Overview
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American Indian Civic Engagement
Author: This unit was researched, authored, and edited by the California Indian Museum and Cultural Center, California Indian Education for All, and the San Diego County Office of Education. Key writers and researchers of this unit are Cristapher Torres, Greg Hinchliff, Scott Bankert, Debbie Reese, Jean Mendoza and Taylor Melgoza. The unit resources were designed and created from funding through the California Department of Education’s Native American Studies Model Curriculum grant and contract.
Grades: 11-12th Grades
Suggested Amount of Time: 90 minutes
Curriculum Themes
- History
- Cultural Strengths
- Law/Government
Learning Goals
Essential Question; Why should I vote? How can I get involved in a campaign?
Students will learn how productive civic engagement requires knowledge of the American Indian history, principles, and foundations of our American democracy, and the ability to participate in civic and democratic processes.
Lesson Overview
Teacher Background
Essential Understandings of California Indian History and Culture
Essential Understanding 1: Great Diversity Among Tribes (EU1 Video) https://bit.ly/NASMC_EU1
Essential Understanding 2: Diversity Among Identity (EU2 Video) https://bit.ly/NASMC_EU2
Essential Understanding 3: Native Traditional Beliefs (EU3 Video) https://bit.ly/NASMC_EU3
Essential Understanding 4: Policies that Affected Tribes (EU4 Video) https://bit.ly/NASMC_EU4
Essential Understanding 5: Reservations (EU5 Video) https://bit.ly/NASMC_EU5
Essential Understanding 6: History from a California Indian Perspective (EU6 Video) https://bit.ly/NASMC_EU6
Essential Understanding 7: Tribes Have Sovereign Powers (EU7 Video) https://bit.ly/NASMC_EU7s
Interactive Slides
About the Interactive Slides
A key component of this curriculum includes interactive slides and a lesson script/facilitation support. These materials are designed to support ease of implementation and help guide lesson delivery.
The interactive slides are animated to gradually reveal content and may include links to videos and audio playback buttons for Tribal language integration, songs, or slide facilitation.
In addition to the downloadable lesson and student handouts, this lesson comprised of 90 minutes, includes interactive slides and lesson script/ facilitation support.
*To ensure full accessibility, we recommend making a copy of the instructional material(s).
Instructions:
To use the slides effectively:
- Project the slides in "Slideshow Mode" to activate animations. Written content will appear with each click.
- Set speaker volume before beginning the lesson to ensure all students can hear audio content.
- Play audio by clicking the audio playback icons one at a time. There may be a brief pause while the audio loads.
- Hovering over an audio playback icon will reveal a playback bar that allows you to play, pause, adjust speed, or fast-forward the audio.
- Note: You do not need to use the playback bar unless you wish to adjust playback. Simply clicking the icon will play the audio.