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Teaching and Learning the Menominee Clans Story

Pōsōh, Omāēqnomenewak mesek Mawaw-new-weyak!
(Hello, Menominee and everyone!) 

College of Menominee Nation endeavors to be a conduit for Indigenous language and culture.
One way in which CMN fulfills this undertaking is through the perpetuation of Menominee creation, history, and culture in our classrooms.
In the spirit of gift-giving, we encourage educators to explore the Clans Story website on their
own and then consider leading their classes through the lesson plans below.

Kēs-kocēqtamet? (Did you try it?)

“Everything you want to know (about the Menominee) is right there in the carvings. You just got to look.”
— James F. Frechette, Jr.

Curriculum Core Concepts

  • Menominee People are original to this landscape
  • Place names reflect the long and continuing relationship between the Menominee and their homeland
  • Netāēnawemākanak take care of one another, shape one another, and rely on one another

The Clans

Lesson Plan Outcomes:

  • Recognize what a clan is
  • Understand the traditional functions of the clans in Menominee society
  • Appreciate that the clans exist in modern Menominee society
  • Realize that every generation of knowledge keepers shares the responsibility for passing on cultural traditions

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Introduction to the Maps

 

 

 

 

Lesson Plan Outcomes:

  • Realize that a map can help tell a society’s history
  • Appreciate that a map can offer a snapshot of a nation’s geography at a point in time
  • Understand that all maps reflect that point of view of the cartographer 
  • Recognize that the language used to make a map captures the cartographer’s intent

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Nātamowekow

 

 

 

 

"Every morning when I get up
the first thing I do
is ask myself who I am [...]"

- Nātamowekow
   James F. Frechette, Jr.

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