Voices from the old West.
To research eyewitness accounts by some of the different kinds of people who lived in the West, divide the class into teams of six students each and have teams assign each member one of the following: rancher (or cowboy), farmer, Native American, prospector for gold (or some other mineral), woman, soldier (or scout). Students should find primary-source accounts by several such persons, select a brief (200 words or fewer) excerpt that they found particularly interesting, and copy that excerpt onto a sheet of paper, without identifying which team they represent.

When all of the teams are done, have them organize their sheets by category (all of the accounts by ranchers in one pile, for example) and hand them to the teacher. The teacher will then select the most compelling excerpt in each of the six categories. Which team had the most winners?

Surviving the West: A game of skill and chance.
Working together as a class, design a board game called "Surviving the West," in which players advance their pieces along a sequence of squares (by rolling a die) in order to see who can be the first to reach the square in the center of the board.

Scattered across the board should be several "Just Your Luck" squares; a player who lands on one of them selects a card from a pile that contains descriptions of fortunate events (for example, "Congratulations: you've just struck gold! Advance five squares!") and unfortunate ones (for example, "Sorry, grasshoppers have eaten your crop. Go back five squares.").

Also scattered across the board should be several "Test Your Knowledge" squares. A player who lands on one of them selects a card from a pile that contains multiple-choice quiz questions on the West (for example, "From what country did Texas declare its independence in 1836: France, Mexico, Spain, or the United States?"). The player may not advance until he or she has answered the question correctly.

When the design of the game is complete, produce several copies and have the members of the class play it in small groups. Do they think a real westerner of the 1800s would have enjoyed it --and do they think they could have beaten him or her?

Yesterday's West, today's America.
Have each student take the Westernizer personality quiz to see what kind of person he or she would have been in the American West. Students should also explore the links provided there to learn about some historical figures who shared those traits.

Next, have each student select one of those historical figures and imagine that this person has been given an opportunity to write a newspaper column commenting on some aspect of life in America today. What would appear most interesting -- or shocking -- to this visitor from the past, given his or her life experiences? Each student should write a column on behalf of their chosen historical figure and circulate it among the class or read it aloud.

Diverse Indian peoples.
As the film on Kit Carson explains, Carson dealt with many different kinds of American Indians, from different tribes, and therefore did not view them as a single group or stereotype.

To see how stereotypes can present a distorted view of a people, ask the class what characteristics first come to mind when they think of Native Americans of the West (for example, what they wore, what their diet consisted of, how they governed themselves, and how they treated members of other tribes) and make a list as a class of the "top ten" of these characteristics. Then divide the class into small groups and have each group research an assigned Native American tribe to prepare a list of its "top ten" characteristics. As each group presents its "top ten" list, post it next to the class's initial "top ten" list of characteristics of Native Americans in general.

When you are done, compare the groups' lists to each other, and to the initial "top ten" list. What similarities and differences do you see among the Indian tribes? How accurate was the class's initial list?

The pioneer spirit.
Discuss as a class the reasons why so many people decided to give up their current way of life and move to the West during the 1800s. What were they seeking -- more freedom, more opportunity, a chance to build one's own future?

Do you think these goals are still important for Americans today? To explore this issue, divide the class into teams of two students each, and have each team examine the speeches of two of the presidential candidates for 2008 -- one Republican and one Democrat. Team members should look for references in these speeches to ideals such as freedom and opportunity, and see how the candidates discuss these ideals in terms of specific issues, such as the economy, immigration, or health care.

Have teams report their findings to the class. Use these findings as the basis of a class discussion on whether Americans today are motivated by the same things as the Americans who migrated to the West.