Contemporary American Indian History

Content Objectives

The focus of the AP English Language course is rhetoric:  those choices made by writers and speakers to reach most effectively a particular audience for a particular purpose.  The course should “engage students in becoming skilled readers of prose written in a variety of periods, disciplines, and rhetorical contexts, and in becoming skilled writers who compose for a variety of purposes.”²  In AP English Literature, students also engage in reading closely and practice critical analysis, but the emphasis is on imaginative literature rather than non-fiction texts. Another difference, but not unrelated, is the focus on analysis “to deepen their understanding of the ways writers use language to provide both meaning and pleasure,” considering “a work’s structure, style, and themes, as well as its use of figurative language, imagery, symbolism, and tone.”³

One may not think contemporary Native American history belongs in an English classroom, especially an AP English Language and Composition class; however, what both English exams focus on—the ways authors of non-fiction and of imaginative literature use language to achieve a particular end—can be taught in the English classroom if crafted carefully. Such a unit can prepare students for exams that require they be well-versed readers and writers in four major rhetorical modes: narration, description, exposition, and argumentation and persuasion, and in the more traditional skill of literary analysis. That is the goal of this unit.

Additionally, Common Core describes students who are college and career ready as independent, “able to build strong content knowledge,” can “comprehend as well as critique” an author’s message, “use technology and digital media strategically and capably,” and “understand other perspectives and cultures” (Introduction to CCSS for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects, p. 7). This unit meets requirements of both the College Board and the Common Core.

While not a traditional AP English unit, students will 1) engage in analysis of texts they otherwise might not encounter, 2) learn the skills necessary for success on the AP exam, and 3) broaden and deepen their understanding of peoples that too often are relegated to short chapters in too often outdated history textbooks. Finally, it integrates Native American studies in a way that is engaging, relevant, and accessible AND meets the requirements of the Common Core.

Essential Questions

“…[A] majority of students come to postsecondary American Indian literature courses with a dearth of prior knowledge about native worldviews, tribal diversity, and myths and themes that appear in much of literature.”—Carol Zitzer-Comfort⁴

My district is pushing all teachers to use essential questions as part of their daily lesson plan. We are encouraged to post one or more essential questions to frame our work for that day, that week, or the next several weeks. The rationale is that these questions help students make connections to issues beyond just learning what they learn because we make them learn it to earn a grade. The following Essential Questions and Enduring Understandings may be used in part or whole to frame the unit, or modified to better meet the focus or approach of the particular classrooms and student populations.

1. What part does language play in determining power structures?
2. How has the legal status of Native American impacted their social and cultural traditions?
3. How can a culture or society maintain its traditions and thrive in the modern, Euro-centric society?
4. Can one live in both the traditional world and the contemporary world, and if so, how does one reconcile this “clash of cultures”?
5. How can language bridge differences?
6. How does language affect one’s sense of identity?

Enduring Understandings

1. Tradition and progress need not be mutually exclusive.
2. An authentic voice has power.
3. History is made in the present.