The Talking stick

Grade/Subject: Grade 1 ELA Time: Duration: 80 min.

Overview of lesson:

Students will learn about the Sioux people and how they used a talking stick. By gaining this
insight, students should develop deeper understanding of respect for each other’s voices and
allow each of their classmates the time to talk about what they want. They will create their
own talking sticks, which they can later use in their family meetings. Students will also learn
about oral storytelling and have an opportunity to make up their own stories and listen to what
their peers come up with.

Program of studies (Goals and Objectives (Maximum 3 each) Be attentive to the terminology of the
Program of Study you are using.)

GLOs/GLEs SLOs/SLEs

4. Students will listen, speak, read, 4.3 Present and share

write, view and represent to enhance
the clarity and artistry of
communication.

5.1 Respect others and strengthen

5. Students will listen, speak, read, community
write, view and represent to respect,
support and collaborate with others.

Critical and Lesson Guiding Questions

(These guide the lesson, can be used for formative assessment and are lead-ins for pedagogical
discussion with students) A lesson can have several guiding questions.
What is oral communication?

Learning objectives Teaching Strategies

Students will… Direct instruction- Teaching about the Sioux

● Understand why the Sioux people use people and the talking stick
a talking stick
● Develop respect for each other's time Interactive instruction- Asking questions
talking
● Write a sentence about something Independent learning- Writing a sentence
they see about the talking stick in their booklets
● Listen to an oral story about the
talking stick Experiential learning- Making talking sticks
● Make their own talking stick and and telling their own oral stories
develop fine motor skills by tying rope
● Experience oral storytelling first hand
by telling their own stories

Differentiation Accommodation Modification

(Example an alternative way for (Example: If a student has a (Example: Student has been
a student to receive information hearing impediment) identified with a learning
or engage with a lesson.) challenge such as dyslexia)

Write sentence starters on Help tie knots or bows on

the board the sticks, as needed.

Assessment

Formative (Example: Observation/Anecdotal, Student/Teacher conferencing, check list etc..)

Do students know what a talking stick is? Ask for understanding.

Two sentences in their writer’s workshop booklets
Proper respect given to sticks, each other, and wolf puppet
Summative

Preparation

● Ask grade ones during recess to collect sticks about the length of their arm
● Make one talking stick to show as an example.
● Get materials ready in dishes
● Remind marie that I need to talk to students before recess

Material and equipment (Art supplies, manipulatives, smartboard, online whiteboard etc…)

● Small diameter sticks or dead branches from trees or bushes, or dowels cut to 12-inch
lengths - one for each participant plus a few extra
● Small feathers, real or synthetic
● String, yarn, or cord in assorted colors and textures
● Buttons
● Markers, glue, and scissors (including left-handed scissors)
● Optional: Small bells and seashells
● Wolf puppet
● Writer’s workshop books

Resources
https://www.uua.org/re/tapestry/children/lovesurrounds/session10/170187.shtml

Lesson Procedure

Introduction (20 min.) (Description of Hook/Attention Grabber; Expectations for Learning and
Behavior; Transition to Body, etc.)

Collect the sticks as the students are coming in from recess

Background information (10 min.)

● So boys and girls, we've talked a lot about sticks lately, so I wanted to introduce you to
another way which they can be used.

● Tell the children you will tell them a very old legend from the Sioux tribe of American
Indians. This story doesn’t have pictures, so I bought a wolf to act as the narrator.

● What is a narrator? (a person who narrates something, especially a character who

recounts the events of a novel or narrative poem.)

● This story explains how the Sioux began using talking sticks in their tribal meetings.
● (Conceal the talking stick until the end of the story when the grandmother makes the
first talking stick.)
● Whoever is holding the stick at their meetings, is the only person who is allowed to
 talk. When someone is holding the stick that means they deserve the respect of
everyone else, who should be quiet and paying close attention to whatever the person
holding the stick is saying.

● When the government began settling on the native peoples' homelands, the Sioux,
including the Dakota, Lakota, and Nakota tribes, occupied the Great Plains, a part of
North America that includes grasslands, hills, and streams but not a lot of forests.
Summers for them were hot and the winter was long and cold. The Sioux culture
centered on using horses to hunt buffalo for food.

● Read story (5 min.)

● Take out talking stick at the end
● Today’s challenge is to remember that only the person holding the talking stick can
speak. Everyone else is listening intently

● Ask questions: (5 min.)

○ Whose idea was the talking stick?
○ Who was the first human to make a talking stick?
○ What was the eagle trying to do by suggesting talking sticks?
○ What gave the eagle the idea for making talking sticks?
○ Can you think of any other object the grandmother could have made to use the
same way?

Body (45 min.)

(Descriptive and clearly organized steps/scaffolding and transitions in lesson. Indicate timing of each
section. Identify teaching strategies, organization of class etc. How and when are you using formative
assessment in your lesson?)

Oral storytelling mini lesson

● So the Sioux people used the stick when they were in a meeting, but they also often
told stories when they were at meetings, to get their ideas across in an artistic way that
people will listen to.
● Can someone tell me what oral storytelling is?
● (A very personal way of telling a story because the story is specific to the person
telling it. They are usually seated with their friends in a circle, holding the talking stick,
they tell a story without a book, but from their brains, by making gestures with their
bodies(acting them out) and using the expression in their voices)

Writing about the talking stick (10 min.)

● Have talking stick out to look at
● This is a real artifact from the Blackfoot people around Lethbridge so we need to be
extra careful with it
● Ask students to get their writers workshop booklets and write whatever they want
about the talking stick, the story, the animals or how they feel.
● Write,
○ I feel…
○ I like…
○ I see..
○ The talking stick is…
○ It looks like...
 ● Tell students that when they have written two sentences and have shown me, they can
start creating their own talking stick.
● Go over expectations
● Show students how to put beads on leather and wrap it around the stick.
● They can colour them with markers and wrap them in yarn

Making the talking stick (15 min.)

● Remind participants that talking sticks are not waved around or used in any other way
than being passed around a circle. They are used in sacred circles and are not used
as weapons.
● When everyone is working, get their attention to show them how to wrap/tie string
around the sticks
● Show them how to put beads/bells on string
● Show them to use markers to colour sticks, glue beads/shells to sticks

Using the talking stick (15 min.)

● Now we’re all going to have a chance to tell whatever kind of story we want to our
classmates.
● It should be a real story that has already happened, but you should feel free to make
the story your own by changing whatever you want about it. It can be about something
that happened to you or someone you know, you can make a story up about animals,
or you can just tell us about something you did yesterday or on the weekend.
● You can use your hands and feet to make gestures, your face to make expressions
and your voice to make us feel a certain way.
● If I was telling an oral story I might… (Model)
● Now that you all have your own talking sticks, you might think its ok that you all talk at
the same time
● So I will hold your individual sticks and pass you yours when it is your turn to tell us a
story.
● Start by telling the group what you wrote about, then tell us your story.
● If anyone has questions for the narrator, put your hands up and they will pass you their
talking stick
● Don’t speak before you are given the talking stick

Closure (5 min.)
(Consolidation Learning; Indicate clean up protocol, material management etc.
Transition to Next Lesson. How do you plan to prepare students for the next period?
Are they changing classes? Is another teacher coming in to the room.)

Clean up (3 min.)
● Put materials back into containers, put away markers/glue
● Leave sticks to dry

Consolidation (2 min.)
● Ask students what a talking stick is used for
● What are the rules when someone is holding a talking stick?
● What is something you noticed about/learned today?
 ● Homework : Tell students to bring home sticks and call a family meeting to talk
about their day. Tell their parents that whoever has the stick has the floor, and
have them pass it around to each family member

Reflection : How did it go? What should you change? What did you forget?

The Talking stick story

This story was given to the native people many winters ago. When it was time for all of
the young mothers in the village to go out to gather fruit and berries, the old
grandmothers, whose legs could no longer walk quickly, were left to care for the young
children of the village. The young mothers honored the grandmothers by giving them
this great responsibility.

It is believed that young children have many dreams and visions to collect before they
are grown. With the grandmothers close by, all the children took naps in the warmth of a
darkened lodge before Sun had traveled his full path each day. On one of these days
while the young children slept, Crow and Magpie, two noisy winged ones, were having a
terrible argument outside the lodge of the sleeping children.
"Caaaw-caaaw," screamed Crow. "Kaaack-Kack," yelled Magpie.

They were both speaking at once and they could not hear each other's point of view on
the subject of which tree belonged to which bird.

One of the grandmothers went to quiet the voices outside so they would not wake the
children. She tried to scare the birds away. When she could not get the attention of the
screaming Crow or yelling Magpie, she called on Eagle for help. Eagle, the great
winged one, was a sacred bird for both the native people and all the other animals of
the earth. He was also full of much wisdom and everyone looked to him to help them
with their problems.

"Oh, brother Eagle, can you chase off these two noisy ones so our children can
dream?" asked the grandmother.

With a mighty flap of his wings, Eagle sailed towards the noisy pair. He gave a call of
warning to the Crow and Magpie as he came close, but they were so busy fighting they
did not even hear him. When Eagle saw this he yelled louder and came closer, and that
is when it happened.

"Caaaw-caaaw, Caaaw-caaaw," Crow screamed as he flapped his wings in the air so

hard he nearly fell off his perch. "Kaaack-Kack," yelled Magpie as his wings too flapped
up a storm.

Suddenly they both realized that they had flapped their wings so hard without looking at
what they were doing, they hit one of Eagle's wings. What is worse, one of the sacred
feathers from Eagle fell out and landed on a small branch, suspended above Mother
Earth. It was a great offense to touch Eagle, much less cause one of his feathers to
come off. Magpie spoke to Eagle.

"Oh, brother Eagle, we did not hear you so near. I am truly sorry for the injury I have
caused you."

Now, Crow was surprised to hear such an honorable thing come from the mouth of this
rude neighbor. He spoke to Eagle with dignity.
"I have many times been a naughty bird but, brother Eagle, I think this may be the worst
I have done in many moons. I am very sorry you have lost a sacred feather."

Crow and Magpie both went to retrieve Eagle's feather and their eyes met and with no
words at all they both knew that this mistake would not have happened if they had not
been fighting. Magpie took the feather in his beak and spoke.

"I am ashamed, brother Eagle, that my loud talk and harsh words were more important
to me than solving our problem."

Crow took the feather from Magpie and said, "We have disturbed the two-legged
children and torn from your wing a sacred feather and now we return it to you with a
request for your forgiveness."
Eagle had watched all this with wise eyes and an open heart. He knew the lesson of
listening had been learned by his little brothers and he saw that the grandmother looked
on with learning eyes also.
So he said to Crow and Magpie, "Give my feather and the branch it rests on to the
grandmother. Grandmother, connect to my sacred feather to the branch. Dress the
branch with beads and leather and fur to make it even more beautiful. Keep it in your
lodge and teach others to create this fine looking stick."

Eagle said, "We will call this sacred item a Talking Stick. Tell all the people that when
they come together at any gathering where ears might be shut, to bring out the Talking
Stick and let only the holder speak. This will be done in an honorable manner letting
everyone have his say. Pass the stick until all have spoken. Then a vote can be taken
and the side who gathers the most votes will make the final decision," said Eagle.
Grandmother gathered up the branch and the feather. She was very honored to have
learned this lesson and every grandmother from that day on has told this story and
helped the young ones to make Talking Sticks.