Teaching Strategies
Build Background Knowledge
This strategy is designed to help students build historical background knowledge about the events that led to the Navajo Long Walk and understand how the Navajo people resisted the tyranny imposed by the United States government. By understanding the historical context before reading primary and secondary sources, students will be better prepared to engage with the texts, make meaningful connections, and develop a deeper understanding of the themes of tyranny, resistance, and resilience.
Think-alouds
Students will read a variety of primary and secondary sources throughout this unit. During these readings, the teacher will model the thinking process by verbalizing how to ask questions, make connections, identify important details, determine the meaning of unfamiliar words, and analyze historical evidence. As students imagine with the texts, they will respond to comprehension questions using sentence frames to support evidence-based discussions, and written responses. This strategy will help students to develop reading comprehension, clarify any misconceptions, and strengthen their skills to analyze historical sources.
Graphic Organizer
Students will read a book called “Navajo Long Walk: The Tragic Story of a Proud People’s Forced March from their Homelands”, an article called “Beyond a Border Conflict: Indigenous Involvement in the Mexican-American War” and other primary and secondary sources. As they read, they will complete a Historical Evidence Organizer to record key events, identify examples of Navajo resistance, analyze actions taken by the United States government, and make connections to the Treaty of 1868. The organizer will help students organize information, collect textual evidence, and deepen their understanding of the historical events that led to the Navajo Long Walk.
Comprehension Worksheet
Students will complete a comprehension worksheet that will include text-dependent questions that are designed to reflect the level of rigor students may encounter on the state assessments. These questions will require the students to move beyond recalling information from the text and instead analyze, interpret, and support their responses with textual evidence. Students will first read the question carefully and identify what the question is asking them. They will then practice restating the question before referring back to the text to locate evidence that supports their thinking. Students will reread important sections, identify key details, and determine which evidence best supports their response rather than selecting information that may not directly answer the question. As students work through primary and secondary sources throughout the unit, the teacher will model this process and provide sentence frames when additionally support is needed. As students become more comfortable with this process, students will gradually take greater responsibility for answering questions independently. This strategy will help students strengthen their reading comprehension, written responses, and the ability to use textual evidence to respond to rigorous questions. More importantly, students will use these comprehension skills to develop deeper understanding of the historical events surrounding the Navajo Long Walk and to support their analysis of Navajo resistance, resilience, and the actions of the United States government
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