After watching the documentary Dark Water about a traditional Chumash ceremony and reading a Chumash origin story, viewers are asked to create a coat of arms and to craft an essay that details a family tradition or their own origin story.

Concepts

native american culture, native american history, native americans, north american native americans, native american legends

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Additional Tags

social studies

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Instructional Ideas

• Have individual research how their families or neighbors came to be in this pace at this time

Classroom Considerations

• Assumes class members have viewed Dark Water, the documentary that introduces the series of lessons
• The fourth in a four-part series that focuses on the Chumash of the California Channel Islands
• Class members should have experience crafting narratives

Pros

• The 14-page packet includes a summary of the lesson that is based on the Dark Water documentary, a vocabulary worksheet, and a template for a coat of arms
• Also included are reading passages, images, Chumash poetry, and links to news articles about the Chumash tomol crossing

Cons

• No scaffolding is provided for the essay assignment, nor is a rubric included

Common Core

W.9-10.2.d W.9-10.4 SL.9-10.4 SL.9-10.5