Middle School

Misconceptions about Easter Woodland Indians

Lesson Abstract

In these series of classroom activities, you will find 21 of the most ingrained misconceptions about Eastern Woodland Indians that we have encountered in schools throughout Western Pennsylvania, along with specific strategies on how to break down these misconceptions in the classroom. After each misconception is discussed, teachers are provided with critical thinking activities to engage students in understanding these misconceptions through an examination of images, documents and material culture objects.

Students will simulate an Iroquois Council meeting, compare and contrast the U.S. Constitution with the Iroquois Constitution, use maps to teach Native linguistic and cultural diversity, play history detective, analyze historical art to break down misconceptions about gender roles, discover Native contributions to modern medicine, compose and deliver an Indian speech, make Native artifacts, role-play an 18th century journalist, write a biographical sketch of a woman chief, develop native menus, use primary sources, complete a math project to understand the vast size of Woodland Indian cornfields, creating word games to understand the cross-cultural impact of the fur trade, writing historical fiction, and playing a "Facts in Five" game to find examples of Indian sterotypes in modern American culture.