In the Diné (Navajo) worldview, learning is a lifelong
journey guided by the principles of Sa’ah Naagháí Bik’eh Hózhǫ́ón—often
translated as “the long life in beauty,” has a multilayered meaning: sa’ah =
old, naaghá = he/she is going along in a direction, +í=the one who,
bikeh=towards, hózhǫ́ǫ́n=beauty, peace, balance, harmony, happiness. Putting
this altogether, it refers to an original purpose that moves life.
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It has been called the Corn Pollen model (Secatero, 2022,
and Fowler, 2022), the Navajo life cycle (Benally 1994), an educational
philosophy (Diné college), and Navajo teachings (Yazzie, 2007). It is a four-quadrant
model that mirrors the four seasons (winter, spring, summer, fall), the four
cardinal directions (east, south, west, north), the four stages of life (baby,
child, adult, elder), four worlds of creation, and the four sacred mountains:
Sis Naajiní, Tsoodził, Dook’o’oosłííd, Dibe Nitsaa.
The model provides an organizational structure to everyday
life. You can do anything with it. For example, you can wash dishes with this
model, which makes a daunting task more manageable. 1) Nitsáhákees: Look at
the dishes and decide an arrangement that makes them fit in the dishwasher. 2)
Nahat’á: Decide series of brief steps to support the arrangement. 3) Iiná:
Wash the dishes. 4) Sihasin: Hear the melody of the dishwasher, and enjoy for
at least three seconds the pleasure of a clean kitchen.
I started applying this model in my own lesson planning of
Spanish classes. That way, student received predictable structure and a fixed
set of steps that was more efficiently conducing to learning Spanish.
Teaching language through beauty
Nitsáhákees: Thinking
Students are required to respond to my greeting in a choir
and individually greet their peers. They repeat in a choir sets of numbers,
syllable layouts, and key vocabulary. Students listen to my lecture on grammar,
and they are required to perform physical note-taking. I provide notebooks to
students who don’t have them. Thinking also can happen in the form of active
discussion of those who feel the need to talk, but the choice of silence is
respected.
Nahat’á: Planning
Students receive a handout which they must fill out with
certain drills, conjugations, or sample sentences. This will let them plan for
the active conversation stage of the class, and feel comfortable speaking. They
look up for specific words on their phones, or ask for help from their
partners. Students glue their handouts on large paper sheets that they keep in
the classroom.
Break
Serves as an axis mundi that links the two stages, and
divides the class in perfectly two divided twins. Students can text or see
their phones in this moment, as usage of phones is not permitted during other
stages of the class.
Iiná: Living
Students move the chairs and tables out of the space and
perform a conversation cycle using their handout. I use the “circle-in,
circle-out” method for speaking practice, which is similar to speed dating but
in circle. This reduces the anxiety of finding a speaking partner on their own,
and allows for practice with multiple speakers. This also mirrors the movement
of the insect people from east to south in a cyclic manner.
In this stage, it is easier to perform culturally-immersive
activities such as singing, dancing, eating, cooking, crafting, or going
outside the classroom.
Sihasin: Assuring
I celebrate the class’s achievement: “You held a full
conversation in Spanish and danced to a Colombian cumbia.” I perform brief
reminders on homework. I ask students for help in cleaning up, and approach to
students who need an extra reminder one-to-one. This is the most efficient
moment to negotiate redos, extensions, and make-ups. When students request an
extension, redo, or make-up, I usually compliment their commitment to
improvement and recognize they are trying their best they can. I recognize that
life is hard and they are being strong are trying their best. And in the final
account, a midterm and final exam reassures students that they are really
learning.
Hispanic connection
Such ceremonial structure may be similar to certain rituals
of socialization and celebration. A social encounter includes 1) greeting, 2) talking
and finalize preparations together, 3) eating and drinking, 4) dancing, 5)
saying good bye. Greetings and farewells are long spaces of transition where
certain care is taken to send messages of mutual happiness with each other’s
presence. Early arrivers help the host family finalize the preparation to the
party: they inflate balloons, set up tables, decorate, and prepare food
together. It is very unpleasant that someone departs right after eating, but at
the same time the host delays eating in order to delay the meeting as much as
possible. Some Hispanic cultures may also add a ritual of social dancing even
among close relatives.
In order to match both cultural models, the class provides
such paralels:
|
|
Navajo
|
Hispanic party
|
Spanish class
|
|
Nitsáhákees
|
Lecture and note-taking
|
The long greeting
|
Greeting protocol, repetition
drills
|
|
Nahat’á
|
Individual exercises
|
Inflating balloons, food
preparing
|
Individually prepare the
conversation
|
|
Iiná
|
Active social practice
|
Food eating, social dancing
|
Conversation, music, dancing,
crafts
|
|
Sihasin
|
Feedback
|
Promises never fulfilled,
greetings to absentees, cheerings
|
Feedback, announcements,
reminders, cheerings, exams
|
Applications into other subject areas
The model can be applied to teaching of any subject as it
implies the following steps: 1) lecture and note-taking, 2) silent practice, 3)
group practice, coming to the board, lab, field trip, and 4) feedback, exit
ticket, circle reflection, lab report. The instructor doesn’t need to be an
expert in indigenous matters in order to apply this model: just avoid flipped
classrooms, value silence and silent struggle, and perform a classic act of
lecture as the authority figure you are.
While I’m not an expert in math, I can provide some example
of how each step can help you ritualize the classroom this way:
Nitsáhákees:
Provide a brief review of the topic you covered last class,
and provide general feedback on common mistakes students made on a quiz. Then use
the board to introduce the new topic and enforce note-taking on a notebook. As you
speak, walk around the classroom and overlook note-taking among students. Address
as a group a general error you notice on note-taking. Keep mental mind of
students doing the wrong note-taking to address in the next step.
Nahat’á:
Provide students exercises that range from the easiest to
the difficult. Require students to perform at least the half of the exercises. Students
will work individually on the exercises, but they are allowed to discuss them
with a peer. Walk around and correct any note-taking mistake they have made, and
provide immediate feedback to struggling students one-to-one. Provide feedback
only twice per each student so no one feels singularized. Praise those who are
doing well or moving faster, and require them to move to harder exercises.
Iiná:
On a clean and organized board, with bright new markers, ask
volunteers to come to the board and fill it with their responses. Let the board
get crowded so the students don’t feel singularized. Address all exercises from
the easy to the difficult, but remind students the medium point you expect. Other
ways to enact the calculations may include a cooperative structure for comparison
and structure.
Examples:
- Using a social model similar to speed-dating,
students can compare responses from different classmates and adjust their own
responses.
- Group students of similar abilities to compare
their exercises. Choose for them one sample exercise for them to present on the
board or in a poster using a designated speaker.
- Pair up students of different abilities to
discuss potential applications of the exercise in real life scenarios.
Sihasin
Recognize that the lesson was challenging, but assure them
you believe in their abilities to reach the course goals. State as a group what
they accomplished together. Remind them that you will do a brief quiz the next
class, and tell them what will be included in the quiz. Ask students who have
missed classes before why they missed class, and praise them for coming back to
class and trying hard.
References
Benally, H. J. (1994). Navajo Philosophy of Learning and
Pedagogy. Journal of Navajo Education, 12(1), 23–31.
Becenti, G. (2022). Native American Language Teachers Going Beyond Their
Classrooms. In Unsettling Settler-Colonial Education.
Fowler, H. (2022). Multicultural Education: Teaching Culturally Relevant
Mathematics. In Vallejo & Werito (Eds.), Transforming Diné Education.
Secatero, S. (2022). The Corn Pollen Model. In Transforming Diné
Education.
Yazzie, E. P., et al. (2007). Diné Bizaad Bináhoo’aah: An Introduction to
the Navajo Language. Salina Bookshelf.
