Instructional Unit: Native Storytelling

Your name: Priya Patel

Length: 6 classes
Length of Lesson: 50 minutes
Location: John Rennie, 558
Class - Cycle and Year: Cycle 1, Year 1
Number of Students: 26
Subject: Ethics and Religious Culture
Context/Background: Storytelling is an essential part of our lives, whether it is for leisure or
takes on cultural and religious meaning. It is a form of expression that is both dying and
being rejuvenated due to digital media. Within Native communities, storytelling is an
important part of their traditions because there are no religious texts. It is a form of
expression that explains their environment, histories and part of their creation stories.
Students will be working on examining Native creation stories to better understand the
religious component of stories and storytelling.
Subject Competencies:
Competency 2: Demonstrates an understanding of the phenomenon of religion and engages
in dialogue
-Gives detailed analysis of forms or religious expression
-Provides explanation of the connections between forms of religious expression and
elements of the social and cultural environment
-Demonstrates analysis of a range of ways of thinking, being and acting
Cross Curricular Competencies:
Uses information (CCC 1)
Systematizes the information-gathering process:
-Identifies the value of each piece of information
Communicates appropriately (CCC 9)
Becomes familiar with various modes of communication:
-Knows and observes usage, rules, codes and conventions associated with different
modes of communication
Target Professional Competencies:
Competency 1: To act as a professional inheritor, critic, and interpreter of knowledge or
culture when teaching student
Competency 3: To develop teaching/learning situations that are appropriate to the students
concerned and the subject content with a view to developing the competencies targeted in
the programs of study.
Vocabulary: Religious stories, symbolism, meaning,
Materials/Tools/Technology: Handout for note-taking and assessment and Smartboard
(video presentation and notes)

Differentiation: The handout for notes is created so that students have the proper wording
to answers in the questions themselves. Questions will also be explained when the handout
is distributed.
Day 1
Objective: By the end of class, students will be able to understand different elements that
play constitue Native stories/legends such as symbolism, meaning and beliefs associated
with it by examining an example and working towards re-creating their own.
Development:
10:05-10:10 Attendance
10:11-10:15 Introduce new topic: Religious stories with a focus on Native stories
What is an example of a religious story?
Religious stories were often told by prophets who spread the word of God (in
monotheistic) religions.
10:16-10:30 Modern stories
Name some stories you know of that have a moral to them?
They could be fairy tales, nursery rhymes, or even movies. (Go through the moral in each
one).
Ex: Beauty and the Beast, Can anyone name stories they know? Ex: Beauty and
the beast, Rumpelstiltskin, Goldilocks and the Three Bears.
How did you hear about these stories? Did you parents tell it to you? Did you see it
on TV or in a book? Ex: Bedtime stories.
Reading stories is most common in our culture because reading is a skill taught to us from
an early age.
10:31-10:45: Native storytelling
Some religions have no holy-books. Native Americans have a tradition of passing down
knowledge orally.
What do I mean by orally?
They would, and still do, use mostly storytelling to pass down knowledge. They would
orally transmit knowledge such as medicinal recipes, history lessons, and stories about
their world and spirituality. Usually, it is an Elder or Chief who tells the story to the young
ones.
What is the purpose of a story? (Moral and Religious)
Teach lessons (good vs. bad, teamwork), reinforce values/morals (generosity,
compassion), explain natural phenomenon (droughts, rainfall), cohesion in communities,
spread religious knowledge.

Day 2

Objectives: By the end of class, students will be able to understand different elements
found in Native stories/legends such as symbolism, meaning and beliefs associated with it
by working towards deconstructing a creation story as an example.
Development:
10:05-10:10: Review of notes from last class on Native storytelling
-What are some reasons storytelling is important to Natives?
Its part of their culture. For communication. Explain natural phenomenon. Reinforce
values.
Today, we will be focusing on creation stories within Natives.
-Who can tell me what a creation story is?
It tells the story of how the world began and how humans began inhabiting it. It also
includes:
-Our environment (Earth)
-Says what good and evil are
-Relation between people and the God + the nature of God
-What elements or parts of a story do you think are important in creation stories?
-Humans
-Animals
-Natural elements: sun, moon, trees, ocean
-Conflict: an ethical or moral conflict (good vs. bad, life vs. death)
10:11-10:20: Initial viewing of video: Coyote Dream
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zmg7EWZ-hY4
We will now watch a video of a Native creation story. We will watch it once to get a
general idea and then watch it a second time for notes.
10:21-10:30 Give out handout for notes on video and discussion questions
See pages 5-6.
10:31-10:45 Second viewing of video with pauses for note-taking
10:46-10:51 Consult a partner about different elements about the video
10:52-10:55:Wrap-up
-What do you think were important elements in this creation story? List from above.
-What do we have in common with Native creation stories? We are more alike than we
think. We are all human, there are animals, and elements of nature.
Evaluation: Students will be formally evaluated on their notes from the video viewed
during class. They will have until the following class to complete the questions on the
handout. Students will also be informally assessed at the beginning of class on their prior
knowledge.

Day 3
Objective: By the end of class, students should have selected a team, a Native story for
their project and a medium to work with.
Development:
11:10-11:15 Attendance and folder distribution
11:16-11:25 Complete handout from last class on Native creation stories
11:26-11:35 Instructions for project on Native stories and go over rubric (see page 7).
11:36-12:00 Group work on project

Day 4
Objective: Students will use this class as a work-period to develop their projects.
Day 5
Objective: Students will use this class as a work-period to develop their projects.
Day 6
Objective: By the end of class, students will be able to identify key elements in religious
stories that were discuss throughout the unit in each presentation.
Development:
10:05-10:10: Attendance and reminders
10:11-10:55: Students will present their projects to the class

Name:__________________________________
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Notes on Coyote Dream
Secondary 1 ERC - Religious Stories
Youtube: Coyote Dream
The following questions are worth 2 marks each.
What did Raven create:
Because she can ______________(verb), she created:
-

/12

What does Coyote create:

Because he can ____________________(verb), he created
What decision did the raven and coyote want to make about the animals? Whose
decision won?
Raven:
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
Coyote:
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________

_________________ won.
What caused coyote to change his mind about life and death? What did he want as a
result of this change?
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
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_________________________________________________________________________
What did Coyote create to get revenge on Raven?
Initially, Coyote created ______________________________________. Then, he created
_________________________.

What skills and qualities did men have that separated them from the other creatures?
The following questions are worth 3 marks each.
/12
What did the silver ball represent?
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________

What did the animals give the man as a thank-you gift for their new strength? What
did they represent?
The animals sculpted _________________________.
She represented:
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________

What are the three monsters that coyote originally created?

Who won the fight in the end? Raven or Coyote?
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________

The following questions are worth 5 marks each.

/10
What values do you see represented in the story? Explain with an example.
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________

What message/moral does this story transmit to the people?

_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
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_________________________________________________________________________
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Rubric for Religious Stories Project

Secondary 1 - ERC
Name(s): _________________________________________________________________
Evaluation: Demonstrates Understanding of Religious Phenomenon
Criteria

Excellent
100-88%

Understands the story

Very Good
87-76%

Good
75-68%

Needs Improvement
67% or below

Demonstrates a
thorough
understanding of the
story by highlighting
important elements.

Demonstrates a
strong understanding
of the story by
highlighting most of
the important
elements.

Demonstrates a
partial understanding
of the story with some
attention to important
elements.

Does not
demonstrates
adequate
understanding of the
story and important
elements are not
highlighted.

Has a thorough
explanation of the
main beliefs in the
story.

Has a strong
explanation of the
main beliefs in the
story.

Has some
explanations of the
main beliefs in the
story.

Has partial or
incomplete
explanations of the
main beliefs in the
story.

Explains the meaning

of symbols present in
the story
/20

Has a thorough
explanation of all the
symbols in the story.

Has a good
explanation for most
of the symbols in the
story.

Has some
explanations of the
symbols in the story.

Has incomplete
explanations of the
symbols in the story.

Discusses the meaning

this story has for those
who believe it
/20

Has a thorough
explanation of the
meaning this story
gives to those who
believe it.

Has a good
explanation for the
meaning this story
gives to those who
believe it.

Has some
explanations for the
meaning this story
gives to those who
believe it.

Has incomplete
explanations of the
meaning this story
gives to those who
believe it.

Has put thought into

the presentation of the
story; uses creativity
for visual and textual
elements.

Has put some thought

into the presentation
of the story; visual
and textual elements
show some
consideration.

Has not presented the

project in a creative
way; visual and
textual elements lack
consideration.

/20

Has put careful

thought into the
presentation of the
story; both visual and
textual elements are
highly creative.

/20
Explains the main
beliefs represented in
the story
/20

Creativity and
presentation of final
project

Total:

Comments:_______________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
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