Indigenous Story-work: Respect and Strengthen the Community

Lena Archer
and
Jarred Wenzel

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 SUMMARY

Story-work was traditionally a method of oral teaching most commonly used by indigenous

cultures. It is the method of telling a story to students that emphasizes the importance of holism and

allows the opportunity to reflect on their previous experience and apply it to their ideology and values.

Story-work abandons western traditional teaching methods and encourages respect, relevance,

reciprocity, and responsibility (the four R’s for post secondary indigenous education).

The indigenous perspective emphasizes spiritual exploration of the metaphysical worlds and

application of this understanding to the physical world. The emphasis placed on spiritual growth is

deeply embedded in the indigenous medicine wheel ideology which includes the four areas of human

development: physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual. This concept promotes a model of balance that

centers the individual as a holistic learner. Story-telling is often a way of allowing students to question

existence, and cultivate connections with the earth, nature and the community to fulfill the individual’s

personal medicine wheel.

The approach story-work takes serves to bring together the community and harness meaningful

relationships by creating a group experience of listening and reacting. Story-work provides the

opportunity for students to hear diverse perspectives, value these interpretations, internalize them and

then apply this knowledge daily. In addition to human relationships, indigenous story-telling also

encourages a relationship to the land, nature, and all of creation.

Story-work is a dynamic teaching tool that challenges the idea that learning takes place solely

in a confined classroom environment. Although story-work originated in indigenous culture, it can be

applied in modern day teaching methods to engage students and provide insightful thinking.

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 LESSON PLAN

Grade: 3
POS: Language Arts
Lesson Title: Indigenous Story-work: Respect and Strengthen the Community

Overview of lesson
100 – 150 words – Concise and clear description

Firstly, the indigenous history of story-telling will be explained using a more concise version of the summary we wrote.

Next, Jarred will discuss the importance of the talking stick. We have created a talking stick with certain values from our

classroom. Next, Jarred will introduce the poster of indigenous words used throughout the book Lena will be reading. Next,

Lena will read the book “Nanabosho, Soaring Eagle and the Great Sturgeon” written by Joe McLellan and illustrated by

Rhian Brynjolson. Then, students will write one characteristic they value and would like to see implemented in the classroom

on a piece of paper. Then there will be a wrap up discussion; students who would like to speak will use the talking stick.

Alberta Program of Study

General Learning Objectives (Maximum 1 ) Specific Learning Objectives (Maximum 2)

Students will listen, speak, read, write, view and Respect others and strengthen community.
represent to respect, support and collaborate with
others.

Curriculum Ideology

Identity and give a brief description of ideology lens this lesson is designed through. Indicate how your lesson is designed
to have students experience this ideology.
100 – 150 words – Concise and clear description

The ideology lens this lesson is designed to convey is story-work. Story-work was traditionally a method of oral teaching

most commonly used by indigenous cultures. It is the method of telling a story to students that emphasizes the importance of

holism and allows the opportunity to reflect on their previous experience and apply it to their ideology and values. Story-

work abandons western traditional teaching methods and encourages respect, relevance, reciprocity, and responsibility. Our

lesson is designed to have students immersed into the storytelling atmosphere. Firstly, our lesson involves utilizing an

indigenous story to provide students the opportunity to engage with indigenous texts. Additionally, our lesson introduces the

technique of using a talking stick to value each diverse perspective and provide time for reflection and engagement with

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peers. Lastly, the students are asked to reflect on their own values and what attributes they would like to see implemented in

the classroom and write this one word on a piece of paper.

Learning Resources / Material & Equipment used

- “Nanabosho, Soaring Eagle and the Great Sturgeon” written by Joe McLellan and Illustrated by Rhian Brynjolson

- Talking stick

- Colored paper cut out and hole punched with string attached (this will be used for writing words to attach on talking
stick)

- Poster with indigenous words and their English translation that are used in the text so that students are able to follow
along easier when the book is read

Lesson Procedures (Steps)

Introduction (1 min.):
This can be done in point form.

 Class moves to sit in a circle.

 Explain core elements of story-work : originated in indigenous culture, the process of telling a story so that students
can take away certain lessons and interpretations.

Body (12 - 14 min.): Indicate the steps/scaffolding and transitions in lesson. Indicate timing of each section. Since you
have limited time the timing must be very precise. Identify teaching strategies

1 Minute
Talking stick Explanation - explain to students that this is our class talking stick.
 The different colors of feathers: symbolizes there is diversity in the classroom and we come
together as a community.

 The yellow gems at the top of the stick: symbolises the sun and when someone holds the talking
stick, like the sun, they are sharing bright insightful knowledge.

 The blue beads on the talking stick: symbolise, like a river, the flow of thoughts and ideas that
should not be interrupted. This illustrates that when someone is holding the talking stick, other
students are expected to provide their undivided attention.

1 Minute
Introduce “Nanabosho, Soaring Eagle and the Great Sturgeon” : state who wrote the book and who
illustrated the book. Explain that the book has words that are Ojibwe and they are translated in English on a
poster which will be positioned behind the teachers.

5-7 Minutes

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 Read “Nanabosho, Soaring Eagle and the Great Sturgeon” slowly. Ask engaging questions throughout
like: What do you think is going to happen next?

3 Minute Closure
Write your own values - students will be handed a piece of paper and are able to write one quality down on the paper that
they would like to see implemented in the classroom. For example: respect, compassion etc. The papers will be handed in to
the teacher and the teacher will attach the papers onto the talking stick after class.

Closure/ Reflection ( 5 min.) Develop at least two important questions to begin a critical group
discussion

5 Minutes
Reflection – when students are answering one of these questions, they are given the talking stick and are provided the full
attention of the audience.

1. What did you interpret from this story and why do you believe it is important?
2. What would you change about the story if you were the writer?

Professional Reflections: (of the lesson) What went well? What needs modification? This is not the final
reflective essay, however contents of this reflection could be used in your reflective essay.

Social Efficiency
 Straightforward
 Instruction and then individual time to work on activity
 No group work
 Less discussion
 Less student focused and more material focused
 Real world applications
Scholarly
 Alliteration activity – it is difficult to measure up to scholars though

Social Reconstruction
 Society is not okay
 We need to use education to change society
 Not as engaging for the activity – could have used a video of how garbage causes damage
 Fear is used in this theory
 There needs to be change – warriors of justice

Learner Centered
 Fun
 Hard to control

Our Assignment Reflection notes

 We finished our activity quicker than expected

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 Materials Used in Lesson

This is the poster of indigenous words This is our talking stick we made for our presentation.
we used as a visual for students reference Attached are the words our group wrote in our lesson.
for when they appeared in the book.

This is the book we used to read to the class

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 REFLECTION

The first presentation, social efficiency, had a clear and direct application involved in the

teaching technique. I appreciated this teaching style because it allowed me to see how the information

could be utilized in the real world. Additionally, Parker and Derek covered many of the different

learning styles; they covered visual (by writing on the whiteboard), kinesthetic (by handing out

pictures and sentences to match and order correctly) and auditory (by talking about the material as they

were writing it on the board). Although this tactic is helpful for student understanding by covering

many learning styles and teaching efficiently, it lacks student conversation. The students had to do the

activities by themselves and could not interact with the teacher during the presentation. The teaching

style was more focused on getting the information across instead of getting the students to participate

and discover. In contrast, on the opposite side of the spectrum, Jarret and Courtney’s learner centered

theory application into a lesson was difficult as well. While as an adult I understand patters and how to

identify them, for a child who is learning patterns for the first time, it could be very difficult without

more direction. Although, unlike social efficiency, I was able to engage with the materials, experiment

and discover. There was group and teacher discussions. The activities took a unique turn as the teachers

adapted to the students learning technique. One aspect of this teaching style that would be difficult to

incorporate is curriculum. Since teachers are expected to meet certain criteria, my question for the

teachers that use the learner centered ideology would be: how do you ensure students meet the criteria

in the curriculum with little guidance?

The scholarly ideology would be easier to use to complete curriculum targets and it would

provide students with real world examples although (from what I realized during the activity) it would

also give students an unrealistic expectation. Showing exemplars in a classroom environment can be

effective for students to understand expectations. If students are provided scholarly examples, even if it

is not expected of them, they will consistently remember the example as an expectation (not a real

world application for future growth). Unless the teacher is careful when presenting scholarly examples

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to the class to ensure the students understand the work is created by professionals with many years

working in that field, it can cause students to feel pressured. Students could feel frustrated with

themselves and therefore, this creates a lack of confidence. I enjoy writing in my spare time and

instead of utilizing alliteration like in poetry or (like Quinn and Emma’s example) newspaper

headlines, I practice descriptive writing. I am still a creative writer although after that activity I felt

partially discouraged since I am not as creative with alliteration: does this mean I’m not a good writer?

Although this is obviously not the case, the danger of frustration and confidence is still feasible for this

approach.

In my own assigned ideology, story-telling, I found a holistic balance that I did not feel from

the other teaching techniques. Story-telling allows for student interpretation and engagement with

peers that social efficiency lacked. It was not as free for the students as the learner centered ideology

and provided guidance that is necessary for curriculum teaching. In contrast with the scholarly

ideology, students were able to use the information and apply it to their own life experiences without

the pressure of maintaining a certain expectation. After reading the articles, preparing for the

assignment, and then practicing a lesson plan utilizing this ideology I have come to the realization that

this ideology aligns with my preferable teaching technique. I would like to utilize story-telling in my

practicum and even apply this to my current teaching for swimming lessons.

Lastly, the social reconstruction ideology is necessary. There has never been a time in history

were society could not be improved upon. Human beings are not perfect creatures and the necessity to

improve the state of our planet and civilization will always be a priority. It is important to integrate this

ideology into the school system to allow students to question how they can make a positive impact on

the planet. The students of today are the activists of tomorrow and it is important to support them in

any way possible.

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