Overview

In this lesson, students will research their own family history and create a totem pole to reflect and communicate that history.

Family history using totem poles

Lesson plan information

Teacher guide

Objectives

• Students will create totem poles that represent their family histories.
• Students will use symbols to represent historic events.
• Students will learn about Native American totem poles.

Prerequisite skills

• Basic research skills using Microsoft Internet Explorer
• Basic experience with Microsoft Office PowerPoint

How to begin

1. Save the document Student directions (24 KB Microsoft Word file) to your classroom computer. Adjust the directions as needed for your lesson. When presenting your lesson to the students, have them use the student directions sheet to get started. You may wish to create an assessment rubric to include with the student directions.
2. Discuss symbols with your students and how they can represent ideas and events.
3. Find out what the students know about totem poles. View pictures of totem poles, and read about them on the Internet.

• Totem poles: An exploration
• On the Totem Trail

Resources and web links

Student directions

• Helping students design great presentations
• Totem poles: An exploration
• On the Totem Trail

Student activity

Description

One exciting way to discover who you are is to find out about your family history. In this activity, you will interview family members about your family's history, find symbols to represent that history, and build your own totem pole with the symbols you choose to communicate who your family is.

Step 1: research your family history

• Software: Microsoft Internet Explorer
• What to do
  Research your family history, and select symbols to represent that history

1. Talk with your parents, and find out as much as you can about your family history. Take notes on interesting elements of your family history.
2. Decide which symbols you are going to use to represent the different elements of your family history. Think about including totems other than people and animals (for example, a type of food or a national flag). Select four to five symbols.
3. Use clip art, digital cameras, or scanners to capture a digital picture of each totem.

Step 2: create a totem pole of your family and a PowerPoint presentation

• Software: Microsoft Office PowerPoint
• What to do
  Build a totem pole of your family's history, and explain it in a PowerPoint presentation

1. Create a PowerPoint presentation with the symbols you have collected. Experiment with stacking the pictures to form a totem pole.
2. Show the completed totem pole on the first slide of the presentation, with your name.
3. Create a slide to explain each of the symbols in your totem pole.
4. Save your presentation.
5. Practice talking about your slide show so that you can share it with your classmates.

Ways to extend the student activity

• Students can make totems to represent historical figures or characters in books.
• Students can use art materials to make three-dimensional models of their totem poles.

Assessment

Students can be assessed on their PowerPoint presentations.

• They should have four or five symbols to represent their family history.
• Each symbol should be explained in the presentation.

This content is reprinted with permission from Microsoft. For additional content, please visit http://www.microsoft.com/education/default.mspx.