I teach an at-risk population of students at a large Montana high school.  Most of my students are of average to above average ability, but have not done well in school.  Often this is due to factors beyond their control.

Motivation, attendance, and follow-through are common impediments to their learning.  Building strong relationships with students is a key issue in creating a desire to do well in school.  Also, hands-on experiences open doors to engagement.  

"Place and Displacement in the American West" is a perfect model to address the historical and contemporary issues in Montana's Metis population. Even though I grew up in the center of the Metis struggles, I had never heard the term Metis until I had been teaching for a decade!  In addition, I have taught about the American Indian boarding school era and have use the OPI/MHS [Office of Public Instruction (IEFA) / Montana Historical Society] materials for "Montana's Landless Indians," I hadn't realized that they were Metis as well.

The rich heritage of this group is important to our understanding of contemporary Montana life.  These materials and the student-centered nature of PBE is perfect for me and my students.

Expanding on a common text featuring Metis, students will choose one topic of Metis history or culture that appeals to their own interests and talents. They will prepare a short research paper to demonstrate the methods of research as well as a presentation that includes informational writing [and narrative, opinion, or creative writing], an art/craft item, a demonstration or performance, a display or other media presentation to share their knowledge with their peers and community,

Resource Centers in the Classroom:

General Resources:  Books, websites, videos

Performing Arts: Drama, Dance, Music

Creative Arts: Arts, Artists, Crafts

Writing: History, Biography, Storytelling, Poetry

Indian Boarding Schools in Montana

Current Events and Advocacy:  Montana Poet Laureate, Movement to Recognize Metis in Montana, US.

(Link to "Wish List")  (Link to Partial List of Current Resources)

Everyone will:

• Read: The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline.

• Learn: The importance of dreaming and dreams by the Anishnaabe culture.

• Construct: A dreamcatcher.

• Map: Montana Reservations & Headquarters, identify the reservations, the tribes on each by their American names as well as their own Native names.

• Research: A topic of their own choosing about the Metis and/or American Indian Boarding Schools.

Suggested Topics for Presentations:

• Additional information about dreams, dream catchers, or spirit animals

• Map the locations of the American Indian Boarding Schools in Montana

• The story of the Metis origins and the fur trade and the route west

• The Metis settlement and rebellion in the Red River Valley [Louis Riel, Red River carts, escape into Montana]

• Relations with Canadian and US governments

• Playing for the World (OPI materials)

• Biographies of boarding school "successes:" Jim Thorpe, Charles Eastman, etc.

• The Metis sash--uses and finger weaving bookmarks

• The "Flower Bead" People--with beading

• [Like Minerva] Plant medicine

• Mushrooms in revitalization of the earth and as food

• Survival Skills--like clean water

• Art--analyzing and creating art, music, dance

• Life of the students at a boarding school

• Book Review (differentiated choices)--Sweetgrass Basket, My Name is Sepeetza, As Long as the Rivers Flow by James Bartleman, and As Long as the Rivers Flow by Larry Loyie. [list is expanding]

• [Like Minerva) Star quilts, jingles

• [Like Miigwans] tobacco and offerings

• "Landless Indians" in Montana and recognition (OPI/MHS materials)

•  Create a dictionary of Metis language

• Hill 57 in Great Falls 

Student Proficiencies

Students will develop proficiencies in three areas:

• Personalizing Learning 

• Research 

• Informational Writing

 [Link to Competency Matrix]

"I Can" Statements

Notice: Some "I can" statements are rooted in content. Others focus on skills developed during the unit. Any of them can be linked to MT IEFA, Social Studies, or ELA standards, however, they do not derive directly from the standards.

• •  I can  identify the circumstances during colonization that led to the formation of the Metis people. I can trace the path of migration over time of the Metis who came to Montana.

  • I can identify and describe the unique problems faced by the Metis in Montana and how they have demonstrated resilience through persistence and resistance.

  •  I can discuss resistance strategies and methods used by Indigenous Metis movement from the 20th or 21st century using evidence and knowledge gained from this inquiry.

  • I can describe how a text presents information (e.g., sequentially, comparatively, causally, descriptively) 

  •  I can draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.

  •  I can utilize the 12 unit terms when discussing Indigenous history and current issues.

  • I can incorporate what I’ve learned to inform an audience and show appreciation for Metis culture and history.

  • I can identify and label on a map each of the reservations/headquarters in Montana, the government names of the tribes on each, and the names that they call themselves, as well as which reservations are home to most of the Metis populations.

  • I can document the American Indian Boarding Schools found in Montana and explain the federal policies that led to their formation.

  • I can plan & self-regulate to complete my presentation in the time allotted.

Phase 1:  Students will read The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline.

• The book features Metis characters that are living in a futuristic time where the effects of Climate Change have ravaged the world and its inhabitants.

• The indigenous Metis are being hunted and captured to extract their ability to dream which the rest of the world has lost.

• They band together to overcome their oppressors and heal the world and themselves as modern tribal efforts in Truth and Reconciliation responses to the Indian Boarding School system.

Phase 2: Expanding on their understanding of dreams, students will make dreamcatchers.

• Metis history of the Chippawa and Cree tribes claim the origin of the dreamcatcher and the symbolism they contain..

• Students will address the issue of cultural appropriation.

Phase 3:  Researching Metis history and culture and/or the American Indian Boarding Schools, especially in Montana.

• Students will pre-test the knowledge and attitudes regarding Research, Informational Writing, and Personal Learning.

• Students will self-select an area for research the relates to their own interests and talents.

• Students will write a short research paper along with creatively demonstrating their knowledge to an authentic audience of their school peers.

• Students will post-test to measure the growth in knowledge and attitudes from their research.

What does this look like?

Students will examine the matrix for the three proficiency areas, suggest changes if needed, and adopt the standard for what these competencies look like for students.  These can be referred to when assessing the outcomes of the project.  

Matrixes can be viewed here.

The unit calendar will take in the 3 to 4 week period between Thanksgiving break until Winter break, although we can extend that beyond Winter break if needed for the Gallery.

Week 1: Class learning about the American Indian Boarding School Era.

Week 2: Reviewing proficiency expectations for Research & Personal Interests and Informational writing based on the PBE matrix for what proficiency looks like in each of these areas. Students will choose topics/projects.

Week3:  Research and write 1-2 page informational report including citations.

Week 4:  Develop presentation for Matis Gallery Walk for sophomore peers & staff.

Week 5:  The Matis Gallery Walk.

This is an ambitious schedule for these students, but I have found that it is easier to extend the time than to scale it back.  Students will be keeping a daily log to demostrate how they have utilized their individual work time.

There will be pre- and post-tests to look for growth in learning attitudes using PBE units.  Responses to the following questions will be scored on a linear scale from 1 (Never) to 5 (Almost Always):

• I enjoy learning more when I choose the topic.

• I can easily find good information on a topic.

• I can organize my information into a research report with citations and good grammar.

• I am excited to share what I have learned with my peers and community.

• Teachers place more importance on what I do right than what I do wrong.

Results will be posted as they become available.

The materials available for this unit on a variety of topics and reading levels that I am requesting for use in this unit include:

Differentiated Student Resources for Proficiency-Based Education

Unit Focus: Metis history and Culture

Central Text/Unit: The Marrow Thieves, Cherie Dimaline

Related Thenes: Climate Change, American Indian Boarding Schools

Cuthbert Grant, Carole Lindstrom

Elementary reading level. Biography of Cuthbert Grant, one of the leaders of the Metis peoples. It traces his life as a mixed race child and the conflicts that resulted. This story shows the Genisus of the Metis as a distinct culture.

Amazon.com Hardcover, $19.95; Paperback, $9.95.

The North-West is Our Mother: The Story of Louis Riel's People, the Metis Nation, Jean Teillet (Granddaughter of Louis Riel)

This looks like an accessible resource with the differing periods of Metis, travels, and conflicts.

Amazon.com Paperback, $19.95; Audible.com $5.95, 14 hours, 41 minutes.

Metis and the Medicine Line: Creating a Border and Dividing a People, Michel Hogue,

This looks like it might shed some light on the conflict between the Candian recognition of Metis and the lack of recognition from the US Government. One of the areas that were contentious during this time included Montana. The Little Shell Chippewa (Metis) were only recognized a few years ago. This would also be a great compagnion piece for the "Landless Indians" unit from OPI/MHS.

Amazon.com Paperback $39.95.

Threads in the Sash: The Story of the Metis People, Fred J. Shore

This sounds like it has lively stories that capture the interest of the reader. It might be a more accessible read for students.

Amazon.com Paperback $23.77.

Stories of Metis Women: Tales My Kookum Told Me, Bailey Oster

These are shorter selections on a variety of topics, including boarding schools, that would be less intimidating to reluctant readers. It also has the audiobook available. 5.95+

Metis Flag

I'm hoping to get a set of Montana Tribal Flags and a Metis flag would finish the set. 12" X 18"

Amazon.com $8.25.

We Know Who We Are, Martha Harroun Foster

This deals with Montana specifically and the fact that Metis are not federally recognized. In addition to background information about the lives of the Metis, it will help more advanced thinkers and readers to wrestle with the notion of advocacy for recognition as part of the Truth and Reconciliation movement we are now in.

Amazon.com $21.95 Paperback

Stories of the Road Allowance People: the Revised Edition, Maria Campbell

Book/CD Stories... showing the life of these landless peoples

gdins.org $30.00

I Knew Two Metis Women, Gregory Schofields

Book/CD Coping with hardships: poverty, racism, boarding schools, etc.

gdins.org $15.00

Ekosi: A Metisse Retrospective of Poetry and Prose, Anne Acco

Also includes experiences at boarding schools

gdins.org $10.00

Fingerweaving Instructions, Carol James

DVD

gddins.org $35.00

Finderweaving Untangled, Carol James

Illustrated book

gdins.org $ 24.95

Rogaroo Mickey, Wilfred Burton

elders tell stories, including scary tales

gdins.org $17.50k

Metis Legacy II: Mischif Culture, Heritage, and Folkways, Lawrence Barkwell +2

binder with 3-hole punched sheets of activities.

gdins.org $25.00

Thousand Supperless Babes: The Story of the Metis,

CD/downloads A play that shows the hardships endured. Can be produced.

gdins.org $10.00

Lisa Shepherd Art Cards

Set of 6

gdins.org $12.00Just Pretending, Lisa Bird-Wilson

Highly relatable contemporary strories

gdins.org $18.95

Leah Dorion Art Cards:Breath of Life

art card

gdins.org $7.50

Mother Earth Colouring and Activity Book, Leah Marie Dorion

Hands on!

gdins.org $15.00

Road Allowance Kitten, Wilfred Burton

More awareness of the plight of children under the Road Allowance

gdins.org $ 17.50

The Story of the Rabbit Dance,

PDF/DVD Origin Story of the Rabbit Dance

gdins.org $15.00

Colours in Mischif

13 Flash cards, language

gdins.org $12.00

Plants Growing Along the River

Metis relationship to plants; cardstock sheets

gdins.org $15.00

Probably Ruby, Lisa Bird-Wilson

Adopted, Ruby strives to find her heritage. Ruby is no angel and will relate to students.

gdins.org $29.95

Road Allowance Kitten: Broken Promises, Wilfred Burton

Continuation. Focus on failure of governments to honor treatis in North America.

gdins.org $17.50

A Short Story Collection of a Life Lived as Road Allowance Metis, Arnolda Dufour Bowes

Short stories that allow students to research topics.

gdins.org $20.00

Asowacikanisa: A Guide to Small Metis Bags

Cultural understanding. Beading.

gdins.org $24.95

The Flower Beadwork People, Sherry Farrell Racette

The history of design transferred to the Metis through floral design and later quill or beading design

gdnis.org $17.50

The Giving Tree: A Retelling of a Traditional Metis Story, Leah Marie Dorion

Many are familiar with other similar stories and can compare them. It focuses on the Metis values.

gdins.org $17.50

I have two main instructional sources for teaching the boarding school era that I have included in binders for students to use as resources (about 100 pages) as well as poetry, documents, maps, etc.  that I won't include here but would be happy to share if anyone is interested.

American Indian Boarding School: An Exploration of Global Ethnic & Cultural Cleansing.  The Ziibiwing Center, Mount Pleasant, Michigan.  Saginaw Chippawa Tribe of Michigan and other Great Lakes Anishinabek. American Indian Boarding Schools: An Exploration of Global Ethnic and Cultural Cleansing - The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition 

The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition:  Truth and Healing Curriculum. Curriculum Resources - The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition 

I have collected numerous materials on the boarding school era.  I have been researching this era for over twenty years.  Here is a list of materials in my classroom that relate to this topic:

Personal Library: The American Boarding School Era

Wallis, Velma

Raising Ourselves

Alaska: Athabaskan

Autobiography

Growing up on the reservation between the ages of traditional tribal life and the modern world.

Smelcer, John

Stealing Indians

Fiction

representative storytelling

In 1950, four Indian teenagers from different parts of American and were institutionalized to eradicate their identieis and cultures far away from home. They only have each other to lean on.

Wallis, Velma

Two Old Women

Alaska: Athabaskan

Fiction

Wilderness Survival

Respecting Elders

In a time of severe famine, two old women were left behind when the group moved on. They relied on their memories of a time when their people survived off the land. Later when their tribe was again suffering, they were ale to help out.

Sterling, Shirley

My Name is Seepeetza

Interior Salish (Canada)

Fiction

Boaring school experiences

A young girl's experiences at a Residential School in Canada. She was only allowed to see her family once a year.

LaFlesche, Francis

The Middle Five: Indian Boys at School

Omaha

Autobiography

Children at boarding school

Nature of language

The author provides a series of sketches of the boys he knew at the boarding school in Nebraska and how they were perceived by the whites at that school.

Momaday, N. Scott

Three Plays: The Indolent Boys, Children of the Sun, & The Moon in Two Windows

Kiowa +

Drama

Boarding School

Runaways

"The Indolent Boys" is based on a story of the 1891 tragedy of runaways from the Kiawa boarding school who froze to death before they could readh home. "Children of the Sun" is based on a legend by Grandmother Spider about an earthly woman and the Sun God. "The Moon in Two Windows" features the children of defeated tro\ibes sent to Carlisle Indian School. It includes Jim Thorpe on the schools famous football team.

Allen, Paula Gunn and Patricia Clark Smith

As Long as the Rivers Flow: The Stories of Nine Native Americans

Various

Biography

"Successes" of the Boarding School Era

 Weetamoo, Geronimo, Will Rogers, Jim Thorpe, Maria Tallchief, Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell, Wilma Pearl Mankiller, Michael Naranjo, Louise Erdrich

Campbell, Nicola I.

Shi-shi-etko

Interior Salish (Canada) & Metis

Children's Book

Leaving home for the Residential School

A little girl keeps connected to her family and culture through nature.

Giago, Tim [Babwuca Jciji]

Children Left Behind: The Dark Legacy of Indian Mission Baording Schools

Oglala Lakota (Sioux)

Autobiography

Abuses and recovery of boarding schools

Native Spirituality

Giago is Oglala Lakota (Sioux) from South Dakota. He is a journalist and is a major voice for Indian Country Today. He attended Holy Rosary Indian Mission School for ten yers. He says he is "speaking for the One-Silenced Voice" through memories, essays, poems, and photos.

Bartleman, James

As Long as the Rivers Flow

Metis-Anishinabe (eastern Canadian)

Fiction

Abuses and recovery of boarding schools

Indian Policy Eras

A young girl from the bush of Onterio is sent to a mission boarding school where she was abused by a priest. As she grows older we wee the effects through addiction and a lack of parenting skills. The adoption era of Canada parallels the same in the United States. She embarks on a journey of redemtion and recovery along with fellow survivors and confronts the priest.

Adams, David Wallace

Education for Extinction: American Indians and the Boarding School Experience 1975-1928

Non-fiction

History

Comprehensive study of the federal Indian policies and rationales for the Boarding Schools.

Thornton, Russell

American Indian Holocaust and Survival: A Population History Since 1492

Non-fiction

Genocide

Well documented genoide and assimilation efforts in North American since the beginning of colonization.

Archuleta, Margaret L., Ed. Brenda J. Child and K. Tsianina Lomawaima

Away from Home: American Indian Baording School Experiences 1879-2000

Diverse Native populations

Non-fiction

Lots of photos and short sections to read that show what is was like for children in the American Boardfing Schools.

Littlefield, Holly

Children of the Indian Boarding School 1879 to Present

Children's Book

Short sections are good for limited readers. I also addressing how to analyse historical photos.

Loyie, Larry. with Wayne K. Spear and Constance Brissenden

Residental Schools with the Words and Images of Survivors

Canadian Residential Schools

Non-fiction

Residential School Experiences

Why the schools failed

While easy to read sections with lots of photos fill the book showing the good and bad experiences of the residential school, Loyie has made this a must read for the Truth and Reconciliation movement in Canada, it will provide a guide in the US for efforts that are just starting.

Loyie, Larry. with Constance Brissenden.

As Long as the Rivers Flow

Cree

Children's Book--semi-autobiographical

Leaving home

It shows the life of a young aboriginal boy in Canada who was forced to attend an Indian Boarding School in 1942.

Child, Brenda J.

Boarding School Seasons

Red Lake Ojibwe [Chippawa]

Non-fiction

Primary documents

Impacts of the Boarding Schools

Letters from students, parents, and administrators from the Flandreau school in South Dakota and the Haskell Institute in Kansas. reveal the impacts of the schools on people's lives.

Carvel, Marlene

Sweetgrass Basket

Mohawk

Fiction/Poetry

Abuse

Impacts of the Boarding Schools

In the past, this was read in iyr feeder middle schools. The kids often want to reread it or read one of her other books. Written in poetry alternating views between two sisters sent to the boarding develop a great rhythm for the reading. This book appeals to some students with lower reading skills.

Iverson, Peter and Wade Davies

We Are Still Here: American Indians since 1890

All

History

Federal Indian Policy

Native resilience

This history follows various phases of Federal Indian Policy to show the unification and resilience of Native Americans affected by these policies. Less "academic" it its writing style than some histories.

Mihesuah, Devon A.

American Indians: Stereotypes & Realities

All

History

Written in a myth-busters format, students can easily connect with common attitudes and misconceptions.

Capaldi, Gina and Q.L. Pearce (adapted by)

Red Bird Sings: The Stroy of Zitkala-Sa, Native Anerican Author, Musician, and Activist

Yankton Sioux

Children's book

Attending boarding school

Native Resistence

This easily read childrens's book covers lots of information in a totally non-intimidating manner.