Lesson Plan: Standing Up for Clean Water/ Fighting for Native Land

Essential Questions

• What is cultural heritage? How can it be protected? 
• What will it take to keep our planet healthy? 

Literature Connection

• Novel: Flush by Carl Hiaasen

Preview Teaching Resources (15 minutes)

Because knowledge of Native American cultures varies widely, discussing Native American stories can be challenging. Our “Teaching Strategies” handout will prepare you to answer students’ questions and facilitate meaningful and culturally sensitive discussions.

Build Background Knowledge (5 minutes)

Discuss oil using the following questions:

• What is oil used for? Oil is a fuel used for heat and electricity.
• How do we move oil from one place to another? Oil can be carried across distances by trains, trucks, or ships, as well as through pipelines. 
• What do you think might be a problem with moving oil? If oil spills, it can pollute the environment, causing damage to the surrounding land and water, and hurting animals badly.

Preview Text Features (15 minutes)

Guide students to locate the articles. Preview the text features by asking the following question

• Read the title and subtitle of the first text. What do you think it means to “stand up for clean water”? How do you think clean water, an oil pipeline, and Native American rights are related? To stand up for clean water must mean trying to protect water from becoming polluted. Answers to the second question will vary. Students may guess that the oil pipeline may pollute the water, and that this would pose a health risk to Native Americans.
• Look at the photo on page 26 and read its caption. Describe in detail what you see in the photo. What name is given to bulldozers that are used to dig holes for oil pipelines? In the photo, we see several bulldozers. The earth has been dug up, and there is a pipe in the hole that’s been created. The bulldozers used to dig up the earth are called “earth movers.”
• Turn to the infographic on page 29. Read the title and the subtitle and look at the maps. What do the maps tell you about Native people and land in America since the year 1600? Land in America used to belong only to Native Americans. Over time, Native people’s land was taken away by white people, moving from east to west. 

Preview Vocabulary (10 minutes)

• Point out the vocabulary box. Read the words (reservation, sacred, diverse, environment, brutal) aloud and discuss the definitions.
• Play the Vocabulary Slideshow.

Make a Plan for Reading (5 minutes)

Before students start to read, walk them through a reading plan: 

• Set a purpose for reading: Tell students that they will learn about Native American rights and the environment in “Standing Up for Clean Water.”
• Tell students that after they read, they’ll complete the Synthesizing Skill Builder by combining information from the two texts.

Guide students to read the article. Once they understand it well, discuss the following close-reading and critical-thinking questions.

Close-Reading Questions (15 minutes)

• How did Tokata feel when she learned about the plans to build a pipeline under the Missouri River? Why do you think she felt this way? (inference) Tokata was upset when she found out about the pipeline. The river meant a lot to her. She rode her bike to its shore with her friends. She swam there in the summers. The pipeline would put the river in danger. If oil spilled into it, the river would become dirty and the people who used it for drinking water would suffer.
• Why does Tokata believe that the fight for the Missouri River is also a fight for Native rights? (synthesizing) For many centuries, Native people have been pushed off their land. First, farmers and miners took over their land, and then the U.S. government pushed Native people onto reservations. The fight for the Missouri River is a fight for Native rights because the project threatens Native land and the Native people who believe the land is sacred.
• Look at the infographic on page 29. What was the Indian Removal Act of 1830? What caused Congress to pass it, and what happened as a result? (cause and effect) The Indian Removal Act was a law that allowed the government to push all Native people to a piece of land west of the Mississippi River. It was passed to open land for new Americans who had recently won freedom from England and wanted to move west. The law caused thousands of Native Americans to die on the brutal journey west.

Critical-Thinking Questions (10 minutes)

• Tokata says, “You have to understand the history to understand what’s happening now.” How does knowing about Native American history in the U.S. help you understand the Standing Rock protests? (interpreting text) Knowing about the history of Native people in the U.S. helps you understand that what’s happening today is part of a pattern. This isn’t the first time the U.S. government has interfered with the way Native people live. In the past, the government took away Native people’s land and forced them to go to boarding schoolsand speak English. Knowing this, we can better understand why the decision to build a pipeline on Native land would be disturbing to many. It takes away Native people’s right to make decisions for their communities.
•  A judge has ordered a study about the Dakota Access Pipeline’s effects on the environment. What kind of evidence do you think might convince the judge that the pipeline needs to be shut down? (critical thinking) The study will need to show that the pipeline is affecting the Missouri River and the lives of the creatures that need it to survive. For example, if it is found that oil spills from the pipeline are killing fish or that the drinking water in the area has become dirty, the judge might decide that the pipeline needs to go.

• Have students work independently to complete our Synthesizing Skill Builder. (Click here to view all of your Skill Builders.)
• Writing prompt: Imagine that you’re writing for a school textbook about Native American history. Create a timeline of how Native people were forced off their land in the U.S. Include the information on page 29, as well as the events described in “Standing Up for Clean Water.”