Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text.

“Seeking Understanding”

In this activity, students will consider the perspectives of European colonists and the Penobscot people as depicted in the novel. They will research and present each group’s concerns, then discuss the ways in which Matt and Attean symbolize differences.

In groups of 3-5, use information from the novel and other scholarly resources to make a list of concerns from the perspectives of both European colonists and the Penobscot people that might represent the time before, during, and after the novel. A two-column graphic can be used to organize concerns.

• The Sign of the Beaver, Chapters 2, 3, 6, 9, 13, 17, 22, and 25 discuss the conflicts between European colonists and the Penobscot people.
• “1668-1774: Settlement & Strife” from the Maine Historical Society lists the battles between French and English settlers and their respective Indigenous allies and opponents.
• This brief history of the Penobscot Nation from the Wabanaki Alliance discusses characteristics and events around the Revolutionary War.
• “Peopling Maine” from the Maine Historical Society reviews the history of the Wabanaki alliance of Indigenous nations (including the Penobscot), as well as that of the French and English settlers who migrated into the region.