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March 05
Today is Native American writer Leslie Marmon Silko's birthday.
Grades | 3 – 12 |
Calendar Activity Type | Author & Text |
Leslie Marmon Silko, born in 1948 and raised in the Laguna Pueblo in New Mexico, proudly proclaims her mixed Native American, Mexican, and White heritage. As a writer, Silko draws on the stories she heard from her great-grandmother at Laguna. The oral tradition of storytelling, she insists, is alive and well for anyone who takes the time to listen to others. Silko's most widely taught novel, Ceremony, deals with a young World War II veteran's return to his Indian reservation.
To celebrate Silko's birthday, your students can revive elements of the oral tradition.
Have students write a brief anecdote about something funny that happened to them recently. Have students limit their writing to no more than a paragraph. Then ask students to read what they have written several times to themselves. Next, in pairs, have students tell each other their stories without looking at what they wrote. Each pair should then join with another pair and tell each other their stories, again without looking at what they wrote. Stop the class at this point and ask students to look back at what they have written to see if their stories have changed in the telling. Why do these changes happen? Finally, have students move into a larger group and retell someone else's story as well as they can. Before wrapping up, students should discuss some of the elements of oral storytelling: what makes a good story? What changes in the retelling and why?
Have students interview older family members to learn about family stories that may have been passed down through generations. Students may wish to share these stories in class or write them down and illustrate them.
- Native Voices: Leslie Marmon Silko
This resource from American Passages offers a brief biography of Silko, as well as teaching tips and questions for her novel Ceremony.
- Leslie Marmon Silko (Laguna)
This is a collection of notes by a Georgetown professor on the major themes and complex style of Silko's work.
- American Indian History and Culture
The Smithsonian Institution offers this collection of Native American-related resources. There are links to Smithsonian resources, online exhibitions, and recommended reading lists.
- Circle of Stories
This PBS site provides a collection of resources on Native American storytelling.
Grades 6 – 8 | Lesson Plan | Standard Lesson
Myth and Truth: The "First Thanksgiving"
By exploring myths surrounding the Wampanoag, the pilgrims, and the "First Thanksgiving," this lesson asks students to think critically about commonly believed myths regarding the Wampanoag Indians in colonial America.
Grades 3 – 5 | Lesson Plan | Standard Lesson
This lesson challenges students' views of Native Americans as a vanished people by asking them to compare their prior knowledge with information they gather while reading about contemporary Native Americans.
Grades K – 2 | Lesson Plan | Unit
Diagram It! Identifying, Comparing, and Writing About Nonfiction Texts
Students compare the traits fact and fiction by using a Venn diagram to compare fiction and nonfiction books about Native Americans.
Grades 3 – 5 | Lesson Plan | Standard Lesson
Alaska Native Stories: Using Narrative to Introduce Expository Text
Tradition and technology come together in this lesson in which students learn about Alaskan animals through Native American tales and their own online research.
Grades 6 – 8 | Lesson Plan | Standard Lesson
Weaving the Threads: Integrating Poetry Annotation and Web Technology
Students read a poem by a Native American, explore Native American culture and then create a Website that explains words and phrases from the poem.