akedra

The Indian Removal Act & The Trail of Tears
 * DIVERSE TEXT SET ASSIGNMENT **


 * Name: ** Amanda Kedra


 * Context for using the text set: ** This diverse text set will be used in an eighth grade social studies classroom. The classroom is situated in a middle school in an urban area. The students are between the ages of twelve and fourteen, and they show both racial and ethnic diversity. Additionally, the students exhibit a wide range of academic skills and achievement levels. To address this diversity, a variety of materials are used to appeal to students' assortment of learning preferences. With the use of different types of texts, it is hoped that all students will be able to make strong, meaningful connections between the subject matter and their personal experiences in a variety of ways. This text set is used during a unit on the history of westward expansion in the United States from 1807 to 1912. More specifically, these texts focus on the Jacksonian era, especially the passage of the Indian Removal Act in 1830 and the resulting forced relocation of Native Americans, particularly Cherokees, on the Trail of Tears.


 * A. Print Resources: **


 * Text #1: ** Creating America: A History of the United States
 * Citation: Garcia, J. (2007). //Creating America: A history of the United// //States //. Evanston, IL: McDougal Littell.
 * Text Summary: This is a fairly standard textbook chronicling events which have contributed to the 'creation' of America from 1500 until the turn of the twenty-first century. In particular, chapter twelve, titled "The Age of Jackson," provides a vast amount of information on Jackson's policy toward Native Americans.
 * Rationale: This text covers the entire period of westward expansion in the United States, which is the larger unit in which this text set fits. Chapter twelve, focusing on the Jacksonian era, has a section providing detailed information about Jackson's policy toward Native Americans. The categories in this section are all relevant to this unit, including: explanations about the conflict between whites and Native Americans in the southeast, an evaluation of Jackson's removal policy, descriptions of the hardships of the Trail of Tears, and an explanation of how Native American groups in the east resisted removal.
 * Use of text: The textbook provides fundamental background information to students in clear, organized manner. The book serves as the guide to the unit as it presents information both chronologically as well as conceptually. It is useful for quickly referring to information and functions as a factual, non-biased source.
 * Attachment: This was a 515-page book, so I did not include it here.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">Text #2: **<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">Indian Removal Act
 * <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">Citation: //Annals of Congress//, 21st Cong., 1st sess., 411-412.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">Text Summary: This is the official congressional document of the Indian Removal Act, signed into legislation on May 28, 1830.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">Rationale: This document is the Indian Removal Act itself, and lays out the exact terms of the law. It is up to students to decide whether or not the act was justified in relocating the Native American populations.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">Use of text: This document is useful for encouraging students to think like historians and respond to a moral dilemma. Fully understanding this text requires students to be able to read critically and analyze historical vocabulary. Although this text is challenging, it is highly valuable as a primary source document.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">Attachment: See attachment #1 for a copy of this text.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">Text #3: **<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">Life on the Trail of Tears
 * <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">Citation: Fischer, L. (2003). //Life on the trail of tears//. Chicago, IL: Heinemann.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">Text Summary: This text is a picture book part of the series 'Picture the Past.' In simplified terms, it describes the lives of Native Americans on the Trail of Tears during the winter of 1838-1839.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">Rationale: Including a picture book in the text set is highly useful for providing simplified information in a manageable format. The book focuses closely on the events surrounding the Trail of Tears and includes colorful illustrations for visual learners. It also features maps and timelines which can be easier to comprehend than complex text.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">Use of text: This picture book includes several illustrations alongside its text and so it proves useful in helping students make explicit connections between images and text. This helps solidify information in their minds in a highly visual way. As a supplement to the textbook, this picture book provides an additional source of background information and reinforces information embedded in other texts.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">Attachment: This was a 32-page book, so I did not include it here.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">Text #4: **<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">Removal of the Indians
 * <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">Citation: N.A. (1830). Removal of the Indians. //The North American Review, 30//(66), 63.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">Text Summary: This is a chart featured in an article published in 1830.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">Rationale: The chart shows the division of Native Americans in various territories. It helps students recognize population patterns and get a better understanding of the patterns of settlements.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">Use of text: Students can make comparisons of populations. It is also useful to observe general trends and gain insight on how geography may have potentially played a role in Native American communities.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">Attachment: See attachment #2 for a copy of this text.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">Text #5: **<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">The Never-ending Trail
 * <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">Citation: Jones, A. (1994-2013). //The never-ending trail//. Retrieved March 24, 2013 from About North Georgia Website at []
 * <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">Text Summary: This is an emotional poem by Abe "Del" Jones.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">Rationale: Including a poem adds variety to factual, dense texts.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">Use of text: This is an important piece of literature and engages students in the process of storytelling. Reading this text aloud could evoke emotion in students, as well as serve as a form of commemoration for the forcibly removed Native Americans.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">Attachment: See attachment #3 for a copy of this text.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">B. Media Resources **


 * <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">Text #6: **<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';"> The Trail of Tears
 * <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">Citation: Lindneux, R. (1942). //The trail of tears//. Retrieved from []
 * <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">Text Summary: This is a painting which portrays the Cherokee Indians traveling away from their homelands to undesirable, deserted lands.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">Rationale: The image brings the Trail of Tears to life and reminds students of the real tragedy endured by the Native American peoples.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">Use of text: A detailed painting like this serves as an ideal supplement to complex texts. The painting can be examined and used to being a discussion among students.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">Attachment: See attachment #4 for a copy of this text.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">Text #7: **<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">Indian Removal Act 1830 Andrew Jackson
 * <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">Citation: Storiesofusa. (2010, August 12). //Indian removal act 1830// //<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">Andrew Jackson //<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';"> [Video file]. Retrieved March 24, 2013 from []
 * <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">Text Summary: This is an online video about the Indian Removal Act.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">Rationale: Various historians in this video describe how the Cherokees were unique in the sense that they decided to fight the eviction. They took the state of Georgia to court and the case went all the way to the Supreme Court. In an extremely historic decision, Chief Justice John Marshall ruled in favor of the Cherokee, ruling that they did not have to move. However, Jackson thought differently. The Cherokee were rounded up at gunpoint and forced to move west.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">Use of text: This resource is unique compared to the rest as it is the only one which mentions the tensions which mounted between the executive and judicial branches of government about Indian removal. The video also explains the significance of the term the Trail of Tears, relating it to the Cherokees witnessing their numbers severely dwindle.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">Attachment: See wiki for website.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">C. Online interactive resources **


 * <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">Text #8: **<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">The Trail Where They Cried Web Quest
 * <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">Citation: Taylor, C. (2002). //Trail of tears//. Retrieved March 24, 2013 from Trail of Tears Website at []
 * <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">Text Summary: This is a web quest designed to last approximately nine weeks. Interestingly, it places students in the context of young Cherokees in 1838 forced with the possibility of removal.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">Rationale: The website's content is appropriate for, and appealing to, middle school students. There are also several links to other useful websites as well as historical photographs and publications.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">Use of text: The website allows students to engage in a unique form of perspective-taking. Students begin their journey by choosing a Native American name and then completing nine distinct activities which include comprehension questions and vocabulary activities.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">Attachment: See wiki for website.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">Text #9: **<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">Indian Removal Act of 1830 Super Quiz
 * <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">Citation: N.A. (2007-2013). //Indian removal act of 1830//. Retrieved March 24, 2013 from Review Game Zone Website at []
 * <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">Text Summary: This is an online quiz which asks questions about key figures involved with the forced relocation of Native Americans.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">Rationale: This short quiz is valuable for reinforcing basic material and checking comprehension. It also serves as a review for assessment.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">Use of text: The questions are straight-forward and regardless of students' answers, the correct answer is shown immediately following the question. To a certain extent, this is useful in making explicit associations and allows for highly interactive assessment.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">Attachment: See wiki for website.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">D. Instructional Resources **


 * <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">Text #10: **<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';"> The Rhetoric of Removal and the Trail of Tears
 * <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">Citation: Strickland, W. M. (1982). The rhetoric of removal and the trail of tears: Cherokee speaking against Jackson's Indian removal policy, 1828-1832. //Southern Speech Communication Journal, 47//(3), 292-309.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">Text Summary: This is a journal article in which the author discusses the efforts of Cherokee Indians to prevent the Cherokees' forced removal from their native lands east. This forced relocation later became known as the Trail of Tears. The author analyzes rhetorical strategies which Cherokee speakers used to combat the Indian Removal Act of 1830, and attempts to explain the reasons why these strategies ultimately failed at protecting the rights of the Cherokees.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">Rationale: This article offers interesting material about the Cherokees' attempts to fight back the system which desecrated their lands and decimated their populations. As a scholarly article, this piece of text refers greatly to primary sources, which are always highly useful when studying a historical event. The author helps to explain why the forced migration became coined the Trail of Tears, offering insight into how the Cherokees unfairly suffered. It also presents a unique argument: that Cherokees lacked the opportunities and resources to wage war with their oppressors, and so they relied upon a rhetorical campaign to deter their removal.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">Use of text: This text is useful in enriching the teacher's background knowledge on the plight of the Cherokee Indians after the passage of the Indian Removal Act. It is helpful as it quotes President Jackson's messages on Indian removal, as well as provide direct responses from Cherokee leaders at the time. In general, the article provokes strong feelings of sympathy for the Cherokees.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">Attachment: This was a 17-page article, so I did not include it here.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">Using these texts together in the classroom: **

<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">For this unit, the textbook serves as the main guide or blueprint for the rest of the texts. Instead of having all students read all of the information presented in the text, I would use a jigsaw and assign different parts of the text to different expert groups. Students would then relay information to each other to gain a complete understanding of the material in the textbook. As for the rest of the texts, it is expected that all students will engage with all materials. The textbook alone is not sufficient for student learning, it must be supplemented and expanded upon by other resources. The picture book offers a simplified version to solidify students' foundational knowledge. Examining a primary source, i.e. the Indian Removal Act itself, illustrates to students that the document had very real consequences for Native Americans. The population chart provides tangible evidence about the composition of populations, while the poem offers a new perspective and, in conjunction with the painting, helps in commemorating the suffering endured by the victimized Native Americans. The online video offers a unique perspective and demonstrates the significance of events in greater details while the online simulation facilitates students in making a highly personal connection to the material. In the end, the quiz can serve as a type of self-assessment to test students' ability to connect all of the information. The final text intended to build the teacher's background knowledge can be useful indirectly throughout the unit when it is deemed relevant. Overall, these texts in combination allow for a creative approach to the unit. It is essential that students can acknowledge the differences among the texts, yet it is also important that they examine the similarities.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">Learning Objectives: **

<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">Students will evaluate the impact of Andrew Jackson's passage of the Indian Removal Act of 1830 on the Cherokee Indians.

<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">Rhode Island Social Studies GSE:

<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">Civics & Government Standard 3 (7-8) 2b. Students demonstrate an understanding of how individuals and groups exercise (or are denied) their rights and responsibilities by identifying and explaining how an action taken by an individual or group impacts the rights of others.

<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">Rhode Island Reading GLE:

<span style="font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif';">Reading Standard 8-8.1 (8) Analyze and interpret informational text, citing evidence as appropriate by explaining connections about information //within// a text, //across// texts, or to related ideas.