Name:__Rhonda Rinehart_____________________________
Title: _Women’s Influence on Native American Life_______________________________
Grade Level: ___6_____________
SUMMARY OF THE UNIT
This unit is designed to teach students about the influence Native American women had in
their culture and to dispel the stereotypes about the role women played in their communities.
Students will delve deeper into the lives of four influential Native American women using
both primary and secondary sources in order to understand the ways in which each woman
influenced her community. Those women are Pocahontas, Sacagawea, Nancy Ward, and
Francis Slocum.
SUGGESTED RESOURCES
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Photos and videos of museum exhibits
American Legends: Life of Pocahontas by Charles Rivers Editors
Sifters: Native American Women’s Lives (Viewpoints on American Culture) Theda
Perdue – Editor (excerpts on Sacagawea and Pocahontas)
Sacagawea: A Biography by April R. Summitt
Pocahontas and the Powhatan Dilemma: The American Portraits Series excerpts
Pocahontas and Sacagawea: America’s Most Famous Native American Women
Charles Rivers Editors
Francis Slocum: Child of Two Americas DVD 2007
Maconaquah’s Story: The Saga of Francis Slocum by Kitty Dye
The Red Heart by James Alexander Thom
Beloved Mother: The Story of Nancy Ward by Charlotte Jane Ellington
Wild Rose: Nancy Ward and the Cherokee Nation by Mary R. Furbee
Nancy Ward, Cherokee Cheiftainess, Dragging Canoe, Cherokee-Chickamauga War
Chief by Pat Alderman
MATERIALS NEEDED
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Smart board for use of primary sources
Chart paper / markers
Composition notebooks, 1 per student
Computers for student research
STAGE 1 – Identify desired results
Competencies/Standards
SS 6.1.15 Describe the impact of industrialization and urbanization on the lives of the individual
and on trade and cultural exchange…
SS 6.1.16 Trace the individuals, beliefs and events that represent political ideologies…
SS 6.1.23 Form research questions and use a variety of information resources to obtain, evaluate,
and present data on people….
SS 6.4.2 Analyze how countries in Europe and the Americas have been influenced by trade in
different historical periods.
Enduring Understandings (“Students will understand THAT…”)
Overarching Enduring Understandings
Students will understand that Native American women held positions of power and
influence within her community.
Topical Enduring Understandings
Students will understand specific roles women played other than child care and food
prep in Native American culture.
Essential Questions (“How…” “Why…” “To what extent…”)
Overarching Essential Questions
In what ways did women influence their Native American communities?
Topical Essential Questions
How do stereotypes affect the way we view historical societies?
How are Native American women’s roles in history the same or different from those
of today?
Enabling Knowledge and Skills (“What skills and conceptual knowledge
must students possess in order to demonstrate understanding – especially on
performance tasks?”)
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Students will know
the stereotypes they have about Native American women
how to change those views through research
Students will be able to
 compare and contrast information
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STAGE 2 – Determine acceptable evidence
Overview of assessment evidence
Briefly describe the types of assessment activities you will use throughout this unit to ensure
students are gaining the enabling conceptual knowledge and skills they need so that ultimately they
can demonstrate understanding through the major performance task.
TYPE OF
EVIDENCE
Primary
performance
task
Written prompts/
journals
Small
projects/skill
demonstrations/
supporting
performances
Student selfassessments
Observing
/conferencing
DESCRIPTION OF THE ASSESSMENT
ACTIVITY
WHICH
FACET OF
UNDERSTANDING IS
EMPHASIZED?
Application
Students will design a museum exhibit
depicting one of the four women studied
Attached rubric
Reflective journals will be kept throughout the Interpretation
unit with occasional prompts
Application
Students will compare and contrast women’s
roles in the past to those of the present
Interpretation
Students will use reflective journals to assess
personal progress
Self-knowledge
Explanation
Throughout unit teacher will be observing and Evaluation
conferring with each student
Explanation
Quizzes/ tests
Other
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Reflective essay over entire unit using 6-traits Application
writing rubric
GRASPS details for the primary performance task
Use the GRASP format to provide more detailed information about the primary performance task
through which you will assess students’ growing understanding.
GRASPS
Use of GRASPS in this Unit
Students will design a museum style exhibit about one of the women
Goal
 Provide a statement of we have studied based on what they have learned.
the task.
 Establish the goal,
problem, challenge, or
obstacle in the task.
Working groups the students will become the curator of a museum
Role
 Define the role of the exhibit to tell the true story of a particular Native American woman.
students in the task.
 State the job of the
students for the task.
Anyone who would come to a museum to learn more about these
Audience
women
 Identify the target
audience within the
context of the
scenario.
 Example audiences
might include a client
or a committee.
They will be teaching the general public about the true lives of these
Situation
 Set the context of the women and not what we believe to be true.
scenario.
 Explain the situation.
Product
 Clarify what the
students will create
and why they will
create it.
Students may design any type of museum style exhibit including but
not limited to a 3D display or animatronic script.
Standards and Criteria Students will be given a rubric for this project.
 Provide students with
a clear picture of
success.
 Identify specific
standards for success.
 Issue rubrics to the
students.
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STAGE 3 – Design learning activities
Use the WHERETO model to identify the type – but not the sequence – of instructional activities
required to promote the desired results. Following the WHERETO model is an optional calendar
for actually scheduling the sequence of learning activities. Note that assessment activities (the
second “E” and to some extent the “R” in WHERETO) are embedded throughout the unit.
WHERETO
How will you ensure that all
students know where they are
headed in the unit, why they
are headed there, and how
they will be evaluated?
“W” Ideas
How will you hook students at
the beginning of the unit?
“H” Ideas
“E1” Ideas
E
What events will help
students experience and
explore the big ideas and
questions in the unit? How
will you equip them with
needed skills and knowledge?
“R” Ideas
R
How will you cause students
to reflect and rethink? How
will you guide them in
rehearsing, revising, and
refining their work?
“E2” Ideas
E
How will you help students to
exhibit and self-evaluate their
growing skills, knowledge,
and understanding throughout
the unit?
“T” Ideas
T
How will you tailor
instruction to meet student
need in readiness, learning
style, and interest while
remaining true to the desired
result?
O
How will you organize
learning experiences to
maximize engagement and
W
H
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Students will be told that we are going to study four
influential Native American women. We will earn
about their daily lives, spiritual beliefs, influence in
community finances, and their appearance.
Culminating with the development of their museum
exhibit.
Students will draw a picture depicting what they
believe was the daily life of a Native American
woman including chores, dress, housing, etc.
Books, websites, primary sources, journals
Journal reflections, class discussions, conferring
Daily questioning, conferring, journal reflections
Students will have choices on how to design final
display.
“O” Ideas
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This unit will be organized so that we study each of
the chosen women throughout their lives.
understanding and minimize
misconceptions?
Sequence of unit learning and assessment activities
Calendar
Monday
Lesson #1
Tuesday
Lesson #2 which will
continue throughout
unit
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Lesson #3 Sacagawea
Lesson #4 Francis
Slocum
Lesson #5 Pocahontas
Lesson #6 Nancy Ward
Lesson #7 museum
display work
Final project due
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Lesson # 1
Title: What do I believe?
Duration: 1 day
Learning Goals Based on Standards:
SS6.1.16
Essential Questions:
What roles did Native American women play in their communities?
Students will Know:
Students will Understand:
Students will Do:
They have stereotypical beliefs
about the role Native American
women played in their
communities.
What stereotypes are and how they
affect society
A drawing depicting
what they believe to
be a day in the life of
a Native American
woman
Assessment: How will students demonstrate the desired understandings? (Performance tasks,
quizzes, tests, journals, homework, observations, etc.) How will understanding be judged?
Drawings and discussion will be assessed based on details in drawing and participation in
discussion.
Instructional Activities/Sequence:
Students will be given a piece of construction paper and asked to draw a scene depicting what they
think would be a day in the life of a Native American woman including chores, appearance,
housing, etc.
Discussion will be part of the next lesson.
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Resources:
Construction paper
Pencils
Crayons
Markers
Rulers
Lesson # 2
Title: Fact or Crap
Duration: 1 day
Learning Goals Based on Standards:
SS 6.1.23
Essential Questions:
How do stereotypes change or stay the same throughout history?
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Students will Know:
Students will Understand:
Students will Do:
What a stereotype is and how they
have changed or stayed the same
throughout history
Native American women’s roles in
their communities.
A chart that states
which women’s roles
are “Fact or Crap” in
Native American
society
Assessment: How will students demonstrate the desired understandings? (Performance tasks,
quizzes, tests, journals, homework, observations, etc.) How will understanding be judged?
Chart will be updated throughout unit. Each student will keep his or her own copy of the chart in
the journal for use in a writing essay at the end of the unit which will be graded using the 6-traits
rubric.
Instructional Activities/Sequence:
A two column chart will be displayed on the board. Students will make a copy of this chart in
their journals. Through discussion we will try to decide if the pictures they drew the day before
depict “Fact or Crap” in reference to the things the women are doing, how they are dressed, or the
type of housing they lived in.
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Resources:
Chart paper
Markers
Journals
Pictures drawn by students the day before
Lesson # 3-6
Title: Biography
Duration: 4 days
Learning Goals Based on Standards:
SS 6.1.23
Essential Questions:
What did women offer to their communities in leadership, finance, spiritually, and family?
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Students will know:
Students will Understand:
Students will Do:
How to do biographic research to
answer specific questions about the
subject
The ways each woman contributed
to her tribe and to the building of
America
Biographic research
on four Native
American women
Assessment: How will students demonstrate the desired understandings? (Performance tasks,
quizzes, tests, journals, homework, observations, etc.) How will understanding be judged?
Using the given graphic organizer, students will write a short biography about each woman in his
or her journal.
Instructional Activities/Sequence:
Students will be put in to 4 groups, 5 to 6 students per group. Each group will research the four
chosen women; Pocahontas, Sacagawea, Francis Slocum, and Nancy Ward using the given graphic
organizer. They will be given 3 days for research and the 4th to write a short biography in their
own journals. Each group will then rotate to the next woman for 3 days and the 4th day of writing
biography and so on until each group has researched each woman.
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Resources:
Books as listed in resources
Graphic organizer attached to this unit
Journals
Computers for research
Lesson # 7
Title: Museum Exhibit
Duration: 5 to 7 days
Learning Goals Based on Standards:
SS 6.1.16
SS 6.1.23
Essential Questions:
How did these women help to shape her community as well as the forming of our own country?
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Students will know:
Students will Understand:
Students will Do:
How to put together a quality
museum exhibit
How women can and do influence
the world we live in
Put together some
type of museum
quality exhibit on
their chosen Native
American woman
Assessment: How will students demonstrate the desired understandings? (Performance tasks,
quizzes, tests, journals, homework, observations, etc.) How will understanding be judged?
Students will be assessed based on the attached rubric.
Instructional Activities/Sequence:
Students will remain in the groups they have been working in to do their research. Each group
will be assigned one of the studied women on which they will develop a museum style exhibit.
They can chose to do a 3D display, or they could write a script for an animatronic display, or any
other way they chose to show what they have learned about the influence these women had in the
past.
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Resources:
Whatever the students might need to complete their group projects.
Biography Report Graphic Organizer
Name ___________________________________________
Subject Name
________________________________________________________
Use this graphic organizer to help you organize your thoughts as you do your
research. Complete this form using fragmented sentences and notes.
What did this woman do in her everyday life?
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In what ways did she interact with the white Europeans?
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What were her important contributions to her tribe?
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What kinds of things did she do that women still do today?
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What made her special?
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Where did you get your information?
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Book title/author
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Book title/author
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Book title/author
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Website
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Website
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Website
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