Tag Archives: readings/research

Cultural Literacy: Montezuma

Posted on October 7, 2023 | Leave a comment

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on Montezuma. This is a half-page worksheet with a reading of two simple sentences and two comprehension questions. This document, I think, epitomizes the concept of the do-now exercise: you know, something to settle students at the beginning of  class session after a change of instructional periods? This is a spare introduction to Montezuma, more properly spelled Moctezuma, but a good place to start, I think, a discussion of the conquistadors in what we now call Latin America.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

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Quiche or K’che or Kche

Posted on October 7, 2023 | Leave a comment

“Quiche or K’che or Kche: Indian population of the Guatemalan highlands, largest of all ethnic groups speaking a Mayan language. The Quiche Mayas had an advanced civilization in pre-Columbian times. Records of their history and mythology are preserved in the Popol Vuh. Traditional Quiche are agricultural. Their homes are thatched huts, and they practice weaving and pottery. Nominally Roman Catholic, they conduct pagan rituals as well, Many were killed or displaced during the Guatemalan military’s counterinsurgency campaign of the early 1980s. At present they number between 700,000 and 800,000.”

Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.

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The Weekly Text, 24 November 2023, National Native American Heritage Month Week III: A Reading and Comprehension Worksheet on Spain in the New World

Posted on October 7, 2023 | Leave a comment

For the third Friday of National Native American Heritage Month 2023, this week’s Text is a reading on Spain in the New World along with its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet. I think the effect on indigenous peoples of the arrival of Spanish explorers, then the conquistadors that succeeded them, is obvious and in no need of belaboring here. Put another way, remember that the Aztecs, Mayas, and Incas were indigenous populations–and that the conquistadors’ legacy of abuse of indigenous populations persists: I offer you, as one egregious example, the late and loathsome Efrain Rios Montt.

If you find typos in these documents, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

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Blessing Way

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“Blessing Way: Central ritual in the complex system of ceremonies performed by the Navajo to restore equilibrium in the cosmos. Of the major categories of Navajo rituals, the largest group is the Chant Ways, which are concerned with curing. The Chant Ways include a subgroup of chants called the Holy Ways, which are further divided into the Blessing Way and the Wind Ways (used to cure illness). Lasting for two days, the Blessing Way is a simple chant performed for the well-being of the community rather than for a specified curative purpose.”

Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.

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Sauk or Sac

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“Sauk or Sac: Algonquian-speaking North American Indian people closely related to the Fox and Kickapoo who traditionally inhabited the region of what is now Green Bay, Wisconsin. In summer, the Sauk lived in bark-house villages near fields where women raised corn and other crops. In winter the village separated into patrilineal family groups that erected pole-and-thatch houses. In spring the tribe gathered on the Iowa prairie to hunt bison. By c.1800 the Sauk had settled along the Mississippi River in central Illinois, but were forced to cede these lands to the U.S. In 1832 a group of Sauk and Fox led by Black Hawk made a tragically unsuccessful attempt to return to their Illinois lands. Today about 1,000 Sauk live in Oklahoma.”

Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.

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Mohegan

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“Mohegan: Algonquian-speaking North American Indian people who inhabited the area of southeastern Connecticut. They later seized land in Massachusetts and Rhode Island from other tribes. Their economy was based on corn cultivation, hunting, and fishing. In the 17th century, the Mohegan and the Pequot tribes were ruled jointly by a Pequot chief, but a rebellion led to Mohegan independence and the destruction of the Pequot. Having made an alliance with the English, the Mohegan were the only important tribe remaining in New England after King Philip’s War (1675-76). Today there is a remnant (approximately 1,000) near Norwich, Connecticut.”

Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.

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The Weekly Text, 17 November 2023, National Native American Heritage Month Week II: A Reading and Comprehension Worksheet on Imperialism

Posted on October 7, 2023 | Leave a comment

In the second week of observation of Native American Heritage Month 2023, here is a reading on imperialism along with its attendant vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet. Imperialism may seem indirectly related to Native Americans, except that imperialist projects around the world have been–and in many real ways continue to be–deleterious to indigenous communities.

If you find typos in these documents, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

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Tupian Languages

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“Tupian Languages: Family of South American Indian languages with at least seven subgroups, spoken or formerly spoken in scattered areas from south French Guiana south to southernmost Brazil and Paraguay and east to eastern Bolivia. About a third of the estimated 37 known Tupian languages are extinct. The largest subgroup, Tupi-Guarani, includes the extinct language Tupinamba, the source for borrowings of many New World flora and fauna terms into Portuguese and hence other European languages. Another language of the subgroup, Guarani, is spoken as a first or second language by more than 90 percent of Paraguayans, who consider it a token of Paraguayan identity.”

Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.

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Ojibwa or Chippewa

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“Ojibwa or Chippewa: Algonquian-speaking Indian people who formerly inhabited a region north of the Great Lakes but who during the 17th-18th centuries moved west to what is now northern Minnesota. Each Ojibwa tribe was divided into migratory bands. In the autumn, bands separated into family units for hunting; in summer, families gathered at fishing sites. They grew corn and collected wild rice. The Midewiwin, or Grand Medicine Society, was the major Ojibwa religious organization. The Ojibwa are one of the largest Native American groups in North America today, numbering about 50,000 in the U.S. and over 100,000 in Canada.”

Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.

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Cultural Literacy: French and Indian Wars

Posted on October 7, 2023 | Leave a comment

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the French and Indian War in the British Colonies in North America. This is a full-page worksheet with a reading of five sentences and five comprehension questions. The reading explicitly connect sthe French and Indian War to the Seven Years War, which I’ve rarely seen done in social studies classrooms where I have been a co-teacher. In general, historians regard the French and Indian War as the North American theater of the Seven Years War.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

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