Today’s panel was very intriguing for me because as elders Selina, Linda, and David, are highly respected specialists in Tlingit culture. Much has changed since the days that they were youth and were subjected to being othered by the standard social norms of the day such as privilege, power, and control. Even though much has changed in such a short time, still many things remain the same. I appreciate how their dialogues offered first hand accounts of what it was like for them as youth and all that they have had to work for since then to preserve their personal identities and cultural identities but to create an avenue for the culture to be revitalized and passed on to the younger generations. Digging deeper into the discussion, I took away a reminder that many people have been working (and fighting) for multiple generations now so that we can see equity in education. As MAT students and future teachers we have a large responsibility not to lose their vision when we step into the classroom for our training period and even once we are professionals at our craft. 
Tag: Elders
Core Values in Traditional Alaska Native Storytelling (Lesson)
(I’m kind of ripping off LB’s format here because it was so good. Thanks LB!)
Region: Interior (it can work with any) Class time: 2-3 full class periods
Description: From my experience, stories in Alaska Native culture can be a great way for elders or storytellers to pass down core values or life lessons to the next generation. These values that show up in stories aren’t apparent, but they also aren’t inconspicuous enough to not be understood. These stories would be great for a high school class to listen to and analyze. The great thing about this lesson is that it can be tweaked to fit into just about any grade level.
Class Session 1: Invite local elder or storyteller into the classroom to tell two or three stories to tell to the class (this is to give the class a variety of lessons/values to think about). The stories would be picked by the storyteller ahead of time, but approved by the teacher (preferably the stories would be ones that can also be found in print to be given to the students). The storytelling should last an entire 45 minute session. But if there is time left, or if the class period is longer that that time, there will be time to debrief about the stories.
Questions for Class 1:
- What did you like about each story?
- Did you find any similarities between the stories?
- What values do you think the creator of the story was trying to convey? (Stress to students that there aren’t any direct wrong answers. Metaphors can be open ended).
- What kinds of things to you value? (Maybe chart answers on the board?)
- This question will be one to leave the students on, so that they have some time to really think about it.
Class Session 2: Today’s class period will be focused on writing a story. (I’m kind of debating in my mind whether or not I should keep the student’s stories traditionally themed, or if I could let them spread out. Pete posed a perfectly legitimate thought about whether or not it could be science fiction or Star Wars-esque. Thoughts on this would be appreciated). The teacher would have left them the previous class period with that personal values question at the end of the day. Having their value in their mind, they will be responsible for writing a story based on their personal core values. These would be the values that they would want to pass down to their kids, nieces, or nephews. The values written into the story will have to be inconspicuous (or as much as they can). It would probably be most beneficial if the student have most of the class time to work on their story (the length of the story is something that can be tweaked to fit the general expectations of the grade level)(I also think that there should be a minimum page length rather than a max, or even a range. Some stories take a lot of time to get that lesson across). Save fifteen minutes at the end to debrief and think about their story.
Questions for Class 2:
- What did you find was the most difficult part of the story writing process?
- Do you think that you conveyed your value/ lesson clearly?
- What do you think the benefits of listening to a family member/elder/storyteller tell a story with a lesson in it are?
- Is it better or worse than just listening to them tell you directly?
Class Session 3: This class will be devoted to reading the student’s stories aloud (or in small groups?). The rest of the class will then try and guess what the “storyteller’s” teachable value would is.
Questions for Class 3:
- Having listened to the class try and guess your values, do you think you did a good job conveying your value clearly without it being apparent?
- Did you have a tough time not giving it away when the other students were getting close to guessing your value?
Anyway, these are just some ideas that I had about the project. I realize that I dove into it probably far further than I was expected to go, but that’s kind of what happens when you’re passionate about something.
Gunalchéesh,
Joe
Photo (Tlingit artist and storyteller, Gene Tagaban) courtesy of http://www.sitnews.us/0111News/010711/Gene-Raven.jpg
Words from the Wise
What advice did you hear that resonated with you?
What implications might this have for you as a teacher?
From the Elder forum, a multitude of advise and wisdom was shared with us. One story I noted stuck with me more than the others as quite relevant to my subject matter of foreign language.
During a Celebration past, a tribe of Maori visited and performed a dance for the group, and the locals were shocked to see them sticking their tongues out at them as part of their routine. One might be offended by this if unfamiliar with the Maori culture, though this gesture is part of a war chant, or haka, to show strength or to intimidate an enemy.
Though the Maori’s certainly were not trying to scare the attendees of Celebration, it is none-the-less important to look through other cultures with a different pair of “lenses” than one’s own; one could easily apply the American “lenses” over the Maori action and take offense by an out-stuck tongue.
The lesson here being to respect other cultures.
In my own future French classroom, students will be exposed to numerous cultures in the francophone world from Europe, the Americas, and Africa. Some things, especially food, may be easy for Americans to ridicule or revolt from, but they should be exposed to these things and taught that the way other peoples live their lives, on a cultural level, is no thing for outsiders to ridicule without full understanding of the complexities and intricacies of the host environment.
