How I used the...
Teacher Tips & Testimonials

Looking for more fun ways to use the WSHS online curriculum materials? Read the letters and comments below to see what has worked for other educators.

How I used the...Treaty Trail Unit

I thought I would let you know how I used your terrific Treaty Trails information in one of the classrooms where I teach.

I took your biographies for each of the characters involved in the signing of the Walla Walla Treaty and assigned one person to each table group in the 4th grade classroom where I was visiting as a social studies specialist. The classroom teacher and I had the kids each read the biographies and decide for themselves three events in the person's life that lead to their decision whether to sign the treaty or not. (Or, in the case of Isaac Stevens, events that lead to his decision to come to the Pacific Northwest to get these treaties signed.) Once they had decided on those three events, they picked the one that they thought would make the best story. Then, using playwriting exercises, we worked through having them write how they thought that event might have played out in the format of a play.

In the end, we created a play with 6 different perspectives on how people felt coming to Walla Walla for that treaty signing. We used Gustav Sohon as a kind of bookend for the performance, with a child playing him introducing each chief's story, pretending to draw that person and then, in the end, calling each together for the treaty signing. We used words I found in your sources and other places to have each chief talk about whether he would sign or not.

It was really a thrilling outcome and the kids got SO much out of it. I thought you'd like to know that your resources are really making subjects that before might have seemed unapproachable much more fun and accessible.

Thanks for pulling together those resources and making them so accessible.

Mary Anne Christy
Historian in Residence, Seattle Public Schools