Defining US: The American Experience
FCPS Teaching American History Grant
LESSON PLAN
Subject: U.S. History
Grade: 11th
Prepared by: Amy Sharp
School: James Madison High School
Title or Topic: Evaluating the “Save the Indian” reforms
Instructional Time: Two 90-minute class periods
PART I - CONTEXT
1. Essential Learning: (Big picture/concept to be learned.)
Students will understand the complex motives, methods, and effects of the campaign of the
late 19th-century to “save” the Indians.
2. Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL):
VUS.1a. Identify, analyze, and interpret primary and secondary source documents, records,
and data, including artifacts, diaries, letters, photographs, journals, newspapers, historical
accounts, and art to increase understanding of events and life in the United States.
VUS.1e. Communicate findings orally and in analytical essays and/or comprehensive
papers.
VUS.6a. Demonstrate knowledge of the major events during the first half of the nineteenth
century by identifying economic, political, and geographic factors that contributed to
territorial expansion on the part of Americans of European descent and understanding of
the consequences for American Indians (First Americans).
3. Fairfax County Program of Studies (POS):
VUS.6a. Demonstrate knowledge of the major events during the first half of the nineteenth
century by identifying the economic, political, and geographic factors that led to territorial
expansion and its impact on the American Indians (First Americans);
4. National History Standard (Historical Thinking Standard)
Standard 2-Historical Comprehension
B. Identify the central questions
D. Evidence historical perspectives
G. Draw upon visual, literacy, and musical sources.
Standard 3-Historical Analysis and Interpretation
B. Compare and contrast differing sets of ideas, values, personalities, behaviors and
institutions
D. consider multiple perspectives
E. Analyze cause/effect relationships and multiple causation
Standard 5-Historical Issues-Analysis and Decision Making
A. Identify issues and problems in the past
D. Evaluate alternative courses of action
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E. Formulate a position or course of action on an issue
F. Evaluate the implementation of a decision.
5.
Learning Strategy(s) Objectives:
At the beginning of the lesson students will practice the tell what you know learning
strategy activating prior knowledge of federal Indian policies. Students are then asked to
make predictions based on the photographs they are shown. In examining the primary
source material, students are to draw inferences and take notes.
6. Connection to TAH grant:
Content: The lesson was inspired by Elliot West’s lectures on the West delivered at the
March 15-17 colloquium.
Pedagogy: The lesson centers on a jigsaw cooperative learning activity, as demonstrated by
Dennis Denenberg at the same colloquium.
PART II
1. Assessment:
At the end of the lesson, students will submit their written answers to the analysis
questions addressed in their Expert Groups. Their learning will also be evaluated based
on the merits of their participation in the Socratic Seminar.
2. Instructional Strategies:
I. Introduction
A. Direct students to use the think-pair-share strategy to brainstorm and discuss answers
to the question “What do I know about federal Indian policies before 1887?” After
students have been given a few minutes to jot down policies that come to mind, ask
students to partner with a neighboring student and discuss their notes.
B. Begin the whole-group review by asking individual students to share with the class
salient points made by their partners during the paired activity.
C. Show the video segment “Hard Time I Have” (included in episode 7 of PBS’s The
West series). This video segment poignantly recounts the experiences of Sitting Bull
and the Lakotas and explicates the failures of early and mid-nineteenth-century
federal Indian policies. After watching, review with students the effect that the mid1800s federal Indian policies had on other tribes of the Great Plains.
*Alternative: Instead of watching the video clip, have students read “An Indian’s
Perspective” by Chief Joseph. This congressional testimony given in 1877 illustrates
the failures of federal Indian policies of the early to mid-1800s.
D. Show students the before-and-after pictures of three Lakota boys upon their arrival at
the Carlisle Indian School and four months later. Ask them to assume that these
pictures constitute their only source of information on a late nineteenth century set of
policies commonly referred to as “Save the Indian” policies. Ask them to speculate
on the nature of those policies based solely on these pictures. Ask them about the
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content as well as the underlying philosophy of those policies (what might the policy
entail or emphasize? What deeper attitudes does such a policy reveal?)
Note: For steps II and III below, students will work in what are called Expert and
Synthesis Groups. Teachers are advised to determine assignments to these
mixed-ability groups in advance. A simple way to communicate assignments
is to assign each student a letter that identifies his Expert Group (i.e., all As
form a small group, all Bs form another small group, etc.) and a number that
identifies his Synthesis Group (i.e., all 1s form a small group, all 2s form
another small group, etc.). To facilitate understanding, give each student an
index card with his letter and number, and use a transparency to indicate
where each small group should meet in the classroom.
II. Small Groups Develop Expertise Through Analysis
What: Each of the small groups that form at this point in the instructional sequence
develops expertise that its members will subsequently share with other students. Students
develop this expertise as a result of analyzing readings focused on a particular aspect of
the “Save the Indian” policies implemented in the late nineteenth century. The formation
of Expert Groups constitutes the first step in a jigsaw activity.
Procedure: Divide the class into two large groups that will work in parallel. Within
each large Working Group, create four Expert Groups of three or four students each.
(For a class of twenty-four students, each working group will consist of twelve students,
and each Expert Group will consist of three students.)
Once students have moved into the Expert Groups, provide each group with a set of
readings and questions on one of the four aspects of the “Save the Indians” policies.
(Each aspect or topic will be addressed by two Expert Groups – that is, by one Expert
Group in each of the two Working Groups. Each student in any given Expert Group will
receive a set of readings and questions.) Instruct students to read each of the readings
given to them and then to work with the other members of his Expert Group to answer
the questions based on those readings. Although the students in each Expert Group work
together to develop answers that benefit from their combined thinking, each student
writes those answers on his own question sheet.
III. Small Groups Synthesize Individual Expertise
What: Each of the small groups that form at this point in the instructional sequence
includes one student from each of the four Expert Groups that previously existed within
the larger Working Group. Students share with one another the expertise they previously
acquired, thereby creating a complete “picture” of the “Save the Indian” policies
implemented in the late nineteenth century. The formation of Synthesis Groups
constitutes the second step in a jigsaw activity.
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Procedure: Tell students to stay in their Working Group, but to move into one of four
new small groups (based on the number they were assigned at the beginning of the
activity). Insofar as possible, each newly formed small group includes one person from
each of the Expert Groups.
Once students have moved into the Synthesis Groups, each of them debriefs the learning
he acquired while in an Expert Group. In doing so, students relate the answers developed
by their Expert Group to the readings assigned to that group. Each Synthesis Group
combines what has been shared to create a complete “picture” of the “Save the Indian”
policies that addresses what, why, who, when, where, and how. Each student takes notes
that demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of those policies and that he can
reference in the next phase of this activity.
IV. Small Groups Evaluate Impact
What: Each small group is given information on the impact of the “Save the Indian”
policies. They will be expected to answer analysis questions on this data in preparation
for the Socratic Seminar.
Procedure: Give each small group an “Information Packet.” Instruct groups to review
and discuss the information on the impact of the “Save the Indian” policies. As a group,
they are to answer the questions listed under “Evaluation Questions for All Synthesis
Groups.” Their answers to these questions should be based on their analysis of the
readings from the expert groups and the Information Packet. (Questions will include: In
what sense were the policies intended to “save” the Indians? To what extent did the
policies succeed in integrating the Indians into mainstream American society? To what
extent did they benefit the Indians educationally or economically? How did the policies
affect tribal identity and autonomy? How did they affect Indian culture? What did the
Indians lose as a result of them? Who gained as a result of these policies, and how did
they gain? How do these policies measure up against values that underlie current laws
concerning racial, ethnic and religious minorities in American society?)
V. “So, what?” Socratic Seminar
What: Students will evaluate the Indian policies of the late 1800s and draw conclusions
regarding generalities that can be made.
Procedure: Divide class in half (can be based on the two “classes” split used before).
Have one half of the class form a circle and the other half form an outer circle. Members
of the inner circle should be instructed to make constructive contributions to the
discussion. These contributions should make reference to information from the readings
and information packet whenever relevant. The teacher should spark and facilitate
discussion by providing questions, encouraging reticent members to contribute, etc.
After approximately 15 minutes of discussion, switch the members of the inner and outer
circle. Members of the outer circle should be instructed to listen attentively, as they may
wish to make reference to student’s arguments once they are in the inner circle.
The inner circle will be presented with any/all of the following questions: Why did the
“Save the Indian” policies fail? Was their failure inevitable? What lessons might have
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been learned and applied in developing subsequent policies bearing on Native
Americans?
VI. Closure
After the Socratic Seminar in which students have discussed the “lessons learned” from
examining the impact of the “Save the Indian” policies, hand out “A Bill of Rights for the
Indians.” This article by New Deal Commissioner of Indian Affairs John Collier
describes the major policy shift he directed in the 1930s. Instruct students to pay
attention to the differences between Collier’s policies and those of the late 19th century.
Have a student volunteer read the short article aloud. Solicit student opinions as to
whether such a policy would reverse many of the failures of the earlier policies. To what
degree does it demonstrate an understanding of the students’ ideas of the “lesson learned”
from the impact of the “Save the Indian” policies?
3. Materials/Resources to be used:
 Episode 7 of the PBS Series “The West”
 “An Indian’s Perspective” by Chief Joseph (1 per student)
 “Before-and-After” pictures of the 3 Lakota Boys (best to scan these and show on power
point or reproduce on an overhead transparency) can be found at
http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest )
 Information Packet (1 per student)
 Four packets of expert group readings, each focusing on a different topic (Indians and the
White Man’s Education, Reformers and Indian Education, Native Americans and
Severalty, Reformers and the Reservation) (1 packet per student) – all readings can be
found in Hollitz’s Thinking Through the Past.
 “A Bill of Rights for the Indians” by John Collier (can be found at
http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5058 )
4. Differentiation:
Teachers can distribute readings in advance of the class period to students with reading
comprehension difficulties or with low English proficiency. The Socratic seminar may need
to be adjusted. Using a think-pair-share method of evaluating the information may be better
for students with low abilities.
5. Attachments:
Expert Group Questions
6. Annotated Bibliography:
“History Matters.” http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5058
A site with a wealth of first-hand accounts of historical events. The writings of John Collier,
Indian rights activist of the New Deal era, are powerful indictments of the “Save the Indian”
policies . However, disappointingly few other sources on Native Americans in late 1800s.
Hollitz, John. Thinking Through the Past. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2001. Vol. 2.
Although some of the topics highlighted are fairly narrow (sources focusing on the
popularity of the bungalow model of architecture), the primary sources included on the
“Save the Indian” movement are relevant.
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Mayer, Holly A. and David E. Shi. For The Record: A Documentary History of
America. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 1999. Vol. 2.
Primary source compilation to accompany survey American history text. Although some
sources may be too challenging to use unedited in a general-level course, the selections are
wonderful for an AP course.
“Native American Documents Project.”
http://www.csusm.edu/nadp/atables.htm#table1
Website of California State Univ., San Marcos. While the site offers an incredible amount of
socio-economic data on Native Americans at the turn-of-the-century, the tables are often
confusing and need reworking before using in class.
“New Perspectives on the West.” PBS.org.. 1996. WETA. 16 Mar 2004
<http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/>
A gold mine of images, primary sources, and links related to the American West.
“Richard Henry Pratt Papers.”
http://beinecke.library.yale.edu/dl_crosscollex/SearchExecXC.asp
The papers of the founder of the Carlisle School for Indians were difficult to access, but the
images – photographs from the school and drawings by Native Americans – were wonderful.
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Expert Group on “Reformers and the Reservation”
Readings:
 Land and Law as Agents in Educating Indians (1885)
 Dawes Act (1887)
Questions:
1. What were the major provisions of the Dawes Act?
2. How do specific provisions of this law reflect widespread assumptions about the
Indians and their culture?
3. How did reformers define “the Indian problem”?
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Expert Group on “Native Americans and Severalty”
Readings:
 A Cheyenne Tells His Son about the Land (ca. 1876)
 Cheyennes Try Farming (ca. 1877)
 A Sioux Recalls Severalty (ca. 1900)
Questions:
1. What do Wooden Leg’s recollections suggest about the forces working against
the reformers’ plans for the Indians?
2. How would these forces have affected the Dawes Act as a potential solution to
the “Indian problem”?
3. What do the Cheyenne recollections reveal about the difficulties of
transforming the Indian into a yeoman farmer?
4. How would those difficulties have affected the Dawes Act as a potential
solution to the “Indian problem”?
5. What does the Sioux woman’s account reveal about the impact of the Dawes
Act on traditional ways of living?
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Expert Group on “Reformers and Indian Education”
Readings:
 A Proposal for Indian Education, Rev. Lyman Abbott (1888)
 Instructions to Indian Agents and Superintendents of Indian Schools (1889)
 Education of Indian Students at Carlisle (1891)
Questions:
1. On what grounds does Lyman Abbott argue that education must
accompany severalty?
2. What did the Commissioner of Indian Affairs see as the main goal of
Indian education?
3. How did he propose to achieve this goal?
4. What parallels did Henry Pratt draw between Indians and African
Americans?
5. What is his main argument for educating Indian students off the
reservation?
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Expert Group on “Indians and the White Man’s Education”
Readings:
 Luther Standing Bear Recalls Carlisle (1933)
 Taking An Indian Child to School (1891)
 A Crow Medicine Woman on Teaching the Young (1932)
Questions:
1. What does Luther Standing Bear’s account reveal about Pratt’s methods
and their impact?
2. What is the view of the cigar-smoking agent?
3. What do the gesture and facial expression of the mother indicate about
her attitude toward the captain of police?
4. What does the Crow Medicine Woman’s account reveal about the impact
of white culture on adult-child relations?
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