Stories in Wood: 

Introduction

Totem poles are fascinating pieces of cultural art that reflect the lives of the Pacific Northwest indigenous peoples. This unit uses the mysteries of the totem pole to encourage students to use the provided Internet resources to research the culture of the creators of the totem poles. The students, working cooperatively, will then create their own group totem, using traditional totem figures, and create a myth describing the significance of their totem to the group.

Learners

Students should be familiar with Native American traditions, that there are diverse groups of Native Americans with differing customs and cultures.

• Students will need to be familiar with doing cooperative projects in assigned groups.
• Students will need a grounding in story telling/myth making tradition.
• Student will need critical thinking skills. 

Curriculum Standards

Language Arts Standards Addressed

• Content Standard #1 - Reading and Responding

Students will read and respond in individual, literal, critical and evaluative ways to literary, informational and persuasive texts.

Educational experiences in Grades 5-8 will assure that students:

 • describe the text by giving an initial reaction to the text and describing its general content and purpose;
 

Students will describe the thoughts, opinions and questions that arise as they read, view or listen to a text, then identify the central idea, purpose or theme of a work.
• interpret the text by using prior knowledge and experiences;
 
Students will use what they know to identify or infer important characters, settings, themes, events, ideas, relationships or details within a work and draw conclusions about the author's purpose.


• generate questions before, during and after reading, writing, listening and viewing;
 

Students will ask the answer their own and each other's evaluative and interpretive questions.


• use a variety of strategies to develop an extensive vocabulary;
 

Students will read extensively and apply a variety of vocabulary strategies to ensure advanced levels of comprehension.

• Content Standard #2: Producing Texts

• communicate effectively by determining the appropriate text structure on the basis of audience, purpose and point of view;

 
Students will plan, organize, create and revise visual, written and oral pieces at a level of elaboration appropriate for middle school.
• engage in a process of generating ideas, drafting, revising, editing and publishing or presenting;

 
Students will use and examine the effectiveness of multiple ways of generating ideas (brainstorming, listing, writing, talking, webbing, drawing), then compose, revise, edit and present a variety of products.

3. Content
 
Students will consider, select and apply a range of subject matter, symbols and ideas.
4. History And Cultures
 
Students will understand the visual arts in relation to history and cultures.

3) Historical Themes 

Students will apply their understanding of historical periods, issues and trends to examine such historical themes as ideals, beliefs and institutions; conflict and conflict resolution; human movement and interaction; and science and technology in order to understand how the world came to be the way it is.

9) Places and Regions 

Students will use spatial perspective to identify and analyze the significance of physical and cultural characteristics of places and world regions.

Process

• The group historian will research the history of Native American totem pole carvers.  This will include the history of people and the totem poles which they produced (example: Haida tribe, produced most totem poles of all in S.E. Alaska). 
• The group geographer will explain where the Native American totem pole carvers lived, the climates of these areas, and their lifestyles.  The geographer will also explain the different positionings of various totem poles (example: some totem poles were used as front posts of houses). 
• The village guide will tell of how totem poles are used today.  The guide will detail the social structure of the Native American totem pole carvers, explaining their customs and if these customs thrive today. 
• The spirit guide will explain the belief systems of the Native American totem pole carvers.  The spirit guide will also research the meanings of different animals used in totem poles.  Each role in every group is assigned by the teacher. 

A teacher will need to be knowledgable of the history of the Northwest Native Americans, and the significance and building of totem poles.  A novice teacher is best advised to keep the focus of the webquest on discussion. Students will want to turn this assignment into an art activity. The creation of the totem poles is only the substantiation of the research and writing that precedes it.

Variations

Instead of creating totem poles, students can make animal masks and act out their totem pole stories.
 
 

	Exemplary 4	Accomplished 3	Developing 2	Beginning 1	Self Score	Teacher Score
Writing Process	Group devotes a lot of time and effort to the writing process (prewriting, drafting, reviewing, and editing). Works hard to make the story wonderful.	Group devotes sufficient time and effort to the writing process (prewriting, drafting, reviewing, and editing). Works and gets the job done.	Groups devotes some time and effort to the writing process but was not very thorough.  Does enough to get by.	Group devotes little time and effort to the writing process. Doesn't seem to care.
Group Work	All members participated fully in writing the story.  All members brought their individual research to the discussion.	Most members participated fully in writing the story.  Most members brought their individual research to the discussion.	Some members participated fully in writing the story.  Some members brought their individual research to the discussion.	One  member participated fully in writing the story.  One member brought his/her individual research to the discussion.
Accuracy of Historical Details	Elements and characters of the story reflect Native American culture.	Most elements and characters of the story reflect Native American culture.	Some elements and characters of the story reflect Native American culture.	Few elements and characters of the story reflect Native American culture.
Characters	The main characters are named and clearly described in text as well as in the totem pole. Most readers could describe the characters accurately.	The main characters are named and described. Most readers would have some idea of what the characters looked like.	The main characters are named. The reader knows very little about the characters.	It is hard to tell who the main characters are.
Creativity	The story contains many creative details and/or descriptions that contribute to the reader's enjoyment. The group has really used their imaginations.	The story contains a few creative details  and/or descriptions that contribute to the reader's enjoyment. The group has used their imaginations.	The story contains a few creative details  and/or descriptions, but they distract from the story. The group has tried to use their imaginations.	There is little evidence of creativity in the story. The group does not seem to have used much imagination.
Mechanics	All spelling and puncuation is correct.  Proper grammar is used.  The work is neat and on time.	Most spelling and puncuation is correct.  Proper grammar is used.  The work is neat and on time.	Some spelling and puncuation errors.  Some  grammatical errors are present.  The work is neat and on time.	There many spelling and puncuation errors.  Poor grammar is used.  The work is not neat and late.

Resources Needed

• Computers with Internet access;
• Reference books for the classroom;
• Additional readings chosen by the library media specialist.

Additional or Supplemental Resources

Barth, Kelly.  Native Americans of the Northwest Plateau. Lucent Books: San Diego,  2002.  1560068779.

Hoyt-Goldsmith, Diane.  Potlatch: A Tsimshian Celebration. Holiday House: New York, 1997.   0823412903.

--.  Totem Pole.  Holiday House: New York, 1990.   0823408094.

Jones, Veda Boyd.  Native Americans of the Northwest. Lucent Books: San Diego, 2000.  15690066911.

Levitt, Paul M.  How Raven found the Daylight and Other American Indian.  University Press of Colorado: Boulder, 2000. 1870816012.

McConkey, Lois.  Sea and Cedar : How the Northwest Coast IndiansLlived.  Firefly Books: Buffalo, 1995.  0888943717.

McDermott, Gerald. Raven: A Trickster Tale from the Pacific Northwest.  Harcourt: San Diego, 1993.   0152656618.

Wallis, Velma.  Bird Girl and the Man Who Followed the Sun : an Athabaskan Indian Legend from Alaska. Epicenter Press: Fairbanks, AK, 1996.   0945397348.

Malin, Edward.  Totem Poles of the Northwest Coast. Timber Press:  Portland, OR, 1994.
0881922951.

Stewart, Hilary.  Looking for Totem Poles. University of Washington Press:  Seattle, 1993.    0295972599.

Evaluation

You may want to just copy and paste the evaluation section of the student page into this space and add any clarifications needed for another teacher to make use of this lesson.

Credits & Reference

"We all benefit by being generous with our work. Permission is hereby granted for other educators to copy this WebQuest, update or otherwise modify it, and post it elsewhere provided that the original author's name is retained along with a link back to the original URL of this WebQuest. On the line after the original author's name, you may add Modified by (your name) on (date). If you do modify it, please let me know and provide the new URL."