Identity and Heritage

Jacob and Reyhner’s text provides an overview of supporting teachers to value Native Americans’ cultural heritage and assist Native American students to achieve academic success. From identifying students’ learning styles and respecting students’ cultural background to providing culturally responsive pedagogy and curriculum, Jacob and Reyhner show key points that teachers should note when teaching Native American students. Though I only know little about Native Americans, I think one theme I find across the article, the video clip, and Sherman Alexie’s novel is identity.

Across these three pieces of reading, identity seems to be an emerging issue. On one hand, it is about Native American students’ identity. As they usually live and walk in the two worlds – in one world they learn the mainstream culture from books, and in the other they learn from stories passed down from their parents, grandparents, or even great grandparents, their identity seems to be a site of struggle. Just as Junior in Alexie’s novel, he struggles at school for being a Native American, and he struggles at his hometown for going to a so-called White school. I surmise that in reality, there are many Native American students who share similar experiences as Junior with multiple and oscillating identities.  On the other hand, it is about teachers’ identity. I could imagine that for non-Native American teachers, teaching in schools on the reservation puts them in a role of an outsider. As outsiders, how to earn trusts from Native American students and people within the community as well as how to understand Native American students’ learning styles might bring challenges to teachers and have an impact on how they perceive themselves. Should teachers teach the way they are taught, or should they adopt a more responsive instruction to approach Native American students?

The exploration of identity issue in the readings all comes to the point of valuing students’ cultural and linguistic heritage. The worldview of living with Mother Nature, the learning of tribal language, the importance of oral tradition, and the value of sharing and reciprocity all contribute to how students perceive themselves and their culture. Teachers may draw on the cultural and linguistic heritage to develop lessons or curriculum let Native American students know their roots and be proud of themselves.

Sherman Alexie’s novel somehow makes me think of a movie, Windtalkers, which is about using Navajo language for coding during World War II. I think this movie could be a good one to show Native American students the importance of valuing their own culture and language.

                                   Windtalkers Trailer [2002]

                       

Question: 

What are some activities or strategies that can be used for teaching students to value their culture and language heritage?

It is interesting for me to find that there are some similarities between Native Americans and Native Taiwanese. Actually many of the most popular Taiwanese singers and athletes are Natives. I wonder how you would draw on these characteristics for teaching (e.g. using songs/poetry).