Instructional Strategies - Ho-Chunk, Sauk, and Fox

In this module students learn about the history of the Ho-Chunk people and the forced displacement from their native lands through treaties that favored European settlement of Wisconsin. Module 3 provides the opportunity for students to build empathy for other cultures and to try to understand what it is like to be forced to leave one's homeland, as they learn of the struggles and strife the Ho-Chunk experienced in attempting to return to Wisconsin from their displacement to Iowa. Importantly, help students understand the significance of Yellow Thunder's land claim and how it provided a legal strategy for the Ho-Chunk to remain on their native land.

Through a series of treaties in the early 1800s, the Ho-Chunk sold off their land in Wisconsin. Territorial claims with other tribes, food, money, supplies, payment of debts, and the establishment of schools were used as incentives for the Ho-Chunk to agree one treaty after another. Help students understand the impact of treaties on the Ho-Chunk and the national push to remove Indigenous People from land east of the Mississippi River. Allow for an open discussion of the push-pull of settlement.

Wisconsin Social Studies Standards Alignment

Learning Priority: (Inq4.a) Communicate conclusions

3-5: Communicate conclusions from a variety of teacher provided presentation options.

Learning Priority: (Inq4.b) Critique conclusions

3-5: Evaluate the strength of a claim, evidence, and communication using criteria established by both teacher and student.

Learning Priority: (BH1.a) Individual cognition, perception, and behavior

3-5: Describe how a person's understanding, perceptions, and behaviors are affected by relationships and environments.

Learning Priority: (Econ4.d) Impact of government interventions

3-5: Predict unintended costs and benefits (i.e., externalities) for a given current situation or event.

Learning Priority: (Geog2.b) Reasons people move

3-5: Investigate push and pull factors of movement in their community, state, country, and world.

Learning Priority: (Geog2.c) Impact of movement

3-5: Describe population changes in their state and country over time.

Learning Priority: (Hist4.a) Historical context

3-5: Describe the historical context (situation) of a primary or secondary source.

Learning Priority: (Hist4.b) Intended audience

3-5: Describe the significance of the intended audience of a primary or secondary source.

Learning Priority: (PS2.c) Asserting and reaffirming of human rights

3-5: Critique instances where groups have been denied access to power and rights, and any law or customs that have altered these instances. Summarize how people (e.g., religious groups, civil rights groups, workers, neighborhood residents) organize to gain a greater voice to impact and change their communities.

Learning Priority: (PS3.c) Power in government

3-5: Classify the basic structures and functions of governments and summarize basic powers of the government at the local, state, tribal, and federal levels.