Lesson Focusing on Native Americans and their Literature
The objective of this lesson is for students to become familiar with Native American
culture in preparation for reading the book The Absolutely True Diary of a PartTime Indian by Sherman Alexie. The assignment can be found on the last page.
1. Please go to Google on your browser and search “native americans.’’ (IMPORTANT:
USE LOWER CASE LETTERS). Click on the link, “Native Americans Facts for Kids:
An American Indian website for…”
Explore both links “American Indians Kids FAQ” and “Native American Homes.”
This is the page you will explore from the “American Indians Kids FAQ” link. Look at
questions that interest you!
This is the page you will explore from the link “Native American Homes.” Take a look
at and read about the different types of Native American homes.
Return to the site’s home page (http://www.native-languages.org/kids.htm) and scroll
down the page until you see “Fact sheets about specific American Indian tribes.” Take a
look at a few tribes and read about them. You will need to select one tribe that interests
you in order to write part of your assignment, so choose your favorite and write it down.
After selecting your tribe of interest, return to the home page (http://www.nativelanguages.org/kids.htm) and scroll to the bottom of the page where you can find “Links
to our other resources about Native Americans.” Click on “Native American Picture
Dictionaries.”
Explore any of the picture dictionaries on the page. You will need to select one to three
words from any of the dictionaries and write down what animal or object they describe.
(i.e. Lakota Sioux picture dictionary—“sunka”—picture of a dog)
After looking at the picture dictionaries, return to the home page (http://www.nativelanguages.org/kids.htm) and scroll to the bottom of the page where you should find
“Native American Links for Kids.” Click on the “Native American Technology” link.
Click on the link on the left hand column that says “Poetry and Stories.”
Click on the link in the top left box called “Rite of Passage.”
Read the story “Rite of Passage” by Pierre Girard.
Assignment
1. Select one tribe from the list of tribes you explored under “Fact sheets about
specific American Indian tribes.” Write down the tribe name and why you found
it interesting.
2. Select one to three words from any of the dictionaries. Write down the words and
what animal or object they describe. (i.e. Lakota Sioux picture dictionary—
“sunka”—picture of a dog)
3. After reading the story, give a quick commentary on what you thought about it
and how you think Native American rites of passage differ from that of our EuroAmerican rites of passage.
 Keep in mind what you’ve learned today when we begin reading The Absolutely
True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie and how that will relate to
the stereotypes, events, language, culture, etc. of Native Americans in the book.