Want professional development that provides educational resources for you and your fellow educators? Want graduate credit for free? Want to see your ideas come to life?
If you are a classroom teacher, culture teacher, museum educator or paraprofessional, we want your input.
We will work with educators to create games and lessons teaching Indigenous and rural history using primary sources. Of course, if these lessons included math or science, we would be thrilled. Educators will work with facilitators, Professors Annmaria De Mars, Juliana Taken Alive and Dan Conn in a series of three workshops, to create game designs and lessons using those games.
We will be creating one game for upper elementary (grades 3-5) and a second game with the grade level to be determined by participants in this cohort and the next.
The next cohort begins Friday, December 13th, from 4-6pm Central Time. All sessions will be offered on Zoom. However, the final session is at MSU the Friday the Minot State powwow begins and travel funds are available for participants. You have the option to attend the last session in person or online.
CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.7.RP.A.1 Analyze proportional relationships and use them to solve real-world and mathematical problems.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.6-8.1 Write arguments focused on discipline-specific content.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.6-8.6 Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and present the relationships between information and ideas clearly and efficiently.
⏰ Time
Three to four hours. Time varies depending on the time allowed for research online and whether presentation will be submitted in writing or include presentation or video.
📲 Technology Required
Either a project or smart board connected to the computer will be required to view presentation in class and students will need a computer or tablet to conduct research on the web. The game can be played on any computer or tablet with Internet access.
Summary
This cross-curricular lesson includes history, mathematics, English language arts, computer applications and physical education. Students play a game which teaches about Native American veterans in World War I. They are given a presentation on the accomplishments of veteran, Joseph Oklahombi. In P.E. class, students sprint 210 yards to simulate Oklahombi’s attack. They are assigned to create a presentation to nominate Oklahombi for the Congressional Medal of Honor. This may include Google Slides, PowerPoint or video presentations.
The writing assignment and an outline for a guide are included in the presentation. This can be printed or copied and distributed to students through Google Classroom, Schoology or other CMS.
Physical Education
During P.E., have students measure out 210 yards, set out obstacles to dodge and jump over (backpacks with stacks of books would be a good choice) and sprint down the course, simulating Oklahombi’s attack on the machine gun nests.
Students will need to access the internet for their research. There are many reputable sites with information on Joseph Oklahombi, including the Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian, Oklahoma Historical Society, Veteran’s Administration and more. Optionally, students may submit their assignment as a video or slide presentation or write it using a word processor.
Differentiation
For students who have learning disabilities or other limits on writing ability, an oral presentation or video may be submitted in lieu of the written assignment.
Become proficient in use of Google apps Drive, Docs, Slides and Meet software for editing and sharing documents, presentation and videoconferencing.
Use Google Drawings, Chrome extensions e.g., Sketchpad, for creating graphics.
Use audio editing software to edit sound files.
Use educational software to learn and reinforce skills and concepts in mathematics.
Conduct original research on culture and natural environment of our community through outdoor education.
Conduct original research on history, culture and natural environment of our community and other Indigenous peoples through Internet and library research.
Conduct original research on history, culture and natural environment of our community and other Indigenous peoples through oral histories.
Real-world applications: Critical thinking and professional skills development
Record oral history interviews
Edit notes to include ideas from the video and interviews from Module 4.
Outline presentation or report to be given/submitted in Module 7.
For those opting to present, craft a brief professional email to request a meeting with the software team to present your feedback and game suggestions.
Module 6
Getting your point across: Preparing presentations/reports
Record oral history interviews
Edit notes to include ideas from the video from Module 5.
Create audio, graphics or video for your game based on oral histories
Game design in action: Insights, enhancements and feedback
Prepare feedback/enhancement presentation using Powerpoint or Google Slides. Five-minute presentation plus five-minutes of discussion. For those who prefer not to present, draft a 1-2 page game design report.
Present to software design team via Google hangout, Zoom or Microsoft Teams
CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.8.EE.A.1 Know and apply the properties of integer exponents to generate equivalent numerical expressions. For example, 32 × 3-5 = 3-3 = 1/33 = 1/27.
CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.5.NBT.B.7 Add, subtract, multiply, and divide decimals to hundredths,
NOTE: Although the examples in this assignment primarily use scientific notation, it could be easily modified to include any area of mathematics above the fourth-grade level.
TIME
120 minutes – including time to play game and create problems and activities.
TECHNOLOGY REQUIRED
A projector and computer in class or a computer, phone or tablet at home is required to watch the videos, see the Google slides and play the Making Camp Lakota game. It is not required but strongly recommended that students have access to Google apps or Office 365 to edit and store their notes.
LESSON SUMMARY
This is the second in a multi-lesson unit designed to assess student mathematics proficiency by playing games that teach about Indigenous cultures that have embedded math problems. It also requires students to create their own math activities and math problems.
LESSON
Introduce today’s lesson with slide presentation
This lesson assumes your class did the previous lesson, Math Assessment and Ojibwe culture, where they were introduced to the purposed of the unit and (recommended) created a Google slides or doc file where they are taking notes.
The Making Camp Lakota game teaches Lakota culture and division with single-digit divisors. Even older students should enjoy the game play aspects and the videos on Lakota history and culture. Middle school students should breeze through the math problems. These are recorded in the database for teachers to review student progress.
Each game in the series in this unit is gradually more difficult math problems.
Students create their own, grade-level math problems
The slides presentation instructs students, for each math activity, to create an example that could be used at their grade level. Most of the examples in this presentation are using scientific notation, but students should be instructed that they can use any math problems beyond simple division. That could be fractions, decimals or even long-division. Teachers can modify the slides at the end of the presentation to require a specific topic, for example, adding fractions without a common denominator.
ASSESSMENT
Making Camp Lakota teacher reports are available for assessing student answers in Data and Reports. Students also write their own problems and answers that the teacher can use for assessing abilities at application and creation levels of Bloom’s taxonomy.
This lesson is appropriate for students whose math is from fourth- through eighth-grade level. The mathematics in the game is at the fourth-grade level but student assignments can be as simple as long division or as complex as multi-step equations with negative exponents.
CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.8.EE.A.1 Know and apply the properties of integer exponents to generate equivalent numerical expressions. For example, 32 × 3-5 = 3-3 = 1/33 = 1/27.
NOTE: Although the examples in this assignment use exponents, it could be easily modified to include any area of mathematics above the fourth-grade level.
TIME
120 minutes – including time to play game and create problems and activities.
TECHNOLOGY REQUIRED
A projector and computer in class or a computer, phone or tablet at home is required to watch the videos, see the Google slides and play the Making Camp Premium game. It is not required but strongly recommended that students have access to Google apps or Office 365 to edit and store their notes.
LESSON SUMMARY
This is the first in a multi-lesson unit designed to assess student mathematics proficiency by playing games that teach about Indigenous cultures that have embedded math problems. It also requires students to create their own math activities and math problems.
Even students who are Native American themselves sometimes need to be reminded when asked to apply mathematics to needs of Indigenous communities. This seven-minute video on Tribal Epidemiology Centers is a great example to get students thinking.
Play a Game
The Making Camp Premium game teaches Ojibwe culture, multiplication and division. Even older students should enjoy the game play aspects and the videos on Ojibwe history and culture. Middle school students should breeze through the math problems. These are recorded in the database for teachers to review student progress.
Students create their own, grade-level math problems
The slides presentation instructs students, for each math activity, to create an example that could be used at their grade level. The two examples in the presentation use exponents but students are told they can use any mathematics above multiplication and division. That could be fractions, decimals or even long-division. Teachers can modify the slides at the end of the presentation to require a specific topic, for example, adding fractions without a common denominator.
ASSESSMENT
Making Camp Premium teacher reports are available for assessing student answers in Data and Reports. Students also write their own problems and answers that the teacher can use for assessing abilities at application and creation levels of Bloom’s taxonomy.
📖Standards NBEA.PF.3 Develop and evaluate a spending/savings plan.
⏰Time 90 minutes
📲Technology Required Teachers will need a computer connected to a projector or smart board to show the presentation or video. Students will need access to Excel, Sheets or other spreadsheet software.
📃Summary Students will participate in a class discussion on the importance of budgeting and be presented an example of a personal budget. Students complete a personal budget using estimated or actual expenses and income. The lesson concludes with students watching videos that guide them through deciding on a long-term purchase using a spreadsheet.
Assign the budget worksheet to students. This sheet can be opened and completed in Google Docs or downloaded and completed as a Word file. If students prefer, they can create a table in Sheets or Excel.
Project: How Good is Your Budget?
NOTE: This activity is part of the Applied Digital Skills curriculum through Google for Education. You do NOT need to create a classroom in the Applied Digital Skills program to complete this lesson. The only activity that requires sign-in is submitting a quiz at the end, which is really just an evaluation of how well the student liked the lesson.
In the previous activity, students completed a budget. In this activity, students complete the research a long-term purchase using a spreadsheet. Although the videos are done by Google and use Google sheets, the steps in creating and duplicating a formula work identically in Microsoft Excel. The video examples use selecting a cell phone and phone plan but students can use any other expense that interests them, including renting an apartment or buying a car. Teachers can copy and paste the instructions below into their Google classroom.
Instructions to Students
Watch the Google for Education videos that you will find here on researching a long-term purchase.
2. Create a spreadsheet following the instructions in the videos. You can follow the video example of selecting a cell phone or use another long-term purchase, such as a car.
3. Submit your spreadsheet.
4. Submit a document in Word or Google doc explaining which option you picked and why.
ASSESSMENT:
Students will participate in a class discussion and complete the two budget worksheets for teacher review.
Differentiation:
You may wish for students to play the Crossroads: New Decisions game budgeting module.
IMPORTANT NOTE TO TEACHERS: As this game was developed for youth in high-risk situations it includes game levels on making a safety plan, the Adverse Childhood Events Scale and other topics not normally covered in the classroom. It would be most appropriate for students in a therapeutic setting or in a life skills class where topics such as abuse are discussed. If you are not familiar with the ACES, please check the questions here.
ND STATE STANDARDS:
ND 5.12.1.0 Develop and evaluate a spending/savings plan..
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.8.4 Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
📲Technology Required
Any Internet enabled device
⏰Time
Day 1: 45 minutes, Day 2 (a week later): 30 minutes
📃Summary
Students watch a 12-minute video that gives time management tips for students. They complete a worksheet to assess where they spend their time and identify changes they would like to make. As a class, students discuss their own time management strategies. Out of class, students track their time usage for a week. In the follow-up lesson, students review in writing and class discussion how well they predicted their time usage and strategies for improving time management in the future.
Lesson
Discuss how time management relates to financial literacy
We recommend introducing the lesson with a brief discussion of how time management relates to financial literacy. We’ve all heard that time is money, so this 10-lesson unit on financial literacy begins with time management. Truly, students need to find the time to get a job, keep a job or write a budget, so it starts here.
Watch a video on time management
A 12-minute video on how to manage your time as a student
Writing Assignment
Have students download and complete the time management tips worksheet. You can copy and paste the instructions below into your Google classroom or other classroom management system.
Instructions for time management worksheet
This is an assignment that we will be using throughout the financial literacy unit. AFTER you have watched the assigned video, start today with pages 2 and 3 of the worksheet.
Open a Google doc and answer the 3 questions from page 2 on how you spend your time, your priorities and what you want to stop doing.
On page 3 of the worksheet, Ellen discusses four methods of time management. In your Google doc, answer these questions – Which one appeals to you the most? Why do you think that will work for you? ANSWER IN COMPLETE SENTENCES. For example, “I think the time blocking would work best for me because I tend to get bored and jump from one task to another. That wastes a lot of time remembering where I left off.”
Track Your Time Homework
You can copy and paste the instructions below into your Google classroom or other classroom management system.
Instructions for time tracking assignment
Where does the time go? If you are like most people, you did not come up with 24 hours accounted for in your time management worksheet assignment. For the next week, track how you spend your time each day. The easiest way to do this for most people is using the notes app on their phone. If you don’t have your phone with you all of the time, a piece of paper and a pen will work just as well.
EVERY day for one week, record how you spend your time. For example, “Midnight to 7am – sleeping. 7-8 Got ready for school. 8-8:30 Bus to school. 8:30- 2:30 – classes. 2:30 – 4:30 basketball practice. 4:30-5 Bus home. 5-6 Dinner. 6-7 Study. 7-8 Played GTA game. 8-9 Talk to friend online 9-9:30 study 9:30 – 11 Watch YouTube. 11-12 Sleep.”
Your activities must add up to 24 hours each day.
The easiest way to keep an accurate account is to write down how many minutes or hours you spent immediately after you finish doing something, for example, 12:00- 12:15 TikTok
HINT: To spur the next week’s discussion, it may be helpful for the teacher to do this activity as well.
DISCUSSION
After watching the video and answering the questions in writing, students discuss the following questions as a class. You may wish to simply ask each question, or use this slides presentation to show the questions. Students learning at home can answer the questions in writing.
What are some things you do to try to be efficient with your time?
Do you have a strategy for your time management?
How could you become better at time management? Did you identify any ways you spend your time that you would like to change?
After completing the written assignment, students discuss questions as a class. You may wish to simply ask each question, or use this slide presentation to show the questions. Students learning at home can answer the questions in writing.
Did anything about how you spent your time surprise you? Did you spend more or less time on some activities than you thought you did?
How helpful do you think tracking your time was for you?
Did you use any of the time management strategies suggested in the video? If so, how did those work for you?
HINT: It may be helpful to lead off the discussion with your own answers to these questions.
Assessment
Students will submit responses to worksheet questions for teacher comment. Since this assignment is primarily asking for student opinions, we recommend marking the worksheet assignment as 100% if completed with the student using complete sentences to answer the question regarding page 3, 90% if all questions are answered but not with complete sentences.
For the time tracking assignment
State Standards
ND STATE STANDARDS:
North Dakota Business Education Standard 3.3a.1.13 Describe appropriate time management techniques and their application/transference to the workplace.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.6-8.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary specific to domains related to history/social studies. Dine’ Content Standard for Grades 7-8 (Government) 4.PO.2 – I will identify changes in customs and goods. Dine’ Content Standard for Grades 7-8 (Culture) 1.PO.2 – I will show responsibility by knowing the stories related to my belongings.
⏰ Time
30 minutes
📲 Technology required
This lesson requires a Chromebook, PC or Mac computer with an Internet connection.
📃 Summary
Students watch a video by Albert Brent Chase, a longtime Navajo culture educator. Next, students read a passage on sheep resources and rug weaving in Navajo history. The video, How It’s Made: Navajo Rugs is also provided in this lesson. Students end the lesson playing Making Camp Navajo and designing their own rugs.
📚 Lesson
Set up the lesson by watching a video
Arizona lands rug, by Albert Chase
In this five-minute video, Navajo weaver Albert Chase gives an overview of creating a pictorial rug with Germantown yarn.
Read a passage on sheep resources after the Navajo Long Walk
The article , Post-Long Walk Sheep Resources and Rug Weaving , can be added to your own Google drive and assigned to students. It can be printed out or students can complete on their computers.
Complete two vocabulary assignments
Students provide definitions of vocabulary words based only on the context clues from the reading assignment. Next, they look up the definition of each word in the dictionary and compare their original definitions with those in the dictionary.
Go to the page that gives choices of numbers, life or random. Pick LIFE. (If this is your first time playing the game, you will have to play through the introduction to get to this page.
Select the middle picture, the one with the woman weaving, to learn more about Navajo weaving and make your own rugs.
Assessment
This lesson plan is assessed through the student assignments for vocabulary definitions. The student completion of the rug-making assignment can be documented by screenshots of their rugs. Students design a digital rug design in the Rug Design Tool and share the results with the class. The teacher can then post them in an online gallery for everyone to see.
CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.7.RP.A.2 Recognize and represent proportional relationships between quantities
⏰ Time
30 minutes
📲 Technology Required
Either a project or smart board connected to the computer will be required to view presentation and videos in class or students will need a computer to watch during a web meeting. The game can be played on any computer or tablet with Internet access.
📃 Summary
Students play the Making Camp Navajo game, selecting the activity that explains ratio and proportion. The teacher reviews the activity with the class in a presentation, that includes three more problems to be completed as a group.
📚 Lesson
1. Play Making Camp Navajo and Learn Ratio and Proportion
Begin the lesson with students playing Making Camp Navajo. The following instructions can be pasted into a document linked to an assignment in your Google classroom or other system, or just printed out or written on the board.
Play Making Camp Navajo for an introduction to ratio and proportion
Select the icon for Making Camp Navajo. You may need to scroll down to see it. The icon looks like this:
Login with your username and password your teacher gave you.
Play through the introduction and until you get to the page with Numbers, Life and Random as choices, click on the Numbers box.
Play the two activities that have a girl holding a lamb and an ear of corn. These will teach you about ratio and proportion and give you a few example problems and how to solve them. The two activities you are supposed to select are shown below.
Activities introducing ratio and proportion
2. Review definitions of ratio and proportion with more examples
To reinforce the information, in the presentation, use this 30-slide deck.
The first 13 slides review the information from the game and the subsequent 17 explain how to solve for an equivalent ratio and provide additional examples to solve as a class.
Assessment
Students’ knowledge of ratio and proportion is addressed by problems within the game and by the problems in the presentation, solved together in class.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.6-8.6 Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and present the relationships between information and ideas clearly and efficiently.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.6-8.1 Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources.
⏰ Time
200 minutes (approximately 5 class periods)
📲 Technology Required
Students will use the Internet to find a minimum of 12 appropriate images to represent their topic. Students will need access to a device with Google Slides to create calendar.
📃 Summary
This lesson plan allows students to explore a topic of interest to create an informational calendar. Students are to pick a topic, include an image for each month, brief explanation and source for that image. At the end of the project, students perform a self-assessment.
📚 Lesson
Introduce Assignment to Students
Calendar Assignment
In this assignment, you will be creating a personalized calendar using Google slides. Your calendar must consist of a minimum of 13 pages an include the following:
A title slide with introduction of the topic.
A page for each month with:
An image related to your topic
Text explaining the image and its relationship to the topic.
A link to a source for the image and information on the page.
Janna Jensen, IT specialist from North Dakota, laminates each page in the calendar and binds the pages for a personalized gift from students to parents or other special people in their lives. If you have limited funds, you can just laminate the first and last page for durability, or skip lamination altogether if you don’t have a laminator.
If, like me, you don’t have a binding machine, you can just use a 3-hole punch and twist ties from cables or bags of bread. Ask the lunchroom staff to save some for you.
My first time ever using a laminator.
Make this assignment your own!
I highly recommend encouraging your students to improvise with this assignment. They can find another template on line, insert pages in between months so that each month has a large scale image at top – the possibilities are endless.
TIME
TECHNOLOGY REQUIRED
LESSON SUMMARY
LESSON
