Lesson Plan
Lesson Author
First and Last
Name
Amy Johnson (Edits by Jonathan Brinkerhoff and Susan Bowdoin)
Lesson Overview
Lesson Plan Title
Columbus and the Native Peoples of the Americas: Differing Points of View
Open /Essential
Question
How might Columbus and other Spanish explorers see things differently from
the native peoples of the Americas?
Lesson Summary
Students will analyze primary sources to uncover clues to differences in how
Spanish explorers and native peoples of the Americas perceived first contact.
Subject Area(s)
Social Studies
Grade Level
5
Student Objectives
Students will describe the two points of view (Spanish and Native American)
and support their assertion with evidence from the primary sources.
Standards and
Benchmarks
Historical Thinking and Reading Skills aligned to the Common Core:
1. Students will read and comprehend. (ELA CCSS RI.5.3, RI.5.10)
2. Students will understand the documents in historical context.
(ELA CCSS RI.5.6, RI.5.7,)
3. Students will recognize point of view. (ELA CCSS RI.5.6)
4. Students will draw inferences from primary sources. (ELA CCSS
RI.5.1)
Assessment
Student
Assessment
(include rubric)
Students will complete an Open Mind activity illustrating both points of view
and identify evidence from the primary sources that supports their assertion.
Procedure
Step-by-step
Procedure
Please include

Teaching
instructions
written as a
numbered list
of steps to be
taken in order
to teach the
Intro: Students begin by coloring one of the four images. (Teacher Note: This
is not an art lesson. In this case coloring is used as a tool to engage students in
looking closely at the paintings, not as an end in itself. ) After coloring, they
group up at the rocking chair. Holding up one of the images, engage students
with questions such as:
1. What did you notice in the art when you were coloring it?
 What people did you see?
 What objects did you see
 How would you describe what's happening?
lesson

Examples of
guiding or
facilitation
questions
throughout the
lesson
2. Based on what you noticed, what might you infer from this image?
3. If the people in the picture could speak to us, what might they say?
4. What questions does this picture raise in your mind?
Repeat with the remaining images. Then review the four images again together,
engaging students with questions such as the following:
1. Do you think these different characters might have different
How and when to
impressions of this encounter?
use the resources
and materials used
2. Do you think the artists who created these images had a particular point
in the lesson
of view about this interaction?
3. If so, what do you think it is? How can you tell?
Transition: The artists who created these pieces were not in the Americas
when Columbus and the other conquistadores first arrived here. We’re going
to look at two documents created by people who were there: Christopher
Columbus, who you already know about, and Bartolome de Las Casas, who was
a priest who first went to the “New World” in 1502.
Document Close Reading and Analysis: Hand out Christopher Columbus
document. Read this document several times with students, the first time
focusing on the overall meaning of the text. Reread sections and guide
students into using context to make sense of unusual vocabulary. With the
second and subsequent rereads, engage students with questions (suggested
questions are listed below.) Remind students to return to the text to justify or
provide evidence for their answers!
1.
What type of document is this? (Letter)
2.
Who wrote the letter? (Christopher Columbus)
3.
When was the letter written? (1493)
4.
Who is letter written to? (Luis de Santangel. Luis de Santángel (or
Santander) was finance minister to Ferdinand II who made the case to
Isabella I in favor of Christopher Columbus' voyage in 1492.)
5.
Who do you think Christopher Columbus is talking about when he says
they? (Native Americans)
6.
Based on the sentence, what do you think the word trifles means?
7.
The word idolatry is a bit tricky. What word do you see inside it that you
know? (Idol). What does the word idol mean? (Someone important or
talented we look up to.) In the past, religious figures such as Jesus were
called idols. Do you think this fits your definition of the word? Why or
why not? Based on your understanding of the word idolatry, what do
you think Columbus was saying about the Native Americans?
8.
Based on the sentence, what do you think the word slow means?
(Unintelligent)
9.
What do you think Columbus means when he says he seized several
Indians by force? (Kidnapped)
10.
Why did Columbus kidnap them?
11.
What is something the document tells you about life at the time it was
written that is different from now?
12.
After reading this, what questions do you have?
Hand out the Bartolome de Las Casas document. Read this document several
times with students, the first time focusing on the overall meaning of the text.
Reread sections and guide students into using context to make sense of
unusual vocabulary. With the second and subsequent rereads, engage students
with questions (suggested questions are listed below.) Remind students to
return to the to the text to justify or provide evidence for their answers!
1. What type of document do you think the picture shows? (Book)
2. What do you notice about it that’s different from the books we usually
read? (Handwritten)
3. Who was the author? (Bartolome de Las Casas)
4. When was it written? (1542)
5. When did Columbus discover the Americas? (1492)
6. When you compare these two dates, what does that tell you? (That
Bartolome de Las Casas wasn’t with Columbus. He wrote it later.)
7. What questions does the title of the book this paragraph came from
raise in your mind? (Why does he call the Americas the Indies? Why
does he say it’s the destruction of the Indies?)
8. Who do you think the “quiet lambs” are? (the Native Americans)
9. What blessed qualities might Bartolome de Las Casas be referring to?
10. Why do you think the Spaniards are referred to as “cruel Tigers, Wolves,
and Lions, enraged with a sharp and ferocious hunger”?
11. Based on the sentence, what do you think the word wretch means?
12. Based on the sentence, what do you think the word torments means?
13. Why do you think Bartolome de Las Casas wrote this? What evidence in
the document supports your position?
14. After reading this, what questions do you have?
Independent Work: Now that we've looked at the pictures and read the
documents, I’d like you to think about what they tell you about how these two
people saw the interactions between the Europeans and the Natives (point of
view). Use the Open Mind sheet to show what you see in the documents.
(Teacher provides further instructions regarding use of the Open Mind sheet as
needed.)
Small Groups: After students independently read and complete the Open Mind
sheet, they share what they saw in pair/triads/small groups. Each group
decides on a similarity or a difference they see in the two documents they’d like
to share with the whole group.
Whole Group: Whole group shares similarities and differences regarding what
these documents show about how these two individuals saw the encounter.
Prerequisite Skills
Needed
Credits
Source Documents:
1. Images: Landing of Columbus; Christopher Columbus arrives in America;
The Landing of Columbus; Columbus landing on Hispaniola
2. Excerpts from the Letter of Christopher Columbus to Luis Santangel
reporting the Voyage of 1493.
3. Bartolome de Las Casas Tears of the Indians.
To these quiet Lambs, [endowed] with such blessed qualities, came the Spaniards like most cruel Tigers,
Wolves, and Lions, enraged with a sharp and ferocious hunger; for these forty years past, minding
nothing else but the slaughter of these unfortunate wretches, whom with diverse kinds of torments
neither seen nor heard of before, they have so cruelly and inhumanely butchered, that of three millions
of people which Hispaniola itself did contain, there are left remaining alive scarce three hundred
persons.
From A Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies
by Bartolome de Las Casas (1542)
They show greater love for all others than for themselves; they give valuable things for trifles, being
satisfied even with a very small return, or with nothing….
These people practice no kind of idolatry…. Nor are they slow or unskilled, but of excellent and acute
understanding; and the men who have navigated that sea give an account of everything in an admirable
manner; but they never saw people clothed, nor these kind of ships. As soon as I reached that sea, I
seized by force several Indians on the first island, in order that they might learn from us, and in like
manner tell us about those things in these lands of which they themselves had knowledge; and the plan
succeeded, for in a short time we understood them and they us, sometimes by gestures and signs,
sometimes by words; and it was a great advantage to us.
From Concerning the Islands Recently Discovered in the Indian Sea;
letter from Christopher Columbus to Luis de Santangel (1493)
John Vanderlyn, Landing of Columbus. Commissioned 1836/1837; placed 1847. Capitol Rotunda,
Washington, D.C.
Christopher Columbus arrives in America (1893)
The Landing of Columbus 1492 (1893)
Columbus landing on Hispaniola, Dec. 6, 1492; greeted by Arawak Indians
Engraving by Theodor DeBry (1528-1598)
Discovering Points of View about Contact
Name:
Document: A Brief Account of the
Destruction of the Indies
Document: Concerning the Islands
Recently Discovered in the Indian Sea
Author & Date:
Author & Date:
Why do you think Las Casa wrote this?
Why do you think Columbus wrote this?
With words, phrases, drawings and/or symbols show the points of view these documents reveal about
contact between Europeans and Native Americans.
Now, tell why you chose to fill the head the way you did.
1. _________________________________
1. _________________________________
2. _________________________________
2. _________________________________
3. _________________________________
3. _________________________________
4. _________________________________
4. _________________________________
5. _________________________________
5. _________________________________