Lesson Plan - Chapter 11: An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States

Lesson Theme:

An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States

Topic, Grades, & Time:

Topic: Chapter 11: The Doctrine of Discovery
Grades: 11th Grade
Time: ~2.5 days or ~125 minutes (depending on school activities) & 54 minutes outside of class

Materials and Sources:

Sources: Dunbar-Ortiz, R. (2014). An Indigenous peoples’ history of the United States. Beacon Press.
Materials (practitioner): (1a) text (print ); (1b) text (digital ); (2) desktop/laptop/tablet; (3) access to internet; (4) assignments; & (5) coffee/tea (optional)
Materials (student): (1a) text (print); (1b) text (digital); if 1b (2) laptop/tablet; (3) access to internet; (4) assignments; & (5) note-taking gear

Covered Standards:

Rationale:

Chapter 11 details the impact of the Doctrine of Discovery in European colonialism around the world as a “legal cover for theft” (pg. 198). According to Chapter 11, the Doctrine of Discovery was created as international law in the 1455 papal bull, and it was the means through which Christian European monarchies could claim lands outside of Europe. Chapter 11 highlights how the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1493 further divided lands between Spain and Portugal, drawing a line indicating which side of the line was open for one or the other of these two countries. Furthermore, Chapter 11 highlights that the Treaty also stated that the Doctrine of Discovery only applied to non-Christian lands. Through the doctrine, Europeans claimed title to lands “discovered,” meaning Indigenous peoples automatically lost the right to it.

Measurable Outcomes:

Students will, through literacy, be able to understand key ideas and details.
Students will, through literacy, be able to understand craft and structure.
Students will, through literacy, be able to understand the integration of knowledge and ideas.
Students will, through literacy, comprehend a range of reading and level of text complexity.
Students will, through literacy, be able to understand text types and purposes.
Students will, through literacy, be able to produce a production and distribution of writing.
Students will, through literacy, research to build and present knowledge.
Students will, through literacy, demonstrate a presentation of knowledge and ideas.
Students will, through literacy, demonstrate a range of writing.

Sequence:

0-5 mins - Administration (i.e. attendance, announcements, etc.)
5 - 25 mins (practitioner) - Check on student progress (time may vary, due to class size and time spent on each student).
5 - 45 mins (students) - Work on the required assignments. Please refer to Introduction Page.
45 - 50 mins - Exit question (check on progress of each student, time varies).

Behavioral Expectations:

Universal design for learning and Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) will curb any behavior issues regarding student choice of sequence.
Student's will be engaged 80-90% of the class time.
Students' will be engaged due to the collaboration component of the lesson.

Assessment(s):

Formative:

Oral inquiry throughout the lesson will check for comprehension and understanding, acting as a pre-assessment.

Summative:

Chapter 11 Task Overview

Differentiation:

Multiple Levels of Questions: Primary use: readiness & learning profiles. All questions presented will advance problem-solving skills and responses. This strategy will ensure that all students will be accountable for information and thinking at a high level and that all students will be challenged. In addition, all text will have the ability to utilize text-to-speech technology and visual-audiobook with close-caption capability.
Activity: Chapter 11 Task Overview