Sara Skaggs
CT: Penny Smith
Matoaka Elementary
Lesson #1
Native American Basket Weaving
LESSON PLAN
Title: Native American Basket Weaving
Grade
Level: 4
Time Frame: 1 hour
Setting: Groups of 6
Content Area/s: Social Studies
Date: October 2, 2014
SOLs: Virginia: The Physical Geography and Native Peoples
VS.2
The student will demonstrate knowledge of the physical geography and native peoples, past and
present, of Virginia by
e) describing how American Indians related to the climate and their environment to secure food,
clothing, and shelter;
Grade Four Visual Arts
4.1
The student will use steps of the art-making process, including brainstorming, preliminary
sketching, planning, and reflecting, to generate ideas for and create works of art.
4.2
The student will demonstrate craftsmanship in personal works of art.
4.11
The student will use craft techniques in works of art.
4.12
The student will describe the roles of crafts and artisans in various cultures.
4.13
The student will describe artists and their work.
4.21
The student will formulate questions about aesthetic aspects of works of art.
Lesson Objectives:
1. Given class discussion, students
will explain the connection
between Native American art and
lifestyle, including religion and
means of obtaining food.
2. Given prompting questions,
students will evaluate Native
American visual art.
3. Given general direction and
materials, students will create
their own woven basket.
Resources (Texts & Technology):
http://www.nativeamericanarthistory.com/
http://www.indians.org/articles/native-americanart.html
http://kstrom.net/isk/art/basket/baskcher.html
http://ralphtcoefoundation.org/Detailed/12.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mavis_Doering
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/azcentral/obituary
http://www.craftprojectideas.com/index.php/howto/material-of-the-month/friendship-thread-june2012/1067-woven-basket
Materials: powerpoint, paper cups, brown paint,
popsicle sticks, glue, yarn
Content: Native Americans often used materials like reeds, cornhusks, dyes, rocks, feathers, cloth,
clay or fabrics. They often used symbols that were important to them, such as people, eagles, bears,
and other animals. Women usually wove the baskets, and they used them for transporting fruits and
vegetables (Indians.org).
Native Americans are very spiritual, and Mother Nature was extremely important to them in their
daily lives, so many of their artforms depict symbols from nature (nativeamericanarthistory.com)
Biography of Mavis Doering attached
Basket shown is 17.75 X 10 X 10, and is made with hickory strips, leather, and feather. The work is
called lightning (www.arts.ok.gov)
Instructional Procedures:
Introduction: Tell students about the significance of the lesson and explain lesson objectives.
Present students with pictures of baskets woven by Mavis Doering. Ask objective level questions.
(7 mins)
Focus: Explain that these are pictures of baskets woven by a modern Cherokee woman named
Mavis Doering, and that she creates baskets to celebrate her Native American heritage. Ask
Reflective level questions. (8 mins)
Student Engagement: Tell students about biography about Mavis Doering. Ask interpretive level
questions. Explain that the Native Americans we have been studying used baskets like these for
foraging food, as well as for gathering crops. Show more pictures of baskets. Explain that these
baskets had designs in them that celebrate nature, which was very important to the religion of
Native Americans. Explain that Native Americans obtained food by hunting, gathering, and
planting, and that baskets can be useful for any of these. Ask decisional questions. Instruct students
to create their own work of art, and provide instruction about how to do so. (30 mins)
Closing: Ask students to volunteer to share why they designed their baskets as they did, and allow
them to ask any questions they have about the artform. Give post assessment. (15 mins)
Assessment/s:
Formative:
Student responses
to guiding
questions
throughout lesson
Summative:
Basket making and
presentation of
basket, written
paragraph; pre/post
assessment
Extension Activitiy: Extension: Ask students to write a paragraph with the
given prompt (Prompt: Write a paragraph explaining the three main ways
Native Americans obtained food, and include examples of foods they
commonly ate from each category). (15 minutes)
Interdisciplinary Links: This lesson links to history because it records a
historic culture and their ways of life, it links to art because it is centered
around an artform, and it focuses on cultural studies of Native Americans.
Including a written paragraph fulfills language arts objectives, and asking
questions develops inquiry.
Differentiation Strategies/Activities (State nature of differentiation):
Gifted students will be asked to research other types of Native American art,
and to discuss whether that form of art was also used in their daily lives, or
whether it was used for other purposes, such as social commentary, or
exclusively for aesthetic purposes.
Reflection/Recommendations for Future use [this part is completed after the lesson]:
Mavis Doering Biography
Mavis Vercine Langley Doering was born on August 31, 1929 in Hominy, Oklahoma.
She grew up in Oklahoma and California, and married James Doering in 1954. She is the third
generation of basket weavers in her family. She studied early Native American basket weaving at
libraries and museums in order to learn as much about her family traditions as possible.
Doering is a member of the Cherokee tribe, and she creates baskets in the traditional
Cherokee style, but tends to add her own, creative elements. Some examples of these include
rocks, feathers, and baskets shaped like clay pots.
Doering collects all of her own materials for basket weaving – from making her own dyes
out of nut hulls and berries (although she did experiment with aniline dyes, which are chemically
based dyes), to finding and using her own weaving materials. Materials she used included but
were not limited to honeysuckle, rivercane, ash splits, buckbrush, reed, and white oak splits.
Mavis put her work in many museums, such as Southern Plains Indian Museum, Coulter
Bay Indian Art Museum, Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian, Fred Jones Jr. Museum
of Art, Oklahoma Historical Society, the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, and the
Smithsonian Institution Folklife Festival. On two separate occasions she received commissions
from the state of Oklahoma to continue her basket making, and she apprenticed several other
well-known basket weavers, including Peggy Brennan. She received the Oklahoma Governor’s
Arts award in 1984 and was named Honored One at the Red Earth Festival in 1997. She was also
a participant in Arizona’s First Celebration of Basketry
Doering died in 2007, but her basket weaving has left a legacy and continues to tell her
story (www.arts.ok.gov, www.legacy.com).
Nelson Critical Thinking Questioning
Objective Questions
 What do you think these are pictures of?
 How do you think they are constructed?
 What symbols do you see?
 What colors do you see used?
Reflective Questions
 What do these baskets make you think of?
 Have you ever seen baskets similar to these? Where?
 What kinds of things have you used baskets for?
 What do you think is most important about the baskets’ design?
Interpretive Questions
 Why do you think Native Americans made decorative baskets?
 What do you think they used the baskets for?
 What do you think the symbols mean?
 How were baskets important to the lifestyle of Native Americans?
 Do you think the baskets were there for decoration, or for work?
Decisional Questions
 How can you relate to this form of art?
 How have the Native American traditions of gathering affected your life?
 How does this artist show appreciation for her surroundings?
 How can you use baskets in your world?
 What symbols are important to you that you would put on a basket?
Pre-Post Assessment
Native American Lifestyle and Art
1. In what three ways did Native Americans get food?
______________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
2. Name one modern artist who creates Native American art
______________________________________________________________________________
3. What kinds of symbols did Native Americans use in their artwork?
______________________________________________________________________________
4. Draw a picture of artwork that Native Americans used in their daily lives
Pre-Post Assessment
Expected Outcomes
Native American Lifestyle and Art
1. In what three ways did Native Americans food?
Native Americans got the food that they ate through hunting animals and gathering food
such as herbs, berries, nuts, and wild fruits and vegetables. Some planted crops as well.
2. Name one modern artist who creates Native American art
Mavis Doering
3. What kinds of symbols did Native Americans use in their artwork?
Native Americans often used religious symbols, or symbols of nature
4. Draw a picture of artwork that Native Americans used in their daily lives
Students might draw a basket, or a rendition of a Native American using a basket
Social Studies
Critical Thinking
Visual Arts
Art Production
and Interaction
Total: 40 pts
Exceeds
Expectations
Meets
Expectations
Below
Expectations
Demonstrated
knowledge of the
Native American
practices of
farming, hunting,
and gathering by
explaining in
written paragraph
what Native
Americans often ate
and how they
obtained that food.
(9-10pts)
Provided thoughtful
reflections in
response to
Nelson’s 4 Critical
Thinking categories
(9-10pts)
Demonstrated
knowledge of
Native American
practices (2) of
farming, hunting,
or gathering by
explaining in
written paragraph
what Native
Americans often
ate and how they
obtained that food
(7-8pts)
Provided
thoughtful
reflections in
response to 3 of
Nelson’s Critical
Thinking
categories
(7-8pts)
Analyzed how
Doering creations
influenced visual
characteristics
that represent
Native American
means of
obtaining food
(7-8pts)
Demonstrated
limited knowledge
of Native
American
practices of
farming, hunting,
and gathering
(5-6pts).
Successfully
created a basket,
paid some
attention to
details;
cooperates
(7-8pts)
Did not create a
basket, or had
below age level
difficulty; did not
interact with
others, or did not
pay attention to
detail
(5-6pts)
Analyzed how
Doering creations
influenced visual
characteristics that
represent Native
American culture
and lifestyle,
including religious
beliefs, cultural
customs, and means
of obtaining food
(9-10pts)
Successfully
created a basket,
paid attention to
details; helpful to
others
(9-10pts)
Contributed 2 or
fewer responses to
critical thinking
questions
(5-6pts)
Made few
connections
between Doering’s
art and Native
American culture
(5-6pts)
Points
Mavis Doering Baskets. The first basket will be the primary model displayed to the students.
Additional Native American Baskets:
Artist unknown
Cherokee basket
Cherokee woman with gathering basket on her back
Iroquois ribbonwork basket
Student model: