Final Inquiry
After beginning my inquiry with the question of how teachers could make literature relevant to students I decided to dig deeper. I will be teaching the novel To Kill a Mockingbird over ten weeks to three different Grade Ten classes. Since I will be teaching at a high school in Vancouver I think it is important that I explore literature through an Indigenous lens with my students. At first my goal seemed to be quite a challenge seeing as that the assigned novel has no Indigenous content. This led me to inquire as to how educators can teach about the Indigenous experience through the use of non-Indigenous work. I believe that this is important for more than one reason. The first being that many educators in Canada are not of First Nations backgrounds, although they are expected to, or would like to, share Indigenous literature with their students. I plan to explore whether entering the Indigenous perspective through a non-Indigenous work might provide some confidence in this situation. Secondly I believe that it is important to make literature culturally relevant for high school students. And lastly I would like to see students gain a sense of understanding and empathy through exploring literature through different lenses.
In regards to my work with To Kill a Mockingbird 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.
The main approach to this inquiry has been the review of scholarly articles. It began with exploring scholarly literature with the topic of using poetry to further explore the themes in the novel. In the article, “Integrating Poetry and ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’”, Susan Jolley examines the ways in which this is a useful approach. She states that, “there are other lessons of compassion, not quite so obvious [in the novel], that can be brought home to the young reader through the study of some well-chosen poems” (36). Jolley continues to offer many examples of useful poetry that has a thematic connection to the novel. Through the exploration of these poems I was able to begin the search for First Nations or Canadian poetry that shared a common voice with the American poems listed. Jolley states that, “perhaps the most powerful lessons that can be learned through multi-genre study involve the history of our country” (37). There are strong arguments to for the use of different genres when teaching literature and I can only imagine the positive effects that bringing Indigenous poetry into the classroom would have on my students and local citizens. Many scholars support the idea of multi-genre study and I would like to explore how this approach can be useful when looking at literature through an Indigenous lens.
My inquiry then led into the more focused study of making literate as a whole more culturally relevant to our students. In his research of “Literature and Social Relevance”, Carl Levine argues that it is a fact that, “the great majority of students have not been challenges by their literary studies- indeed, find them boring- for the reason that see no reason that they see no relationship between what they read and their own lives and values” (26). Mary Hermes continues this argument with a more direct First Nations focus. In her article, “The scientific method, Nintendo, and Eagle feathers: Rethinking the meaning of” culture-based” curriculum at an Ojibwa tribal school” Hermes investigates the disconnect between academic curriculum and cultural teachings. Perhaps this is the root of the issue that comes about when teaching Indigenous literature. Teachers must find a way to teach this literature to non-Native students in a way that is relevant to them, while still doing the literature cultural justice. Faith Mania expands on this theory in her article, “Culturally Relevant Pedagogy: First Nations Education in Canada”. While Mania’s research focuses on the education of First Nations students, her ideas can be applied to my inquiry as well. Mania states that teachers must gain “an understanding of historical relationships between First Nations cultures and mainstream educational systems” (293). It is important for all Canadian teachers to have this knowledge before looking at Indigenous perspective, that is not to say that they need to be an expert but there should not be ignorant to the events of the past. Mania then continues on to quote Indian and Northern Affairs 1993, “the responsibility is to help students discover what role their people and they themselves as individuals should play in the future development of their communities, the country and the world” (295). I believe that this is the responsibility of all teachers of students of all backgrounds, and by teaching through different perspectives students have the opportunity to find their role. Many of the articles I have read look at similar issues of cultural relevance. In such a diverse country like Canada it is important that we recognize cultural differences, not only among students but among teachers as well. It’s been noted that teachers often feel and unease when teaching on a topic that they themselves are not comfortable with. Gloria Landson-Billing explores how students struggle to find cultural balance, but I believe that this struggle can exist for educators as well. In the article, “Toward a Theory of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy” Landson-Billing writes, “culturally relevant pedagogy must provide a way for students to maintain their cultural integrity while succeeding academically” (476). I believe the same to be true for non-Indigenous educators teaching through an Indigenous lens. The goal is not to become Indigenous and lose the bias of your own culture, instead it is to share what you know with the students and to find other unique ways to teach them the things you may not, as well as to explore your own biases.
In my practicum I plan to include at least one lesson that studies the novel through an Indigenous lens. I will attempt to do so without tokenizing First Nations culture, even if I am simply giving my students’ their first look at Canada’s history. Instead of just showing a quick snapshot of First Nations culture I will make connections throughout the novel instead. In the article, “Panopticism and the use of “the Other” in to Kill a Mockingbird” Rebecca Best looks at the use of the other in the novel. Making connections between the other in the novel and First Nations people as the other in Canada could be very beneficial for students to understand how the social structure of the novel connects to their own society’s pyramid. Of the characters in the novel Best writes, “to gain self-awareness, however, Scout and Jem must first understand the community around them and the others within it” (542). The same can be said for students, and in order for them to find self-awareness they need to understand those around them, and looking at literature through different perspectives is just one way to do this.
Work Cited
Best, Rebecca H. “Panopticism and the use of “the Other” in to Kill a Mockingbird.” Mississippi Quarterly 62.3 (2009): 541-52. Print.
Hermes, Mary. “The scientific method, Nintendo, and Eagle feathers: Rethinking the meaning of” culture-based” curriculum at an Ojibwe tribal school.” International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education 13.4 (2000): 387-400.
Jolley, Susan Arpajian. “Integrating Poetry and “to Kill a Mockingbird”.” The English Journal 92.2, Multigenre Teaching (2002): 34-40. Web.
Ladson-Billings, Gloria. “Toward a theory of culturally relevant pedagogy.” American educational research journal 32.3 (1995): 465-491.
Levine, C. (1970). Literature and Social Relevance. The Bulletin of the Rocky Mountain Modern Language Association, 25-32
Maina, Faith. “Culturally relevant pedagogy: First Nations education in Canada.” The Canadian Journal of Native Studies 17.2 (1997): 293-314.
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