Unit
The objectives of my unit is to have students understand how the Diné people handled individuals who did not follow the norms within their community during early 1400 to 1700. “Peacemaking,” was a method the Dine people used to deal with individuals who did not follow the band/community norms. When the U.S. government encountered the Diné, they did not understand why the Diné people were not one entity. The military commanders did not comprehend why there were many Diné leaders. The reason being was the tribe lived in scattered bands and had their way of solving band, clan, and family issues. The mass incarceration during the mid-1800s change the Diné means of peacemaking while they were confined at the prison camp. During their encampment the prisoners were jailed or were tied to a ball and chain to punish their wrong doing. The prisoners did not understand this method of governmental system the United State enforced upon them. After the four years confinement the Diné people were allowed to return to their land which became a Reservation. The treaty of 1868 was an agreement between the U. S. government and the Diné people as one nation to agree to follow the resolutions within the treaty. While living on the Reservation, the Diné people were mandated to use the U.S. governing system and to establish the police force implement using Western laws.
The unit will be taught for three weeks for fifty-five minutes daily. Several literatures are used to assist students with substantial understanding of how the peacemaking model was proceeded, and the events leading up the “Long Walk of 1864 to 1868,” and the aftermath are information and resources the unit will include. Excerpts from the works of literature are Navajo Nation Peacemaking, Living Traditional Justice and The Long Walk, The Forced Navajo Exile will be shared and discussed. Students will read and discuss passages while utilizing the Bloom’s Taxonomy question frames. An interactive class timeline chart of the events before, during, and after the Long Walk will be added as the unit progresses. Each day, activities will be applied to further student understanding about “peacemaking,” the mass incarceration of the Navajo people and the restorative justice within the current Navajo justice system.
The essential questions are enduring understanding of how is the traditional Diné “peacemaking” method, along with within the Western government to help a Diné person when incarcerated? Additional guiding questions for the lessons are: Why is the history of the Dine people mass incarceration important? How great-great-grandparents survived the ordeal, and why were they resilient? What is the history of the Navajo police? How does traditional peacemaking method and the Western Society’s governmental system function to help individuals who are incarcerated today?
Students will examine the Navajo Nation correctional system focusing on the juveniles detained in facilities and how they are monitored, educated, and counseled while in the detention center. The construction of three juvenile/youth correctional centers, public influence of why constructing them, and how Navajo Nation chairman/president and council determine the needs of such facilities are topics students will discuss. Also, analyze public support and concerns about children in the institutes, their ideas and contribution about the system.
Along with reading and analyzing selected literature such as The Hero Twins: A Navajo-English Story of the Monster Slayers, and Monster Birds: A Navajo Folktale, Navajo Stories of the Long Walk Period, and Sing Down the Moon, students will read and sing songs in the Dine language. Songs from young Navajo Rappers, Hajii néí and Na’ hash táál by Ashkii’ Doi T’iinih (The Boy You Can’t See) and Haala deeshliil by Tribe 2. These songs describe where we come from and what we will do and will become when we complete our journey. Poems are read and interpret as healing prayers like the Hozhó (Beauty Way) and the Tlei’ bisin (Night Chant). These songs and poems help individual align their spirits back to nature and to Nihima Aszaan (Mother Earth). Additional lyrics and songs help students interpret the language.
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