Native America: Understanding the Past through Things

CONTENTS OF CURRICULUM UNIT 06.04.10

  1. Unit Guide
  1. Overview
  2. Introduction
  3. Audience
  4. Rationale
  5. Strategies and Activities
  6. Resources
  7. Appendix 1: Standards
  8. Materials List

Symbols of Hierarchy: Things of Bling in the Pre-Columbian Americas

Ralph E. Russo

Published September 2006

Tools for this Unit:

Materials List

Aztec Poems: Can be obtained on-line at www.red-coral.net/Hungry.html

Mummy Bundle Materials list

Slide show, background reading, web sites

  • GI Joe Doll or Ken Doll
  • Pieces of fabric
  • Plastic costume jewelry
  • Colored ribbon
  • Old magazines (for pictures of material goods)
  • Gold and silver wrapping paper.
  • Scissors, glue, staples

Multiple Texts Reading List

Any combination of works from the resource list plus newspaper articles, online articles.

Drawing paper, pencils

Comments:

Ralph E. Russo

July 9, 2008 at 12:12 am

Things of Bling in PreColumbian America

Students and I had fun with this unit. Grade ten students really appropriate status or lack of status to material goods. They particularly enjoyed drawing the "ultimate teen" adorned in all the trappings of material culture. Subsequently, they were much more involved in analysis of Pre-Columbian artifacts.

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