Flight Lesson Plan I would like to teach a unit about Native American history.

My goals for the students for this lesson are as follows: 1. to learn about Native American history 2. to connect to the protagonist in Flight and 3. to come to a conclusion about what they can take away from this lesson. In other words, what have they learned about themselves and/or the world around them? What big lesson will they get from learning about Native American history and reading Flight? I have estimated that it will take me about seven days to teach this lesson, assuming that each class is one hour in length. I believe that for high school students to have a proper understanding of American history, it is important that they learn about Native Americans. After all, they lived here before the English came over and settled the colonies. Flight by Sherman Alexie is a novel that tells the story of a young, part Native American boy, who calls himself Zits. In order to teach this book so that my students will learn about Native American history and be able to connect with the protagonist, they will look at a selection from Takaki's A Different Mirror, as well as some poems. They will also talk in groups about the novel so they can make connections with the experiences that Zits goes through. Preparation In order to explain the historical aspects of the Native Americans, the students will receive a packet the day before the lesson starts containing an excerpt from A Different Mirror by Ronald Takaki, as well as some pictures that highlight the events (See Appendix B). They will read this selection for homework, which will prepare them for the first day of the lesson. The excerpt focuses on the Ghost Dances and Wounded Knee. It also discusses the Dawes

Act, as well as the Indian Removal Act. All of these topics tell the complete story of what these people went through, and had to fight for. For instance, the Ghost Dance was a part of their culture, and in Wounded Knee they were fighting for their land and for their heritage. So, every one of these topics are absolutely essential when learning about Native American history. Day One At the very beginning of class, I will show a short, two-minute video from the Wounded Knee Museum website, which will give the students a preview of what they read about last night and will be learning about in this lesson. Then we will take a look at the Dawes Act on the Our Documents website. Afterwards, the students will split into small groups for thirty minutes and discuss the reading. Then the class will come together for a ten minute discussion to wrap up final thoughts on the subject. For homework, they will go to the Wounded Knee Museum website and complete a Web Scavenger Hunt, which will give them a closer look at eight different exhibits. At each exhibit, they will have specific questions to answer that reinforce what they would have read about the previous night and what we talked about in class on this first day of the lesson. For extra credit, they can go to the Ghost Dance website and look at the various ghost dance song lyrics. Then, they will write their own song and accompany it with a short paragraph about what inspired them to write it. Day Two To enhance their understanding of the material presented the day before, the students will spend ten minutes at the start of class doing a free write about how they feel about the way the Indians were treated. More specifically, I would ask them how they would feel if they were a white man during this time period, and then I would have them switch perspectives and write how they would feel if they were a Native American at that time in history. By completing this

writing exercise, they will be tested on their timed writing, and it will also allow them to put themselves in the specific situations of the histories that they learned about on the first day. Once they are finished with their free writes, they will split into five different groups and each group will receive a poem. One group will discuss Today We Will Not Be Invisible Nor Silent, by Victoria Lena Manyarrows, which is a poem about how the Native Americans think about what has happened to them. Manyarrows writes, convincing others and ourselves/that we have been assimilated & eliminated/ but we remember who we are (Gillian 330). Another group will talk about I Walk in the History of My People by Chrystos. This poem discusses how the history of the Native Americans is inside of them, which is emphasized by the repetition of my marrow. The third group will talk about Chrystos' poem I Have Not Signed a Treaty with the United States Government, which talks about how the Native Americans didn't agree with the US government and how they declare the United States a crazy person (Gillian 304). The fourth group will be discussing one of the longer poems, Story Keeper, by Wendy Rose. This poem has a similar theme to that of Chrystos' I Walk in the History of My People, in the way that it also discusses how the Native American history is a part of them and they can't actually ever truly forget what happened to them, meaning Wounded Knee, etc. The final group will be discussing Vision (2) by Sherman Alexie. This prose poem discusses the life of Native Americans and how the America they live in is different than white America. But, America, in my country there are no supermarkets and television is a way of never opening the front door (Gillian 66). In each of the groups, the students will discuss these questions: 1. What is the main theme present in this poem? 2. What influenced the author to write this poem, based on the history you learned about yesterday?

3. What are some of the prominent images in this poem? 4. Is there anything significant about the tone or style of the poem that you would like to comment on? The goal is for them to analyze the poems, but more importantly, to take the knowledge of Native American history that they learned on the first day and apply it to these poems. Day Three To emphasize what they have learned, we will start to read the novel Flight by Sherman Alexie. After a brief introduction to Alexie, the students will silent read for about 40 minutes. At this time, they will look back at Vision (2), which is also written by Sherman Alexie. The students will begin to compare Alexie's poem to his novel. They will look at both works and see how Alexie writes each. I want them to think about the style, structure and the language that he uses and be able to see what is similar and what is different. Some questions I would like them to consider are: 1. What images does he show, and how are these significant? Are there similarities and/or differences between the images found in the poem and those in the novel? 2. What tone does he use in each? Why is this, do you think? 3. What kind of language does Alexie use, and what does this say about each story? I would also like them to answer a few questions, each in a short paragraph. This will help them begin to make some connections. 1. After reading the first third of Flight, which work do you like better? Why? 2. Has what Zits experienced so far made him learn anything about himself? What? 3. If you went on a journey like Zits, choose one place you might you go. What would you like to experience there and why?

For homework, they will complete the compare and contrast assignment, and answer their journal questions. They will also finish reading the first 58 pages of Flight. Day Four As a follow up to Day Three, the students are going to share what they came up with for homework. To do this, they will each receive a pile of sticky notes and write down each point that they made. I will draw a Venn diagram on the board which will contain those ideas from Flight and those ideas from Vision, as well as the ideas that were similar in both. Once they are finished, they will place the sticky notes on the board where they belong. We will then have a half-hour discussion, in which we will focus on the points that the students have brought up on their sticky notes. It will be required that they take notes, as it will count as part of their participation grade. For the last fifteen minutes of class, I will answer any questions they may have about the novel thus far. For homework they will read pages 59-117 and come up with at least five questions that we can use in our Socratic seminar on Day Five. Day Five When the students get to class on the fifth day of this lesson, the tables will be arranged in a circle. This is the day of our Socratic seminar, in which we will be using the Socratic method of repeatedly asking questions to get answers. I feel like the students will get the most out of this day, because they will have come prepared with questions that the class will discuss and answer. This strategy will give them a chance to dig deep into the novel and figure out what Alexie is trying to teach us. To start off, I will ask them a few questions about themes present in the text, as well as what they think Alexie wants us to take from his novel. After that, the students will be free to discuss their questions for the remaining class time. It will be imperative that they take notes, as it may help them finalize their thoughts on the novel as they finish it for homework.

While they are reading the last section of the novel for homework, their assignment will be to write down two or three themes that they have found within the text and a four to six sentence explanation of how it is significant. Day Six The sixth day of this lesson, they will have pop quiz. Surprise quizzes are a good way to see if the students did their homework, and also to check their understanding of the material up to this point. When they walk into the room on this day, there will be a question on the board that they will answer; this is their quiz. The question I want them to answer is: From what you read about in Flight, describe what Zits has learned about Native American culture. Use one of the three themes that you illustrated for homework and incorporate it into your formal essay. Textual evidence and MLA citations are required. (A bibliography is not necessary.) They will spend 55 minutes answering this question in essay format in class and then for homework, they will polish the essay and make it into a rough draft for next class. Day Seven On the last day of class, they will be doing a peer workshop, in which they will review each others papers. The students will take time to read their papers out loud to their partners. Each student will them fill out a feedback worksheet, which will outline the following questions for them: 1. What is the theme that was chosen to write about? Is it clear? 2. Is there a thesis statement and textual evidence to back up the argument? 3. Take a look at the introduction and the conclusion. What would you improve? 4. As a whole, how is the essay? What should the author focus on for the final draft?

They will do this process with two other partners, and then they will do it for themselves. This will give them the input of three of their peers, and it will allow them to reflect on their own work. For homework, they will revise their drafts and hand in their final essays the next class. I would also like them to write a short paragraph reflection about how this writing assignment went for them. What was easy? What did they struggle with? What grade they think they deserve and why. By doing a reflection, I will get a better idea of how they think they did as a whole, while writing this, and it will give them some experience of grading their own work. My overall goal for teaching this seven day lesson is to have my students learn about Native American history in an interesting way. I want them to make connections between Sherman Alexies poem, Vision (2), and his novel, Flight. By engaging in the plethora of activities, I believe they will gain a lot of knowledge about this culture, while also having fun.

Appendix A Readings and Websites That Will Be Used During This Lesson "Ghost Dance - Songs." Ghost Dance. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2010. <http://www.ghostdance.com/songs/songs.html>. "Our Documents - Dawes Act (1887)." Welcome to OurDocuments.gov. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2010. <http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=50>. Takaki, Ronald T. "The Indian Question." A different mirror: a history of multicultural America. Revised ed. Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1993. 214-231. Print. "WOUNDED KNEE: THE MUSEUM " WOUNDED KNEE: THE MUSEUM. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2010. <http://www.woundedkneemuseum.org/main_menu.html>.

Appendix B Images Websites That Will Be Used During This Lesson "Genocide of Native Americans." Visual Statistics with Multimedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Dec. 2010. <http://www.visualstatistics.net /eastwest/genocide/genocide.htm>. "Ghost Dance - A Promise of Fulfillment." Legends of America - A Travel Site for the Nostalgic and Historic Minded. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Dec. 2010. <http://www.legendsofamerica. com/na-ghostdance.html>. "NABNYC: Ghost Dancing With Lady Gaga." NABNYC. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Dec. 2010. <http://nabnyc.blogspot.com/2 010/08/if-you-want-todestroy-nation-youmust.html>. "Native American Netroots: The Wounded Knee Massacre: 118th Anniversary." Native American Netroots - A Forum for Native American Issues . N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Dec. 2010. <http://www.nativeamericannetroo ts.net/diary/198/>.

Wounded Knee

Ghost Dance

Ghost Dance C

Wounded Knee