Ghost Dance Videos

I found a couple of YouTube videos that do a good job of teaching about the Ghost Dance.  This was an important movement in Native American history.  The Ghost Dance helped Indians remember the children and family they had lost.  The U.S. Government attempted to outlaw this cultural practice, but the Lakota Sioux fought to keep this part of their heritage alive.  The following video runs through the history of the movement, with still pictures set to music.

The next video is of the Ghost Dance in action:

The Ghost Dance is a perfect exemplar of the struggle by Indians to fight assimilation.

-MM

Nativeamericans.com

I did a Google search for Native Americans, and found this site: Nativeamericans.com.  This is kind of a quick reference guide that would be useful for students to use to reinforce lessons in a US History course.  It doesn’t go too far in depth, but gives a basic overview of some key tribes and figures.  There is a list of famous native Americans and of key events in our country’s history that involve Indians.

Nativeamericans.com is a useful, but somewhat limited resource. (photo from: http://www.nativeamericans.com/images/home_collage.jpg)

A way to incorporate this site in a lesson would be to give the class worksheet with a list of key terms and people.  Then take them down to the computer lab, where they will complete the worksheet using this site.  This could serve as a good introduction, or possibly a review, of a lesson on Native American history.  This site has limited utility, but is easy to navigate and provides the basic knowledge students need.

Diversity in Native America

Nativechild.com is a site dedicated to educating educators about Native Americans.  It focuses on helping teachers give their students the real story, rather than the images of Indians that we see most of the time.

Here is the link: http://www.nativechild.com/resources/article.html

I think this would be great for people that don’t have a background in Indian history and are looking to go the extra mile with a lesson.  Nativechild.com urges teachers to look beyond the textbook.  There are also some basic lesson plans included.

-Matt

Native American Game

The following link leads to an instruction sheet for a game called the “Ball and Triangle Game.”  The page gives detailed directions for the activity.  The game traces its origins back to the Penobscot tribe in the New England region.  Here’s the link: http://www.education-world.com/a_lesson/00-2/lp2215.shtml

This game is probably better suited towards middle school students.  It would fit nicely into the Indian culture lesson.

-Matt

Native American Legends

I found a site that has a list of Dakota Indian legends.  These would be a great illustration of Native American culture.  Here is the link:  http://etext.virginia.edu/etcbin/toccer-new2?id=ZitLege.sgm&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&tag=public&part=1&division=div1

These stories are fairly brief and easy to read.  One of these would serve as a great intro to a lesson on Indian culture.

-Matt

Turabian Citation Guide

I’m leaving a link to the University of Georgia’s guide to Kate Turabian’s method of citing sources.  This is the format that the history department here at Geneseo uses.  The footnote system is much more detailed than the APA or other styles.  I like it a lot, and I plan on having my students use it on research projects.

Link:    http://www.libs.uga.edu/ref/turabian.html

The UGA site is a really good quick reference guide; I use it all the time while writing papers.  It also has a citation style homepage that has a similar reference guide to the other major styles.

-Matt

Supreme Court Cases

This is another site that I’ve used in a college history class that would be useful in the classroom.  Its a database that has every decision in the history of the U.S. Supreme Court.  In the study of Native American history this is awesome because there are so many important cases relating to Indian affairs.  But it would also work with any other period in American history.  Here is the link:   http://supreme.justia.com/us/year/

These are the actual decisions written by the Supreme Court going back to around 1790, so they can be very difficult reading.  The use of this site is definitely best suited for upper level students.  But from 8th grade on up, where research is introduced, this could work as a great collection of primary sources.

-Matt

Sullivan Campaign Web Resource

I attended a guest lecture a while back and the speaker used the attached site as part of his presentation.  He is a historian that has studied the Sullivan-Clinton Campaign of 1779 for several years.  This is an important event in the American Revolution, and in local history as well.  If I were a teacher in the Genesee Valley, I would be sure to use this resource.

It’s an interactive map sequence that guides the user through the campaign and its aftermath.  Click on the following link:     http://sullivanclinton.com/maps…. and click on the icon that says interactive map.  This activity is easy to use and highly informative.

-Matt

Matt’s Blog Focus

Apparently my love of blogging about books has nothing to do with this blog.  I’m going to focus my part of the blog on the topic of Native Americans, past and present.  The site attached to this post is a great compilation of current news articles pertaining to Indians around the country.

www.indianz.com

I’ve used this site for a couple college classes and it has been invaluable.  This would be useful for any newspaper/current events project.

-Matt

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My name is Matt McCracken and I’m from Oakfield, NY. I’m a sophomore history major at SUNY Geneseo.

I like watching football, playing basketball, and discussing books on blogs.