Shelley Gotterer, Storytelling

Lesson Plan: American Indians in Tennessee

This program increases student’s appreciation for and knowledge of the arts because storytelling has been a vital and ubiquitous art form in every culture. Students will hear ancient stories that the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Shawnee, Muskogee Creek told to teach their children and to remind adults of tribal values. Class discussion will include the role of Indian storytelling, the importance of the traditional storyteller, and the important meaning embedded in the stories: do not be greedy; do not brag; those who are different have much to offer others; respect the wonder of life.

The educational goals are to develop respect for the American Indian cultures of the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Shawnee, Muskogee Creek. The second goal is to learn how to remember and retell a story with confidence.

Students are expected to learn and retain after one lesson that fourmajor Tennessee American Indian tribes lived not only in the past but also in the present. In addition, students will learn the beginning steps in remembering a story: listen and imagine, ask questions to better understand the story, and act out the sequence of the tale, see a story board.

Lesson Objectives:

  • Students will name the four primary American Indian tribes who lived in the land we know call Tennessee, the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Shawnee, Muskogee Creek.
  • Students will compare and contrast photographs of Cherokee, Chickasaw, Shawnee, Muskogee Creek Indians, past and present.
  • Students will actively listen to an authentic story Cherokee, Chickasaw, Shawnee, Muskogee Creek.
  • Students will begin the process of remembering a story: listen actively and imagine; ask questions to better understand the story; act out the sequence of the tale; see a story board.

Curriculum standards: Speaking and Listening Standards, Grade One

1. Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about grade 1 topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups.

2. Ask and answer questions about key details in a text read aloud or information presented orally or through other media.

3. Ask and answer questions about what a speaker says in order to gather additional information or clarify something that is notunderstood.

6. Produce complete sentences when appropriate to task andsituation.

Social Studies Standards, Grade 1: Tennessee’s Place in America Culture

Culture

1:3 Re-tell stories from folk tales, myths, and legends from other cultures

1.7 Interpret legends, stories, and songs that contribute to the development of cultures in Tennessee, including Cherokee, Chickasaw, Shawnee, and Creek tribes.

History

1.36 Produce complete sentences to describe people, places, things and events with relevant details that relate to time, including the past, present, and future.

1.40 Differentiate between fact and fiction when sharing stories or retelling events using primary and secondary sources.

Fine Arts Curriculum, THEATRE, Grade 1

Standard 1.0 Script Writing

1.3 Use realistic and fantasy scenarios in playmaking.

Standard 2.0 Character Acting

2.2 Use imagination to express thoughts and feelings of a character.

2.3 Explore improvisational skills in creating a character.

2.4 Experiment with movement as a means of expression.

2.5 Explore using the voice as a means of expression.

Standard 4.0 Theatrical Presentation

4.3 Explore the role of the audience and demonstrate appropriate audience etiquette.

The procedures for this lesson, “Stories of the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Shawnee, Creek in Tennessee,” are:

1. Welcome students with a hand puppet Bunny who introduces the concept of story telling rather than story reading, the concept of what the imagination is, and finally how to listen well.

2. Present a map of Tennessee with locations of the 4 different tribes.

3. Use rhythm and chant as a mnemonic device to remember tribal names.

4. Display and discuss photographs of Cherokee, Chickasaw, Shawnee, Muskogee children, women, and men in the past, present, and future.

5. Passan genuine Cherokee drum among the students.

6. Tell an authentic story from one of the four primary Tennessee tribes.

7. Encourage comments and questions after the story.

8. Act out story scenes as a large group standing in a circle and in small groups.

Materials: Woven fabric Story Basket with a medium hand puppet Bunny; authentic Cherokee drum; map of Tennessee with tribes identified; poster of American Indian photographs; poster asking “Have You Seen a Real Indian?” with photographs of contemporary American Indian scientist, judge, business man, TV host, ballerina; laminated story board to leave with the class.

Length of lesson: One hour

Assessment: Teachers observe and participate in each lesson. During the last session, teachers write down what they observed and how they might use activities or techniques. The teaching artist compiles all teacher comments and distributes them among the first grade teachers so that they can learn from one another. Students will produce a story board.