Teaching Critically About Lewis and Clark: Challenging Dominant Narratives in K-12 Curriculum

by Alison Schmitke, Leilani Sabzalian, Jeff Edmundson

Overview

The Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery is often presented as an exciting adventure story of discovery, friendship, and patriotism. However, this same period in U.S. history can be understood quite differently when viewed through an anticolonial lens and the Doctrine of Discovery. How might educators critically interrogate the assumptions that underlie this adventure story through their teaching? This book challenges dominant narratives and packaged curriculum about Lewis and Clark to support more responsible social studies instruction. The authors provide a conceptual framework, ready-to-use lesson plans, and teaching resources to address oversimplified versions of the Lewis and Clark expedition. Indigenous perspectives, along with contemporary issues, are embedded in each lesson to encourage active and critical engagement with history and the legacies of conquest those living in what is now called the United States have inherited.

Book Features:

• A new look at social studies curriculum about the Corps of Discovery—and Manifest Destiny—through the Doctrine of Discovery.
• Examples of how Indigenous peoples have long engaged in philosophical, legal, and political challenges to the principles of the Doctrine.
• Social studies lesson plans for elementary and secondary classrooms.
• Useful curriculum materials to help teachers present a deeper examination of this topic.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780807763704
Publisher:	Teachers College Press
Publication date:	04/03/2020
Pages:	216
Sales rank:	1,094,517
Product dimensions:	8.40(w) x 11.00(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Alison Schmitke is a senior lecturer and director of the Educational Foundations Program at the University of Oregon. Leilani Sabzalian (Alutiiq) is an assistant professor of indigenous studies in education at the University of Oregon. Jeff Edmundson is a former high school teacher and recently retired after many years as director of the teacher education program at the University of Oregon.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Part I Introduction

1 Beyond Adventure 2

2 The Doctrine of Discovery 13

3 Unpacking Colonial Logics in Lewis and Clark Curriculum 26

Part II Elementary Lesson Plans

Elementary Lesson Plan 1 "We're Still Here" 34

Elementary Lesson Plan 2 What Were the Goals of the Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery? 39

Elementary Lesson Plan 3 The Jefferson Peace Medals 49

Elementary Lesson Plan 4 Sacagawea: Beyond Interpreter and Guide 58

Elementary Lesson Plan 5 "Everything Was Already Loved": Complicating Science and Discovery 70

Elementary Lesson Plan 6 A Stolen Canoe Returned 83

Elementary Lesson Plan 7 A Closer Look at York's Life 91

Part III Secondary Lesson Plans

Secondary Lesson Plan 1 The Stories Maps Tell 102

Secondary Lesson Plan 2 What Were the Goals of the Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery? 111

Secondary Lesson Plan 3 Johnson v. McIntosh (1823) and the Doctrine of Discovery 123

Secondary Lesson Plan 4 Questioning American Progress (John Gast, 1872) 132

Secondary Lesson Plan 5 Standing Rock and the "Larger Story" 137

Secondary Lesson Plan 6 Role Play: The Bicentennial of the Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery 148

Secondary Lesson Plan 7 Revisiting What We Know About York 162

Part IV Teaching Resources

Teaching Resource 1 Native Lands Under Siege 175

Teaching Resource 2 Book Review: Piecing Me Together by Renee Watson (2017) 178

Teaching Resource 3 Partnerships Realized: The Confluence Project 180

Teaching Resource 4 Honoring Tribal Legacies: An Epic Journey of Healing 183

4 Conclusion 185

Appendix: The Standards 187

References 195

Index 201

About the Authors 205

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“This amazing book, and the thoughtful lesson plans included therein, should be required teaching materials in all K–12 classrooms in the United States. The unique and invaluable information that the authors provide will expose students to the federal law that still restricts Native Nations today and will require students to think more critically about this chapter of American history and what they have previously been taught on the subject. This book is revisionist history in the best sense of that tradition because it teaches students a more complete, more true, and more complex history about the Lewis and Clark expedition.”
—Robert J. Miller, professor, Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law, Arizona State University

“The story of the ‘Corps of Discovery’ remains one of the most persistent yet misunderstood historical narratives within K–12 classrooms. Teaching Critically about Lewis and Clark offers rare support for teachers, teacher educators, and schools ‘to challenge these issues, to defend tribal sovereignty, and to stand in solidarity with Indigenous peoples’ (p. 10). The book’s resources and strategies advance historical rigor, contemporary relevance, critical thinking about multiple perspectives, inquiry-based experiences, and alignment with state level initiatives like Montana’s Indian Education for All and Washington’s Since Time Immemorial, all while revitalizing Indigenous histories that have been marginalized or suppressed for 200+ years.”
—Christine Rogers Stanton, associate professor of K–12 social studies education, Montana State University

Editorial Reviews

Not only are the lessons presented in this text practical and relevant to today’s teacher, but the text offers additional teacher resources that truly challenge the dominant narrative surrounding Lewis and Clark. The text supports teachers in understanding the multiple perspectives and vast history surrounding the Doctrine of Discovery. In addition, the resources offer voices other than those of Lewis, Clark, Jefferson, and other prominent white males, instead offering counternarratives. Inherently, the lesson plans and resources push students to dive deeper into the content at hand. Thus, they become active, engaged participants in their learning, leading to their evaluation and challenging of the dominant curriculum.”

—Teachers College Record

“The authors’ efforts to empower students, as both scholars and citizens, to learn and then reconceptualize dominant narratives of exploration and discovery will undoubtedly make the book an invaluable and controversial contribution to contemporary battles over history education.”

—Teaching History: A Journal of Methods

From the Publisher