EARLIEST TIMES
( TEXT 1 )

 


The first book in a series of 9, Earliest Times introduces 3 major areas of interest:

  1. A sampling of pre-historic digs and what has been uncovered in them.
  2. Short ethnographic sketches of the major traditional cultural groups of Alaska.
  3. Russian and American contact and the status of Natives and the land in the eyes of Russians and Americans.

 

Depending upon the amount of time to be spent on the total land claims study, this unit could either be greatly expanded or briefly scanned. Students may want to learn a little about other cultures and do an in-depth study of their own.

Some ideas are also given for familiarizing students with the geography of Alaska. The sound-slide show, "Geographic Regions of Alaska," can also be shown, and a considerable amount of map work done in connection with it.

Arrowheads

CONCEPTS TO BE TAUGHT IN Earliest Times:

 Alaska Native groups lived in Alaska for thousands of years before the white men came.

Alaska Native groups were alike in many respects but had unique cultural differences.

Alaska Natives inhabited and used the land.

Both Russian and American settlement in Alaska disrupted the traditional land use of Alaska Natives.

 New words to be taught in Book One:

 

Depending upon how much archeology and anthropology the teacher may wish to teach, other terms may be added, such as:


 

  • 6
SUGGESTIONS FOR TEACHER-FACILITATING DISCUSSIONS

 

DISCUSSION

PROCESS I

 
  1. The facilitator explains that in the following discussion session, the manner in which the participants will interact will be limited. S/he tells them that possession of the ball of string that is held will determine who may speak. S/he further explains that the participant with the ball must keep it until someone signals nonverbally that they wish to have it. The individual holding the ball may refuse to give it to a member who requests it.
  2. The facilitator hands the ball to a participant, indicating that the discussion period is to begin.
  3. After fifteen minutes have passed, or until interest lags, the facilitator indicates that the discussion is over.
  4. The rest of the students can then react in terms of the power phenomena that emerge in reference to the holder of the ball, frustrations involved in attempting to gain or hold this power, and the patterns of communication that emerge during the experience.

Variation--The ball of string may be unwound as the experience progresses, resulting in a physical sociogram or interactiongram.

 

 

DISCUSSION

PROCESS II

 
  1. One-half of the class sits in an inner circle and the remainder of the class in an outer circle.
  2. Only the inner circle may take part in the discussion. The outer circle members are the listeners.
  3. If one of the outer circle wants to talk, they may move into one of the two empty chairs in the very center. Then any person of the original inner circle has the option of letting him talk in his turn.

    Variation--The outer circle members could be given a task such as tallying how often each person talks. These totals could be displayed on the blackboard after the discussion is over, i.e.

    2 people talked 0 times
    4 people talked 1 time
    2 people talked 4 times
    1.  

DISCUSSION

PROCESS III

 
  1. Assign the pages of the chapter to students who will work in pairs or trios. They are to take their page and list 1, 2, or 3 important ideas in their material.
  2. A recorder takes their ideas down on the blackboard sequentially.
  3. A panel of students that are good at generalizing could summarize.
 Arrowhead


 

A SIMULATED "DIG" OF ALASKA NATIVE GROUPS

 

DESIRED STUDENT OUTCOME:

Students in a group situation will become familiar with the artifacts, institutions, and lifestyles of one or more Alaska ethnic group.

 

STRATEGIES:

 
  1. Teachers should outline to the students the areas in each culture which should have a clue made for it. For example:
    1. Supernatural practices
    2. Housing styles
    3. Means of making a living
    4. Family structure
    5. Passing on the culture
    6. Main food source
  2. Divide the class into six groups. Without telling the other groups, assign one culture to each group.
  3. Have them decide what clues they want to make and then make clues.map
  4. artworkThey can bury them in a box of dirt or, if it's nice weather, can bury them outside for another group to dig up.
  5. They can dig up the appropriate clues of another group.
  6. The groups will then prepare a panel taking each clue and describing what it is and what area it represents in the culture to which it belongs.
  7. This can also be elaborated on by using one class against another and only using two ethnic groups.
  8. This should take about one to two weeks to complete, depending on the depth desired. A written paper covering the student's activities should be included in the final evaluation.
  9. Usually a checklist of what the student groups made could be required and a timetable to follow, including a schedule of reports by the different groups.
  10. All artifacts should be handmade unless the teacher wants to allow students to bring in authentic artifacts. This isn't a good idea if the artifacts are to be buried outside.

 


PREPARE A CLASS DATA RETRIEVAL CHART ON TRADITIONAL

ALASKA NATIVE LIFE

DESIRED STUDENT OUTCOME:

Students will compare and contrast traditional Alaska Native cultures.

STRATEGIES:

Begin by asking:

What were the major Native groups?

What are the things we want to know about people we study?

 

Set the information derived from this discussion into a chart with 2 dimensions. For example:

 

HOW TRADITIONAL NATIVE GROUPS LIVED  

FOOD

SHELTER
CLOTHING
ART
RECREATION

 

ALEUTS

 

 

 

 

 

 

TLINGIT - HAIDAS

 

 

 

 

 

 

ATHABASCANS

 

 

 

 

 

 

NORTHERN ESKIMOS

 

 

 

 

 

 

SOUTHERN ESKIMOS

 

 

 

 

 

 

KONIAGS

 

 

 

 

 

 

TSIMPSIANS

 

 

 

 

 

 

Make the chart on butcher paper with writing big enough to be read by the class.

Divide the class into as many groups as there are on the chart (either horizontally or vertically).

Have each class group research the data in regard to their assigned category and record data in the spaces provided on the chart.

Discuss:

How were the groups alike? How were they different?

What conclusions can you draw from the chart?

Leave the chart up for further discussions and comparisons.

drummers


 

MAKE A TIME LINE

  

DESIRED STUDENT OUTCOME:

Students will gain some perspective on human events in Alaska.

STRATEGIES:

Stretch a clothesline near ceiling height from one side of the room to the other.

Label one end of the line:

oldest site 

 

Label the other end:
present date
 Determine a scale for the time line by dividing its length by 12,000. As events are studied, pin cards on the time line to indicate the place in Alaska history where they occurred.

 


 

Desired Student Outcome: Students will examine some aspects of cultural values.

Strategies: A reader may do this story or others as an oral presentation to the rest of the class to create a background for discussion.

  
WAITING.

 

It was cold, Egok thought, but then it had been cold for a very long time, and he was used to it. Why didn't they come? He'd done what he was told to do--stay at camp and rest. His leg didn't really hurt that much but his father didn't believe him. He'd hoped that his father and uncle would take him along this morning when they went to look for seals, but his hopes were for nothing.

It was a good thing his mother and sister weren't here. How foolish he'd feel having to stay with them while they went about their women's work. Since most of the work was done at the main camp, the women had decided to stay there. What a relief not to be a woman! To go seal hunting was much more exciting than anything they did. But, Egok thought, nobody would think that sitting in camp with a sore leg was very exciting either!

Why didn't they come? Father always says a good hunter has to have patience. After today he'd be one of the best hunters around. Sitting outside on the snow and ice with a sore leg wasn't very wise. Mother says a man must use wisdom in all things or he will become a burden to his family and embarrass people with his foolishness. Maybe sitting inside the lean-to would be warmer, but he wouldn't be able to watch for his father inside.

Wait, there was someone coming now! They're coming...finally.

This story, by Connie Bensler, about a young Eskimo boy waiting for his father and uncle to return from a seal hunt, gives some clues about the values an Eskimo youth might have. What are they?

Are these values the same as any you have? Write a story about an incident in your life which might show some of the values you consider important.

 


  

 

MAKE A HISTORICAL MAP OF ALASKA

 

 

DESIRED STUDENT OUTCOME:

Students will gain knowledge of early white exploration of Alaska.

STRATEGIES:

Post a large map of Alaska on the bulletin board.

Ask a student to read aloud the following article from the Anchorage Daily News.

As student reads, have rest of class plot how to show the facts presented in a pictorial fashion on the map. Students may work in groups to develop their best ideas.

Find other articles and information on other explorations and make the exploration map more complete.

Students may wish to write a series of imaginary news items from the point of view of each Native group affected by the white contact.

adze


  

Desired Student Outcome: Students will become familiar with some of the first European explorers in Alaska

Strategies: Read the news article to the class. Have students locate the exploration routes on a map. Read about other exploration and make an exploration map of Alaska.

 

 

VITUS BERING DISCOVERED COOK INLET AREA IN 1741
-Anchorage Daily News

 

Cook Inlet area lands destined to become a center of Alaska were first sighted in July 1741 when Vitus Bering and his crew sailed northward along the unknown Alaskan coast, according to H. H. Bancroft in his History of Alaska.

He reported afterward that the shoreline was largely obscured by fog and rain and the land appeared rugged and inhospitable.

Bering spent no time investigating the land he sighted. In a hurry to get home before winter, he sailed westward.

Following Bering came adventurous Russian fur traders who approached from the west and followed the islands to the mainland in their search for seal, sea otter, fox, and other valuable pelts.

They are said to have discovered the Aleutian Islands, Bristol Bay, the Alaska Peninsula, and Kodiak Island, and to have made short trips as far north as Kenai.

During the late 1770s, the English were sending ships north for trade and exploration. Crews of several expeditions were reportedly captured by the Alaskan coast Indians and killed or sold as slaves.

Captain James Cook first described Cook Inlet above Kenai. On May 20, 1778, as he sailed past the mouth of Cook Inlet searching for the Northwest Passage, he noted the tumbling waters of a tiderip.

Feeling that this might be the current of a mighty river which could lead to his goal, he turned into the current and sailed toward the enclosing mountains.

As he approached Fire Island off the point now occupied by Anchorage, he noted the evidently impenetrable barrier of mountains. Ordering his ship turned about, he named this body of water "Turnagain River," and returned south believing he had discovered the mouth of a system of rivers. It was another 100 years before the Matanuska and Knik rivers were to appear on maps with any degree of accuracy.

camp

Two of Cook's officers, George Dixon and Nathaniel Portlock, revisited Cook Inlet in 1786.

Salvadore Fidalgo, a Spanish navigator, and George Vancouver, another of Cook's officers, sailed into Cook Inlet in 1794. Vancouver completed exploration of the upper ends of Turnagain and Knik Arms, but he failed to discover the mouth of the Susitna River. During this period, Russian speculators involved in the Alaskan fur trade were marking fabulous profits. Gregor Shelikov had become one of the wealthiest merchants in Siberia but competition was a major problem. Hoping to outsmart his competitors and gain a monopoly, he planted a permanent colony in Alaska.

Shelikov sailed from Okhotsk on August 16, 1783, landing on Kodiak Island the following spring.

He sent an exploratory party to Cook Inlet from Kodiak in 1785. Finding the natives friendly, they established three temporary trading posts located at Kenai or below. Ship Creek, the site of Anchorage, remained untouched during this period except for the trails of a few prospectors and Indians.

Vasili Melakoff explored the Susitna River in 1834 and obtained the first geographic knowledge of that region. The general course of the Susitna and the Matanuska rivers were shown on maps as early as 1860, but it is doubtful whether the Russians explored their entire lengths. Furs were their main interest and exploration was secondary.

woman


  

Desired Student Outcome: Students will examine ways of looking at other people based on cultural differences.

 
man
Alaska State Museum, Juneau
(Kotzebue's Voyages)

man

 

 Portraits of Inhabitants of Kotzebue Sound

 

Strategies (Questions for class discussion):

These are drawings made by an early white visitor to Alaska.

What was the artist's view of the men he drew?

How does the media affect the public outlook in regard to various groups of people?

How has treatment of minority groups by the media changed as movements become accepted? (The Black Civil Rights Movement, the Alaska Native Movement, the Women's Rights Movement can be used as examples.)


 

 

MAKE A TIME PROBE GRID

DESIRED STUDENT OUTCOME: Students will gain some knowledge of comparative history.

STRATEGIES: Have students prepare time grids showing major events happening to Alaska Natives and what was going on in other parts of the world concurrently.

 

Example:

SUGGESTED TIME PROBE GRID OF THREE CULTURES

 

RUSSIANS

1741

 

Bering and Chirikov record a "discovery" of mainland Alaska.

 

AMERICANS

1741

 

Benjamin Franklin is a civic leader in Philadelphia and James Oglethorpe is struggling to make a colony in Georgia succeed.

 

NATIVE ALASKANS

1741

 

Aleuts have developed a culture to adapt to the demanding environment.

 

1777

 

Shelikof was forming hunting partnerships to develop Alaska fur trade, followed by very successful fur trading expeditions.

 

1777

 

George Washington spends the winter at Valley Forge.

 

1777

 

Eskimo tribes inhabit the West Coast of Alaska and Kodiak.

 

1823

 

Russian American Company had exclusive trading rights. No foreigners were allowed in Russian America. Baranof had died 4 years earlier.

 

1823

 

Monroe Doctrine becomes U. S. policy.

 

1823

 

Tlingit tribes in S. E. are changing due to contact with white cultures.

 

1867

 

Russia sells Alaska to the U.S.

 

1867

 

Civil War has been over for two years. Lincoln is assassinated in 1865.

 

1867

 

Athabaskan Indians of Central Alaska cope with a sometimes hostile environment.

 


 

IMPERIALISM IN ALASKA: A Game Many Played 
 

DESIRED STUDENT OUTCOME:

Students will experience the concept of imperialism through playing a game.

STRATEGIES:

Discuss the concept of imperialism with your class.

Divide the class into 5 groups, each representing one country--England, United States, Russia, France, and Spain.

Out of butcher paper create a large map of Alaska criss-crossed with grids like the one pictured. It should be large and sturdy enough to be walked on.

From 5 different colors of construction paper make cards which can be placed on the map grids to determine who owns a specific piece of real estate.

 map
Before Alaska was purchased from Russia in 1867, parts of Alaska were explored and claimed by at least five countries. These included Russia, England, France, Spain, and the United States.

On the floor of your classroom is a large map of Alaska. Its territory is divided into a number of grid. The five countries interested in Alaska are shown on this map. Choose a country and invite several of your classmates to join your team. Once all countries are occupied, the game can begin.

 

The Objective of Game:

 

Protect your country's territory. Capture other territories on the board.

How to Play

Each country has one trading company, one governor, and two hunter-trappers.

These pieces can move across the grid land in the following manner:

 

Trading Company

- 5 squares in any direction.

Explorer

- 3 squares in any direction.

Hunter-Trapper

- 2 squares horizontal or vertical.

Appoint members of your team to these positions. The person appointed "Trading Company" is your leader. Decisions for group movement should be made by consensus.

Countries draw to determine who starts first.

During each round a country can move all or none of its pieces onto appropriate empty spaces.

A country can be captured when beseiged (surrounded) by a number of opposing pieces that outnumber the country's occupants. When captured, a country forfeits its pieces to the victor.

Alliances between countries can be negotiated at the conclusion of each round of moves.

In cases of dispute over rules, Trading Companies meet and negotiate a settlement based on majority opinion.

After game have a follow-up discussion:

What group of people very important to the game were not represented?

Why were those countries interested in acquiring Alaska?

Why was Russia the country that finally acquired Alaska?

How did Russia govern the territory of Alaska?

What effects did the Russian period have on Alaskan development?

Why did the United States purchase Alaska from Russia?

ammiq


   

Alaska's Native People Dominated the Land

 

bow and arrow

(EDITOR'S NOTE: This is adopted from the distinguished editorial series in the Anchorage Daily News on Justice for the Natives.)

 

Hundreds of years ago the Eskimo, Indian and Aleut were in every way the dominant peopies of Alaska.

Enjoying a flourishing culture and a noble history, these Natives used and occupied virtually all of what is now the state of Alaska.

Then over 200 years ago the Russians came. First to the Aleutian Chain and later to Southeastern Alaska.

With them came disease, decimating the Aleut peoples, and the gun.

They and the American whites after them invaded and destroyed age-old hunting and fishing grounds. They introduced ideas alien to our cultures, and they subjected Native families to stresses and strains beyond bearing.

As the Federal Field Committee Report points out, because it was believed "best," efforts were made to deny the Native his culture, extinguish his language, and sever him from his past.

Why? In the confident assumption that the Native was inferior and that this was the only way he could move forward.

Well-motivated or not, this policy imposed by the federal government and sanctioned by Alaskan citizens, has led to the deplorable conditions so apparent today.

The situation today:

-Native life expectancy - 34.3 years.

-Native infant mortality - 2 1/2 time white Alaskans

-Unemployment - 50 per cent of labor force

-Per capita income - 1/4 of white Alaskans

-Prices - Highest in Alaska

-Welfare - 80 per cent of ADC

-Educational Opportunities - Drastically limited.

Science and medicine tell us that what has happened to the Native could have happened to any white. The Native faces problems today not because he is Native, but because he is human.

His problems are compounded because the state of Alaska now wants his land, and wants to profit from it.

And the state, because of oil discoveries, mineral discoveries, timber, fish, etc., will profit from lands which in the past it was content to leave for the use of the Natives.

So through the Alaska Federation of Natives, all the Native peoples are asking Congress for fair treatment. Natives today seek some part of their now taken lands, and through the land, the dignity and the self-respect which Native heritage demands and the United States Constitution guarantees.

Natives present their treatment as a test of America's conscience at a time when most whites in Alaska will share in an unprecedented economic boom brought on by the discovery of vast wealth in traditional Native lands.

Natives today seek justice.

And this lies not merely in the vindication of his legal rights. Justice is the recognition that for too long Congress, Americans and Alaskans have denied the Natives a chance to share as Americans in the progress of our state and nation.

 

Tundra Times Dec. 19, 1969

 

1. From whose viewpoint is this article written?

 

2. What is the main point and purpose of the writer?

 

3. What supporting arguments does the writer give for the Alaska Native Land Claims Settlement?

 

4. Do you agree or disagree with those arguments?
Give reasons.


  

'Pay, White Man'

 

THE COMMENTS by the head of the Arctic Slope Native Association with respect to settlement of the native land claims are well nigh incredible.

At a time when reasonable men are diligently seeking an equitable settlement of the claims, the association leader, Joe Upicksoun, comes forth with a position as rigid - and as senseless - as a petrified stick.

 

At a time when men of understanding and good will are going to great lengths to avoid ripping the bonds of racial friendship within Alaska, Mr. Upicksoun - sounding like something from an underground comic strip - prattles about "white man's laws" and says "my people are not...on a phony economy like the Caucasian."

"You want my land, people, you pay for it," says Mr. Upicksoun, in a statement that reveals more about himself - and his true views - than he probably means to disclose.

IF HIS viewpoint is the one held by a majority of native leaders, there should be a determined move on the part of the natives to press their land claims in court.

If "this is my land," as he says, Mr. Upicksoun should be pounding on the door of U.S. District Court, demanding a declaration of that fact in a court of law to immediately throw the white man out, the oil man out, Gov. William A. Egan out, and everybody else out - including the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which he confesses "has been good to us."

That's a noteworthy admission by this militant young man, who now may also want to report how much tax money has been spent to support the BIA over the years, and also how much has been expended by the Public Health Service and a dozen other state and federal agencies.

But all of that is neither here nor there.

THE FACT IS, of course, that the native leaders and their lawyers do not want a court test based on the legality of the claims. In fact, they have gone to great lengths to avoid a court determination of the claims.

The majority view from all who have studied this matter is that the legality of the claims is questionable, and that there is little or no basis in fact to establish title to these lands that are public in every way.

Instead, the thrust of the major native effort to obtain a settlement has been based on an aboriginal and ancestral arguments - thus calling upon the Congress to acknowledge a moral responsibility to a minority group that deserves help.

BUT MR. Upicksoun's words, like some doomsday warnings from Dr. Strangelove, threaten to lead the responsible native leadership down a dark and unrewarding trail that could result in awful consequences for our natiye people.

In the past native leaders have decried statements by opponents to the huge settlement demands, saying they tended to polarize Alaskans in a terrible way.

Now they should not sit idly by and let one of their own to speak in extremes that do more to polarize the situation than any statements made in the past. If indeed Mr. Upicksoun speaks as an official who is charged with representing Alaska's native people, his intemperate remarks merit strong censure from the rest of the leadership.

 

 
Anchorage Daily Times, Jan. 13, 1971

1. From whose viewpoint is this editorial written?

2. What issue is being discussed?

3. What arguments does the writer use to support his views?

4. Do you agree or disagree with these arguments? Give reasons.

5. Compare this article with other newspaper excerpts which you can find on the same subject.

6. Pretend you are the editor of a newspaper. Write an editorial giving your views on a similar subject.


 CULTURE CARD GAME

 

DESIRED STUDENT OUTCOME:

Students will review, in the form of a game, characteristics of the white culture and the Native or Indian culture.

 

STRATEGIES:

Make twenty-four 3" x 5" cards. Twelve cards have information pertaining to the white culture and twelve have information pertaining to Native culture. (This may be done with either a study of Alaska Native cultures or specific American Indian cultures.)

Have the students make lists of 12 items that typify the Native culture and 12 contrasting items that typify the white culture. Place these items individually on each of the twenty-four cards.

 

RULES:

1. Two players.

2. Each player is dealt four cards.

3. The remaining sixteen cards are placed face down in the middle of the playing area.

4. The players toss a coin to see who begins.

5. The first player asks his opponent for either a white card or a Native card. If the opponent doesn't have the card asked for, then the player draws from the pile. He must discard one of the cards in his hand.

6. The first player to have five cards of either group wins.

Example of WHITE cards:

1. All laws written down.

2. Some members of society provide food for all the rest.

3. Rigid daily time schedules.

4. Land owned individually and often fenced.

Example of NATIVE cards:

1. Laws carried in the memories of the members.

2. Each family provides food for itself.

3. Time schedule varies daily.

4. Land is owned by a group.

 


WHAT IS A CULTURE?

 

DESIRED STUDENT OUTCOME:

Students will see that the Native culture contained the same aspects of civilization as the intruding culture.

MATERIALS:

Resource materials on the Alaska Native history as can be found in the library or in the memory of village members.

STRATEGIES:

The teacher will divide the class into six groups. Each group will draw from a hat one of the following dimensions of civilization: government, arts, learning, sciences, laws, religion. The group will gather information on the early Alaska Native culture in the area selected. Each group will give a short report to the class. Students should be encouraged to bring in pictures or examples to better explain their topic. They should be encouraged to role play to better explain their topic.

CORRELATION:

Comparisons can be made in each area to the present-day structure.

This strategy could also be used in a study of any civilization.

This tape might be used in the discussion of cultural comparisons.

Tape 3. An American Picnic.

This tape in an anthropologist's account of how

African natives viewed the quaint custom of roasting hot dogs.

 


 

LOCAL LORE AND LEGEND

 

DESIRED STUDENT OUTCOME:

Students will develop an awareness of village lore and legend and, hopefully, pride in race through identification of immediate heritage.

 

MATERIALS:

Simulate some structure such as: an Eskimo sod building, a native tree, a totem pole, a loaded sled, snow crystals. This structure should have incorporated space for many 3" x 5" cards.

 

STRATEGIES:

Students should be directed to collect as many stories of greatness, accomplishments, feats, sacrifices, contributions, etc. of individuals either living or dead, within the memory of the member of their village. These deeds will be recorded or illustrated on 3" x 5" cards that are to be incorporated in the structure which you selected.

 

VARIATIONS:

Students might record on the cards their greatest accomplishment, and build their own classroom structure.

The structure you selected might be known for something; i.e., the house for warmth and protection, the sled for utility, the crystal for beauty, etc. Students might decide which traits best describe their community.

building art


 NATIVE ARTS

DESIRED STUDENT OUTCOME:

Students will gain an appreciation of Alaska Native arts, especially with regard to those things that may be in danger of being lost as the culture of the "south 48" is gradually accepted. Such things as art, music, dress, poetry, dance, writing and special skills could be included.

 

MATERIALS:

Any art-related Alaska materials that the children can find at home or in the library.

 

STRATEGIES:

The class will form into committees. Each committee will choose an aesthetic area. Each person in the group will be responsible for doing something related to that area for a presentation to the whole class. The groups may bring in pictures, art pieces, do demonstrations, tell stories, act out stories, sing, dance, or read poems.

* * * *

 


 

DIGS OF ALASKA
- by Connie Bensler

 

Several archeological digs are mentioned briefly in the book Earliest Times. These tapes have been prepared by Connie Bensler, social studies teacher with the Anchorage School District, to supply additional information on two sites, a vertical site (Onion Portage) and a horizontal one (Cape Krusenstern).

 

Tape 1. Cape Krusenstern.

This tape outlines some of the earliest traces of habitation in Alaska and looks in some detail at the Old Whaling culture, one of the several in evidence at Cape Krusenstern.

 

Tape 2. Onion Portage.

On this tape, the difference between vertical and horizontal digs is described. Discussions of findings in each layer at Onion Portage give the listener some idea of the way in which archeologists 28 work and some of the problems involved.


 
Possible Activities to Accompany "DIGS OF ALASKA" Tapes:

 

Make a time line of early people in Alaska. Use the Alaska Dig Simulation described in the teachers manual.

Prepare a time capsule. Decide what artifacts best represent our modern culture.

Photomurals:

Use the photomurals prepared from pictures of excavations along the Alyeska Pipeline in connection with the tapes.

Discuss the activities seen in each of the photomurals.

What is happening in this picture?

What are the chief tools used by archeologists?

What is the reason for making a string grid?

What would be the rewards of being an archeologist?

What might be disadvantages for you in being an archeologist?

What happens to the artifacts after they are retrieved?

Will it be easier for archeologists 12,000 years from now to tell what our present culture is like than for today's archeologist to decipher the past? Why?

Are there common items that might be found in all of today's cultures? What are they?

Some of these tapes are included in the Land Claims Multi-Media Kit. Many others are available free from the Alaska State Library.

map

Look in the Bibliography at the end of the manual for additional tapes, mostly by Native speakers.


OTHER THINGS TO DO:

William Seward
William Seward

Using natural materials, if possible, make either a weapon or tool or musical instrument of one of the Alaska Native groups and be able to demonstrate its use.

MAKE A CHART ILLUSTRATING AND EXPLAINING THE BERING SEA LAND BRIDGE AND THE MIGRATION ROUTES THROUGH ALASKA.

  

THE PURCHASE OF ALASKA

Read in your American History book what is said about the purchase of Alaska.

Why did some Americans think it was foolish?

Do you think they would still consider it foolish to buy Alaska? Why or why not?

If you had enough money to buy Alaska, how much would you give? Tell how you arrived at the figure.

Search the U. S. Constitution for mention of Alaska Natives. How many times is reference made to them?

Select one of the Alaska Native groups and make a miniature replica of their traditional housing style.

 


 "FASTEST FINGER IN THE WEST", A Map Match, Game 1

  

DESIRED STUDENT OUTCOME:

Students will learn locations of major geographic features of Alaska.

STRATEGIES:

Post a large map of Alaska at the front of the room. Divide the class into 2 teams.

Using a map, each team identifies major Alaskan cities, rivers, mountains, and lakes.

Two at a time (one from each team) they step to a large wall map of Alaska. Team captains alternate in calling out place names from their lists. The two persons at the map try to locate the place indicated.

A person wins a point for his team by locating the place before his opposition does.


WHAT REGION IS IT IN? Map Game 2

 

DESIRED STUDENT OUTCOME:

Students will gain familiarity with the map of Alaska.

STRATEGIES:

Each student has a detailed desk map of Alaska with the Native regions outlined. (Road maps may possibly be obtained from oil companies, such as Union 76, and students may draw in Native regional boundaries in advance.)

The teacher (or a student leader) writes a place name on the board.

The first student to locate the place calls out the name of the region in which it is located.

Points are kept. Rewards can be given to the 3 students who earned the most points at the end of the game.

This game can also be played in teams.

map


 LEARNING PLACE GEOGRAPHY, Game 3

 

DESIRED STUDENT OUTCOME:

Students will gain familiarity with Alaska place names.

STRATEGIES:

The object is to find place names that, in combination, will identify -

 

1) A person:

 Game 3

 

2) Place:

 

3) Thing:

Game 3

Game 3

Game 3

Game 3

Before you print your combinations on a half sheet of plain paper, with the words you want to emphasize in a contrasting color, you must prove that the places actually exist in Alaska. There are two ways to do this:

1) Point out the place on either your map or the large map on the classroom wall.

2) If the place is not on either map, use the Dictionary of Alaska Place Names to look up the latitude and longitude. Using this information, go to either your map or the wall map and locate the general area of your place.

To make your place name combinations more attractive try illustrating or decorating the unused areas of the paper with appropriate designs.

 


LEARNING GEOGRAPHY, Game 4

 

DESIRED STUDENT OUTCOME:

Students will gain familiarity with Alaskan geography.

STRATEGIES:

At the beginning it would be the best idea for the teacher to make up the tickets for this travel game. As the students become more familiar with the rules of the game and the places in the state, they can make tickets of their own.

Print on a ticket:

NOME to CANDLE

VIA

NOME RIVER, PILGRIM SPRINGS, BUNKER HILL, AURORA, UTICA

Explain that VIA means that they reach Candle from Nome by going through - or by way of - the places listed.

A student volunteers to travel, selects a ticket at random, goes to the map and with the pointer starts at Nome and locates each of the places on the way to Candle. Students at their desks follow the progress on their maps. If the traveler is lost a volunteer goes to his rescue. If the rescue is successful the volunteer becomes the next traveler. The successful traveler selects the next person to travel. Vary the tickets with such things as -

"You sprained your ankle climbing Mt. St. Elias.

Return to Yakataga."

"Due to the Salmon Canners Convention your reservation must be changed. Choose another ticket."

"You picked up the wrong reservations. Choose another plane."

Have the student read the ticket aloud before he begins his trip.

 


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