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Social Sciences: Oregon Tribal Government Structures

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This lesson introduces students to the governance structures of the nine federally recognized tribes in Oregon. Tribes have a unique relationship to the federal and state governments and to each other. Each tribe is a sovereign nation, with its own constitution and the power to make, carry out, and interpret its own laws, while also being subject to some laws established by the U.S. government. Treaties between the federal government and some individual tribes (or groups of tribes) also designate certain goods and services that must be provided.Students will work in groups to conduct research, discuss their findings, and prepare and deliver a presentation that demonstrates their knowledge. This lesson asks students to compare and contrast the governance structure of one assigned tribe (per group) to those of the U.S. government, the Oregon state government, and other tribal governments. Students are expected to have prior knowledge of the U.S. and Oregon Constitutions and the institutions, functions, and processes of those governments (see the “Civics and Government” section of the Oregon State Board of Education standards for high school social studies).

Material Type: Lesson, Lesson Plan

Authors: Aujalee Moore, April Campbell

Health: Identity, Health and Survivance

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This lesson explores the concepts of personal and cultural identity and asks students to reflect on how their own sense of identity might impact their health. The lesson provides a holistic look at the different types of health people experience.  While the lesson acknowledges that discrimination based on identity is an unfortunate fact of life for many people, identity can also be used as a springboard to better health. This concept is explored in the second activity. The lesson also draws on examples from Native American culture to show how survivance and physical identity expression can support a positive experience of health.

Material Type: Lesson, Lesson Plan

Authors: Aujalee Moore, April Campbell

English Language Arts: Indigenous Peoples’ Day as an Act of Sovereignty Part 1

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Throughout the 20th and early 21st centuries tribal nations and Indigenous communities have continued to assert their right to self-governance and sovereignty despite numerous efforts to force them to assimilate. By extension, the purposeful erasure of Indigenous peoples as a living and thriving presence in the current, modern-day world also remains a reality.  Tribal sovereignty predates the existence of the U.S. government and the state of Oregon. Tribalgovernments are separate and unique sovereign nations with the power to execute their self-governance to protect the health, safety, and welfare of their citizens and to govern their lands, air, and waters. One of the ways Indigenous communities have been embodying their right to sovereignty is through the establishment of an Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Indigenous Peoples’ Day serves as a reminder of the contributions, both past and present, of Indigenous communities and tribal nations. In this lesson, students will explore the concepts of tribal sovereignty and self-determination and learn about efforts by tribes and other entities to promote and support the celebration of Indigenous Peoples’ Day. This lesson is meant to be used with its companion lesson: Indigenous Peoples’ Day as an Act of Sovereignty Part II.

Material Type: Lesson, Lesson Plan

Authors: Aujalee Moore, April Campbell

English Language Arts: Indigenous Peoples’ Day as an Act of Sovereignty Part 2

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Throughout the 20th and early 21st centuries tribal nations and Indigenous communities havecontinued to assert their right to self-governance and sovereignty despite numerous efforts to forcethem to assimilate. By extension, the purposeful erasure of Indigenous peoples as a living and thriving presence in the contemporary world also remains a reality. Tribal sovereignty predates the existence of the U.S. government and the state of Oregon. Tribal governments are separate and unique sovereign nations with the power to execute their self governance to protect the health, safety, and welfare of their citizens and to govern their lands, air, and waters. One of the ways Indigenous communities have been embodying their right to sovereignty is through the establishment of an Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Indigenous Peoples’ Day serves as reminder of the contributions, both past and present, of Indigenous communities and tribal nations. This lesson extends the knowledge gained from Part I by asking students to make meaning of Indigenous Peoples’ Day and to explore how advocacy leads to a local proclamation and change.

Material Type: Lesson, Lesson Plan

Authors: Aujalee Moore, April Campbell

English Language Arts: Oregon Poet Laureate

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Elizabeth Woody is a poet and educator of Navajo, Wasco, and Yakama descent and is an enrolled tribal member of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs. Woody’s writing focuses on the histories of her ancestors, the rich Pacific Northwest landscape, and the experience of being a tribal member, an American, and a woman in contemporary society. Woody is the winner of the American Book Award. In 2016, she was named the eighth poet laureate of Oregon—the first person of American Indian heritage to hold that honor. Oregon poets laureate are appointed by the governor and serve a two-year term as cultural ambassadors, traveling around the state to share the power of reading and writing poetry. In this lesson, students will explore and analyze Woody’s poetry. Students will have the opportunity to listen to Woody speak about her work and her relationship with language and the landscape. They will reflect on and discuss her perspective and the process by which she writes. Students will also learn a structured strategy for analyzing poetic text and recognizing key themes. Finally, students will demonstrate what they have learned by creating a group analysis and presentation of one of Woody’s poems.

Material Type: Lesson, Lesson Plan

Authors: Aujalee Moore, April Campbell

Math: Are We Going to Make It to the Pow Wow?

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This math lesson introduces students to an important element of Native American culture: thepow wow. These are public events in which Native people celebrate and share their culture; honorfriends, family members, elders, and military veterans; participate in singing and dancing; and display traditional skills and crafts. There are more than a dozen pow wows held in Oregon each year, from early spring to early fall, in all regions of the state. Most pow wows are also open to non-Native people. In this lesson, pow wows serve as the basis for a task-rich exercise in which students choose which pow wow to attend and then calculate the related expenses. The lesson allows students to develop their skills in using math for contextual problem solving and to make informed decisions. 

Material Type: Lesson, Lesson Plan

Authors: Aujalee Moore, April Campbell

Mathematics: Tribal Taxes

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In this lesson, students will learn essential information about taxes and how they impact enrolledmembers of federally recognized Native American Tribes. Many people believe that Native Americans do not pay taxes and therefore should not benefit from federal and state tax-supported programs. This lesson debunks that myth and helps students understand the complex interrelation between state, federal, and Tribal governments and tax systems. Students will also complete a math exercise using piecewise functions to analyze and calculate federal and Oregon state income taxes. The lesson can stand on its own or serve as a complement to or extension of other math lessons. 

Material Type: Lesson, Lesson Plan

Authors: Aujalee Moore, April Campbell

Science: Food Sovereignty and Environmental Sustainability

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Students will learn about the concept of food sovereignty and will explore features of the traditional food systems of Native Americans in Oregon and compare them to current food cultivation and consumption practices. Optionally, they can then research and prepare case studies of tribal and intertribal food sovereignty projects in Oregon and analyze the lessons those studies can provide for reducing the impact of human activities on natural systems.

Material Type: Lesson, Lesson Plan

Authors: Aujalee Moore, April Campbell

Science: Land Management and Partnerships

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The oral traditions of Native American tribes in Oregon tell the story of continuous existence ofIndigenous people on this land. From the coast to the inland valleys, the Columbia Plateau to theGreat Basin, tribal people have maintained continuous and balanced relationships with Oregon’snatural environment since time immemorial.This connection between Indigenous people and place has always informed their approach to whatis now called land management. Indigenous people had a thorough understanding of seasonal ecosystems and ecoregions, and this knowledge of soil, water, plants, and animals helped themsurvive. Contemporary Native people in Oregon continue to draw on traditional Indigenous knowledge, also known as traditional ecological knowledge, to guide how they manage the land.In this lesson, students will explore the components and processes of traditional ecological knowledge through the lens of contemporary tribal projects being conducted across the state. Students will consider how tribes are stewards of their lands and natural resources and how they leverage their resources by collaborating with nonprofit and government agencies.

Material Type: Lesson, Lesson Plan

Authors: Aujalee Moore, April Campbell

Science: Natural Resource Management: Historical and Contemporary

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This lesson examines tribal stewardship of natural resources and the concept of a federal trust relationship between tribes and the U.S. government. More than a century of federal policy denied tribes the rights to control and manage the lands that were set aside for them as part of treaty negotiations. These lands are legally owned by tribes and Native American individuals but are held in trust by the U.S. government. In recent decades, tribes have fought and won many legal battles to establish the right to manage the natural resources on tribal land, as well as the right to hunt, fish, and use those resources in accordance with their traditions. Today, tribal agencies frequently collaborate with both state and federal government agencies, such as the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and the U.S. Forest Service, to manage and protect the land.

Material Type: Lesson, Lesson Plan

Authors: Aujalee Moore, April Campbell

Seasonal Rounds & Ecosystems

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The annual cycle of seasonal rounds for Native Americans in Oregon reflects the relationship theyshare with the land—a relationship that includes intimate knowledge of local ecosystems. Since time immemorial, Tribes in Oregon have carefully considered seasonal ecosystems and ecoregions, and this knowledge of soil, water, plants, and animals helped them survive. Native Americans in Oregon today continue to draw on traditional Indigenous knowledge to guide how they manage the parts of their ancestral homelands that remain in their care.In this lesson, students will use a systems-thinking approach to explore the components andprocesses of ecosystems as they consider how the seasonal rounds of Native American Tribes in Oregon reflect local ecosystems. Students will analyze a hypothetical and a local ecosystem by identifying abiotic and biotic components and their relationships and then consider how Native people in Oregon considered the local abiotic and biotic components of their seasonal ecosystemsin seasonal rounds. Students will also consider the impact of forced relocation to reservations. Prior to white settlement, most Tribes in Oregon moved seasonally throughout a vast region in a pattern based on the availability of foods. Students will consider habitats, natural resources, stability and change, and living and nonliving components of habitats.

Material Type: Lesson, Lesson Plan

Authors: Aujalee Moore, April Campbell

Social Sciences: Native American Law and the Supreme Court

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The U.S. Supreme Court is an institution with the power to change and shape the lives of all Americans. This lesson asks students to review what they already know about the Supreme Court and to build on that knowledge by examining the court’s relationship with tribal governments and Native American people. For most students this will be new information, and this lesson provides an opportunity for students to learn about theunique relationship between the Supreme Court and tribal nations. Students will read summaries of Supreme Court decisions and reflect on what they’ve learned with peers. If resources allow, students can practice their research skills and find information about Supreme Court cases beyond those provided.

Material Type: Lesson, Lesson Plan

Authors: Aujalee Moore, April Campbell

Health: Cultural Bias, Stereotypes, and the Effects of Boarding Schools

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This lesson encourages students to begin thinking about and questioning those stereotypes. The lesson includes three activities, each of which explores a challenging but important topic related to the experience of Native Americans in Oregon. These topics touch on issues of history but are presented in the context of health because of their tremendous impact on the physical, mental, and emotional health of Native people, past and present.

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Lesson

Authors: Renée House, April Campbell, Oregon Open Learning

Health: Games for Physical Skill and Endurance

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In this lesson, students will have the opportunity to learn about one such game, which is often called double ball in English. Double ball is a team sport that is similar to the contemporary game of lacrosse, in that it involves multiple players using long sticks and a ball, with the purpose—in most versions—of getting the ball across a goal line or through some sort of target. Many tribes, including several in Oregon, played a version of double ball and continue to do so today.While focused on physical education, this lesson reinforces two important concepts that are woven throughout this curriculum. First, students will learn that while there are many similarities across tribal nations and Indigenous communities— including some of the games they play—Native American people are far from homogeneous and in fact represent a rich diversity of unique cultures. Second, students will be encouraged to think about how the specific natural environment in which a given tribe lived—its ancestral territory— shaped its identity and culture in both large and small ways. Understanding this strong connection to place is essential to understanding and respecting Native American cultures in Oregon and across North America, past and present.

Material Type: Lesson, Lesson Plan

Authors: Aujalee Moore, April Campbell, Oregon Open Learning

Health: Language Revitalization

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This lesson explores the preservation and revitalization of Indigenous languages—why it’s important and what tribes in Oregon are doing to keep their ancestral languages alive. This is important for many Native American tribes, who are attempting to save their languages from “linguicide” caused by decades of colonialism and forced assimilation. Language revitalization can help restore and strengthen cultural connections and pride, which in turn can promote well-being for both tribes and their members.

Material Type: Lesson, Lesson Plan

Authors: Renée House, April Campbell, Oregon Open Learning

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