Day One:
Assignment #1: Find an image of a map of Ontario, Canada. Ideally, the map will have the cities of Kenora, Reddit, and/or Manitouwadge on it. Paste it into your reading journal. In your journal, take notes or make predictions about the implications of a story that has this geographical location.
Assignment #2: Watch the video embedded in this story, "How Hockey Offered Salvation at Indian Residential Schools." In your reading journal, take notes or make predictions about topics that Indian Horse will likely touch upon knowing that it addresses this history in its story.
Assignment #3: As you read the first 8 chapters (p. 1-33), focus your attention on the main character, Saul Indian Horse. What are some of the issues or tensions affecting Saul Indian Horse (both as an adult and child). You can present these as a list. Come up with 5 items and post them in your reading journal.
Day Two:
Assignment #4: Saul Indian Horse has connections to Ojibway and Catholoic traditions. In your reading journal, discuss how the novel conveys, in the first 8 chapters, the cultural tension Saul Indian Horse experiences between these two influences. Before responding, watch this video on "Wild Rice Harvesting" and read this article from the Nature Conservancy, both of which discuss the importance of wild rice to Ojibway tradition and culture (which is a focus of Chapter 7).
Day Three:
Assignment #5: Chapters 11-14 discuss several of the traumatic experiences Saul Indian Horse experiences at the fictional St. Jerome's Indian Residential School. What are some of those traumatic experiences? How did these affect him or how does he respond psychologically to them? Finally, how do his experiences (or how does the author's depiction of the school) compare to the depiction of the schools offered in these two articles: "A History Not Yet Led to Rest" and "A Fight for Truth". Post your responses in your reading journal.
Day Four:
Assignment #5: At this point in the reading, Saul is able to leave St. Jerome's Indian Residential School and join the Manitouwadge Moose Junior Hockey Team. Fred Kelly, the coach, and his wife are now Saul's legal guardians. For this assignment, we are going to watch the film up to the same point. Your assignment is to evaluate the film. Here are some questions to consider: What does it get right? What could be better? What does the film add and/or cut? What is the effect of those choices?
Day Five: Formative Assessment - Chapter 25-31 Questions
Day Six: Reread Chapter 38, focusing especially on Saul's reaction to the way his new teammates, fans, and the media depict and/or treat him. Then, spend some time exploring the student-curated resources on this website with respect to American sports teams that continue to use (or used for many years) Native American iconography and performance rituals. In your reading journal, list the various claims made for the discontinuance of this practice. Be prepared to share how you see these claims reflected in Saul's story.
Day Seven: Summative Assessment - Socratic Seminar
Enrichment & Extension Opportunity: Basketball in America v. Hockey in Canada
"How Native Americans Made Basketball Their Own"
"Rez Ball: Basketball in Lakota Nation" on YouTube
Basketball or Nothing: Rezball on Netflix
Gary Smith's "Shadow of a Nation" from Sports Illustrated
Additional Resources
