Lesson Plan Culturally Responsive: Intro to/understanding Worldview – Introduction to Treaties

Subject: Social Studies Grade: 8

Topic: Understanding Worldview

Materials:
-Treaty Essential Learning Package
- markers
-4 large pieces of paper

Management Strategies
This class will begin by students brainstorming their current knowledge of what a treaty
is/understandings surrounding the creation of treaties – with a post-it note discussion
connecting to all current knowledge. The class will then be working in 4 groups to summarize a
page from the provided resource in which they will present to the class a large group to begin in
our discussion in applying understanding of treaties. During presentations students will take
notes on knowledge gained from each group presentation.
Stage 1- Desired Results – you may use student friendly language

What do they need to understand, know, and/or able to do?

 Psychomotor: Will discuss how treaties impact the physical domain of Indigenous ways of
knowing – physically how long do treaties last? How has treaty impacted the physical health
of individuals?

 Affective: Will discuss emotional, social, and spiritual impacts of treaties and how they might
differ variant to region/specific group. Furthermore how treaties not being appropriately
adhered to impacts indigenous peoples.

 Cognitive: Will discuss the specific promises made through Saskatchewan treaties, as well
which treaties and groups were impacted in Saskatchewan.

Stage 2- Assessment

Assessment FOR Learning (formative) Assess the students during the learning to help determine
next steps.
Throughout large, and small group analysis of the resource students will discuss their understandings
of their readings in a small group setting and then present it to class where they will be graded on
their ability to articulate the main insights from their readings. Further, students will be expected to
be attentive and take notes from their peers presentations and be able to reiterate knowledge gained
in class in a final unit exam that my cooperative teacher has ready. I will also check their notes for
completion as this will help me gauge student interest and knowledge on their holistic understanding
of treaties and how they benefit both indigenous and non-indigenous peoples

Assessment OF Learning (summative) Assess the students after learning to evaluate what they have
learned.
At the end of the unit there will be an exam that will test the students overall understanding of
wellness.

Stage 3- Learning Plan

Activity Sequence
Time

Share peer knowledge 5-10

Motivational Set-YouTube video 5
Group Learning/Jigsaw 15
Classroom discussion/Group Presentation 25-30
Summary/Key Insights 10

Motivational/Anticipatory Set
To begin this unit, I will be introducing treaty education, students will have the opportunity to
showcase their previous knowledge in a post it ‘what you know’ activity at the beginning of class. We
will then move into small groups to read/further discover what treaties are and what the implications
are for us today. After a small class discussion we will watch a quick informative youtube video that
give a clear succinct summary of the concept of treaties. Following the video, we will break off into
groups to effectively summarize the readings
Main Procedures/Strategies:

Skill or Concept Learning Teaching and Observation Points

Activities
YouTube
Understanding treaties video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQr9zpCWe5Q

Jigsaw After we have set boundaries on creating an

Understanding/Identifying environment for effective sharing. 4 groups will split
key understandings of and read their designated resource and come up with
treaty education clear ideas that will effectively summarize their
 sections to help their peers understand the concepts
provided.

Small Group Be able to indicate important concepts from your

Identifying own resource Presentations section of the reading and be able to take and retain
summary information from each of the presentations.
Organizing thoughts and concepts clearly through a
note taking strategy provided by instructor (see
attached)

Adaptations/Differentiation:
Students will have the opportunity to work in groups, and those with exceptional understandings of
the concepts will have the opportunity to share with their classmates why they believe so as well as
apply different knowledges based on community wellness to the classroom. Those having a harder
time grasping concepts will have the opportunity to work with myself or an EA with differentiated
instruction as it will be easier to work towards a more succinct understanding in small groups

Closing /Summary of lesson:

In closing I will get the students to pick which facts they felt were essential to understanding treaties,
and to highlight those facts in their notes as important

Attached is a sample of what this days lesson looks like

Treaties – We are all Treaty People (student notes)
Introduction / background
Where are you from?
We all have a homeland.
Many of us have travelled far to be here.
Some of us have always been here (our families have always been
here).
Many of us have immigrated to Canada for many reasons.
Did your family immigrate?
Why? When? How?
Intro video
Student Notes:
Treaty is a legal document outlining agreements between Nations.
The Treaties OTC – (Treaty Essential Learning – We are All Treaty
People) possible student presentation insights

Fire(pg 12) Earth (pg10)

 Treaty 4,5,6 were made  First Nations(FN) people first
due to the depletion of people of North America
buffalo and disease  diverse groups of FN (not all
 Treaty 10 negotiated from the same)
lowering fur trade prices  Dakota and Lakota not in
 Treaty 2 covers a very treaty
small part of  Creator witness to the treaty -
saskatchewan and is treaties are sacred
mostly located in  Purpose of treaties:
Manitoba agreements entered into for
the purpose to benefit both
parties involved (symbiotic)
 Cree word ->Wîtaskêwin -
meaning living together in
harmony - allowing fair and
equitable access to resources.
Water (pg13) Wind (pg11)
 treaties are : solemn,  Royal Proclamation of 1763
sacred and lasting recognized the FN as sovereign
 treaties create obligations nations
for treaty partners  Canada = Independent country
 Crown and FN made an in 1867
agreement  Prairies = first treaties
 treaties = solemn negotiated
 treaties = enforceable  land was the main motivation
obligation for treaty making
 The Crown expected
peaceful access
Important/Repetitive Insights:
-Treaties are solemn, treaties are sacred
-Treaties are beneficial to settlers and indigenous peoples
-Treaties benefit settlers by giving safe passage, access to land and
resources
-Treaties should benefit FN peoples if parameters are followed through
land access, education, access to medicine and survival of cultural and
spiritual traditions
-Treaties 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, and 10 completely cover Saskatchewan

If time permitting or possibly connecting to separate curricular outcomes, as

a class we can maybe take the time to analyze/outline how the traditional
worldviews of all cultural backgrounds would differ from the standard
Canadian and indigenous worldviews
 Sample of Student Notes(furthering understanding)
Worldview
Introduction / background
Worldview (Formal OTC Definition pg 26) - A comprehensive view or
philosophy of life, the world and, the universe. It is the view of life that
shapes how people interact and respond to the world around them; it
influences, shapes, and interprets what people experience and provides
them with a sense of vision for the future.
Worldview (jot note definition): A set of beliefs; the way an individual
or group sees and understands the world.

How do you understand the world?

Who/What influences your worldview? How?

What is your worldview?

First Nations people’s worldview is generally holistic and interrelated
- all aspects of life and understanding are interconnected and cannot
be separate/self centered.
Western Understanding - less interconnected more linear.
 I developed this lesson plan in efforts to create a space where all students felt that their

cultures were represented, further this lesson plan creates an opportunity to outline the severe

differences of worldview and connect this to the creation of treaties and how understandings may

have differed. As well, the simple differences of worldview impacting the systems in which

communications and agreements were and continue to be made. This lesson is a great stepping

stone to a number of other units that could be taught in relation. I chose to provide visuals for

students to see and understand differences so that there could be a variety of ways students could

understand the concepts presented. I considered using another activity in which individuals are

given the opportunity to trace out their hands and outline the aspects of their identity that they

feel are most connected to how they live their lives as an individual and how they fit in the larger

community of the circle around their hands which will represent their community around them

and how that larger community can impact the individual. This concept/activity was not received

very well from the students as they found it confusing and hard to follow so I decided to

eliminate it from my lesson plan and put further focus on other activities to help students fully

grasp a concept. My lesson plan was designed to allow students and respond to the differing

worldviews represented in our class. For this lesson plan I as well had students going through

the resources as a large class, taking notes as I read through the content, when using this strategy

on the first day students had a hard time focusing and pulling out the important insights, so for

the next day we divided into groups where each group was responsible for a small section and

then was relied on to summarize the section and present it to their peers, this management

strategy was much more successful justifying why I decided to incorporate this management

strategy for the worldview lesson. This management strategy also allows for group members to

participate in an area that they feel confident participating in in a smaller group setting with some
individuals reading out loud, others listening and pulling out insights and finally someone to take

the concepts and write them down on a poster paper. In the future I hope to find more

engaging/visual resources that students can utilize for this learning as I feel that that would keep

content more relevant and engaging for all types of students, as well I would try to incorporate

some sort of place based learning where I could take students outside of the classroom and have

them learning in a different space from their standard environment. I believe that I achieved the

outcome that I planned instruction to address a range of cultural needs as I allowed student the

opportunity to read and present their own section/understanding after reading a resource, and

then furthermore provided students with a note taking strategy that seeks to help with material

retention, and finally I allowed students the opportunity to learn through peer presentation of

content. This instructional style gave a variety of visual and auditory cues for students to gain a

more whole understanding of the concepts presented.