Lakota Culture Native American Lesson Plans That Really Work

By Jennifer Allen


The main thing that you might have trouble getting through to your students with is the fact that in certain cases, these people only pass their stories on in an oral form. This type of tradition is something you'll want to highlight in any Lakota culture native American lesson plans. Otherwise, students might come away with an incomplete perception of this people's way of life.

An important thing you'll want to fully discuss with your students is how when the European settlers came to North America, they did their best to make the Natives behave in ways that were more compatible and similar to their own. This was a huge injustice being done, and falls right in line with the genocides that were also happening at the time, so knowing how cruel and evil this behavior is will be an important thing to instill. After all, the only way for history to not repeat itself is by learning from the lessons of the past, rather than ignoring them and letting them become ancient history that no longer seems relevant to use anymore in our advanced age.

A great thing to keep in mind is that although these people have endured more than their fair share of setbacks, they have a way of life that has managed to survive a long time. It is still thriving to this day, in fact. Just knowing this can really show you how well an oral tradition works.

If you are going to be having classes during the winter, it would be good to focus those times on how these people did, in fact, tell most of their stories during these cold periods. This is because there wasn't much work that could be done outside. Everyone would be gathered around a fire for warmth, which is a great opportunity to tell your tales.

The reason why stories are repeated so much in an oral tradition is to ensure that all the details are passed down. Students might find this method of teaching monotonous and boring, so it's important to find ways to keep it interesting. As long as you'll do that, you should have no trouble instilling these important lessons.

Besides keeping track of their stories and histories orally, there are also times where records of the year's events are kept in the form of pictorial diagrams. The problem with these, unfortunately, is that as it is with so many other forms of physical record-keeping, they can be destroyed. This fact was exemplified by the destructive European settlers, who decimated many historical artifacts that can never be recovered.

The great thing about the histories of these people is that it goes back farther than many other cultures' histories do. This makes it very interesting to hear things from their perspective. You might be surprised by what you can learn.

When people were first arriving in the world, according to their legends, one group was tricked into coming to early. This led to them being transformed into an animal. This animal is what we today call the buffalo.




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