Finding The Best Lakota Culture Native American Lesson Plans

By Jennifer Allen


Whenever you are trying to get students to really understand the way these people live and learn, it is important to make sure that they understand what an oral tradition is. Simply knowing the definition, though, does not always tell you enough to make sure that you really understand what a culture that relies on an oral tradition looks and operates like. This is an essential part of anyone's Lakota culture native American lesson plans.

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.

There is definitely a lot of repetitiveness when it comes to these types of stories. The reason why the same stories are repeated so often is so that all the details can sink in. This might be applicable to your teaching methods.

Some records were kept in the form of pictures, and it was very common for these to show what happened that year so that the people have an alternate way of reviewing these events and maybe looking at them in a more visual way, which can be very helpful in some cases when you're trying to visualize certain facts and figures. Many of these pictures, unfortunately, were destroyed by Europeans. This is an example of why oral traditions can be good to have.

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.

One great tale is that the first people to come to this world came too early. They were tricked into doing so, and this was their demise. They were transformed into the animals we now today call buffalo.




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