross-Curricular Connections: Language Arts, Art, Social Studies Cracking Catlin's Code 74 Overview: This is a creative approach to teaching basic skills involved in the formal visual analysis of works of art. Students will learn how to interpret artworks in cultural and historical contexts by becoming "art detectives." Students will analyze Catlin's formal compositions to learn about the Native American leaders he painted. They will examine visual clues and write a final "case summary" in which they "crack Catlin's code." Cross-Curricular Connections: Visual Art/Art History, Social Science/History QUIZ SHOW! What were you thinking? What did you say? 79 Overview: Native Americans responded to U.S. expansion policy in different ways. By incorporating Internet resources and working in groups, students will participate in a game show to share the information they have uncovered in a fast- paced, competitive environment. At the end of the game, the winning team receives a prize. Cross-Curricular Connections: History/World Cultures,
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