Native American History RV Vacation
Native American History RV Vacation
For an RV camping vacation that’s a history lesson, as well, consider exploring Native American historical sites. The suggestions below represent just a few of the hundreds of places you can learn about the role of Native Americans in our nation’s history.
Native American History RV Vacation – Four Corners Itinerary
Where the borders of Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Utah meet, you’ll find a treasure trove of Native American history. In the Four Corners area you can visit Mesa Verde, Hovenweep National Monument, Canyon de Chelly National Monument and Monument Valley.
Mesa Verde, in southwestern Colorado, is the site of ancient cliff dwellings and spectacular scenery. Winding roads lead to the canyon rim throughout this National Park. You will find numerous lookout points offering amazing glimpses of the cliff dwellings where ancient Puebloans lived for more than seven hundred years
North and west of Mesa Verde, along the Utah/Colorado border, you’ll find Hovenweep National Monument. The ruins of six prehistoric Pueblo dwellings dot the canyons of Hovenweep, with towers rising far above canyon walls.
Continue your Native American History RV vacation with a stop in Monument Valley in northeastern Arizona. You’ll probably remember the sandstone buttes and towers from hundreds of Westerns filmed there. Native American guides who live within the valley will lead you off the main trails to sites that mark the legacy of their ancestors.
Your final leg of a Four Corners RV camping trip should definitely include Canyon de Chelly near the Arizona/New Mexico border. The Canyon, completely located on Navajo tribal land, offers an entire vacation’s worth of historical treasures. The windswept canyons and buttes of Canyon de Chelly are home to more than two thousand archaeological sites.
Native American History RV Vacation – Northern Itinerary
When you’re ready for another round of Native American history, plan some RV camping in the Badlands and Black Hills of the north central U.S. Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument in Montana lets visitors relive the battle that claimed the lives of most of the 7th Cavalry Division under Lt. Col George Armstrong Custer in 1876. Here in the place Sitting Bull and several thousand Lakota and Cheyenne warriors were victorious, you’ll find breathtaking scenery and plenty of Native American artifacts to explore.
The Black Hills of South Dakota are home to the Crazy Horse Memorial, where sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski began creating his enormous tribute to the Lakota chief in 1948. Come watch as progress on the colossal sculpture continues, and stay to visit the Native American Cultural Center and Indian Museum of North America.
Finish your RV camping trip to find Native American history with a stop at the Wounded Knee Museum in Wall, South Dakota. About fifty miles from the actual site of the Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890, the Museum tells the story of the tragic deaths of almost 300 Lakota Sioux at Pine Ridge.
As you travel the Badlands and Black Hills, there are plenty of well-equipped RV campgrounds to serve you. Why not learn more on your next vacation about the major contribution Native Americans have made to our history? Turn your motorhome into a rolling classroom and get ready to be inspired!
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Google Mapping Native American History
We love this great teaching approach for learning about Native American History from David Freeburg. His website ‘Epic Epoch’ is a place full of great teaching ideas. David describes himself as someone ‘who enjoys his experience in the classroom teaching his students how to use the web, social media, Interactive White Boards with student response systems, and other hardware though he loathes dead batteries and forgotten passwords.’ He’s clearly someone who fits into our way of thinking of how new technologies can support learning in schools. Check out his brilliant blog post below:
Every year I try to fit in a Native American unit into my eighth grade U.S. History curriculum. If I were to follow the prepared curriculum out of our mammoth sized textbooks, this would probably never happen. But, I think it’s important to recognize the uniqueness of Native American history and culture alongside the expansion if the United States history, so I make time for it.
Previous years I’ve tried to allow students to work to their strengths and create a final assessment for me that not only demonstrates their understanding and comprehension of the material, but affords them the opportunity to stretch themselves creatively. Students have turned in dioramas, movies, created songs, written reports, and other types of projects, all on a specific tribe they research. While it was very interesting to see what the students came up with, I felt they were placing more emphasis on the finished product, and not as much on the learning objectives. A sort of teaching to the diorama, if you will.
Out with the old
This year I was intent to reverse that trend, by limiting the projects students would do in favor of having them spend more time on research, analysis, and application. Rather than allow students to choose anything they wished, I narrowed the focus and required each group (3 or 4) of students to:
Research a Native American tribe.
Summarize their information in the form of a Google Doc they create and edit together.
Apply that information to a Google Map they create.
Step 1
Students started out by first researching a specific Native American tribe they were assigned at random. There was a pool of about 20 different tribes I gathered ahead of time to ensure enough quality information could be found by each group. Their research packet was split into three categories: Geography, Society/Culture, and Economy/Resources.
Step 2
After they had done their research and filled out their packet, they had to choose one of the aforementioned categories and summarize their research in paragraph form on a shared Google Doc. Since all of the groups information was on one Google Doc, it became incredibly easy for me to give them feedback in the form of comments, and, it allowed them to peer edit each others work.
Step 3
With their research analyzed and summarized in paragraph form, they could now easily create their Google Map. I created a rubric for students to follow, and also provided some simple instructions on how to get started. What was surprising was how quickly most students picked it up. After reading through the directions, the majority of students would shoo me away and finish the map on their own. Each group had to insert Placemarks of the three categories, insert relevant pictures that would help explain their paragraph, draw the area the tribe lived in and, for extra credit, they could insert a YouTube video about their tribe.
In with the new
So..did it work?
Compared to years past, this project was much more successful at having students meet learning objectives. Not only did they have fun and use their creative energy to create a Google Map, but after giving them a reflective final assessment, it was clear to me that they had a better grasp not only on their tribe, but on the histories and cultures of Native American tribes across the U.S. during the 19th century. If you’ve ever thought about using Google Maps with your students, I highly recommend you dive right in and try it out. Especially, if your district uses Google Apps for Education, as mine does.
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