Telling Our Stories: Promoting Student Identity and Academic Achievement

Mr. Jacob Tsotigh South Central Comprehensive Center OU

jtsotigh@ou.edu

Dr. Kristin Grayson Intercultural Development Research Association, IDRA EAC-South

kristin.grayson@idra.org www.idra.org

October 2016

Objectives 1. Experience Native storytelling as a cultural

component of oral tradition through the voice of the Kiowa people, authentic literature and participant stories

2. Understand culturally responsive pedagogy and techniques

3. Link Native stories to Common Core standards

Presenter

Presentation Notes

Story about Sanday – a clownish character who gets in predicaments, traveling along- gets caught in tree – collective memory without a written language, stories told by his aunt,

The Power of Storytelling

• We are all storytellers, especially teachers • At the heart of human experience • Our brains are wired for stories • Most powerful tool in teacher’s toolbox • Encourages students to join in repetitive

phrases or refrains • Encourages students to create mental

pictures

Storytelling • Native storytelling, is an oral tradition which

passes on the collective history and culture of a group of people, cultural values and mores

• Storytelling is a shared social experience which provokes a response of laughter, sadness, empathy, excitement and anticipation that encourages social and emotional development.

Tribal Nations

Peoples

Culture

Governance

Land

Culture: traditions, new and old, sustain societies, language, families, art and lifeways (NCAI)

Culture

Some, depending on their cultural perspective, might see this as a man with a gun, or a woman listening in to a group of men having a conversation for men, or perhaps it is a group gathered for a funeral with the remains of the deceased in the box. Depending upon our cultural perspective, we may think and behave differently or interpret the behavior and thoughts of other through the lens of our own culture. Geert Hofstede has identified five dimensions of national cultures. See if you can identify them through the representations that follow. The colors represent the varying lenses through which culture changes our perceptions.

Presenter

Presentation Notes

Some, depending on their cultural perspective, might see this as a man with a gun, or a woman listening in to a group of men having a conversation for men, or perhaps it is a group gathered for a funeral with the remains of the deceased in the box. Depending upon our cultural perspective we may think and behave differently or interpret the behavior and thoughts of other through the lens of our own culture. Geert Hofstede has identified 5 dimensions of national cultures. See if you can identify them through the representations that follow. The colors represent the varying lenses through which culture changes our perceptions.

Presenter

Presentation Notes

Some, depending on their cultural perspective, might see this as a man with a gun, or a woman listening in to a group of men having a conversation for men, or perhaps it is a group gathered for a funeral with the remains of the deceased in the box. Depending upon our cultural perspective we may think and behave differently or interpret the behavior and thoughts of other through the lens of our own culture. Geert Hofstede has identified 5 dimensions of national cultures. See if you can identify them through the representations that follow. The colors represent the varying lenses through which culture changes our perceptions.

Presenter

Presentation Notes

Some, depending on their cultural perspective, might see this as a man with a gun, or a woman listening in to a group of men having a conversation for men, or perhaps it is a group gathered for a funeral with the remains of the deceased in the box. Depending upon our cultural perspective we may think and behave differently or interpret the behavior and thoughts of other through the lens of our own culture. Geert Hofstede has identified 5 dimensions of national cultures. See if you can identify them through the representations that follow. The colors represent the varying lenses through which culture changes our perceptions.

5 Dimensions of Culture

Traditional gender roles where men are to be tough and assertive and not emotional vs. a culture where gender roles overlap and both men and women are concerned for relationships, caring, and quality of life.

South Central Collaborative for Equity

In individualistic cultures people tend to look after just themselves and/or immediate families vs. societies where people are in strong cohesive groups with life-long loyalties.

Individualistic - Collectivistic

5 Dimensions of Culture

Individualistic - Collectivistic

Power Distance

How much people accept inequality in the distribution of power.

Power Distance

5 Dimensions of Culture

Individualistic - Collectivistic Power Distance

Time Orientation

Time Orientation

Short term: tradition, saving face, past and present vs. future and perseverance, thrift

5 Dimensions of Culture

Individualistic - Collectivistic Power Distance

Time Orientation

Uncertainty Avoidance

The degree to which ambiguity is tolerated as opposed to rigid set of rules and procedures

Uncertainty Avoidance

5 Dimensions of Culture

Individualistic - Collectivistic Power Distance

Time Orientation Uncertainty Avoidance

Indulgence vs. Restraint #6 Indulgence stands for a society that allows relatively free gratification of basic and natural human drives related to enjoying life and having fun. Restraint stands for a society that suppresses gratification of needs and regulates it by means of strict social norms.

Professor Geert Hofstede https://geert-hofstede.com/united-states.html

With storytelling, teachers can… Engage students

Emotions that evoke culture

Associations with student-group identity

Reasoning

Critical thinking

Culturally Responsive Teaching

1. Positive perspectives on parents and families 2. Communication of high expectations 3. Learning within the context of culture 4. Student-centered instruction 5. Culturally-mediated instruction 6. Reshaping the curriculum 7. Teacher as a facilitator

Include students’ cultural references in all aspects of learning. (Ladson & Billings, 1994)

How to: Culturally Responsive Teaching

• Get to know students and families (notes and name cards)

• Understand parents’ hopes and concerns (through individual and group drawings)

• Set high expectations by respect and value, clear objectives and lesson engagement

• Within cultural context - by adapting learning styles in the classrooms that aligned with students’ culture (group vs. individual work)

Other

• Student ancestry • Connect tribes with geography and history

• Movement • Language

• Student names and cultural meanings • Promote and inspire a positive self-image

through focus on culture

The Heart of Common Core “At the core of culturally-responsive pedagogy is the idea that education must account for the lived experiences and cultural reference points of students. Culturally-responsive teachers craft the education their particular students deserve – one that acknowledges their voice, validates their concerns and connects to their experiences. In the literacy context, this can mean giving students things to read that are by or about people with whom they can relate and allowing students to write on topics they care about. No text is neutral. There is always voice. When planning literacy instruction, we place our students into a dialogue with the authors and texts we assign. The more text-to-self and text-to-world connections a student can make, the more equitable and powerful the dialogue will be.” – Emily Chiariello, Teaching Tolerance

Storytelling and Common Core: Reading Standards Literature K-5

3 4 5 Recount stories, including fables, folktales, and myths from diverse cultures; determine the central message, lesson, or moral and explain how it is conveyed through key details in the text.

Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text; summarize the text.

Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text, including how characters in a story or drama respond to challenges or how the speaker in a poem reflects upon a topic; summarize the text

College and Career Readiness: Writing

Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, well-chosen details, and well-structured event sequences.

Literacy in Social Studies

6-8 9-10 11-12 Integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps) with other information in print and digital texts.

Integrate quantitative or technical analysis (e.g., charts, research data) with qualitative analysis in print or digital text.

Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented in diverse formats and media (e.g., visually, quantitatively, as well as in words) in order to address a question or solve a problem.

Oral Tradition of Storytelling is Cultural

• To relate history • To teach lessons of values and mores • Can vary by the narrator, the setting, and the

audience for which it was told, uses repetition - loses something when written

• Themes also emerge among different tribal groups and their stories • What about yours? Such as tricksters, earth,

• Can be similar stories for the same theme- such as creation stories

Share your stories

Intercultural Development Research Association Dr. María “Cuca” Robledo Montecel, President & CEO 5815 Callaghan Road, Suite 101 San Antonio, Texas 78228 210-444-1710 • contact@idra.org

www.idra.org Our mission is to achieve equal educational opportunity for every child through strong public schools that prepare all students to access and succeed in college.

Subscribe to get IDRA news