Spiritual Life

Overview of Lessons:

This part of the unit will be broken into four sections. The first three sections -- Tools, Weapons and Hunting; Song, Dance and Celebration; and Teachings, Stories and Legends -- are learning/research activities and may be done simultaneously by grouping students, but that is not the suggested method. Due to the strength of the stereotypes in our society and the respect called for by the topic, perhaps direct teaching would be preferable. The fourth part -- A Family Day -- is a reporting section in which students actively participate and share what they have learned. This sharing can be done in front of other groups/classes or, better yet, with invited family and friends.

The teacher is responsible for presenting the idea that tools, weapons and hunting belong in the spiritual part of any Native American culture study due to the people's respect for the earth, its inhabitants and the gifts given by the Creator. The teacher must also make sure that students understand the idioms presented on the report sheet so that they can use them effectively.

Although generally Native Americans don't see their spiritual life as a religion, some comparisons may have to be drawn in order to correct previous misunderstandings about the culture. Students may have personal knowledge of ceremonial clerical clothing or traditional dances from weddings; they may know about churches, hymns, synagogues, confessional boxes, genuflecting, candle lighting, group responses in religious readings, thanksgiving rituals, communion rites, daily prayer, baptism, and rosaries. These ceremonies, items and clothing articles, when used as comparisons, can be helpful in conveying the sacredness of the information and fighting the "sports team mascot" mentality.

Please be careful not to teach this as an ancient mythology of illogical but instructive tales and avoid using comparisons that are mythological themselves like Santa Claus because you are teaching a living culture, one which many people today respect and believe.

Begin by watching and discussing Video 3, Spiritual Life.

Video Synopsis:

Native American Spiritual Life
Native American people of Ohio, like those throughout North America, had many deeply held spiritual beliefs. It was and is common to have a belief in a Creator, responsible for the creation of the world. Native American Spiritual Life deals with some of these beliefs.

Objectives (for all four sections):

Social Studies Content Standards

Grade 3 Benchmark: People in Society

Indicator: Culture

1. Compare some of the cultural practices and products of various groups of people who have lived in the local community including:

a. Artistic expression

b. Religion

c. Language

d. Food

Grade 4 Benchmark: People in Society

1. Describe the cultural practices and products of various groups who have settled in Ohio over time:

b. Historic Indians of Ohio

Grade 4 Benchmark: Obtaining Information

1. Obtain information about state issues from a variety of print and electronic sources, and determine the relevance of information to a research topic.

Tools, Weapons and Hunting

Goal of studying tools, weapons and hunting:

Students will gain understanding of the diversity of abilities and activities of Native Americans by exploring tools that made them possible.
Students will increase knowledge of how earth/Creator provided necessities of life.
Students will begin to contrast Native American and European American concepts of the use of land and animals.

Important: The teacher is responsible for presenting the idea that tools, weapons and hunting belong in the spiritual part of any Native American culture study due to the people's respect for the earth, its inhabitants, and the gifts given by the Creator. The teacher must also make sure that students understand the idioms presented on the report sheet so that they can use them effectively.

Procedures to lead or assign in tools, weapons and hunting:

Find pictures of tools on the Internet or in books (drill, bowl, punch, axe, hammer, nutting stone, water jar, bone needle, hoe, scraper, and knife/spear/arrow blade should all be investigated) and make copies or have classroom artists do renditions.
Display pictures for teacher-directed discussion.
Have students draw a chart showing each tool, what material it was made from, what its purposes were, and what necessities each tool helped provide.
Find pictures of animals hunted by the people and print the pictures or have classroom artists do renditions and display pictures for teacher-directed discussion.
Make a chart showing each animal and how each part of the animal was put to use for daily necessity or art.
Make a flow chart incorporating the two previous charts that demonstrates visually how Native Americans were connected very directly to the earth's resources.
Make a second flow chart that shows how modern people are very "disconnected" from the earth's resources how the materials and animals go through many different processes before the end products come to us.
Lead a discussion of the differences toward a conclusion that the direct working with the earth's resources would lead to a reverence that isn't felt by someone more removed.
Complete "individual thinking" worksheets and compare.

Enrichment:

For students in need of enrichment or for those with geological interests, suggest an investigation into the rocks that were/are available in various areas of the state and if that seemed to make a difference in the tools.

Song, Dance and Celebration

Goal of song, dance and celebration:

Students will see/hear some of the traditional Native American songs and dances performed by the Ohio Native Americans.
Students will understand these songs and dances were a way to perform thanks, to socialize and to tell about heroics.
Students will read/analyze the words to a song and compare their conclusions to what they learned in Tools, Weapons and Hunting.

Important: The teacher is responsible for presenting the idea that song, dance and celebration belong in the spiritual part of any Native American culture study due to the people's respect for the earth, its inhabitants, and the gifts given by the Creator. The teacher must also make sure that students understand the idioms presented on the report sheet so that they can use them effectively.

Procedures to lead or assign in song, dance and celebration:

Again, watch the introductory video, especially if it has been a while since the classroom saw it.
Brainstorm with class a list of reasons why we sing, make music, or dance today. Include the following: to worship (hymn), to comfort (lullaby), to teach (School House Rock), to celebrate ("Pomp and Circumstance" or "Happy Birthday" or wedding receptions), to honor/remember specific individuals or happenings (songs popular after terrorist attack of 9/11), to act out popular stories and teach lessons ("Lion King" or any opera or Broadway show), and to enjoy (pop music and dancing).
Watch Internet/video of Native American dances. Include, if possible, traditional dances like the Bread Dance or the Green Corn Dance. Actual video of dance performed in their time periods can be downloaded at http://memory.loc.gov.
Read several sets of song lyrics and their translations and then try to place the songs and dances into categories like those listed above. Remind students of their conclusions from the comparative flow charts. Would these words support or deny those conclusions?
Teach/discuss/assign research on the drum. Include children's slapsticks. Discuss the drum's actual meaning as compared with its Hollywood representation.
Find pictures of other instruments used by Native American people and display. Discuss the materials used to make these instruments.
Complete "individual thinking" worksheets and compare.

Teaching, Stories and Legends

Goal of teaching, stories and legends:

Students will learn some of the traditional Native American stories told by the Ohio people.
Students will understand that these stories were told as a way to teach about nature and morality.
Students will experiment with pictographs that support an oral tradition.

Important: The teacher is responsible for presenting the idea that teaching, stories and legends belong in the spiritual part of any Native American culture study due to the People's respect for the earth, its inhabitants, and the gifts given by the Creator. The teacher must also make sure that students understand the idioms presented on the report sheet so that they can use it effectively.

Activities to lead or assign in teaching, stories and legends:

Discuss how television programs like "Dora the Explorer" or "The Magic School Bus" are used to explain facts to young children who cannot yet read for themselves. Ask students to offer facts they've learned from stories. Explain that the stories are fun, but they also have lessons about the world and about how to behave in it. Teach that Native American people used the same technique to pass on their information about the world and how to behave in it.
Read the following stories together:
a. How the Chipmunk Got its Stripe (poking fun hurts)
b. Hunting the Great Bear (seasonal changes and stars)
c. Turtle's Race With Bear (name calling/cleverness)
d. The Great Flood (creation and behavior story)
After reading stories above, decide whether their purposes were entertainment, explanation of nature, or teaching proper behavior.
Use a "winter count hide" with groups of students -- one for each story covered above. Have those students make their own pictographs to help them retell their assigned legend and draw those onto a piece of brown paper torn to resemble a hide. Share hides with class.
Students in need of enrichment could explore how some current stories are incorrect and perpetuate wrong thinking. Have them investigate and share examples from Hollywood, television and Disney.
Complete "individual thinking" worksheets and compare.

A Family Day

Goal of a family day:

Students will share/review/conclude the information they have learned about Native American spirituality.

Procedures for assignments in a family day:

Students may be placed into groups that will practice sharing information learned during the Spiritual Life unit. Groups should include students who will explain the flow charts and the conclusions drawn, students who will use their "individual thinking" worksheets to teach what was learned about songs and dance, and students who will retell, using their hides and pictographs, some of the stories covered earlier.
Plan a family day to teach/share information learned. This could include some traditional foods.
Give parents an "individual thinking" worksheet and tell them students filled several out during the unit. Ask parents present to fill one out also. If time, have all students and adults share results.
Have students evaluate whether they were able to teach the correct ideas during their family day.
The family day activity could be held at the end of the entire unit so that results learned from the other sections could be included.