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Folklife Resources for Educators

Materials Related to Alaska

There are 8 items in this list.

Oral Traditions
by Echo: Education through Cultural and Historical Organizations
http://www.echospace.org/articles/127/sections/193

Curriculum resources for the study of Tlingit oral traditions for grades 5-8. The materials focus on the interconnections of story and dance in the Tlingit culture of Southeastern Alaska and include a video that features Tlingit oral tradition. Topics covered include how oral tradition tells us who we are, where we came from, and how it serves to communicate important cultural values. It also focuses on how the Tlingit people use art, song, dance, and storytelling to express their identity. Curriculum suggestions conform to National Standards for English Language Arts.

Grade Level: 6-8 Curriculum: Performing Arts; Music; Language Arts; History and Social Studies; Geography; Art and Culture
Resource Type: Video recordings; Lesson plans Language: English
Subjects: Celebration; Tales; Dance; Music; Intercultural communication; Storytelling; Oral tradition; Alaska--Social life and customs; Tlingit Indians; Clothing and dress; Material culture; Indians of North America
Geographic locations: Alaska

Sponsoring Organization:
Echo: Education through Cultural and Historical Organizations


http://www.echospace.org/


Performing Asveq (The Walrus Hunt)
by Echo: Education through Cultural and Historical Organizations
http://www.echospace.org/articles/129/sections/195

Curriculum resources for grades 5-8 focused on how young people of Inupiaq and Yupick heritage express their cultural identity through song and dance. Topics covered focus on performing arts that provide a direct way to participate in one’s cultural community, to preserve culture for future generations, and to express joy in being a part of a culture. An accompanying video illustrates a song and dance describing a walrus hunt developed by students from an Anchorage high school. Curriculum suggestions conform to National Standards for English Language Arts and can be used in the classroom to teach social studies, music, and performing arts.

Grade Level: 3-5; 6-8 Curriculum: Art and Culture; History and Social Studies; Language Arts; Performing Arts; Music
Resource Type: Lesson plans; Video recordings Language: English
Subjects: Yupik Eskimos; Hunting; Indians of North America; Dance; Music; Alaska--Social life and customs; Storytelling; Tales; Inupiat; Walrus hunting
Geographic locations: Alaska

Sponsoring Organization:
Echo: Education through Cultural and Historical Organizations


http://www.echospace.org/


Alaska Native Dance
by Echo: Education through Cultural and Historical Organizations
http://www.echospace.org/articles/285/sections/709

Curriculum resources for exploring similarities in the midst of diversity by introducing students to native dances performed by Alaskan cultural groups. Accompanying videos document a variety of dance forms performed by five native groups, with background about the characteristics of the dances and the cultural contexts and restrictions governing their performance. Curriculum ideas can be used in the classroom for teaching social studies, music, fine arts, geography, and physical education.

Grade Level: 3-5; 6-8; 9-12 Curriculum: Art and Culture; Geography; History and Social Studies; Music; Performing Arts; Sports and Recreation
Resource Type: Lesson plans; Video recordings Language: English
Subjects: Music; Intercultural communication; Storytelling; Aleuts; Indians of North America; Tlingit Indians; Inupiat; Alaska--Social life and customs; Dance; Yupik Eskimos; Tsimshian Indians; Haida Indians
Geographic locations: Alaska

Sponsoring Organization:
Echo: Education through Cultural and Historical Organizations


http://www.echospace.org/


Iñupiaq Whale Hunt
by Echo: Education through Cultural and Historical Organizations
http://www.echospace.org/articles/137/sections/207

Curriculum resources for grades 5-8 that explore the role of the whale hunt among the Inupiat people along the Chukchi Sea of northern Alaska. Topics covered include how the whale hunt nourishes the Inupiaq people and sustains and builds community. An accompanying video with discussion questions illustrates Inupiaq subsistence hunting and fishing and demonstrates how whaling fulfills many of the nutritional, economic, social and cultural needs of Inupiaq life. Curriculum suggestions can be applied to the areas of social studies, history, language arts, and geography.

Grade Level: 3-5; 6-8 Curriculum: History and Social Studies; Geography; Art and Culture
Resource Type: Video recordings; Lesson plans Language: English
Subjects: Geography; Hunting; Whaling; Alaska--Social life and customs; Indians of North America; Inupiat; Food; Foodways; Celebration; Environmental sciences; Fishing
Geographic locations: Alaska

Sponsoring Organization:
Echo: Education through Cultural and Historical Organizations


http://www.echospace.org/


Indivisible Educator's Guide
by Center for Creative Photography
http://www.indivisible.org/resources.htm

An educator's guide for K-12 students that combines photography and first-person narratives to explore community life, identity, and civic action (72 p. PDF). Lesson plans are available on taking documentary photographs, collecting oral histories, and analyzing gathered fieldwork documentation. It includes descriptions of twelve community documentation projects undertaken throughout the United States. Created in 2000 in connection with a national documentary project called "Indivisible: Stories of American Community." A selection of slides and an audio cd of excerpted project interviews accompanies the lessons.

Grade Level: K-2; 3-5; 6-8; 9-12 Curriculum: Language Arts; History and Social Studies; Art and Culture
Resource Type: Lesson plans; Activities; Primary sources; Audio recordings Language: English
Subjects: United States--Social life and customs; Community life; Oral history; Fieldwork (Educational method); Photography; Place-based education; United States--History--1945-
Geographic locations: United States; Texas; South Carolina; Pennsylvania; North Carolina; New York (State); Montana; Illinois; Florida; California; Alaska

Sponsoring Organization:
Center for Creative Photography
University of Arizona Libraries
Tucson AZ 85721-0103
(520) 621-7968
http://www.creativephotography.org/

Other Organizations:
Center for Documentary Studies
Duke University
Durham NC 27705
(919) 660-3663
http://cds.aas.duke.edu/


Culturally-Based Curriculum Resources
by Alaska Native Knowledge Network
http://ankn.uaf.edu/Resources/course/view.php?id=2

Culturally responsive curriculum resources for the study of Alaska native knowledge systems and ways of learning. Database includes units, lesson plans, activities, and background material for use in the K-12 classroom, geared primarily for use in the curriculum fields of math and science. The materials are created within a culturally aligned curriculum framework reflecting indigenous knowledge systems, and incorporate oral tradition, learned skills, traditional practice, folk medicine, and native ecological perspectives which make them valuable for application in social science and humanities curricula.

Grade Level: K-2; 3-5; 6-8; 9-12 Curriculum: Science; Performing Arts; Music; Math; Language Arts; History and Social Studies; Art and Culture
Resource Type: Lesson plans; Activities Language: English
Subjects: Land use; Traditional medicine; Environmental sciences; Alaska--Social life and customs; Plants; Human ecology; Material culture; Indians of North America; Maritime culture; Oral tradition; Weather; Fishing; Animals
Geographic locations: Alaska

Sponsoring Organization:
Alaska Native Knowledge Network
University of Alaska Fairbanks, PO Box 756730
Fairbanks AK 99775-6730
(907) 474-1902
http://ankn.uaf.edu/


Native American Dolls
by National Museum of the American Indian
http://smithsonianeducation.org/images/educators/lesson_plan/native_dolls/native_dolls.pdf

Teaching guide for K-12 education with lesson plan and activities on diverse traditions of Native American dolls and dollmaking. Native doll makers describe how their work keeps old traditions alive and helps in developing new traditions. Includes examples of Navajo, Inupiat, Ojibwe, Seneca, and Seminole dolls exhibited in the National Museum of the American Indian and transcripts of interviews with their makers. The lesson is useful for teaching about cultural differences where students are encouraged to compare and contrast Native dolls with those from their own background. It meets national curriculum standards for History and Geography. Lesson plan originally published in the fall 2004 issue of "Smithsonian In Your Classroom." (28 p. PDF)

Grade Level: K-2; 3-5; 6-8; 9-12 Curriculum: Geography; History and Social Studies; Art and Culture
Resource Type: Lesson plans; Activities Language: English
Subjects: Geography; Seneca Indians; Inupiat; Seminole Indians; Dollmaking; Indians of North America; Indian dolls; Navajo Indians; Women artists; Oral history; Ojibwe Indians
Geographic locations: United States; New York (State); New Mexico; Minnesota; Florida; Alaska

Sponsoring Organization:
National Museum of the American Indian
Fourth Street & Independence Avenue, SW
Washington DC 20560
(202) 633-6996
http://www.nmai.si.edu/

Other Organizations:
Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies
600 Maryland Avenue, Suite 1005
Washington DC 20024
(202) 633-5330
http://www.smithsonianeducation.org/


To Honor and Comfort: Native Quilting Traditions
by National Museum of the American Indian
http://www.nmai.si.edu/education/files/quilts.pdf

Study guide developed by the National Museum of the American Indian to accompany a 1997 exhibition of the same name. It can also be used as an independent resource for educators. Includes four lesson plans that correspond to the exhibition sections: Origins, Honoring, Design, and Community. Curriculum focuses on quilters from eight Native American communities and has accompanying study questions, handouts, and activities. (36 p. PDF)

Grade Level: 3-5; 6-8; 9-12 Curriculum: Art and Culture; History and Social Studies; Language Arts
Resource Type: Lesson plans; Activities Language: English
Subjects: Indian women; Hawaiians; Tlingit Indians; Wasco Indians; Mohawk Indians; Osage Indians; Cherokee Indians; Textile fabrics; Maryland--Social life and customs; Hawaii--Social life and customs; New York (State)--Social life and customs; Oklahoma--Social life and customs; Indians of North America; Quilting; Alaska--Social life and customs; Oregon--Social life and customs; South Dakota--Social life and customs; Canada--Social life and customs; Veterans; Anishinabe Indians; Oglala Indians; Quiltmakers; Yupik Eskimos; Needlework
Geographic locations: South Dakota; Oregon; Oklahoma; New York (State); Maryland; Hawaii; Canada; Alaska

Sponsoring Organization:
National Museum of the American Indian
Fourth Street & Independence Avenue, SW
Washington DC 20560
(202) 633-6996
http://www.nmai.si.edu


 

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   June 23, 2011
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