Grades 9-12 Lesson Plan - Mapping Relationships in a Community

Map 2 Main Page

Core Map:"A Map Describing the Situation of the Several Nations of Indians between South Carolina and the Mississippi River". In Archer Butler Hulbert, The Crown Collection of Photographs of American Maps (Washington, 1873), series 3, volume 1, plates 7-8. Newberry Library call number: Ayer 136 H91 1914, vol. 1 (Printable PDF version of the Core Map)

Overview
In this lesson students consider the aspects of a map drawn about 1721 by a Native American for presentation to the British governor of South Carolina and comapre it to a European explorer's map. They use this Native American map as a model to create a map to explain their community to a person who is new to it.

Objectives
By the end of this lesson students are expected to:

1. compare qualities of European and Native American mapping.
2. understand how relationships are shown on a historic map.
3. represent relationships within their community on a map.

Materials
Computer image or overhead of the core map, copies of the core map for students, the Smith map of Virginia, 1612 or the Champlain map of New France, 1612 (provided as eastern portion and western portion), a map of your community

Time
One hour plus homework time

Getting Started

1. Ask students to consider the tasks of an explorer. Brainstorm responses and record them on the board or overhead.

2. Ask them to consider how an explorer would accomplish these tasks (paying for the exploration, bringing knowledge of the new place back, being able to share this knowledge with others, seeking new species or lands or riches, spreading values of their culture, etc.). Discuss the impact of not knowing the language of the new land and how that would change the explorer's strategy.

3. Show them either the Smith map of Virginia, 1612 or the Champlain map of New France, 1612 (eastern and western portions).

4. Have the students refer to the list of tasks they created in #1. Ask them to explain which of the tasks could be accomplished using the European map.

1. Present the core map on the computer, in printed form, or on an overhead transparency. If you are not using the core map on the computer, have the contemporary spelling of the names on the maps ready for you to use.

2. Ask students to study the map. Direct them to consider not just that there are circles, for example, but also what is the function of the circles and why they look the way they do. See the curator's notes for specific explanations of the map symbols.

3. As a class, have students discuss which of the explorer's tasks listed in Getting Started #1 could be supported with this map.

4. Brainstorm with them about who are the modern day explorers who come to their community (business people, tourists, people passing through, and exchange students).

5. Tell students that they are responsible for acclimating an exchange student to their community. They are to create a map that will show the exchange student what the Catawba showed the British governor, that is, the relationships in an unfamiliar location. The map should show the groups and individuals who are part of the relationships in your community. It should also indicate the different kinds of relationships they have. It should show the relative importance of the locations or people being mapped to the life of the exchange student.

For 3 points, the map shows with good accuracy and usually in detail; the groups and individuals who are part of the relationships in your community, the different kinds of relationships they have and the relative importance of the locations or people being mapped to the life of the exchange student.

For 2 points, the map shows with some accuracy and in inconsistent detail; the groups and individuals who are part of the relationships in your community, the different kinds of relationships they have and the relative importance of the locations or people being mapped to the life of the exchange student.

For 1 point, the map shows little of accuracy and in little detail; the groups and individuals who are part of the relationships in your community, the different kinds of relationships they have and the relative importance of the locations or people being mapped to the life of the exchange student.

Alternate Evaluation
Have students present their maps to each other. Have student write what they think is being shown on the map. What they write can be used to evaluate the usefulness, completeness and accuracy of the other student's effort.

Extension
Use this format to map relationships in the world today. Economic, political, and social relationships, as well as spatial, can all be shown with some modification to this map. For example, trading relationships of the ten countries in the world with the greatest amount of trade.