Description

This course offers a book study of current fictional Young Adult Literature (YAL) and middle-grade (MG) literature to help educators increase their knowledge of Native American literature, Indigenous culture, and how it can potentially be incorporated into their classroom. Upon completing this course, educators will have reached a deeper emotional intelligence surrounding issues of the diversity within Native American communities that will lead them to foster more inclusive and culturally aware classrooms and will lead them to a selection of diverse and impactful literature to foreground belonging for all of their students. Though this course is asynchronous, participants are encouraged to engage in discussion with others through discussion boards as well as sharing final projects.

Syllabus, Objectives, and Outcomes

Objectives:

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

• Recognize the need for diverse Native American literature
• Identify quality, high-interest Native American literature
• Apply knowledge from this course to their own teaching practices
• Combine information from this course with their own teaching philosophy
• Design their own list of resources to continue their learning after the course
• Recognize the harm colonization has done to Native American youth
• Analyze and evaluate texts for authenticity, accurate representation, and bias
• Synthesize knowledge into an organized project
• Familiarize themselves with Native American culture, heritage, and language

Required Text(s):

Borrowing books from friends or libraries, listening to audiobooks, reading the e-book are all fine if you don’t want to/aren’t able to purchase the books. Books may be read in whatever format works best for you: purchased, from the library, e-book, and audiobook all work.

Choose 5 of the 6 that interest you the most:

• Into the Bright Open by Cherie Dimaline is a retelling of The Secret Garden. It is updated to focus on a 15-year-old girl who is sent to live in the wilderness of the Georgian Bay after her parents die. Of course, she finds a secret garden, a sickly cousin, but the rest is updated to be more relevant to current times.

• Man Made Monsters by Andrea Rogers is a short story horror collection following one family across centuries. The physical copy also includes beautiful illustrations. This is not for those who don’t like stories that don’t wrap up in a bow. 

• Saints of the Household by Ari Tison tells the stories of two Bribri brothers, Max and Jay, and the aftermath of a traumatic situation. Both work through their trauma and grief differently and that is shown in the perspectives of the chapters - one in prose and one in verse.

• Those Pink Mountain Nights by Jen Ferguson talks about three Canadian teens who work together at a pizza parlor. This book tackles big topics such as childhood cancer, missing Indigenous women and girls, elitism, and generational trauma.

• Heroes of the Water Monster by Brian Young (sequel to Healer of the Water Monster) shares Nathan’s journey helping his dad’s girlfriend's son, Edward, to learn to be a healer. Nathan is starting puberty and knows his days of seeing water monsters are numbered.

• Godly Heathens by H.E. Edgmon tells the story of Gem, a nonbinary Seminole teen living in Georgia. One day at school, Gem is attacked by someone claiming to be the Goddess of Death, and the new girl saves him from potential death. The girl tells them that they are a reincarnated god. *Note: I almost didn’t pick this one, it is not like what I normally pick for my courses, but there was something about it that I wanted to have as an option. I almost DNF’ed right away because I was unsure of the beginning but pushed past the first chapter and ended up being pretty worthwhile.
  

Online registration URL closes @ 5:00 p.m. on July 22, 2024.   You will receive an electronic email once you have successfully registered.