My aim in this unit is twofold. I would like students and teachers using this unit to become comfortable using art in the classroom. I am a firm believer in art as a key to real discovery in the classroom. I have always felt that art can be used as a beautiful tool that allows students the opportunity to explore academic topics in a less traditional manner. The interpretation of visual art in this unit will be very objective and open; students will be asked to interpret the art with minimal teacher guidance at first. Next the teacher will lead the students to examine points about the art that will help them to make discoveries about changing attitudes towards Native Americans in this incredibly important century. I believe that teachers can easily adopt the techniques used in this lesson to just about any academic class. Why not enhance the study of the American Revolution with artwork from that era? Why not introduce Andy Warhol into a political science class? The possibilities are endless.
I would like students being taught in this unit to read between the lines as of artistic interpretations of Native Americans. How were the natives depicted in their times? Why were they depicted in a certain way? I would like to provide teachers and students with a unique and interesting way to examine what I believe is one of the saddest and most misunderstood chapters of American history: the nineteenth century westward expansion.