ART PARTNERS©
LESSON PLAN: Native North American People: The Haudenosaunee(a.k.a.the Iroquois); culture,
lifeways, artistry.
Part I entails presentation of history and culture. Part II includes
the production and decoration of wallets based on the parfleche designs of
various Native peoples.
AUTHOR: Lucy Andrus
GRADE/AGE LEVEL: Can be adapted for grades 2-6
WRITTEN
HERE FOR: Children in 3-5th grade,
special education (learning and emotional problems)
CONCEPTUAL BASIS
Unit/Theme; Relation of this Lesson to Larger Unit;
Major Concepts to be Learned
This lesson will introduce our
semester-long unit, The American Scene, which will examine
the culture and artistry of the
diverse groups of people that formed the multicultural tapestry of life in the
USA. We begin with an exploration of
indigenous peoples, focusing on the Haudenosaunee (Ho-den-no-SHOW-nee) of the
Eastern Woodlands nations, particularly the Six Nations of the Confederacy: The
Seneca, Oneida, Mohawk, Onondaga, Cayuga and Tuscarora. There are many Haudenosaunee living today in
Western New York State, which is home to the Seneca and Tuscarora Reservations,
and there are people, places and events that reflect the culture of these
people, past to present.
The students will learn of the
rich cultural heritage of the people who were here before European settlement
and conquest, and their many contributions to the development of American
culture. The students will also understand
that there are still important things for all of us to learn today from our
Native brothers and sisters.
Part I will highlight the
traditional culture and lifestyle of the Haudenosaunee through slides, images,
artifacts and music. Part II will focus on artistry of the Haudenosaunee, the
design and aesthetic sense of this group, and student creation of wallets based
on the use of parfleche (PAR-flesh), or prepared and decorated rawhide.
(Parfleche can also mean the actual object that is crafted out of the rawhide,
such as the carry-all fashioned by the Plains and other Native peoples). The
students will learn that artisans and artmakers across time and culture employ
the same basic art elements and principles to create aesthetically worthy
designs as they apply their own art knowledge to production.
RELATION TO LIFE: In addition to the need for promoting respect for
diversity through awareness and appreciation of various peoples and cultures,
children in America need to learn about the first peoples to exist here: their
history, and the place of these indigenous people in today's American culture
and society. As we move on in the twenty-first century, it is critical for
Americans to progress and succeed as a people that can find unity within
diversity. This will not be possible without knowledge and appreciation for the
many unique cultural groups that comprise our society.
Goals Specific to Unit/Lesson (reflecting NYS Art Standards and Targeted Learning Areas. See key at end.)
The students will:
·
Develop
appreciation and respect for cultural difference (E, S)
·
Increase
awareness and understanding of the history and culture of indigenous peoples of
North America, particularly the Haudenosaunee (AH, Std. 4, A/C)
·
Foster
sense of responsibility in caring for the world and all of its inhabitants (E,
S, L)
·
Increase
awareness and appreciation for artistry in everyday life as reflected in Native
North American culture (AC, AE, Std. 3, 4)
·
Develop
abilities to make cross-cultural connections (Std. 4, S)
·
Increase
aesthetic sensibilities and respectful attitude toward preserving cultural
artifacts
·
Increase
knowledge and skill using basic art and design elements and principles visual
expression (AP, Std. 1, 2)
Performance Objectives for Observational Assessment
(reflecting goals): Part I
The students will be able to:
Part I Opening:
·
Define
the term culture and name at least three aspects of culture
·
Define
the meaning of Haudenosaunee (People of the Long House)
·
Name
at least three nations of the Haudenosaunee/Six Nations Confederacy
Part I Middle:
·
Attend
to the slide show without disruption
·
Name
at least two different aspects of the life and culture of the Haudenosaunee
people
·
Name
at least two contributions of the Haudenosaunee to others
·
Demonstrate
patience and ability to wait turn for exploring the artifacts table
·
Demonstrate
careful handling of the artifacts as directed
Part I Closing:
·
Recall
at least one idea learned about the Haudenosaunee people today
·
Name
at least one contribution of the Haudenosaunee to our lives today
·
Describe
one Three C (link) behavior used today
Visuals:
Teacher-made: map of North America highlighting
the territory of the Haudenosaunee, chart listing the Six Nations of the
Confederacy (Seneca, Tuscarora, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga and Mohawk), culture
definition chart
Art Resources: artifacts of the Haudenosaunee, slides
presenting an overview of Haudenosuanee culture and artistry: land, people,
dress, food, housing, customs an traditions, beliefs, tools, etc.,
exemplars/slides of Native people by artist, George Catlin, such as portrait of
Red Jacket; visual of Haudenosaunee design and pattern (poster or handout);
Native drum and stick
Vocabulary (defined in student-friendly language):
Culture: a way of life; the way certain
people live; the customs, habits and traditions of a group of people
Haudenosaunee (Ho-den-oh-SHOW-nee): “People of the Long House”; these are the
Native peoples of the Seneca, Tuscarora, Cayuga, Onondaga, Mohawk and Oneida
nations, also know as the Iroquois Conferderacy.
Native: an original inhabitant, meaning
people who were here before all others came
parfleche: (PAR-flesh) a. a prepared
rawhide b. an article, as a bag or
case, made of parfleche, used to carry or store items and food . Note, this word is of French origin; Native
nations each have their own word for parfleche. Although parfleche is
usually associated with the Plains Native people, other nations made similar
carry-alls.
symmetry: a principle of art where a shape, line and/or color, or
a pattern, is repeated
opposite from the original; to
be the same on both sides.
Materials and Preparation:
boom box and CD of Native
Pow-wow music
sheet to cover artifact table
masking tape
prepare Haudenosaunee design
chart
prepared brown grocery bag
paper*, app. 15x21 inch piece for each student
rulers
pencils
conical tip markers
plastic crayons
hole puncher and gummed paper
reinforcers
ribbon or rawhide string
scissors
*(soak in warm water to loosen
glue, squeeze out water and crumple gently, lay or hang to dry, iron when dry;
if bag is still too stiff, crumple and rub again, open and iron)
Procedural Steps: (details from beginning to
end with ability-appropriate language scripted in as necessary) Part I
Opening:
Note: Have boom box and CD ready to play, and slides set up.
1. Lead Teacher opens session by playing
Native pow-wow music in background and has students quietly come to sit. Once
seated, teacher gives beat on the drum and all sing the Hello Song.
2. Teacher introduces the new unit, The
American Scene, explaining that during this time, we will be learning about
some of the different groups of people in this land that contributed things to
making our American culture what it is today, such as language, inventions,
ideas, ways to heal, music, food, art, etc.
3. Teacher has children define term culture,
and describe what makes up a culture using the culture chart as needed (a
listing of cultural attributes).
Students can name things from their own culture under some of the areas
that make up culture (music, dress, food, art, beliefs, religion, clothing,
dwellings, transportation, etc.).
4. Teacher suggests that if we are going
to learn about American culture, then we ought to start with the people who
lived on this land before there was even a country of America. Teacher has students recall the music they
heard for a clue as to what culture we will explore.
5. Leader tells students that today,
through pictures, slides, actual objects, and our imaginations, we are going to
learn something about some of the people from the North American continent
(refer to map) who were here before anyone else, including Columbus and the
Pilgrims, and who have been living on this continent for thousands and
thousands of years, before Columbus even born or ever dreamed of a New
World! We will learn about the Native
people of our continent. Native means
"original", or the people who were here before anyone else and who
have been here for many, many years.
6. Teacher shows map of North American
continent and points out all of the different places that Native people have
lived and still live today, focusing on the Northeastern part of America, where we all live now. Teacher asks if anyone has ancestors or
relatives who may be Native people.
7. As appropriate to the classroom
demographics, the teacher reminds students that they may have learned some
things about Native people that are wrong because many books and television
shows and even some people have ideas about Native people that really aren't
true. FOR EXAMPLE: We may have learned
or we may think that all Native people, or Indians, live in tipis. This is not true.
In fact, the very word
"Indian" is not a true name for the people
who were living on this continent way before Columbus came, and way before
there was a country of America. How did
Native people get this name of "Indian"? When Columbus got to our part of the world, which is now the
country "America", he thought he was in the East Indies, another part
of the world! In fact, the Indies the
place he set out to find when he went to sea.
So, when he landed in the New World, he thought he was in the Indies, so
he called all the people who were already there, "Indians", and
that's how we got this name for the Native people who were here living in this
land before us.
For further understanding, the teacher can tell the following depending on the needs of the students:
Imagine if an explorer from
another land, or even another planet, who has never been to our country of
America before, went out in search of a place he heard about, maybe a place
called ___________ (name another country).
And as he searched for __________, he ended up in America, instead. And when he got here, he saw all of us
people and decided that we were __________ because that's who he was looking
for and because he didn't learn enough about our language and what we
called ourselves, and how we lived.
Would that be a fair/good idea?
Although many people still use the
word "Indian" to refer to Native Americans today, the word
"Indian" is not a Native word. Today, we will learn the proper word
to refer to the Indians or Native people who used to live and still do live
around
this part of the country that we now
live in (refer to map).
8. The word for these people is: the
Haudenosaunee (Ho-den-oh-SHOW-nee), which means "People of the Long
House" because these people lived in very long houses, as we will
see. Leader shows children on map where
the Haudenosaunee lived many years ago and still live today.
9. Teacher can point out: Now that we are all learning more about these original people, these Native people who were here for thousands of years, we can learn to recognize the things that are wrong from the things that are correct about our Native brothers and sisters. And, we will learn about a culture that is different from our own but that has shared many things with us and still has many good ideas to teach us.
10. Teacher recalls term, culture,
using chart and suggests that we learn more about the culture of those Native
people who lived many years ago, before cars, and planes and grocery stores,
even before people from Europe came over and started the country of
America. We will learn about the culture
of these first Native people and the way they lived. There are so many different groups or nations of Native people
across our continent, so today we will learn about the Haudenosaunee, the
people who lived, and still live around where we do.
11. Teacher now asks children to use their imaginations
as we begin to learn about the culture of the original Native people from the
northeastern part of our continent, and the way these people lived many years
ago. To do this, teacher tells children
that we may have to "daydream" to help get our imaginations working,
and asks the children to close their eyes, listen, and imagine a way of life
very different from ours today: teacher turns music on soft, and begins to use guided imagery, painting a
visual picture of what the land and life looked like back then.
12. Following daydreaming (about three
minutes or so), the teacher has children "wake up", stretch it out,
and get ready to learn some facts, suggesting that we concentrate on learning
about the Haudenosaunee: People of the Long House, and the
six nations that make up the confederacy of the
Haudenosaunee.
Middle:
13. Teacher tells story of formation of the
confederacy, explaining how it’s sometimes called the Iroquois Confederacy,
explaining where the term "Iroquois" came from (French origin). The Six Nations are:
Seneca, Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga and Tuscarora (use map to show where
each of the nations is located).
These nations are sometimes
called "tribes" by people who are not Natives. Nations are made up of
several smaller groups of people who
are relatives of one another...like an extended family... and these smaller groups are called
"clans". Did you know that
clans are headed up by the woman? (clan mothers, matriarchal lineage). Clans
have special symbols to tell them apart such as the people of the Turtle, Clan,
or Wolf Clan.
So how did these six nations of clans get together and
why?
Five hundred years ago, there
were many fights going on between all the different nations, and this was not
good. People were getting hurt, and losing parts of their culture. Two brave
men decided to do something about this and they went around telling people
about peace (can make a cross-cultural comparison to other peacemakers) and
they spread the word that people should stop fighting and get
together! These men were Deganawida (Mohawk) and
Hianwatha (Onondaga).
So, finally everyone agreed
that living peacefully was the best way to go, and they figured out that the
best way to keep this peace was to form a large group by putting all of their
smaller nations together. So, the
Mohawk and the Seneca, and the Oneida and Cayuga and Mohawk and Onondaga, and
later the Tuscarora, people joined together to form one large group called the
Haudenosaunee, a.k.a. the Iroquois Confederacy, or The Six Nations. (The
Tuscarora joined much later than the original five, making up the 6th nation.)
All of the people of these
nations pledged to keep peace, and to help them do so, the clan mothers of each
nation elected a special man to be a sachem or chief, and every so often, these
sachems would get together and talk to each other and see how things were
going. If there were problems, these
men worked them out without fighting. If laws needed to be made to help the
people behave, the sachems made them for the people. These meetings were called the Great Council, and the Six Nations
were able to keep peace and use this form of government successfully for many,
many years.
In fact, they did such a good
job of governing, making laws, taking care of problems and keeping peace, that
the Pilgrims and the rest of the people who came to North America from Europe decided to use some of the Native
peoples' ideas to make their own laws, and when the country of America was
formed after the Revolutionary War, men like Benjamin Franklin used the
Haudenosaunee ideas to help write the
Constitution of the U.S.A.!
14. Now that we know a bit about how the Six
Nations came together, Teacher suggests that we can look at some slides to see
pictures and learn about the everyday lives of
Native people from these nations, and what their culture
was like many years ago.
Slides offering an overview of traditional Haudenosuanee
culture are shown.
During the slide discussion,
the teacher points out contributions made by Native people to the early
settlers as well as Americans today. Native people helped the Pilgrims survive
their first years in the New World. Native people are the ones that taught the
Pilgrims about corn, turkeys, cranberries, etc., so that the Pilgrims would not
starve to death their first winter here. Native people also gave us/taught us
about maple syrup, beans, squash, snow shoes, the game of lacrosse, medicines
made from natural herbs, how to build canoes for transportation, ways to keep
the earth clean and safe for animals and people and much more.
Closing:
15. Following the slide presentation, the
S/Ts escort the students to the artifact able and provide a guided opportunity
for them to carefully and respectfully handle these objects as the teacher explains
what they are. Questions are asked and answered.
16. Teacher closes session with the Goodbye
Song to drumming and a reminder that next class, we will continue to learn
about the Haudenosaunee culture, but with a special focus on their artistry,
and the different ways that these people acted like artmakers in their everyday
lives.
Part II of
the Lesson
Performance Objectives for Observational Assessment
(reflecting goals): Part II
The students will be able to:
Part II Opening:
·
Recall/define
the term culture
·
Recall/state
the collective name of the Native people under study
·
Recall
the meaning of Haudenosaunee (People of the Long House)
·
Name
at least three nations of the Haudenosaunee/Six Nations Confederacy
·
Name
at least two different aspects of the life and culture of the Haudenosaunee
people
·
Name
at least two contributions of the Haudenosaunee to others
·
Define
the term parfleche
·
Create
a personal wallet by:
a.
measuring
and folding prepared paper correctly to create the wallet base
b.
selecting
a drawing medium and using line, shape and color to decorate at least the front
and back covers of the wallet (in symmetry)
c. demonstrate
use of pattern in wallet decoration
d. incorporate
at least two different colors in design
e. attach ribbons
for use in tying wallet flaps closed
·
Define
the term, symmetry
·
Assist
with clean-up as directed, being sure to cap markers properly
·
Recall
the name of the American artist who painted many portraits of various Native
peoples (George Catlin)
·
Describe
something learned about the Haudenosaunee that you would like to follow or do,
yourself
·
Describe
one artmaker behavior used today
Procedural Steps: (details from beginning to
end with ability-appropriate language scripted in as necessary) Part II
Opening:
1. Teacher
opens session with drumming to the Hello Song as the students sing and
clap.
2. Teacher leads discussion recalling what
was learned during Part I about the
Haudenosaunee, their culture and the
Six Nations Confederacy.
3. To
help the students gain a sense of what Native people looked like many years
ago, teacher presents slides or reproductions of portraits by George Catlin,
explaining Catlin’s role in recording and preserving the history and culture of
Native peoples of North America through his artwork and writings. Catlin
traveled across America in the 1800s, painting and drawing portraits of Native
people, both in formal pose and in everyday life (visit: http://www.indians.org/welker/catlin.htm
and http://home.midsouth.rr.com/ccs4ne/GC1.htm
for information on this artist).
4. Teacher
then focuses on the artistry demonstrated by the Haudenosaunee in their
everyday lives, pointing out that every object that had a use was also designed
and decorated in an artistic way, whether it was a cooking pot or a knife
sheath or a pair of moccasins. Teacher presents slides (or actual artifacts)
illustrating this point.
Teacher
helps students to make connection between this artistry and the students own
experiences as artmakers and consumers (appreciation).
5. Teacher suggests that the students can
borrow some ideas from Native people
and make something they can actually
use but that can be decorated with artistry.
Teacher
explains how Native people used materials in their environment to fashion
things they needed for everyday living, and they did so with great respect for
these natural objects. Nothing was ever
thoughtlessly taken from nature and used with out appreciation and thanksgiving
for the bounty of Mother Earth and the care of the great Creator.
Teacher
defines parfleche and the process of preparing and using rawhide (Plains people
used buffalo, Woodlands people used deer) to make objects for living, such as
clothing and bags to carry things in. It should be noted that each nation would
have their own word for this kind of material or object.
6. Teacher
draws a comparison to the wallets and bags we carry today to keep important
papers and other items in, suggesting that students can make their own wallets
or carry-alls using ideas and designs inspired by traditional Native
culture
7. Teacher
displays the example wallet, noting that we will use a material from our own
environment – brown paper bags- and
explaining how the paper had to be prepared like the rawhide in order to work
with it.
8. Teacher
suggests that to decorate the wallets, we borrow ideas from Native design such
as the use of lines, bright colors, and symmetry. Teacher defines term, symmetry, and shows a visual
example of this principle of art.
Middle:
9. Students move to their
small groups and work with their S/Ts to create their wallets. The prepared paper is distributed and
students proceed to use ruler and pencil to help them make the necessary folds
to create the wallet form:
a. measure and fold up the long sides
about 2 1/2 inches toward center
b. then
fold the paper to create three sections, with the side flaps meeting in the
middle, but one flap overlapping the other slightly (app. 1 inch overlap).
c.
use a hole punch to make two holes through each flap
in the 1 inch overlap section so that a ribbon or string can be put through all
holes and flaps can be gently tied to keep wallet closed (add closure ties
after decorating is complete)
10. While it is still in the folded position
of 9.b. above, students should proceed to use markers or crayons to decorate
the outside of the wallet. Students can begin by using black marker to draw
lines and outline shapes that will be filled in with color. S/Ts stress use of
line, shape, pattern and symmetry, as well as the rulers, explaining that the
designs on each side of the middle where wallet will be tied must match each
other, must be symmetrical.
11. Ribbon, string or shoelace is added to
the finished wallet for tying it closed.
Closing:
12. Finished
wallets are viewed, concepts recalled: pattern, symmetry, artistry in everyday
objects, use of art elements and principles by all artmakers.
13. Teacher has students suggest what kinds
of things that they might place in their wallets (notes, important papers to go
home from school, money, etc.)
14. Teacher closes session with Goodbye Song
to drumming.
In
addition to observation of the Performance Objectives stated above for
evaluating students as well as noting what teachers may need to re-teach or do
differently, questions to ask include:
Were the students able to use
rulers correctly?
What is the level of craftsmanship
in forming the wallet shape? Are the creases and folds neatly done, with edges
even and matching?
Do the wallet designs reflect
use of pattern and symmetry?
ABBREVIATION KEY:
DBAE: NYS Standards for
the Arts:
AH = art history Std. 1 = creating,
participating in art
AC = art criticism Std. 2 = knowing art materials
and processes
AE = aesthetics Std. 3 = responding to works
of art/artists
AP = art production Std. 4 = knowing cultural
dimensions of art
Needs Assessment Areas for
Developing Skills and Abilities:
A/C =
academic/cognitive M/P =
motor/perceptual E = emotional
C =
communicative status W/S =
work/study habits S = social
Pre-V
= prevocational skills L = living
skills