Poetry and Public Life

Poetry and cultural relevancy: The history behind why teachers need to incorporate culture

For a long time in the history of Native American education, Native Americans were forced into a program of assimilation into the European way of life.  During this period, Native Americans struggled to grasp the changes and the demands of a different educational system. ⁴ The new way of life made it difficult for Native Americans to succeed in education.  Students were affected by the change in a negative way. The dropout rate of Native Americans began to climb. Why was it difficult for Native Americans to succeed in this educational setting? Largely at fault was the content of materials being taught.  As time went by, Non-Native and Native Americans began to see that cultural differences had an effect on success in education. Through time, the insistence on everyone looking alike and learning alike began to slowly diminish.⁵ Throughout the United States, the schools that identified students as English Language Learner began to see a change in the way students were instructed. The English Language Learners pushed for the No Child Left Behind Act to be passed. Schools started implementing ELL (English Language Learner) methods, and strategies were beginning to be implemented. The acceptance of cultural difference began to seep into the educational system. The importance of cultural acceptance and using that as a bridge to close the gap in education became one of the strategies to increase student achievement. To this day, use of cultural knowledge and awareness became one of the key components in strategies and activities. This was a way to have students become successful in the school setting. Unfortunately, as time went on, through extensive assimilation, the traditional culture and way of life has all but disappeared for many Native Americans.

Today, Native Americans live in much more modern surroundings than in the past. It is not common to find Native Americans living in teepees or wearing their traditional regalia on a daily basis. Instead many of the traditional elements in their lineage way of life can only be seen during special events or occasions. Today’s children are living in a westernized world. Dine students are exposed to a different way of life, such as attending a rodeo, going to church, going the fair, attending family celebration events.  At the same time, certain practices of the Dine culture continue to be instilled in the children and their family by family members who are keeping the Dine tradition and beliefs alive.  These are beliefs that are carried down from generation to generation, such as sacred ceremonies, speaking the Dine language itself, family gathering and expectations of how one should live—by farming, hunting, tending to  live stock, beading and rug weaving.  These social events are the background knowledge which then becomes their way of life. So in essence, culturally relevant themes should be chosen to deliver instruction to Native Americans in learning about poetry.

The bleachers are packed full.

Everyone’s watching.

What if I fall?

What if my time is too slow?

One more rider, then

me.

"Next rider up!"

I click my tongue,

push my boots hard in the stirrups,

heels down.

My hands are sweaty,

but I hold the reins right.

Ready, girl.

Ride!

I bust through the gate,

spin round the first barrel,

shoot to the second

and circle around tight,

leaning so hard, my stirrup kicks dirt.

Streak to the last barrel—

spin, fly, race down the middle.

Home!⁶

Because there are some forms of culture in the modern American West that overlap with the Dine culture, students can relate to this poem composed by Nancy Bo Flood, Barrel Racer.⁷ On the Dine nation, for entertainment, a family outing such as attending a rodeo at the local community arena is a part of modern culture. The poem demonstrates the feeling of being a part of the rodeo from a contestant perspective. Students on the Dine nation would be able to relate to such an event and comprehend the poem easily because many of them have been exposed to the event and all know about it.  Flood’s poem is an example of what can be used when teaching the concept of poetry by connecting to student’s prior knowledge. Moreover, the poem can be used to explain what a poem is. The poem provides entertainment for students and provides a concrete image of what the poem is about. They will be comfortable with the key words.

Excerpt from “In my Mother’s Kitchen”

Childhood dreams and warmth

Tight in my throat, tears in my eyes

The radio softly tuned to a local AM station

News of ceremonies and chapter meetings

And funerals

Flows into the peaceful kitchen

Lines upon her face, features carved of hard times

Lines around her eyes, creases of happy times

Bittersweet tears and ringing silvery laughter

I ache in my heart ⁸

Excerpt from “Many Faces, Many Stories”

Sounds of traditional song and dance contests

Contrast with blaring bass rap songs

Children cry as mothers and fathers

comfort them

Laughter and shouting from the carnival

Sounds of a far off rodeo announcer

Navajo Language mixes with teen language

Cups of coffee and sodas⁹

These two poems written by Shonto Begay, “In my Mother’s Kitchen”¹⁰  and “Many Faces, Many Stories,”¹¹ exemplify the Dine cultural perspective on family ties. Not only will the students find them enjoyable to read, they will be able to actually relate to them. Finding materials that provide cultural perspective is great, but finding the material that the author is familiar with is a plus, especially when it incorporates teacher and student content knowledge.  Of his writing and art, Begay says, “I work to bring my own art, my own traditions, my own people, to places where they don’t know about us. I believe in sharing that story and in finding ways to let kids express themselves the same way.”¹² The first excerpt above is culturally relevant to the Dine children. In homes of the Dine, one will often find a mother figure, even if it[is a grandmother, an aunt, or a sister, in the special role of caring for the young. The setting and the illustrating of the poem (Begay is also an artist) provides visual aid. Another poem that students can relate to is Luci Tapahonso‘s piece “Naneeskadi”.¹³ The poem offers rich detail on how a mother would make bread for her loved ones. The poems of course provide cultural relevancy and background knowledge because the students are exposed to this type of figure or role model.  In addition, students will be able to grasp most of the words in the text so they should be able to comprehend the message or theme of the poem.

In addition to cultural relevancy, the early educational setting also features trans-cultural materials.  In Kindergarten or even at a preschool level, students learn nursery rhymes.  These poems also become a part of standard teaching when students learn about rhythm. For many Native Americans, some of the content in these nursery rhymes is foreign to them.  When they hear “Here we go around the Mulberry Bush” or “Hot Cross Buns”, our students see no sense in them. Not all nursery rhymes concern strange subjects, however. “Baa Baa Black Sheep” is one where connection from the text can be made.  Students on the Dine nation are familiar with sheep.  The majority of the Dine people own a sheep or live stock.

Nursery rhymes are great to use as a resource even though students are in the older or upper class, because they are a good introduction to the importance of sound in poetry. Getting creative in further implementing these types of poem will make it interesting and fun for the most part. This unit will address some of these possibilities in the activities section, explaining what can go beyond just reading and reciting the poems. ¹⁴

As mentioned before, Native Americans went through a period of assimilation that negatively affected the holistic way of life of the Dine people. Many encountered racism, bias behavior, and enforced assimilation that affected the identity of oneself.¹⁵  Through these triumphs, changes in the people began to show. These changes and the effects of it, is seen through the society and the public life of the Dine nation. Sherman Alexie, most of these social changes in his poems. Often he talks about the rough life and the negative behavior that he had been exposed to. A few of his poems strike a more positive note about family and Navajo culture.  One must be aware that when thinking of using his poems as a resource, one must be selective.  Some of his poems may not be suitable for  young children. Several poets besides Sherman Alexie had written about changes in family values and attitudes from a negative perspective.  These negative perspectives reflect on the history and turmoil of the Dine culture. What if the Dine people or any other Native Americans had never been exposed to acculturation, what would it have been like today? The fact is that it did happen, and the effects of it show through the social problems of the Native Americans. Sherman Alexie and other poets have written about these social problems:

The football field rises

to meet the mesa. Indian boys

gallop across the grass, against

the beginnings of their body.

On those Saturday afternoons,

unbroken horses gather to watch

their sons growing larger

in the small parts of the world.

Everyone is the quarterback.

There is no thin man in a big hat

writing down all the names

in two columns: winners and losers.

This is the eternal football game,

Indians versus Indians. All the Skins

in the wooden bleachers fancydancing,

stomping red dust straight down

into nothing. Before the game is over,

the eighth-grade girls' track team

comes running, circling the field,

their thin and brown legs echoing

wild horses, wild horses, wild horses.¹⁶

Sherman Alexie’s poem " At a Navajo Monument Valley Tribal School”¹⁷  is a great piece to use when discussing culture, tying it in with identity of who the reader is and learning to look for background knowledge.  In doing so, it will allow students to become open about looking or listening for the voice, theme or central message of the poem. This poem is a little more positive than usual about the boarding school era and what it was like to be in school then. It describes a surrounding full of descriptive objects that sound familiar to writer and the audience alike.

A sense of cultural belonging is important to impart in education. It is even more important to ground yourself locally now that we inescapably live in a multicultural global society. When Native American students are taught an objective, one must remember to use culturally relevant materials. But as we begin to open the doors, there is a whole world we need to understand and learn about. The effects of multicultural education take over in the classroom. As we learn about our environment through reading, it is also important to learn to read about other cultures as well through poetry.  When learning of other cultures, we will find similarities and differences.  Learning about other cultures fosters acceptance and broadens horizons.

Shel Silverstein‘ “Dirty Face” and Dr. Seuss’s “Shapes”¹⁸ will mix the familiar with the unfamiliar.  This will make the students less intimidated. Dr. Seuss’s poem “Shapes” also provides a different type of rhythm and pattern. Both Shel Silverstein and Dr. Suess can encourage imaginative response and even acting out the story.¹⁹ One might also introduce “concrete poems,” the shape of which imitates their subject matter.  The figures and drawings in these poems elicit creativity from the readers. Reading poetry is not just for understanding the text. Reading poetry also involves learning the terminology and becoming familiar with the elements of poetry. Dr. Seuss and Shel Silverstein poems can be used to teach the elements as well as poetry terminologies. ²⁰ As students learn the terminology, they get accustomed to learn the vocabulary and it becomes a part of their learning style.