My country, ‘tis of thee,
Sweet land of Liberty,
Of thee I sing;
Land where my Fathers died,
Land of the Pilgrims’ pride,
From every mountain side,
Let freedom ring.
– Samuel Francis Smith.
Introduction
The California social studies standards emphasize students’ ability to describe Native American tribes, their various traditions through folktales, and their interactions with the new settlers. This crosses over to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for the English Language Arts that emphasize recounting the stories (including folktales) from diverse cultures. That said, there still seems to be a gap while representing the history of this “land.” The textbooks talk about the Native American culture groups, but they don’t fully address their oral traditions and stories that make up such a valuable part of their culture. This makes me wonder whether my third graders realize the importance of the heritage of the indigenous people who lived here long before the Europeans arrived, and their wisdom that was passed down through generations: their voices seem to be disappearing from our classrooms and are often lost.
My goal through this unit is to bring folktales into my classroom, especially legends and myths from Native American origins, by using images and text to drive comprehension. This juxtaposition makes the stories more complex, but at the same time provides new ways to understand the plot thus enabling my English language learners both to gain understanding from the images and to deepen it through text. To achieve this goal, I propose to use Matt Dembicki’s book, Trickster, which is a collection of twenty-one short stories formatted in a graphic-novel or a comic style. The book combines the text with the authentic Native American art and symbols that introduce the students to various tricksters. The focus of this unit is on the figure of Coyote.
Art plays an important role in Native American culture, because the stories emerge from a mostly oral tradition, passed down through songs, dances, and/or paintings, depending upon different culture groups. Therefore, art was an important assistant to storytelling. These folktales usually center on the popular characters of tricksters, such as Coyote or Raven, who personify human traits. They almost always teach a lesson or explain how the world came to be. The lessons from the stories instill a strong sense of moral character in the readers and can be made explicit by analyzing the choices made by the characters and their points of view. I believe through these stories, I will be able to introduce Native American culture and ways of life to my students.
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