Running Head: NARRATIVE TEXT 1

Narrative Text as a
Primary Method of Instruction
Melissa Anderson
Southwestern Adventist University
NARRATIVE TEXT AS A METHOD 2

Abstract

This paper studies how a collection of Native American children’s literature read aloud impacts

students’ understanding of Native American cultures. In this study, the researcher assessed

fifteen 5th and 6th grade students’ prior knowledge of and attitude towards Native American

culture. Then, the researcher read several narrative texts aloud to 5th and 6th grade students that

depicted Native American people in the past and present. After administering a post-assessment

identical to the first, the researcher concluded that using narrative texts as instructional tools is

effective to lay a foundation of knowledge about a people group and clear up fundamental

misconceptions. Narrative text is best used accompanying other forms of instruction as opposed

to the sole method of instruction.

Keywords: Narrative, Native American, Assessment, MBE science, read-aloud, direct

instruction
NARRATIVE TEXT AS A METHOD 3

Introduction

Much research has been done on the benefit of using narrative stories and read-alouds in

elementary schools as a method of instruction. Children’s books are sometimes inaccurately

looked at as diversions and entertainment and not as useful mediums for learning. However,

many educators and psychologists see stories as a key method to aid human learning.

Because of the incredible impact that narrative literature has on the brain, I was curious

as to how effective narrative read-alouds could be when used as the sole method of instruction. I

was also curious about the different things narratives could teach—particularly about other

cultures. Haste (2003) says literacy is a “particular set of social practices that a particular set of

people value” (p. 8). If literature and culture are so closely tied together, then surely culture can

be taught through narrative stories. Through this study, I sought to answer the question: How

does a collection of Native American literature read aloud impact students’ understanding of the

Native American cultures?

Fox and Short (2003) state that “every child reserves the right to see themselves

positively and accurately portrayed in stories and to find truth based on their own experiences

instead of negative stereotypes and misrepresentation” (p. 133). Literature is a great way to

represent children of diverse cultures. However, diversity is severely lacking in children's

literature published in the United States. The Cooperative Children’s Book Center School of

Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison released a Publishing Statistics on Children's

Books. This information revealed that out of the 3,500 children’s books published in the United

States in 2017, only 44 of those books were about American Indians or First Nations people.

This is about 1% of all children’s literature published that year. Similarly, the number of books
NARRATIVE TEXT AS A METHOD 4

published by American Indian or First Nations authors was low; only about 18 authors from this

particular ethnic background published books last year (0.05%). Although authors may have

published more than one book during this past year, the number is alarmingly low.

This issue of the insufficiency of Native American books in our nation’s repertoire

(inspired me to study the effect narrative literature could have on children’s opinions of Native

American cultures. Because of the lack of Native American literature for children, it is more

likely that the cultures are misrepresented (Smolen & Oswald, 2010; Stewart, 2002; Meyer,

2011). I sought to study the learning that would occur when students were exposed to Native

American children’s literature. More than just factual knowledge—facts, dates, and events

pertinent to Native American cultures—I wanted to study perceptual knowledge—students’

attitudes and conceptions of a culture. Authors position their readers within their texts to see

things through a certain point of view or perspective. Reading books about other cultures can

create an opportunity for students to be placed in situations and among cultural markers that they

may not normally encounter. Narratives have the ability to create empathy in readers as their

brains make connections and discover patterns between the story’s main characters, events, and

problems and their own. Lysaker & Sedberry (2005) stated that,

Indeed, by reading picture books that deal with the way in which certain groups are

positioned, teachers can engage students in considering races and cultures unlike their

own and encourage them to think about what it might be like to be someone from those

races and cultures. (p. 108)

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Literature Review

Stories provide an organic platform for learning, one that unfolds new information in a

way that allows the brain to retain it better. According to Szurmak and Thuna (2013), “a

narrative is a great vehicle to activate all the mechanisms of learning the brain already uses when

it successfully transforms an ongoing interaction with the environment into a transformative

interaction with the event itself” (p. 549). In other words, the brain naturally synthesizes

information using a specific methodology and narratives follow the pattern allowing for optimal

physical changes to the mind.

Tracey Tokuhama-Espinosa’s theory of Mind, Brain & Education (MBE) science studies

the way that people learn best. Many researchers have found that brains automatically look for

patterns in everything (Tokuhama-Espinosa, 2010). A narrative provides patterns through plots.

However, as much as the brain seeks patterns, it also seeks novelty (Tokuhama-Espinsosa,

2010). Narrative stories have the innate ability to embed new information within a familiarized

context, using plots and stories as metaphors such as placing a previously unencountered

problem, word, or situation within an already established plot pattern. A narrative creates a

familiar framework into which learners can place new information, providing for improved

retention and recall.

Additionally, because brains look for patterns, as learners read stories they automatically

make connections between themselves and the story, contextualizing similarities, and

synthesizing differences—the latter which leads the learning (Tokuhama-Espinosa, 2010).

Another way that narratives follow the brain's learning format is through emotional

engagement. "Readers are not passive consumers of an author's text, but actively bring their
NARRATIVE TEXT AS A METHOD 6

private iceberg of meanings to the dialogue that occurs between reader and text" (Lysaker and

Sedberry, 2015, p. 106). Narratives cause empathy in readers because the brain naturally applies

its background information to texts, making connections between readers and texts that allow

readers to relate to the main characters of a story. When this personal, emotional connection

exists, the brain tends to retain the information associated with emotional connections for longer

periods of time, committing them more quickly and easily to long-term memory (Willis, 2007).

This emotional connection also allows learners to actively engage with the problem for long

periods of time without boredom or fatigue (Szurmak, Thuna, 2013).

Methodology

I conducted this study on a group of fifteen 5th and 6th grade students at a small, multi-

grade private Christian school. The school is located in a small town about 8 miles from my

university. I chose this location because it is a Seventh-day Adventist private school closely

affiliated with our University and I would be student teaching at that location the following

semester. I chose the grades 5th and 6th because it would provide me with a broader range of

selecting content and reading levels and that age group would be able to engage in a more in-

depth discussion of cultural perceptions.

The 5th and 6th grade class was comprised of fifteen students, seven female students, and

eight male students. Out of the 15, one student was of African American descent, three were of

South American descent, and one was of Native American descent. The single student of Native

American descent expressed to me that he had little knowledge about Native American cultures

or his heritage.
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The study was conducted over the span of four weeks. During each week, I met with the

students in their classroom from 11:00 to 11:30 am on Mondays and Wednesdays. The first

session was dedicated to explaining my research goals and methodology and administering both

the written and verbal pre-assessments. The next three sessions were solely comprised of reading

books aloud to the students, and the final session was dedicated to reading one book aloud and

administering post-assessments identical to the pre-assessments.

During the first session, I introduced myself to the class as a senior elementary education

major at Southwestern Adventist University who was researching Native American literature. I

explained to the students that I would need their help in my research. I would be assessing their

prior knowledge of and attitudes toward Native American cultures first; then I would read

several books aloud to them about different Native American people—fictional and real— to see

how their knowledge and attitudes would change. I would measure the change by administering

a post-assessment, identical to the pre-assessment, and comparing the results. Once I finished

this explanation, I administered the written pre-assessment.

The goals of the written and verbal pre-assessments were to gauge how much the 5th and

6th grade students already knew about Native American cultures and to have something with

which to compare the post-assessments. The written pre-assessment was used to indicate the

students' factual knowledge about Native American peoples and tribes (see Appendix A for

written pre-assessment questions). Each of the students received a written assessment sheet and

was given fifteen minutes to fill it out. I explained to the entire class that “I don’t know” was a

perfectly acceptable answer. I did not want the students to feel pressured into guessing answers

because that would not be an appropriate gauge of their preexistent knowledge of Native
NARRATIVE TEXT AS A METHOD 8

American cultures. I reassured them that this paper would not be graded and I would be the only

person to read their answers.

The written pre-assessment included a total of 10 questions; seven were open-ended,

three could have been answered as open-ended questions or simply responded with a "yes" or

"no" answer. SI provided paces on each written pre-assessment page for the student's name and

grade level. Although I would not reveal the names of any students, I used names on their papers

to be able to compare the written pre- and post-assessment answers to each other.

Once all of the students were finished, I gathered them in a circle on the floor to sit and

discuss what they knew and perceived of Native American culture (see Appendix B for a list of

questions). I recorded the conversation on a device and then transcribed verbatim for further

analysis. The first session was comprised of a self-introduction and an introduction to the study

and the written and verbal pre-assessments. There was no literature read.

The second session introduced the first book of the collection to the students (see

Appendix E for a list of the books used in this research). I selected this particular collection of

books to try to focus on the diversity of Native American peoples, tribes, and cultures. There are

over 500 federally recognized Native American tribes, over 300 reservations, 250 languages, and

4 million people living in the United States (United States Census Bureau, 2014). The diversity

of Native American cultures is staggering. Through my research, I sought to introduce students

to the profusion of differences among Native American peoples. Therefore, I chose works of

literature that covered a range of characters, tribes, and topics.

The books I chose were all narratives depicting Native American people in a variety of

contexts including different points in history, locations, Native American tribes (including
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Cherokee, Choctaw, Muscogee, Penobscot, and Seneca) and genres of text (fiction, non-fiction,

informational narrative, historical fiction). Rather than having the students memorize facts about

all of the tribes, my goal was to introduce them to the diversity of the Native American tribes and

understand that there are a plethora of differences. I also included several different reading levels

ranging from second grade to seventh grade. The reason I varied the grade levels of the works

was to accommodate for whatever levels at which the students may have been reading (See

Appendix E for Master Book List).

The first book I read aloud to the class was Louis Sockalexis Native American Baseball

Pioneer by Bill Wise. This narrative is a historical biography about the first Native American

major-league baseball player. Sockalexis played for the Cleveland Spiders in the 1890s and faced

much racism and prejudice because of his ethnicity.

After each book read-aloud, the students were given ten minutes to record their

observations and impressions of the stories in a Book Journal. It was a simple bound document

that included the titles of each book and space to jot down thoughts. (See Appendix C for a

sample).

During our third session, I read aloud the books Muskrat Will Be Swimming by Cheryl

Savageau and Sequoyah: The Cherokee Man Who Gave His People Writing by James Rumford. I

chose to read two books during the third session because my time with the class was limited to

five sessions and I had used the first session for introduction and assessments.

I read Muskrat Will Be Swimming first. I announced to the students that this book would

touch on beliefs that were different from the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s official beliefs

about creation. Because this book involved a Seneca creation story, which does not match up
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with the official views of the school, I had the students journal in their book journals about the

story and then compare and contrast the Seneca creation story mentioned in the book to the

Bible's creation story. I did this to stay consistent with the school's curriculum of Bible-based

creationism.

During the same session, I also read aloud the book Sequoyah: The Cherokee Man Who

Gave His People Writing, the shortest book of the collection, which was an informative book

about the Cherokee man named Sequoyah who created the Cherokee language. The book

included a translation of each page into the language of Cherokee for the students to see. After

we read the book, along with a book journal entry, the students used a Cherokee alphabet

resource page in the back of the book to phonetically write their English names in Cherokee.

Because phonemes in the Cherokee language are not parallel to those in English, many students

had trouble directly translating their names into the Cherokee language. However, every student

participated and I aided them in matching phonetically similar sounds to the phonemes that could

not be directly translated.

I read the book Jingle Dancer by Cynthia Leitich Smith in my fourth session with the

students. Before we opened the book, I showed the students a YouTube video of a Cree and

Saulteaux First Nations Powwow jingle dancing competition to create background knowledge of

a concept discussed in the book. The illustrations in Jingle Dancer could not accurately depict

the motion of actual jingle dancing; I believed that showing the video would provide the students

with vital background knowledge for the reading. I introduced the video by simply stating we

would be watching a style of Native American dancing. After we watched the YouTube video, I

began to read the book aloud.

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Crossing Bok Chitto A Choctaw Tale of Friendship & Freedom by Tim Tingle was read

aloud during my fifth and final session with the 5th and 6th grade students. After Crossing Bok

Chitto A Choctaw Tale of Friendship & Freedom was read aloud, I administered a post-

assessment, identical to the pre-assessment. The goal of the post-assessment was to compare

both sets of data and see how the students’ knowledge and views of Native American cultures

had changed due to the readings.

Table 1 Session Overviews

Session Book(s) Read
1 None
2 Louis Sockalexis Native American
Baseball Pioneer by Bill Wise
3 Muskrat Will Be Swimming by Cheryl
Savageau
Additional Notes
(Introduction and Administration of
Pre-Assessments)
Students were asked to compare and
contrast the Seneca creation story to the
Bible.

Sequoyah: The Cherokee Man Who
Gave His People Writing by James
Rumford
4 Jingle Dancer by Cynthia Leitich
Smith
5 Crossing Bok Chitto A Choctaw Tale of
Friendship & Freedom by Tim Tingle
Students were asked to write their
names in Cherokee.
Students were shown a YouTube video
of a jingle dancing competition.
Administration of Post-Assessments

Results

The students’ overall reactions about Louis Sockalexis Native American Baseball

Pioneer, as revealed through their Book Journals, were positive. One student wrote, “Good!

Shows how color doesn’t matter and that means a lot for me” (excerpt from student book

journal), which showed the student making real-life connections between the narrative and their

own experience. Other comments such as, "They shouldn't have been so mean," and "It doesn't

matter where you're from, we are all the same" represent a sense of empathy towards the main
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character of the book while comments like, "I think this one was for my age. It was very

informative. It had a good object lesson. It was a good book" showed that the students were still

synthesizing new historical information (excerpt from student book journal).

The book Muskrat Will Be Swimming tells the story of a young Native American girl

living in present-day America. She is made fun of at her public school for living differently than

the other children (i.e., living in a mobile home and wearing second-hand clothing). Her

grandfather explains how she can be proud of her heritage through the Seneca creation story. The

book journal entries about Muskrat Will Be Swimming revealed some negative reactions related

to differences in religion.

In response to a question on the pre- and post-assessments "What don't you like about

Native American cultures?" One student revealed that they did not like "That they worship too

many gods” (student response). Other students made similar comments including a dislike for

“Their religion,” “Their fire dances are worshipping,” and “They drink and don’t believe in

God.” Otherwise, most students did not have anything negative to say about Native American

cultures in the written assessments.

The students found the book, Sequoyah, generally interesting, but had little to say about

it. Most entries were single sentences with positive remarks such as: “It was very interesting,” or

“I like their writing” (Excerpt from student Book Journals). The majority of the students’ efforts

during their response time was spent on writing their names in Cherokee.

Jingle Dancer is about a young girl who wants to jingle dance at a powwow but does not

have enough jingles on her dress. She borrows jingles from various community members until

she has enough jingles to dance. This book is written at a 3rd grade level, and many of the
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students found it too easy. One student shared their impression of the book very thoughtfully: “I

thought it was not as good as I expected. I think it was for little kids. The illustrations were very

good, but some parts were very repetitive. Overall, I think it was a good book. It would be better

if I was younger than I am now” (excerpt from student book journal). Many responses had

similar complaints about the low reading level, but overall the students enjoyed the novelty of

the art of jingle dancing. One student shared, “I liked it. I think it’s cool how the kids got to carry

on with the traditions. I didn’t know about Jingle Dancing,” and “I think it was fine. I liked the

video. And I didn’t really know that was real and it was pretty fun looking” (excerpts from

student book journals).

Based on the student responses in their book journals for Crossing Bok Chitto: A

Choctaw Tale of Friendship & Freedom, this book was the favorite of the majority of the

students.

Tim Tingle’s book is a historical fiction piece about a young Choctaw girl and an African

American slave boy who meet accidentally and form a friendship between not only themselves

but their communities as well. The story was based on a true historical setting however it

included fictional devices such as the slave family turning “invisible” to escape from the

plantation. Several students remarked on this fact: “To me, this book was the best on so far. I

liked the story topic. My favorite thing about it was when they went invisible and, I wonder if

that really happened” (excerpt from student book journal). Every single student response to this

book was positive, and the students verbally shared their enjoyment of the book once the read-

aloud was finished.

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Table 2 Summary of Student Responses

Session Book(s) Read Grade Overall Student Responses Tribe(s)
Reading Represented
Level(s)*
1 None N/A N/A
(Introduction and
Administration of
Pre-Assessments)
2 Louis Sockalexis 3-5 The students reacted positively to Penobscot
Native American Grade this book and enjoyed that Louis
Baseball Pioneer Sockalexis overcame racism by
by Bill Wise playing baseball despite negativity
against him.

Student Quote(s):
 Good! Shows how color
doesn’t matter and that
means a lot for me.
 Very detailed and I liked
how he was the first one to
hit it that far.

3 Muskrat Will Be 2–7 The students found this book less Seneca
Swimming by Grade interesting than the first but made
Cheryl Savageau well-thought-out comparisons
between the Seneca and Biblical
creation stories. Most of the
students verbally expressed
discomfort with the Seneca creation
story, and some were recorded in
the post-assessment.

Student Quote(s):

 Similar: The muskrat and

the Lord, our God, both put
forth effort to create earth.
They both had a plan to
make earth. Different: The
Lord made the world out of
nothing. The muskrat swam
down to the bottom of the
NARRATIVE TEXT AS A METHOD 15

water. And brought it to the

surface.

Sequoyah: The 3-5 The students enjoyed the activity of Cherokee

Cherokee Man Grade writing their names and overall
Who Gave His found learning about the Cherokee
People Writing by language very interesting.
James Rumford
Student Quote(s):
 I thought this book was
interesting and very
awesome because I’ve heard
about the language, I just
never knew enough about it.
4 Jingle Dancer by K-2 Most of the students enjoyed the Muscogee
Cynthia Leitich Grade book because they had never heard Cree (Via
Smith of jingle dancing before. However, video)
the majority of the students disliked Saulteaux
the low reading level. (Via video)

Student Quote(s):

 I liked it. I think it’s cool

how the kids got to carry on
with the traditions. I didn’t
know about Jingle Dancing.
 It was kind of boring. Says
everything over and over. I
did not learn anything.
 It was interesting because I
didn’t know about jingle
dancing at all. It was boring
because it was kinda
childish.
5 Crossing Bok K-3 This was the most enjoyed book Choctaw
Chitto A Choctaw Grade overall. The students expressed
Tale of Friendship very positive comments about the
& Freedom by book and wrote the most detailed
Tim Tingle responses in their Book Journals.
(Administration of
Post-Assessments) Student Quote(s):
NARRATIVE TEXT AS A METHOD 16

 I liked it because they had

so much faith. And they
were invisible and Martha
walked on water. And it’s
like they were angels that
awesome and amazing and I
really loved it. Thank you,
Ms. Anderson.
 That was the most
interesting out of all the
others. I think its cool how
the rocks made it look like
they were walking on water.
I liked the book. It is my
second favorite out of all the
other books that we read.

Discussion

This study sought to answer the question: How does a collection of Native American

literature read aloud impact 5th and 6th grade students’ understanding of Native American

cultures? I found that the students’ understanding was impacted in several ways perceptually, but

not so factually. In other words, students’ attitudes towards Native American cultures changed

noticeable, but their factual knowledge of the cultures did not significantly increase or decrease.

Overall, based on the pre-assessment, the students’ prior knowledge of Native American

culture was low. Many students answered the written questions with the phrase “I don’t know.”

At least some of the time every student answered a question on the written pre-assessment with

“I don’t know” or some variation of the phrase indicating lack of knowledge. The students also

answered with partial or inaccurate information about Native American cultures and customs.
NARRATIVE TEXT AS A METHOD 17

The general feeling towards Native American cultures was positive. Question 8 of the

written pre-assessment asked, “What do you like about Native Americans?” to which 12 of the

15 students answered with a positive aspect of the culture such as food, music, or dancing. When

asked what they liked, several students gave answers such as, “They make good food. They

make pretty things,” and “Their food is good” (student excerpts from pre-assessment). The

remaining three students wrote, "I don't know."

Question 9 inquired, "What don’t you like about Native Americans?” to which seven out

of fifteen of the students answered with something that disagreed with their religious beliefs.

Some examples are: “There fire dances are worshiping,” and “They drink and don’t believe in

God” (student excerpts from pre-assessment).

The oral pre-assessment revealed a general perception that Native Americans were

primitive and the culture was nature-centered. Again, the attitude demonstrated by verbiage and

tone was positive. However, the students did entertain many Native American stereotypes such

as the thought that “They all love nature,” or when asked about their clothing, “Yeah like maybe

ripped cloth or something like that. Not like ripped but they’re trying to make it nice or

something even though it's not really nice" (student excerpts from pre-assessment conversation).

In fact, when I asked how students perceived Native American clothing, one student answered,

“Trashy.” Another student replied that they thought Native American clothing was, "Maybe, like

animal skin." Another student believed their clothing to be made of "Bear skin" (student excerpts

from the pre-assessment conversation). A different student mentioned that Native American

peoples live “Usually in forests,” to which many other students agreed.

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When we began to discuss Native American reservations, the students shared that they

were seen as very outdoorsy and primal comprised of huts and mud. “Like actual nature. Like

you can see the ecosystems” (student excerpt from pre-assessment conversation).

As we read the books, the students showed interest in the majority of the books.

However, when the books were below their reading level, their journals revealed that they did

not enjoy them nearly as much as the on- and above-level literature.

There was no direct instruction given during these readings except for a short YouTube

video of a Native American jingle dancing competition that was shown to the class before

reading the book entitled Jingle Dancer. This was done to give the students the prior knowledge

necessary to understand and appreciate the book. Otherwise, there was little teaching or

comments made to the students.

The post-assessments revealed a slight change in the knowledge and attitude towards

Native American cultures. Out of the “I don’t know” answers given in the pre-assessment were

changed in the post-assessment or provided additional, more detailed, or different information

from the former “I don’t know” answer provided. Also, nearly half of the answers were changed

from the pre-assessment to the post-assessment. Many of the answers that were changed revealed

more detailed or accurate information about Native American cultures.

The general attitude towards Native Americans seemed to change in three ways. Firstly,

some stereotypes were disregarded or challenged. There was a clear distinction in the post-

assessment that Native Americans have traditions, but many also live similarly to the way the 5th

and 6th graders also do. A “now” and “back then” pattern began to emerge (See Table 3 for pre-

and post-assessment comparisons). Students seemed to understand that Native Americans have
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traditional dress as well as modern clothing and may "Live wherever they want to," as one

student put it during our conversation.

In the post-assessments, many more students expressed rejection to other students'

stereotypical views on Native Americans than in the pre-assessment. Where in the pre-

assessment my question “…What do you think a reservation is like? What does it look like, what

does it feel like, what do you think it would be like to live there?” was answered “Tipis!"

(student excerpt from pre-assessment), the post-assessment conversation went differently. When

asked the same question in the post-assessment, two students had a small discussion when one

posed a stereotype.

Me: What do you think a reservation is like? How do the Native American people live?
Student 1: Huts!
Student 2: I don’t think huts. Not little huts.
Student 3: Nowadays!
Student 1: Well it’s a reservation so—
Student 2: That doesn’t mean they have to have huts!
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Table 3 Pre- and Post-Assessment Conversation Comparisons

Question Pre-Assessment Post-Assessment
Conversation 1 Conversation

What do you think Native
Americans wear?
Student 1: “Tan, made of
cloth. Maybe wrapped
around, I think sewn together.
With beads and decorated all
over.”
Student A: “Usually, usually,
usually it’s like little bands
with feathers sticking out.
The chieftain usually wore a
huge thing of feathers.”

Student 2: “Yeah [agreement Student B: “Yeah the girls,

with Student 1].” they wear a headdress.”

Student 3: “Bear skin.” Student C: “Now they’re

wearing a straight hoodie.”

Student D: “Regular clothes.”

Student E: “Regular clothing,

Where do you think Native
Americans live?
How do you think Native
American tribes are different
from each other?
Student 1: “Arizona.”
Student 2: “Usually, in
forests.”
Student 3: “Forests and
hillsides or something.”
Student 4: “Arizona.”
Student 1: “Different style of
houses.”
Student 2: “Because some
lived in tipis, some lived in
huts.”
like this!”
Student A: “Wherever they
want.”
Student B: “They live
wherever they wanna live.”
Student C: “Wait, back then
or right now?”
Student A: “They may have
different cultures, different
ways of living.”
Student B: “I was about to
say that!”

Student 3: “Yeah [agreement Student C: “Um, they actually

with Student 2].” have different languages. So
each tribe can’t actually tell
each other—um speak to each
other. They have to learn the
other tribe’s language.”
1
Students in the pre-assessment are referred to with numbers and students in the post-assessment are referred to
with letters to avoid confusing the two sets of students. The students who are quoted are not necessarily the same
from one question to the next. The trouble with quoting the students in the pre-and post-assessment conversations is
discussed further in this study’s limitations.
NARRATIVE TEXT AS A METHOD 21

Secondly, nearly all of the students demonstrated an understanding of the diversity of

Native American tribes. When asked the question “How many different tribes of Native

Americans do you think live in the United States?” initially many students gave low-numbered

answers such as “7” or “Not so many” (student excerpts from pre-assessment). However, in the

pre-assessment, nearly all of the students changed their answers, many increasing dramatically

such as from 50 tribes to 250 tribes.

The third way in which their perceptions seemed to change was in their discomfort with

how Native American beliefs and legends matched up to their overall Christian beliefs. Two

books— Crossing Bok Chitto A Choctaw Tale of Friendship & Freedom and Muskrat Must Be

Swimming—displayed aspects of Native American spirituality which the students found

discomforting. Many more of the students expressed their disquiet with this aspect of Native

American culture in the post-assessments, indicating a greater awareness of religious differences

between Native American cultures and their own.

When it came to assessing how students’ factual knowledge of Native American cultures

changed, I was very disappointed. Regarding questions such as number 4 on the written

assessment, “Name as many [Native American] tribes as you can,” students answers changed

very little from pre- to post-assessment. Question 7 on the written assessments, “Can you name

any famous Native Americans?” revealed similar results to question 4. Two students included the

name Louis Sockalexis, one of the Native Americans we read about in our read-aloud Louis

Sockalexis Native American Baseball Pioneer by Bill Wise, the other thirteen did not even

mention him.
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Limitations

The limitations of this study include the small sample size (15 students). A larger sample

size may yield different results. The study lasted four weeks, but a longer study may have

provided more details about the change in students’ factual and perceptual knowledge of Native

American cultures. The study may have provided more information if carried out over a longer

period. The diversity of Native American tribes, cultures, and peoples makes it challenging to

represent the breadth of the Native American cultures in a short study. Therefore, the study was

restricted to a small sample of those tribes.

As a guest in the 5th and 6th grade classroom, I had little background knowledge of the

students’ previous experiences with or exposure to Native American cultures. Although a pre-

assessment was administered, I still did not know all the details about students’ prior knowledge.

For future study, I would recommend a larger sample size as well as a longer time frame in

which to conduct the research. I think that meeting twice a week and the thirty minutes per

session provided was adequate. However, for the study to yield more detailed results, the time

frame would have to be lengthened.

The structure of the assessments could have been changed in two ways. First, the written

assessment questions should have been more specific in asking for answers. Some questions

were intended to be open-ended, but the wording made them seem like yes or no questions. For

instance, the first question asked, "Have you ever met anyone from Native American descent?"

to which many students simply responded "yes," or "no." The question was intended to have

students name any people they knew of Native American descent.

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The second way in which to change the assessments would be providing a more

structured environment for the oral assessments by asking students to raise their hands to speak,

therefore preventing the students from speaking over each other. When students spoke over each

other in the voice recording, I had a difficult time transcribing the speech to text. I would also

have video recorded the conversation to make transcribing the conversation easier.

I would like to study two separate groups of students. One group would only be read

narrative read-alouds about Native American cultures, and the other group would be read aloud

to and provided with direct instruction about Native American cultures. I hypothesize that

providing direct instruction along with read-alouds would be even more beneficial for students'

understanding of a different culture.

Conclusion

I studied how a collection of Native American literature read aloud to 5th, and 6th grade

students impacts their understanding of Native American cultures. In my research, I discovered

that students’ perceptions of Native American cultures changed in three ways. 1) Stereotypes

were more often disregarded or challenged, 2) students demonstrated an understanding of the

diversity of Native American tribes, 3) students showed discomfort with how Native American

beliefs and legends matched up to their overall Christian beliefs. However, it did not seem to

increase their factual knowledge of Native American cultures as much as it effected their

perceptions.

I studied a class of fifteen 5th and 6th graders at a small private, Seventh-day Adventist

multigrade school near my university. The class was comprised of mainly Caucasian students,

and most of the students expressed a lack of knowledge about Native American cultures, either
NARRATIVE TEXT AS A METHOD 24

verbally to me or through their assessments. I spent five thirty-minute sessions in the 5th and 6th

grade classroom on Mondays and Wednesdays from 10:30 to 11:00 am and read aloud a total of

five books. During each session, I read at least one Native American narrative aloud to the

students and allowed them time to write down their thoughts about the books in a book journal.

On the last session, students completed post-assessments identical to the pre-assessments. I

transcribed the conversations verbatim and recorded all of the written assessment responses to

compare the data and detect patterns.

I believe that while narrative literature is vital to learning and the understanding of

another culture by creating empathy and following the natural brain patterns for learning, it

should be coupled with direct instruction as well as various other types of teaching for optimum

understanding and retention. A large aspect of this study was broadening student’s

understandings that they do not know as much about the Native American culture groups as they

thought they did. It brought up questions and an understanding that there is more to a culture

than its stereotypes. They began to fathom the depth and intricacy that they had not seen before.
NARRATIVE TEXT AS A METHOD 25

References

Cooperative Children's Book Center School of Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison

(2018). Publishing statistics on children's books about people of color and First/Native

Nations and by people of color and First/Native Nations authors and illustrators. [Data

file]. Retrieved from https://ccbc.education.wisc.edu/books/pcstats.asp.

Fox, D. L., & Short, K. G. (2003). Stories matter: The complexity of cultural authenticity in

children's literature. Reston, Virginia: National Council of Teachers.

Haste, J.C. (2003). What do we mean by literacy now? Voices From the Middle, 10(3), 8-12.

Lysaker, J. & Sedberry, T. (2015). Reading difference: Picture book retellings as contexts for

exploring personal meanings of race and culture. United Kingdom Literacy Association

49(2), 105-111

Meyer, N. (2011). Selecting diverse resources of Native American perspective for the curriculum

center: Children's literature, leveled readers, and social studies curriculum. Education

Libraries. 34(1), 23-32.

Smolen, L. A., & Oswald, R. A. (2010). Multicultural literature and response: Affirming diverse

voices. Westport, Connecticut: Libraries Unlimited.

Stewart, M. P. (2002). Judging authors by the color of their skin? Quality Native American

children's literature. MELUS. 27(2):179-196.

Szurmak, J., & Thuna, M. (2013). Tell me a story: The use of narrative as a tool for instruction.

Association of College and Research Libraries, 2013, 546-552.

Tokuhama-Espinosa, T. (2010). The new science of teaching and learning. Washington, D.C.:

Economic Policy Institute and Teachers College.

United States Census Bureau. (2014). American Indian and Alaska Native heritage month:
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November 2012. [Data file]. Retrieved from

https://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/facts_for_features_special_editions/

cb12-ff22.html

Willis, J. (2007) Research-based strategies to ignite student learning: Insights from a

neurologist and classroom teacher. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision &

Curriculum Development.
NARRATIVE TEXT AS A METHOD 27

Appendix A

Written Pre- and Post- Assessments

Name _____________________ Grade ______

1. Have you ever met anyone from Native American descent?

2. What are some other names for “Native Americans?”

3. How many different tribes of Native Americans do you think live in the United States?

4. Name as many tribes as you can.

5. What language(s) do Native Americans speak?

6. Do you know what Native American reservation is?

7. Can you name any famous Native Americans?

8. What do you like about Native Americans?

9. What don’t you like about Native Americans?

10. Do you want to learn more about their culture? If so, what questions do you still have?
NARRATIVE TEXT AS A METHOD 28

Appendix B

Oral Assessment Discussion Questions

1. Describe what you think Native American clothing is like.
2. Where do you think Native Americans live?
3. What do you think a Native American reservation is like?
4. Would you like to live on a reservation? Why or why not?
5. How do you think Native American tribes are different from each other?
6. How are you similar to a Native American child?
7. How are you different?
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Appendix C

Sample Student Book Journal

Muskrat Will Be Swimming

What did you think?
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Appendix D

Parent Consent Form

You are being asked to give consent for your child to participate in a research study of how
children’s literature can teach students about another culture. This study will take place once a
week in the student’s classroom at Joshua Adventist Middle School.
What your student will be asked to do: The students will be given a pre-assessment composed
of a worksheet and class discussion of their factual knowledge and views of the different aspects
of Native American cultures. Then, once a week, they will be read a children's book on the topic.
At the end of four weeks, the students will be given a post-assessment, identical to the pre-
assessment, to gauge how much the students' understandings and attitudes about Native
American cultures have changed.
Risks and Benefits: There are no anticipated risks to your student participating in this study
other than those encountered in day-to-day life.
Your student may benefit from a better understanding and attitude towards another culture.
Compensation: There will be no compensation given for participation in this study.
Your student’s answers and identity will be confidential.
Taking part is voluntary: Your student will not be required to participate in this study. You
may or may not give consent for he or she to listen to readings of the books or answer any
questions. If you choose to withhold consent for your child, it will not affect your child’s grades
or relationship with the school. If you consent, you or your child may choose to withdraw at any
time.
If you have questions: The researchers conducting this study are Melissa Anderson and Dr.
Amy McHenry. If you have any questions, you may contact Melissa Anderson at
manderson@swau.edu or Dr. Amy McHenry at amchenry@swau.edu.
Statement of Consent: I have read the above information, and have received answers to any
questions I asked. I consent for my student to take part in the study.

Your Signature ___________________________________ Date ________________________

Student’s Name (printed)

____________________________________________________________
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In addition to agreeing to participate, I also consent to have the class discussions tape
recorded.

Your Signature ___________________________________ Date _________________________

Signature of person obtaining consent _____________________ Date _____________________

Printed name of person obtaining consent ______________________________

Date _____________________
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Appendix E
Master Book List
Rumford, J. Sequoyah: The Cherokee man who gave his people writing. (2004). Boston,

Massachusetts: HMH Books for Young Readers.

Savageau, C. Muskrat will be swimming. (2006). Thomaston, Maine: Tilbury House Publishers.

Smith, C. L. Jingle dancer. (2000). New York, New York: HarperCollins Publishers.

Tingle, T. Crossing Bok Chitto: A Choctaw tale of friendship & freedom. (2008). El Paso, Texas:

Cinco Puntos Press.

Wise, B. (2009). Louis Sockalexis: Native American baseball pioneer. New York, New York:

Lee & Low Books.