Lesson Plans

368 Result(s)
Grade Range
6-12
Not “Indians,” Many Tribes: Native American Diversity

Students study the interaction between environment and culture as they learn about three vastly different indigenous groups in a game-like activity that uses vintage photographs, traditional stories, photos of artifacts, and recipes.

Grade Range
K-5
Anishinaabe/Ojibwe/Chippewa: Culture of an Indian Nation

This Activity focuses on one American Indian Nation, the Anishinaabe, also known as the Ojibwe, Ojibway, or Chippewa Indians. Students will learn how to conduct a research project on different historical, geographical, and cultural aspects of this Native American group.

Grade Range
9-12
Lessons of the Indian Epics: The Ramayana

The Ramayana (ram-EYE-ya-na) and the Mahabharata (ma-ha-BA-ra-ta), the great Indian epics, are among the most important works of literature in South Asia. Both contain important lessons on wisdom, behavior and morality, and have been used for centuries not only as entertainment, but also as a way of instructing both children and adults in the exemplary behavior toward which they are urged to strive and the immoral behavior they are urged to shun. In this lesson, students will read an abridged version of the Ramayana, and will explore the ways in which the story of Rama contains elements, such as the Epic Hero Cycle, that place it within the epic poetry tradition.

Grade Range
9-12
Lessons of the Indian Epics: Following the Dharma

This lesson plan is designed to allow instructors to explore Hindu culture by examining the characters of the Indian epic poem  Ramayana, and the choices they make. Students will be able to explore the Hindu concept of right behavior (dharma) through an investigation of the epic poem, the Ramayana.

Grade Range
9-12
Empire and Identity in the American Colonies

In this lesson students will examine the various visions of three active agents in the creation and management of Great Britain’s empire in North America: British colonial leaders and administrators, North American British colonists, and Native Americans.

Grade Range
9-12
Lesson 1: The First Great Awakening

In the middle of the 18th century, a series of evangelical religious revival movements swept across colonial America. By examining primary documents from the time, this lesson will introduce students to the ideas, practices, and evangelical spirit of the First Great Awakening.

Grade Range
9-12
Introducing the Essay: Twain, Douglass, and American Non-Fiction

The essay is perhaps one of the most flexible genres: long or short, personal or analytical, exploring the extraordinary and the mundane. American essayists examine the political, the historical, and the literary; they investigate what it means to be an "American," ponder the means of creating independent and free citizens, discuss the nature of American literary form, and debate the place of religion in American society.

Grade Range
K-5
Lesson 3: Hopi Traditional Dance and Song

An exploration of the symbolism and imagery of corn and environment as manifested in Hopi song and traditional dances. Students analyze examples of historical and contemporary Hopi song and examine images of Hopi dance in order to expand cultural awareness.

Grade Range
6-12
Who Belongs on the Frontier: Cherokee Removal

Cherokee people faced a number of challenges to their sovereignty in the 18th and 19th centuries. In this lesson plan, students examine the geographic, political, and cultural frontiers Cherokees confronted and overcame during this time.