Literature Across Cultures: Schiefelbein

Thursday, June 13, 2024

Schiefelbein - Week 2

The Way to Rainy Mountain by N. Scott Momady could be a wonderful text to engage students in exploration of a culture that is different from their own. One of the striking features of the text is the way that the author presents ancestral stories and historical records alongside his own personal memories and experiences with members of the Kiowa people. His personal relationship with his grandmother, Aho, and the stories from the oral tradition she shares, provide unique insight into the stories and history of the Kiowa, and the challenges they faced as the American government took their land.

Book clubs could be an effective way to engage students with this text. Particularly with junior high students, it would be important to first explore the themes of identity in the book. From there, I would have students draw more personal connections to the text through reflection on their own cultural backgrounds, experiences, and what has helped to shape their identity. Lowery & Sabis-Burns discuss how making these connections could be a powerful way for students to explore the lives of people from different cultures, while simultaneously reflecting on their own experiences and identities. I think it would also be important for students to explore how our identities are continually evolving,, the factors around these changes, and the impact that evolving identities have had on their lives.

While this text could provide an anchor for identity exploration, I think it's also an excellent text to help students explore other topics such as the complexities of relationships, and inequalities within a culture. I might have students bring in a photograph of a family member that they are close to. After reflecting on their relationships with that family member, I would have the students revisit parts of the text to compare and contrast their own familial relationship, to the relationship between Momady and Aho. Drawing from the examples throughout the text, students would gain both a stronger appreciation for the Kiowa people, as well as a new perspective on their relationships with their own family. Through sharing both the oral traditions of the tribe, alongside his personal experiences, these stories provide a unique opportunity for students to explore complex issues in small doses.

Lowrey, R. M., & Sabis-Burns, D. (n.d.). From borders to bridges: Making cross-cultural connections through multicultural literature. In Multicultural Education.

Momady, N. S. (2019). The way to Rainy Mountain (50th ed.). University of New Mexico Press.

3 comments:

Kaetlyn.MinklerJune 13, 2024 at 8:33 PM
Jennifer,
Wow! You are so creative and I love your ideas! I love how you would focus on evolving identity, and this would be so good for students to learn, especially because middle school is around the age where kids are trying to figure out who they are and who they want to be. I also like how you would discuss inequalities within a culture, and then relating all of this to each student and their own family member. Plus, this would be a great way to include families in students' education, which we are always striving to do more of. Great creativity!
ReplyDelete
Replies
Rachel MeyerJune 13, 2024 at 10:52 PM
The book clubs are a great idea. I like how you would start off with students forming different themes in the book. I think students would become really engaged in researching their own identities. They could use the book to see how the author's identity had evolved throughout her childhood and then changed into adulthood. I think the bringing of a photograph is such a great idea! I might use that in my classroom. This would be such an easy way fro students to form a connection to the book and being able to compare this person to the book!
ReplyDelete
Replies
Brett BeckmanJune 16, 2024 at 4:22 PM
I like the idea of having students bring in a picture of a family member the are close to! I think you can learn a lot about students through the photographs they are willing to share. This year I had a student bring in photos of one of his relatives who lived in an Internment Camp in Utah when we were studying Japanese Internment. We learned a lot about his family and the students were able to make a better connection since it seemed like someone they were 'close' to went through that, instead of internment seeming like a far away concept!
ReplyDelete
Replies

Add comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

Post Week 4: Pre- and Post-Conceptual Perspectives

Some thoughts to help you brainstorm your post: Nineteenth-century travel writing caused those who read about other cultures to formulate their ideas about those cultures directly from the writing, so much so that if a person chose to travel to a country he or she had read about prior to travel, the traveller was often disappointed in the actual country and culture. In our current technological existence, our ideas of what places and people are like can certainly be informed by how they are depicted in text and on the multitude of screens we use to interface with the world. What informs your perspective? How might the ways in which we experience people, ideas, issues, cultures, and so on, be impacted by how we learn of them? Are the benefits and drawbacks to the use of the technology available to us? What might some of those be, and why?

Your post is due Thursday at 8 pm.

Responses should be posted by Sunday at 10 pm.

Post Week 2: The Way to Rainy Mountain

The critical text which accompanies your primary reading for the week explores ways in which we as teachers might use other cultures' literatures in our classrooms to move students from superficial, stereotyped perspectives to a fuller understanding of not only individuals from other cultures, but themselves, too. In your blog post, share with your colleagues how you might incorporate ideas from the article in your own teaching.

Your post is due Thursday at 8 pm.

Your responses are due Sunday at 10 pm.

Post Week 1: Questions on Reading

You've been asked to post a question on the readings as your blog post. Here are some ideas to help you get started: You may have noted the publication dates of the readings and wondered why you're reading articles written in 2005. The reason is that the issues raised and discussion in each of the articles are applicable 16 years later. Do you agree? Disagree? Both? Explain why and pose a question to help your reader understand what you find to be the same or different. Or, if one of the two of the readings stands out to you, explain why that’s the case, but also post a question based on what stands out. Or, if something is confusing or problematic for you, what do you find confusing or problematic? With what do you agree or disagree? Be sure your question is open ended so that your colleagues can use it as a basis for discussion.

As you frame your question, be sure to summarize the article, then provide context for your question. Cite the text appropriately.

Questions to be posted by Thursday.

Responses (to at least two colleagues) to be posted Sunday.

Week 5: Toward a Social Justice Ethic: What is an American, Anyway?

How do the issues examined in the article affect you as a teacher and as a person living in today’s world? What is the importance of having a voice? Of being heard? Are there differences in your response based on the role(s) you inhabit? Teacher, parent, individual community member, brother, sister, child, global citizen, and more—we inhabit many subject positions. Are there ways to bring those needs/expectations/responsibilities together?

Posts are due by 8 pm Thursday.

There is no set number of required colleague responses this week, but you are expected to read all posts and to respond as class discussion.

Post Week 6: Article Summaries and Commentary

In this week's reading, you met a narrator who draws the reading into a short story with a decidedly hushed, slower tone. The couple introduced to us has experienced an unimaginable loss. How might that loss be affected by their cultural dislocation? Draw on the supplemental readings as you consider the question.

Your post is due Thursday at 8 pm. As was the case last week, there is not a set number of responses, but you are expected to demonstrate through responding that you have read and engaged with all class posts.