Original lesson plan:

Standard: SS4H3 Explain westward expansion in America.

a. Describe the causes and events of the War of 1812; include the burning of the Capitol
and the White House and the writing of “The Star Spangled Banner.”
b. Describe the impact of westward expansion on American Indians; include the Trail of
Tears, Battle of Little Bighorn and the forced relocation of American Indians to
reservations.
c. Describe territorial expansion with emphasis on the Louisiana Purchase, the Lewis and
Clark expedition, and the acquisitions of Texas (the Alamo and independence), Oregon
(Oregon Trail), and California (Gold Rush and the development of mining towns).

Learning Target:
I CAN describe territorial expansion through the Lewis and Clark expedition.
Success Criteria:
 Explain the importance of Lewis and Clark.
 Locate the route Lewis and Clark took on a U.S. map.
 Analyze how this expedition affected our growing nation.

Hook: Up until now our county has been relatively small. We started with 13 colonies and have
gained a few since then, but how did the United States grow to be as big as it is today? Today we
are going to learn about a couple of events that helped our country grow rapidly.
Lesson: Together we will read through the studies weekly and answer the questions at the end of
each article.
 “Territorial Expansion”
o Read article
o Ask:
 Which of the following best describes the route taken by the explorers?
 Who did Lewis and Clark find to help them explore the Louisiana Territory?
 Which President oversaw the Louisiana Purchase?
 “Exploring the Louisiana Purchase”
o Play the Lewis and Clark intro and read the article
o Ask:
 What happened to Sacajawea along the route that helped endear her to the
travelers?
  What was the Corps of Discovery?
 How did Thomas Jefferson know Meriwether Lewis?
 “Meriwether Lewis”
o Read article
o Ask:
 How did Lewis prepare for the expedition?
 What was an important goal of the Lewis and Clark expedition?
 Who was sent on the Lewis and Clark expedition to gather information about
plants and animals?
 “York”
o Read article
o Ask:
 What was unusual for an enslaved man of York's time?
 Which of the following was not a skill York had on the expedition?
 Who was the only African American on the Lewis and Clark expedition?
After reading and discussing each article students will work in pairs or teams to answer the
assessment questions. We will conclude by discussing how we met the learning target and
success criteria.

Transformative Lesson Plan: Large Parts of this lesson plan were adapted from “Elementary
Lesson Plan 2: What Were the Goals of the Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery?” of Teaching
critically about Lewis and Clark: Challenging dominant narratives in K-12 Curriculum.
(Schmitke et al., 2020)
Standard: SS4H3 Explain westward expansion in America.
a. Describe the causes and events of the War of 1812; include the burning of the Capitol
and the White House and the writing of “The Star Spangled Banner.”
b. Describe the impact of westward expansion on American Indians; include the Trail of
Tears, Battle of Little Bighorn and the forced relocation of American Indians to
reservations.
c. Describe territorial expansion with emphasis on the Louisiana Purchase, the Lewis and
Clark expedition, and the acquisitions of Texas (the Alamo and independence), Oregon
(Oregon Trail), and California (Gold Rush and the development of mining towns).
Learning Target:
I CAN describe the goals of territorial expansion of the United States through expedition of the
Corps of Discovery.
Success Criteria:
 Define the goals of the Corps of Discovery.
 Explain how this military expedition affected the growth of the United States.
 Analyze the military expedition from ethnic perspectives.
 Hook: Up until now in our study of US History, The United States has been relatively
small. A few states and territories have been added since the establishment of the United
States, but how did it grow to be as big as it is today? Today we are going to learn about a
couple of events that caused this growth.
Together the class will read:
 “Territorial Expansion”
o Read article
o Ask:
 Why was this important for the expansion of the United States?
 “Exploring the Louisiana Purchase”
o Play the Lewis and Clark intro and read the article
o Ask:
 What happened to Sacajawea along the route that helped endear her to the
travelers?
 What was the Corps of Discovery?

Post this picture of the Oregon Ducks football uniform:

Explain to students that this uniform was used to honor Lewis and Clark’s exhibition. The
jerseys were made to look like they have a vintage map print and the helmet has a silhouette of
Lewis and Clark pointing west. Have students discuss with shoulder partners what they think
about the uniform. After a few minutes tell students that while some people loved these
uniforms, others were very upset about them. Ask if anyone could think why. After a few
minutes of discussion explain to students some people were upset, because the uniforms did not
tell the story of the Native people of this region.
Today we are going to find out what people had such different opinions on these uniforms.
Post the following chart for student reference:

In groups, students will write on post it notes what they think the goals of the Corps of Discovery
were based on prior knowledge. Students will put their groups post it note on our chart.
Next, I will pass out a handout to students that lists some of the supplies that the Corps of
Discovery took with them and ask students to think about why they would need these supplies.
After students have had times to discuss in groups, we will brainstorm our new idea of what the
goal was for the Corps of Discovery under supply list.
Next, I will pass out and read the instructions that Thomas Jefferson gave to Lewis. After
students have had a chance to discuss and share their ideas with the class, I will record the new
goals given by Jefferson under Activity 2. We will also go back and discuss the supply items to
see if they have different meanings to us after reading Jefferson’s instructions. Why does this
change things?
Finally, we will look at one more source. Together we will read Lewis’s speech to the Yankton
Sioux. Emphasis words in the speech that refer to the Native people as inferior. Have students
discuss why he would use that tone. Include student’s thoughts under Activity 3 on the chart.
Ask students to record what they think the goals of the Corps of Discovery were now that they
have read through these different sources. Allow students to share their ideas and summarize
them under the “After” portion of the chart.
Now go back to the picture of the football uniform. Ask students why they think some people
were upset about the uniform and if their opinion of the uniform has changed.

References:

Schmitke, A., Sabzalian, L., & Edmundson, J. (2020). Teaching critically about Lewis and
Clark: Challenging dominant narratives in K-12 Curriculum. Teachers College Press.
 Transformative Lesson Plan

The standard I have focused on for this lesson is SS4H3: Explain westward expansion in

America. Each year we teach about the Louisiana Purchase. Because of my insecurities

surrounding history instruction, I tend to rely heavily on the texts provided to us by the district.

We use the “Studies Weekly” newspapers and due to scheduling restraints, we usually only have

time to read each article and answer the questions at the end, which is what I do in my original

lesson plan. This method of teaching history is incomplete and boring, if I’m being honest.

After reading Approaches to Multicultural Curriculum Reform by Banks, I knew I had to

do something different in my instruction of U.S. History. Banks (1989) writes, “A unit called

‘The Westward Movement’ is Mainstream and Euro-Centric because it focuses on the movement

of European Americans from the eastern to the western part of the United States. The Lakota

Indians were already in the West and consequently were not moving West” (p. 18). This quote

stood out to me, and I knew wanted to focus on Lewis and Clark and our unit titled “Westward

Expansion”. I wanted my students to challenge what they knew about westward expansion by

exploring other perspectives and according to Banks (1989), “[The Transformation] approach

changes the basic assumptions of the curriculum and enables students to view concepts, issues,

themes, and problems from several ethnic perspectives and points of view.”

After looking at my original learning target, “I CAN describe territorial expansion

through the Lewis and Clark expedition” I noticed a few changes that needed to be made. I

wanted to clarify that the territorial expansion we would be discussing was that of the United

States. I also added that students will be describing the goals of this mission. Changing this
vocabulary was important to note because it was not an expansion for the Native peoples, and the

goals were not simply to acquire more land, but to take control of the land from the Indigenous

people that already inhabited it. Another part of the learning target that I wanted to focus on was

naming Lewis and Clark. So many elementary age children can name Lewis and Clark, but do

not know who or what the Corps of Discovery is. This excludes York from the narrative. My

updated learning target reads: “I CAN describe the goals of territorial expansion of the United

States through expedition of the Corps of Discovery.”

After developing a new learning target and new focus for the lesson, I did some research.

I found a book called Teaching critically about Lewis and Clark: Challenging dominant

narratives in K-12 Curriculum. This was a great resource allowing me to gain background

information about so called “westward expansion” from different perspectives. I noticed many

parallels in my reading of this book to what I had read by Banks.

“This book has four key purposes: (1) to challenge the Eurocentric ways textbooks

present the Corps of Discovery; (2) to examine the Corps of Discovery in the context of

the Doctrine of Discovery; (3) to frame colonization and Indigenous dispossession as an

ongoing legacy that Indigenous peoples continue to struggle with and resist today; (4) to

embed Indigenous perspectives and contemporary issues within each lesson plan”

(Schmitke, 2020, p. 3)

I was able to use an adapted version of a lesson provided in this text while using the

district-provided text as a resource to teach background knowledge. Using these resources helped

me feel confident in teaching this history accurately from different sources and perspectives. The

lesson that I adapted from Teaching critically about Lewis and Clark: Challenging dominant

narratives in K-12 Curriculum uses many sources to help the students determine that the true
goals of the Corps of Discovery were not only to find routes across the land, but to spread the

word that the Indigenous people now “belonged” to the United States. This aligns with Banks’

(1989) statement that “The emphasis, rather should be on how the common U.S. culture and

society emerged from a complex synthesis and interaction of the diverse cultural elements that

originated within the various cultural, racial, ethnic, and religious groups that make up American

society” (p. 16)

References:

Banks, J., (1989). Approaches to multicultural curriculum reform. Trotter Review, 3 (3), 17-18.

http://scholarworks.umb.edu/trotter_review/vol3/iss3/5

Schmitke, A., Sabzalian, L., & Edmundson, J. (2020). Teaching critically about Lewis and

Clark: Challenging dominant narratives in K-12 Curriculum. Teachers College Press.