Inquiry II Seminar

The notion of how teachers might make literature relevant to students in an important one and this seems to be the key inquiry aspect of your topic. So rather than articulating the prospectus primarily as a description of a unit plan, can you articulate it as an inquiry into a particular question that arises in contemplating this unit?

If it is the matter of relevance, then perhaps a strategy would be to locate articles, such as some of those listed below, that discuss how literature might be introduced in such a way that students find it relevant and are therefore motivated in their reading. You’ll find early movements focusing on the importance of relevance in literary classrooms were often met with suspicion (e.g., Levine, 1970). You’ll also find much of the more recent literature focuses on the need to offer readings that are “culturally relevant.” That is to say, we can select readings we think are closer to our students’ life worlds. And yet, in doing so we of course run another risk: if I select a book for 30 individuals on the assumption it may be more relevant to them than another selection, I may become guilty of “essentialism” (subscribing to the notion that a group of people share particular characteristics and preferences simply because they all share a particular age, ethnicity, sex, sexual orientation, religion, etc). Of course, there is invariably diversity within groups.

So the question of relevance is exceedingly challenging. One approach might be to let students choose their own readings and refrain from whole-class approaches altogether. Another approach is to supplement canonical school readings with related contemporary literature, as you propose to do. Another approach would be to divest oneself of canonical texts altogether and opt for a more contemporary curriculum. What are the drawbacks and advantages of each approach?

I suppose another question that arises relates to whether the notion of the importance of “relevance” should be troubled. To be sure, it’s important to offer variety, including some literature that may speak directly to students’ experiences; it’s also important to offer literature that challenges their experiences and broadens their horizons. What might a young person born and raised in Vancouver learn from reading about the experience of a child in Ethiopia, or engaging with the ideas of an Indigenous elder, or reading historical accounts far distant from the present moment? The key is finding a balanced approach.

I would be interested in hearing your thoughts on these matters.

Teresa
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Feger, M. V. (2006). I want to read”: How culturally relevant texts increase student engagement in reading. Multicultural Education, 13(3), 18-19.

Killeavy, M., Collinson, V., & Stephenson, H. J. (2003). Making curriculum relevant to the lives of second level students: Teachers’ classroom practice. Irish Educational Studies, 22(1), 105-120.

Ladson-Billings, G. (1992). Culturally relevant teaching: The key to making multicultural education work. Research and multicultural education: From the margins to the mainstream, 106-121.

Levine, C. (1970). Literature and Social Relevance. The Bulletin of the Rocky Mountain Modern Language Association, 25-32.

Yamauchi, L. A. (2003). Making school relevant for at-risk students: the Wai’anae High School Hawaiian Studies Program. Journal of Education for Students Places At Risk, 8(4), 379-390.

Hi Melanie,

I just want to follow up to say that I would strongly support the focus we discussed yesterday in our interesting conversation about your topic. I understood you were contemplating a possible narrowing of your scope to trouble the notion of relevance through the lens of Indigenous knowledge frameworks. I can think of nothing more interesting and important than contemplating the relevance of, say, Aboriginal literature for non-Aboriginal students, as well as tackling the difficult question many of my teacher education students have asked me over the years, which goes something like this: “I’m not First Nations — do I have any right to teach First Nations literature?” In contemplating how you might bring an Indigenous knowledge framework to bear on _TKAM_, then, perhaps you might be willing to incorporate some discussion of such questions.

I look forward to discussing these issues further in our meeting.

Best,

Teresa

Thinking of that last question in my above comment, here are two potential references:

Haig-Brown, C. (2010). Indigenous thought, appropriation, and non-aboriginal people. Canadian Journal of Education, 33(4), 925-950.

Kanu, Y. (2005). Teachers’ Perceptions of the Integration of Aboriginal Culture Into the High School Curriculum. Alberta journal of educational research, 51(1), 50-68.

Melanie,

I know you haven’t revised yet, but after having discussed our proposals together I am very excited to see what you work out. To Kill a Mockingbird is such a fruitful book with so many threads just waiting to be tweezed out of it. I admire your desired approach of bringing the themes of classism and oppression which are apparent within the novel to your area of expertise and interest. It seems valuable to use this novel as a means to explore oppression against First Nations’ people locally and nationally. I question what the Canadian equivalent to TKAM would look like [not that it would be at all possible as the historical circumstances are completely different].. but.. I think you’re onto something in bringing a discussion of First Nations’ oppression via poetry in to the novel.

Looking forward to more discussion soon,

Ilana

*Updated Project Prospectus:

During my practicum I will be teaching the novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” over ten weeks to three different Grade Ten classes. As an Indigenous educator I hope to explore the relevance that this text can have to Canadian high school students though an Indigenous point of view. While I fully appretiate the American social and historical background that the novel provides, I believe that it is important for students to be able to explore literature through different lenses.

I plan to make connections between the theme of civil rights and racism in the United State with similar themes from moments in Canadian history. In order to further my students’ understanding of the text I will be bringing in both American poetry and First Nations poetry to give the students’ the chance to make connections between the two. I plan to assist my students in finding similarities between the oppression of the African American characters in the novel and that of First Nations peoples both in the past and the present.

Through my project I plan to inquire:

-How I can make TKAM culturally relevant to Canadian students?

-How can I avoid “tokenizing” the Indigenous perspective given that there is such a short amount of time in the practicum?

-Could this strategy assist non-First Nations teacher in finding greater confidence towards teaching Indigenous literature?

Working Bibliography
Haig-Brown, C. (2010). Indigenous thought, appropriation, and non-aboriginal people. Canadian Journal of Education, 33(4), 925-950.

Kanu, Y. (2005). Teachers’ Perceptions of the Integration of Aboriginal Culture Into the High School Curriculum. Alberta journal of educational research, 51(1), 50-68.

Ladson-Billings, G. (1992). Culturally relevant teaching: The key to making multicultural education work. Research and multicultural education: From the margins to the mainstream, 106-121.

Y amauchi, L. A. (2003). Making school relevant for at-risk students: the Wai’anae High School Hawaiian Studies Program. Journal of Education for Students Places At Risk, 8(4), 379-390.

Best, Rebecca H. “Panopticism and the use of “the Other” in to Kill a Mockingbird.”Mississippi Quarterly 62.3 (2009): 541-52. Print.

Jolley, Susan Arpajian. “Integrating Poetry and “to Kill a Mockingbird”.” The English Journal 92.2, Multigenre Teaching (2002): 34-40. Print.

Hi Melanie,

I think the process of making TKAM relatable to Canadian students is really important in teaching the novel. I remember reading TKAM in grade 10 and found it disconnected from the world that I was living in. By bringing the civil struggle out of the context of the US, it provides a ground for students to see that civil rights and the struggle for equality is prevalent everywhere, and is much closer than they think.

You also ask how to avoid ‘tokenizing’ the aboriginal perspective; a topic that I’m quite interested in. I’m teaching a brief history of some of the aboriginal nations in Canada and I’m trying to avoid tokenizing as well. Can’t wait to see the products of your research!

Jose

Hi Melanie,

I am looking forward to your presentation about making TKAM relevant to Canadian students. I think building connections between literature and students’ lives is one of the greatest challenges a teacher faces. Approaching it using a First Nation lens will absolutely have relevance in the students’ lives, especially in the current climate.

I was also going to suggest a viewing of the film “Crash” as a supplementary activity to reading the novel. Although the film is set in the US, it does an exceptional job of showing how the face of racism has changed since the civil rights movement. Many of the stereotypes addressed in the film are examples of discrimination that are alive and well today and I believe students will find themselves questioning how harmful their own stereotypes are when it comes to race.

Good luck!!