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The Powhatan Indians |
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The Powhatan Indians |
SET:
This lesson will involve 2-3 class periods, depending on their length.
Objectives:
1. Students will identity important characteristics of the lifestyle of the Powhatan Indians, including their government, structure of villages, religion, culture, and livelihood. Students will answer specific questions about each of these areas.
2. Students will cooperate in groups to become "experts" on a certain area, and will be responsible for teaching that information to the other students. By teaching the material to others, they will have a better grasp of the information they've learned.
Relevance:
This lesson introduces the students to the culture that existed in Virginia before the English explorers and settlers arrived. It is important for students to understand that a people and their culture existed here long before Europeans settled here. This lesson is also relevant because the students, in understanding the lifestyle and culture of the Native Americans in Virginia, will be able to see why conflicts arose when they came into contact with the English at the Jamestown settlement.
Involvement of the Learners:
At the beginning of the lesson, give the students a chance to imagine what life was like when the Powhatan Indians were the sole presence in Virginia. Give the students a chance to share their knowledge of this time. Possible questions: Who has seen "Pocahontas"? What does it say about life of the Indians? Has anyone visited the Jamestown settlement? What was it like there?
EXPLANATION
1. As the lesson is introduced, the teacher will give the students the opportunity to imagine what life was like for the Powhatan Indians. The teacher can jot down these ideas on the board or overhead as students brainstorm. Perhaps they have notions about Indians based on the "Pocahontas" movie, other cultural ideas, or things they have previously learned about Indians.
2. After brainstorming for a few minutes, the teacher breaks up the students into several groups. Each group is given a particular aspect of Powhatan Indian life to research. The topics for the different groups are: religion, government and war, subsistence (economy), and the structure of towns and villages, including the social structures/divisions of the people who live in those towns. These groups will have about 5 students each.
ACTIVITY:
3. Within these groups, the students will research their particular subject area. They should be given a list of potential materials to use, and time to explore the library for materials. The first class period should be devoted to research within their groups. Students should use the research outline to guide their project. During the research time, the teacher should try to meet with each group, answering questions and guiding the research process.
4. On the second day, the students should finish up any research needed, and then should work on developing their presentations. They will be expected to give a 5-10 minute lesson on their particular "expert" area, and their presentation should also include some sort of visual aid, such as a poster.
5. Another aspect of the assignment will be for each group to come up with 5 quiz questions about the information that they will be presenting. The teacher will compile each group's questions into a quiz to be given at the end of the lesson.
6. The third day will be devoted to the presentations of the groups. Each group will present their material, and the class will have the opportunity to question each group about what they have presented. The presentations should incorporate the visual aid, and at the end all the posters will be displayed in the classroom. A guideline for the presentations is that each group member must participate in the presentation.
7. After each group has presented their project, the quiz of questions will be given. Each person is expected to know not just what they studied in their "expert groups" but also the information presented by the other groups.
CLOSURE:
1. To close the lesson, the teacher will lead a discussion, asking the students to compare what they now know about the Powhatan Indians to what their ideas and notions were before the lesson began. Questions for discussion: What stereotypes about Indians did you have before the project? Did you learn anything that challenges that notion? What did the Indians value and what was their lifestyle like?
2. Extension to further lessons: the teacher can start the students thinking about what particular aspects of the Powhatan culture would make it difficult to get along with the English settlers when they arrived.
Materials:
Research tools for the students in developing their presentations: their Virginia history textbooks, additional books from the library, possiible on-line resources. Also needed will be the materials to actually make their presentation, such as posterboard and art supplies -- scissors, glue, markers, colored pencils.
Sources for Research on the Powhatan Indians:
History of Virginia textbooks
McCary, Ben C. "Indians in Seventeenth-Century Virginia." Charlottesville: The University Press of Virginia, 1992.
Rountree, Helen C. "The Powhatan Indians of Virginia." Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1989.
For information on the modern Powhatan Indians, see www.powhatan.org.
This page was last updated on and is maintained by the UVA's Program in Social Studies Education.
URL for this page: http://curry.edschool.virginia.edu.