Lesson 1/Activity 1: Building Literary Knowledge Around Pre-Colonial America

“The art of storytelling is reaching its end because the epic side of truth, wisdom, is dying out” - Walter Benjamin^[1]

^[2]

The Boyhood of Raleigh by Sir John Everett Millais was painted in 1870. A seafarer tells two young boys what happened at sea. Before America was colonized, stories were not written, but told orally. It wasn’t until later that those stories were captured forever in writing and art.

Benchmark:

11.9.7.7 - Understand, analyze, evaluate, and use different types of print, digital, and multi-modal media.

Learning Target:

I can utilize, organize, and make sense of various informative source materials.

Essential Question:

In what ways might studying various perspectives, sources and ideas help shape my perception of history?

You Will Need:

Two or Three Days

Access to the internet

Tool for taking notes

Tool for creating an interactive timeline

Activity:

Please follow the five (5) steps in order.

STEP 1:        

Conduct of search for Pre-Colonial America Stories. Add your findings to your notes. List the sources you use.

Your findings must meet the following criteria:

• Must find stories from at least 5 different cultural groups/tribes
• Must find stories from all parts (6) of what is now the United States

• Findings must span from 20,000 years ago to 1500 A.D. (keep track of the age of your findings)
• Stories can be narratives, myths, poems, drawings - cave and pottery
• Must find at least 5 major events that occurred within this time period
• Credit stories to specific people, or if unavailable, the tribe/region

STEP 2:        

Share your 3 best sources to the Discussion forum, with 2-3 sentences about what is best in each. Feel free to take a look at the sources shared by other classmates, and use those sources to fill any gaps in your search or enrich what you already found.

STEP 3:        

Create a Digital Timeline that organizes all of your findings in chronological order.

• Paste actual images
• Link to larger texts you found
• Maps that offer helpful information can be added above or below the timeline.
• Cite your sources (guide)

STEP 4:        

Submit assignment

STEP 5:        

Write a 1-2 paragraph reflection about what you learned about Pre-Colonial America from this activity. How has this process helped to shape your perception of American history? Post your reflection and your digital timeline to your e-Portfolio