Exploring Native American Tribes

Reflection on the Native American Jigsaw project. Class date-11/18/13

My Powerpoint
Quiz
For Monday's class, we worked on our Native American Jigsaw project. For the first 10 minutes of class, Dr.Smirnova allowed us to spend time with our expert groups. My expert group was on the Mohican Indians and I worked with Anne and Caitlyn. We put together a powerpoint presentation with facts we learned about the Mohican Indians. After we completed putting together our presentation, we went back into the other groups we were in. I was in the first group with Alex,Ericka,Amanda, Tara, and Courtney. We all shared our presentations and taught each other. After each teacher taught their lesson, we took short quizzes about the material they had covered. 
This is a summary of what each person did in their presentations. I have also included my reflections and rating of each presentation. 

Alex- Alex taught us about the Seneca Tribe. The Seneca Tribe was a Matriarchal tribe which meant women were in charge. They lived throughout the finger lakes in New York. The Seneca tribe had their own offical language called "Ogwehoweh". They wore traditional Native American Clothing. They ate "the three sisters" (beans, corn, squash). They lived in longhouses and used canoes for transportation. There were many chiefs who were famous in the Seneca Tribe. My rating for Alex would be a 5. She was very knowledgeable about the content she addressed. I learned a lot from her presentation. Alex pre-assessed our knowledge throughout the presentation. I thought it was interesting how the Seneca tribe was run by women. Good job Alex!

Ericka- Ericka presented her presentation on the Cayuga tribe. The Cayuga tribe was made up of 5 clans. Lived near the Finger Lakes in New York in longhouses. They were known as "people of the swamp". They had their own language and their religion was worshiping Orenda. Chief Logan was a famous person of this tribe. The Cayugas also ate the "three sisters" and hunted animals for food. They wore traditional Native American clothing. My rating for Ericka would be a 5. I thought Ericka did a nice job clearly explaining all the information on her slides. I also enjoyed the video that her group added about the long houses. Ericka also did a nice transition for her beginning to middle to end of the presentation. Good job Ericka!

Amanda- Amanda had the Oneida tribe. The Oneida tribe lived in New York near the Oneida Lake.They spoke their own language. The tribe hunted and made raw materials. They were known for their cornbread recipes and stews. They lived in longhouses as well. The men and women wore different types of clothing made of animal skins in the winter to keep warm. My rating for Amanda is a 5. She gave a nice, brief, overview of the Oneida tribe. Amanda spoke clearly and had a lot of interest in her information. Good job Amanda!

Tara- Tara did her presentation on the Munsee Tribe. The Munsee tribe lived mainly in the New York state tri-region. They were known as "Christians". They spoke the language, Algonkian. Women were farmers and men were hunters.  They lived in wigwams. Wore traditional Indian clothing such as headpieces and moccasins. Ate foods that they farmed and hunted. They would take steam baths as remedies. I would give Tara a 5 on her presentation. I learned a lot of new information on the Munsee tribe. Tara was very knowledgeable of the content. Also, I enjoyed the resources the group provided in their presentation. Good job Tara!

Courtney- Courtney did her research and presentation on the Mohawk Tribe. The Mohawk Tribe lived near the great lakes. They fought during the US revolution. The Mohawk tribe was also the original tribe of NY. They spoke Iroquoian language. Their Religion they believed in was worshiping God Hahgwehdiyu. They created the game lacrosse. Men wore the Mohawk hair style. I am giving Courtney a rating of 5. I think she did a nice job explaining the information about the Mohawks. She made the presentation really interesting and I learned new facts. Good job Courtney!

My Summary about the Mohican Indians: 
The Mohican Indians lived in wigwams along the Hudson Valley in New York. They had their own language. They had many Religious beliefs. They wore traditional Indian clothing and moccasins. The Mohican Indians were known for recipes that included trail mix, cornbread,and soup. Famous people of the Mohican Indians included: Mohican Etowaukaum (Nicholas) and Mohawk Hendrick (whose father was a Mohican). They went to England to tell Queen Ann about their missions. 

My reflection on the experience:
I really enjoyed doing this jigsaw activity. I think it was a good idea how we got into small groups to find our information with and then presented it to a bigger group. I like that there were guidelines for us to follow so we knew what we needed to focus on in our research. While conducting my research, I learned a lot of interesting and new things about the Mohican Indians. I find their culture really interesting, and I am glad I got to research their tribe. I liked the presentation portion because it was between 5 people and it made it less intimidating instead of presenting to the whole class. I learned how the cooperate jigsaw process works. Everyone has a piece of the puzzle and then when they add their piece with information, they complete the puzzle!

These were the responses we got from students taking our quiz about the Mohican Indians-