Context for Teaching/Learning:

• This lesson was taught to 20 fourth grade students at Alliance Intermediate School in Alliance, Ohio in the classroom of experienced teacher, Mrs. Kelly Lemmon. Over 25% of the students in the class were non-White.  All children received free and reduced lunch.  The class included 11 girls and 9 boys including six students with an IEP. Most students were working below grade level in this class. The room was set-up for small group interaction.
• This case study of jingle dancing allows children to learn facts about a dance to make inferences about the importance of dance to culture. The lesson moves through Bloom’s taxonomy of learning, inviting children to remember, understand, apply, analyze, and even create.
• Using the ahtove website provides students the benefits of using a primary resource to conduct their own research as well as learn new skills that are very different from anything they would learn from a classroom textbook. The children’s book offers another access point into Native American culture and dance.

Content Standards:

NCSS: D3.4.3-5 Use evidence to develop claims in response to compelling questions. 

OH: 5.8. American Indians developed unique cultures with many different ways of life. American Indian tribes and nations can be classified into cultural groups based on geographic and cultural similarities.

Learning Objective:

Students will identify at least 3 facts about the Jingle dance, and then write an accurate interpretation of why the jingle dance is culturally important. 

Academic Language:

Jingle Dance – Performed by women and girls; the name comes from the rows of metal cones attached to the dresses. 

Powwow Drum – Also known as dance drums; they produce the loudest Native American drum music sound. 

Regalia – Clothing worn during Native American powwows, ceremonies, or other special occasions.

Formative Assessment: 

After watching a Jingle Dance video from the Ahtove website on the interactive screen, students will write down at least one observation from the video on a post-it note. 

• Their post-it note will include something they observed about the dance and how the dance makes them feel/what it makes them think about.

Summative Assessment:

Students will write at least three accurate facts about jingle dancing and write one way that a jingle dance is important to Native American culture. 

Lesson Introduction:  5 minutes

• Ask the students if they know anything about Native American dances and if they would like to share.
  • Wait for responses, if none talk about personal experiences with videos and attending a pow wow, event, or educational conference with dancers.
• Once the students have answered, bring up the Ahtove website on the interactive board to start the video showing a jingle dance. 

Procedures, Lesson Body: 35 minutes

• Pass out post-it notes to every student, tell them that they will use the post-its for their observations during the videos.
  • Students can write something they noticed about the dance or the dress, or something that these videos made them think about or feel connected to. 

• Play these videos for the class to show them examples of the jingle dance and the regalia.
  • https://youtu.be/88ErJ7RavFU
  • https://youtu.be/dcijNby0hQs
• Once the videos are over, make sure all the students have something written on their post-it note and have them share out the things they wrote.
  • Write down their answers on the whiteboard for everyone to see and remember or have the children come up to the board to post their own notes and read them aloud to the class.
• Next, read the book Jingle Dancer ,by Cynthia Leitich Smith.
  • Pause as you are reading to ask comprehension questions.
• Then, write these reflection questions on the board for students to answer with short sentences (summative assessment):
  • What did you notice as you watched the dance?
  • What are some facts you remember about the jingle dance?
  • What is different than you expected about the jingle dance?
• Once the students have written a few sentences answering these questions, have them share some of the answers they wrote to the questions. 
• If there is time, and the students can interact appropriately, invite the students to try a jingle dance themselves while the music from the video is playing.

Procedures, Lesson Closure:  5 minutes

• Now, tell the students that you want them to write on their papers the answer to the most important question: Why is the jingle dance important to Native American culture?
• If time allows, discuss how dance could be an expression of feeling or tradition in many different cultures. Ask students to share what other different types of dance they have seen and the reasons people might do those dances.

• Have the students turn in their papers.
• Recap some of the important facts about the jingle dance and the regalia to help them move the information to long-term memory. 
• Remind the children that they can use the ahtove.org website at home to learn more about Native American dance and share what they learned with their caregivers.

Instructional Materials and Support:

• Ahtove Website Link: https://ahtove.org/regalia/
• Post-it notes 
• Pencils 
• Room to dance book Jingle Dancer, by Cynthia Leitich Smith.