Lat. Amer. Col. Lesson 1 Lesson Plan

Lat. Amer. Col. Lesson 1 Lesson Plan

Pre-European Contact/First Contact

This lesson plan encourages students to think critically about the concept of “civilization.” The ideology of “civilization” served to legitimize colonization in the minds of the colonizers by creating a belief in the inferiority of Indigenous populations and positioned Europeans as superior. A common narrative in many American history textbooks is that Europeans came to the Americas to save and “civilize” the Native tribes and empires. Yet, students are missing an important piece of that narrative: the fact that these indigenous communities already had key elements of “civilization.” Students will learn about definitions of civilization, analyze images related to European and Indigenous cultures, and answer questions that will complicate their notions of “civilization.”

Yesenia Ayala, Valerie Benoist, Deborah Michaels

English

Spanish

Lesson Plan

Caribbean

Cuba

Central America

South America

1400s

1500s

Low High School, Upper High School

2018