Monica Messing

TE 849
February 15, 2015
Whose Story Is It?: Thinking about Student Diversity
This week I had the opportunity to learn information about the
history and ongoing effects in the Native American culture. To be
honest, I know very little about Native American heritage. It seems as
though this topic isnt often brought up in Michigan. I remember
learning about Native American tribes in Michigan in elementary
school, a few parks named in remembrance of a historical figure, for
instance. This week, I had the opportunity to dig into a culture that I
have very little personal experience with. I read two fiction books
about Native American children and then looked at the cultural reviews
of both books. I learned that one books author accurately represents
the struggles of the Native American Abenaki culture, while the other
book falsely portrayed the historical story of the culture. In the end,
Im left thinking about the role of authenticity when discussing culture
in the classroom, and the importance of staying away from stereotypes
and staying true to the accuracy of the culture. What I realized while I
was reading this week was that my own understanding of Native
American culture was based off of stereotypes and not on reality at all.

In our readings this week the idea of an outsider was brought

up (Bishop, 1997). In thinking about multicultural literature many

individuals should be careful not to characterize a group of people as

beyond different from the average white person. It makes sense that
you wouldnt want to use literature as a way to highlight differences
but instead as a way to understand and respect others. However, our
readings revealed that in Native American history many families went
to extreme measures to hide their heritage. It seems as though this
was, essentially, to hide their otherness from everyone else. This
was a really new concept to me. Perhaps its the generation that Ive
grown in. The thought of pretending to be something else, as many
Abenaki families did when they described themselves as French
Canadian, is really stressful. I say this for a few different reasons.
First, how hard would it be to keep a secret like that your whole life?
Id be so anxious that Id let something slip. Not only that, but how
hard would it be to keep something that like from your own children?
Keeping it from others is one thing, but not telling your own children
reveals something else. It reveals fear. Fear that your children will be
treated differently or have different lives if they know about their
heritage. Ive never really had to hide who I am from others. I often
will say, Excuse my moving hands while I talkIm Italian as a way to
break the ice or get a chuckle out of someone. I cant imagine having
to hide who I am from the people around me out of fear. Second,
there would always be a sense of emptiness related to your family. In
my family, we say Salute before we cheers our glasses, we cram

seven cooks in the kitchen, my Grandmas recipe for tomato sauce is

the best in the world (dont try to say otherwise), and we tell stories of
my grandparents coming to America from Italy. Its engrained in my
family and in the fibers of our aprons. While I dont entirely identify
myself as an Italian-American, its still part of my story. It would be
stressful to have to make that up or to ignore it. Even more-if Im able
to embrace my heritage than everyone should be able to embrace his
or her heritage as well.

Whats more-Im a little disgusted with how recent families have had to
deal with this. When I think of oppression to Native Americans I think
of westward expansion and the early 1800s. How privileged is that
last sentence? The stories this week were all talking about current
families who had to hide their identities! What? I couldnt help but
think, How did I not realize this? In fact, I asked myself that question
multiple times during the last week. How did I not realize that Native
American rights are still so prevalent today in North Eastern United
States? How did I not realize that families were hiding their identity in
the 20th century? How did I not realize that there were sterilization
laws that would permit doctors to sterilize families if they deemed
them unfit? How did I not realize that Native American families
where so normal and in many ways just like my family?

Yes, it became clear to me at some point just how nave Ive been on
this topic. I can see now how much I was using stereotypes as a way
of understanding. I think the Aha! moment for me, the moment that
I realized that I didnt know anything about how to respect Native
American culture, was when I was reading the debates after Darkness
Under the Water. As I was reading this book I found myself completely
accepting Kanells depiction of Abenaki culture. You can see in my
notes that I made many connections to what I think I know about
Native Americans. At one point I even make a connection to another
book that I read about Native Americans. The problem is that this
other book it also fictional and the author is white. When I started to
read Seale and Dows argument again Darkness Under the Water, I
realized that Id used an authors fictional story as a way to understand
a culture. It wasnt until I read things by actual Abenaki authors that I
started to fully understand the culture. Before this I was using my
stereotypes to form an understanding of the literature. I should note-I
dont think this is always such a bad thing. In my second grade
classroom I think its absolutely possible to use a fictional story as a
way to think about a culture. But what I learned from this experience
is that you need to learn actual facts about that culture first. My only
remaining question is how? Even with the Internet and public libraries,
its still difficult to find the authentic representation of a culture thats
required when exposing children to multicultural literature. More, how

do I find representations that are age appropriate for my elementary

aged students? Is there a resource or a database that provides
references for such resources?

I also saw how, after learning some true facts about the Abenaki
culture, I was able to think so much more deeply about the topic. By
the time I read Bowmans Store, I was able to make stronger
connections out of smaller details. For instance, I had a better
understanding of the role of basket weaving after learning about it in
the debates. I also had a better understanding of why some Abenaki
families hid their heritage because of past laws and fear of sterilization.
Whereas, when I read Darkness Under the Water, the idea of
sterilization was shocking and at first a little unbelievable. In
Bowmans Store, Bruchac really helped me to connect traditional
Abenaki stories to current living. By telling the traditionally stories at
the beginning and then writing about an occurrence in this life that
helped to define the story, I was able to better interpret the Abenaki
words. For example, when he told the story of the boy skipping the
stones who was always so kind to the frogs and then following that
with a story about when the other boys were trying to hurt the frog in
the river. I had a deeper understanding of the traditional tales based
on his application of them within his own life. Its clear that Bruchac
feels a deep and spiritual connection to his Abenaki heritage.

That beings me to my next point of discussion. Who is telling the story

and does it matter. I have to say that Bruchacs stories were much
more effective in helping me connect his childhood to his Abenaki
roots. He used people such as Grampa and Uncle Louis to depict many
of the values of the Abenaki culture. As I stated he also used
traditional Abenaki stories, examples of songs, and he referenced other
Abenaki individuals as he conveyed his story. In a sense, Bruchac
intertwined artifacts into his story to help give a more spiritual account
of current Abenaki life. Kanell, however, did not seem to use those
same artifacts to help form her story. Some of the artifacts she did
use, such as the ash trees, were criticized as being inaccurate. She
also seemed to skirt around the heart of her story (the sterilization),
not ever making is clear what her message was (Debbie Reece Blog).

Taking a step back I think its fair to say that its possible that
Bruchacs stories were more effective in helping me understand and
respect the Abenaki culture for a few reasons. The first is that I had
read several other articles/debates before reading Bruchacs stories,
meaning I had already swiped away my stereotypes and started
building the blocks to a respectable understanding. The second could
very well be that Bruchac is a better or more advanced writer. Either
way, this assignment does make me think about the author more when

I chose multicultural literature. Whereas before I might have only

based my selection for my second graders on the story, now I see the
value in also basing my selection on the authenticity of the author. It
also makes me realize how important it is to share the authors story
with my students. Their background is what often forms the story.
Admittedly, I often skim this part when Im reading with my students.
This assignment makes me take a big step back and appreciate the
story of the author, not just the story that the author wrote.

I found it really interesting as I was reading many of these stories how

relatable Josephs connection to nature was. While I have no Native
American roots, my father was someone who taught me to value and
respect nature. Raised a farmer, he grew up harvesting his garden,
listening to bird chirps, and living off the land. When my parents
moved to the suburbs, my dad brought as much of that lifestyle with
him as he could. I remember him turning his soil, starting in March, for
what seemed like hours everyday after work. Wed compost our scraps
and hed turn them into the soil. My dad spoke about how we needed
to give back to the soil if we wanted it to give back to us. My parents
held onto some land in the thumb of Michigan, where my dad grew up.
He has over 80 acres and in that area this is valuable farming land.
But my dad didnt want to farm it; he said there were enough farmers
using the earth. So, over 50 years ago, he planted a forest in the back

down the lane. Now the trees tower over you. You get lost inside as
you look for deer tracks and the badger hole. Theres a little creek that
runs through the trees where frogs sit in the summer. Wed go down
and catch the frogs then set them back in the water so we could watch
them blend in with the grass. Its our own little sanctuary and I
remember as a kid going back there and sitting together just to listen
to the quiet.

So much of what I saw throughout all three texts was this appreciation
and respect for nature. Its something that I recognized right away
when I was reading. More often than not, the stories about the woods
or nature were my favorite parts of the books. It was really fun for me
to be making a new understanding of a culture while at the same time
relating to a culture on a very deep level. There was so much that I
needed to learn about Native American culture. This week made me
question history as I know it, stereotypes, and author authenticity.
Most valuable, I think, is that this week allowed me to weave my
values with the values of another culture. I have a deep respect for
learning about other cultures and sharing their stories with my
students!

References
Bishop, R.S. (1997). "Selecting literature for a multicultural curriculum."
Using Multiethnic Literature in the K-8 Classroom. Violet Harris,
ed. Norwood, MA: Christopher-Gordon Publishers.

Bruchac, J. (2011). Hidden roots. Bowman Books, New York.

Kanell, B. (2008). Darkness under the water. Candlewick Publishing.