Rationale
My goal is to cultivate the cultural awareness of my Dine students by focusing on the importance of the traditional way of life—to bring my students to understand their Dine culture by integrating poetry that depicts the lifestyle of the Dine people as they are connected to land, seasons, and the natural world. Additionally, my goal is to integrate speaking, listening, and reading skill-sets for students to develop their Navajo oral language skills by using Poetry written in English and Navajo. Another goal is to provide a platform for students to say key words and phrases in the English and Navajo languages. My goal is to have my students read poems such as "Breakfast", "The Hogan", or "The Cornfield" in English and Navajo, which reinforce the content taught in Navajo Language class.
My unit in no way replaces the Navajo language class content or standards; but is a supplement to the Navajo language class by creating a small group setting in the special education classroom to teach my students the Dine/Navajo cultural aspects through literature and poetry. To provide prior knowledge to my students that will allow them the opportunity to utilize the oral language of our Dine culture in their Navajo language class.
These goals derive from the challenges my students might experience while attending their Navajo language class—the challenge of not knowing enough about their Dine culture, the limited use of their Dine language because English is their first language, and the possible lack of a strong cultural background from home. By incorporating the use of the historical literature and seasonal poetry of our Dine people, I will help to plant the seed of knowledge for each of my students. The literature and poems that are written in both the Dine language and English will aid in the reinforcement of oral language, which is the foundation of the Dine culture. The challenge may appear in the form of not knowing the traditional Navajo way of life, in which families participate in activities of caring for livestock such as sheep, horses, and cows, tending the cornfield, preparing wool for weaving, and eating in the central part of the Hogan. I want to provide my students with exceptionalities the opportunity to understand their own Navajo culture. Many of my students are provided a class schedule that includes social studies and science in the general education classroom while they may receive language arts (reading and writing) and math class with their case manager or ESS teacher for one class period. For the remainder of their schedule they are given an elective class and this can range from Physical Education, Music, Technology, Industrial Arts (wood shop), or Navajo Language.
When my students are enrolled in a Navajo Language class they enjoy the comforts of listening to the Dine language, as words are spoken by their teacher, who is a fluent Dine language speaker. My students are given a variety of activities in the Navajo language classroom that may be challenging to them. The activities may include reading basic Dine language sight words, matching Dine word with a picture, and being given short stories written in Dine from which they translate the words and sentences using a Navajo dictionary. In addition, students who know they struggle with reading will be reluctant to read aloud in class. The Navajo language teacher may provide options for my students to read with a peer or have a peer read the story to them. The teacher supports students with exceptionality by providing choices to work with a partner or small group. I know there are other opportunities for my students to participate and speak the Dine language at school when given the supports in small classroom settings. But there is also a window of opportunity to teach my students their Dine language and culture through the alternative medium of literature and poetry presented in small chunks. Integrating literature and poetry allows for the students to interact with the story, the history, and the language in smaller chunks, and that allows the student to take ownership of their learning about their Dine culture.
Our Dine/Navajo Nation adopts the same form of government as the federal government but at a tribal level. As Dine/Navajo people we elect an executive leader to lead our Dine/Navajo Nation through the politics of working with the state and federal laws and mandates and to find a common ground as our Dine/Navajo Nation is a sovereign nation.
Our Dine/Navajo history has shown over the years the evidence of many strong and progressive leaders of our nation, leaders who have been called chief, leader, chairman, and president. Our leaders and presidents were elected either by a simple voting by hand or elected by their clan or in an official electoral process. Our Dine/Navajo leaders provided a direction of sustainability, resiliency, and progressiveness as they led our nation into the 20 th and 21 st century. Two former Dine/Navajo Nation leaders are at the forefront of moving our Dine/Navajo Nation forward to balance both our traditional way of life as we as valued our culture and to the balance of western society's culture. They are former presidents of Dine/Navajo Nation, Peterson Zah and Peter MacDonald. I will confine my citations, however, to the published position statements of Peterson Zah.
Peterson Zah, former Navajo Nation Chairman/President, emphasizes the importance of culture to our Dine youth: "my hope is that the young Navajo people today will not abandon the value of helping and will continue to honor our traditions." (Zah, xi) This simple statement encompasses the importance of tradition and valuing our Dine/Navajo culture. Peterson Zah states his "hope" that the Dine youth will continue to help one another as a community and family. Zah's use of "young…people today…" makes me think that I am the "youth" of my generation; and that I am helping my community, my school, and my Dine/Navajo children. Then he continues to say, as I interpret his words, that young people today need to be urged not to abandon our traditions because they are of value to us as a nation and to your self-identity as a Dine/Navajo. (Zah, xi) These words are powerful to me as an educator, as I plan and prepare this curriculum unit to help my Dine/Navajo youth to sustain our cultural values and to stay true to our traditions. It is my focus for this curriculum unit to sustain the cultural authenticity for the students I teach.
To begin the journey to self-identity, we as Dine/Navajo people will identify ourselves through a clanship system called Ke. Our Dine/Navajo clan system helps us to identify self in relation to other Dine/Navajo relatives. Our clan system is valued because it tells us who we are and the origin of our family. Even Peterson Zah expresses this kind of acknowledgment in his book: "I would like to like to express my gratitude to the people of my clans." (Zah xi) Zah gives tribute to his mother clans to identify himself to other Native American tribes and to Dine/Navajo relatives. It is his way of saying this is who I am; these are my clans; I know you are related to me; I know you are my relative even though we are not of the same blood line. This creates the sense of family and the teaching that was passed down from our Dine/Navajo ancestors. This is the environment that I would like my students to understand in order to connect with their Dine/Navajo culture. I want my students to understand that knowing your clans is important and is the very essence of their self-identity as a Dine/Navajo youth.
Dine/Navajo culture is a matrilineal society, meaning that the children carry on lineage of the female side through the clans and teachings. Peterson Zah pays tribute to his mother by saying, "My mother was an extraordinary teacher, weaver, and carrier of tradition. She taught me to be caring, generous, and appreciative of all that life has to offer." (Zah, xii) I connected to his statement about his mother because that describes me, LeAndrea James, I am a teacher, an educator, and mother who will carry the traditions for younger generations to be appreciative of. I am next in line to teach, to weave, to carry on the traditions of my Dine/Navajo culture. I was given knowledge through stories and personal experiences of my cultural heritage. I want my curriculum unit to focus on the goals of self-identify and culture through Navajo poetry that is written in English and Navajo.
Peterson Zah highlights that the Dine/Navajo lifestyle is changing; "Navajo culture is not static. It's changing – it's going to continue to change." (Zah, 144) This is true for many of our youth and young adults. They are attracted to the advantages of the "modern conveniences" of urban culture off the Dine/Navajo reservation and lose track of being grounded, of learning the traditions while living a Dine/Navajo lifestyle on the reservation. Zah acknowledges the progress afforded by the modern world, as many Dine/Navajo young people are encouraged to go out and get an education; but he also points out that as a nation we should be encouraged to look for more knowledge about our culture. As he states, what we "should be saying is to get your local Navajo cultural education." (Ibid.) Navajo cultural education would include Navajo teachings, values, religion, lifestyle, and the composition of the Dine/Navajo culture. (Ibid.). The statements that Zah shares about knowing our Dine/Navajo culture is my second focus as I teach and instill in my students their self-identity: "Who am I? What is my language and culture?"
Peterson Zah shares that while he was at ASU (Arizona State University) he would listen to many Navajo young adults wanting to attend college, but that they would first and foremost introduce themselves with their clan: "They're very proud of saying that. You could have never heard that thirty years ago. Navajo youngsters wouldn't tell you that – they wouldn't know." Then he explains that the educational system at that time was trying to take the "Navajo-ness" out of the Navajo people. But now that these attitudes have changed, "the Navajo Nation is making great progress. If we keep that up for the next ten, twenty, thirty years, we're going to really have a nation unto itself." I want to be a part of the next ten, twenty, thirty years as I continue to teach my Dine/Navajo children how to sustain their own self-identity through the use of their clans and increasing their knowledge of the Navajo language as used through poetry.
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