Story Maps at the Library of Congress are immersive web applications that tell the incredible stories of the Library’s collections through narrative, multimedia, and interactive maps. The "Living Nations, Living Words" story map is an interactive presentation that offers numerous points of entry to the materials created as part of this project. Below are some classroom ideas you might consider:

Reflect on Borders and Place in the Story Map

• When your students first encounter the story map, they might notice that there are no borders between states or regions.
• Share with them this quote from Joy Harjo, found in the map narrative section of the story map: “What I appreciate about the map you see here is that there are no political boundaries and no words for earth formations or water ways in any spoken or written language. There are no dividing lines.”  What do your students think of her words?
• Remind them that the Native poets featured in this project decided for themselves where they wanted to be located on the map – be it where they currently live, where they call home, or their tribal homelands.
• Ask your students where they would put themselves on the story map.
• Then invite them to consider what “homeland” means to them. What do they consider their own homeland and how would they describe it?

Explore a Poem by the Poet Geographically Farthest from You

• Ask students to find the poet located farthest from their own location in the story map.
• Suggest that they read the poet’s biography, and consider how they might learn more about the poet.
• Invite them to read the poet’s featured poem. What thoughts or emotions does it inspire in them?
• Which themes of the “Living Nations, Living Words” project does the poem evoke?

Explore a Poem by the Poet Geographically Closest to You

• Ask students to find the poet located closest to their own location in the story map.
• Suggest that they read the poet’s biography, and consider how they might learn more about the poet.
• Invite them to read the poet’s featured poem. What thoughts or emotions does it inspire in them?
• After they have read the poem, ask them to consider whether it changes their perception or sense of their home (or place). If so, in what ways?

Choose a Poem from One or All of the Compass Directions: East, North, West, and South

• Encourage students to read about each of the compass directions as Joy Harjo describes them in the story map. For instance, she writes, “East is considered the direction of becoming, the sunrise place.” You might also ask students to reflect on what the compass directions symbolize to them.
• Ask them to consider exploring terrain that might not be familiar to them.
• For example, encourage them to “go due North” from where they live, and choose one of the poets whose voices animate the land there. Or they might choose a region that relates to a topic you are teaching in class.
• Students might also research the physical geography of a poet’s place on the map and discuss ways in which the natural world might have influenced the culture of that poet’s nation.
• Invite students to read the poet’s featured work, and then consider any references to physical geography in the poem or in the poet’s discussion of the poem.
• Encourage them to do the same for the four major compass directions.

Compare Local Maps from Different Time Periods to Explore “Place” and “Displacement”

• Consider, for instance, this historical map from 1890: Map of Indian Territory and Oklahoma. What do your students notice?
• Compare it with the same region shown in the interactive map featured in the story map. What do your students notice now? What is similar? What is different?
• Read the poems and commentary from the five poets who chose this region on the story map (e.g., Joy Harjo, Jennifer Elise Foerster, Leanne Howe, Sy Hoahwah, Joe Dale Tate Nevaquaya). How do they express two of the overarching themes of “Living Nations, Living Words,” place and displacement?
• Next, compare and contrast the 1890 map with this one from 1831: A Map of That Part of Georgia Occupied by the Cherokee Indians. What is similar? What is different?
• Re-read the poems and commentary from the five poets and review how they express place and displacement.
• Revisit the activity with a different region, including where students placed themselves on the map.

Compare the Interactive Map to Governmental Maps to Explore “Place” and “Displacement”

• Consider this map of Indian Tribes, Cultures & Languages from the National Atlas, 1991, and the 1890 Map of North America Showing Indian Tribes.
• Compare and contrast them with the interactive map featured in the story map. What do your students notice? What is similar? What is different?  
• Next, contrast the maps with the 2016 Bureau of Indian Affairs: Map of Indian Lands in the United States.
• From the story map, choose one or more poems from selected linguistic or cultural areas, and read them through the lens of place and displacement.

Ask Students to Create Their Own (Literary) Maps

• Students might also create a map that reflects their own story. They can consider their location on the map, and reflect on where their families lived – five, 20, 50, or 100 years ago (or more)? They may also reflect on stories of place and displacement in their own family history. Ask students to think about what sources they could use to trace their own stories.