Developing Curriculum | Native Students

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Developing Culturally based Curriculum in Washington State

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Developing Culturally based Curriculum in Washington State

Spring 2004

The Northwest Native American Reading Curriculum is a K–3 curriculum guide developed by the Washington State Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction and first published in 2002.

The guide is made up of three distinct classroom units, The Drum, The Canoe, and Hunting and Gathering, that are focused on developing the reading and writing skills of Native American students. Included with each unit is a list of story books developed in collaboration and consultation with tribal content experts, curriculum specialists, and cultural teachers.

Below is an excerpt from The Drum, based on the work of Apanakhi Buckley, Ph.D., and Pamela Root, assistant professors of education at Heritage College, in Toppenish, Washington.

The Trickster Tale: A Definition

A Trickster is very bright and very clever, more so than others.

Often, the Trickster may develop elaborate schemes that don't always work out.

A Trickster is a human-like figure that is fallible, but also has special creative powers. They can change form and create people and things.

A Trickster can be greedy and is normally very egocentric.

The lessons we derive from traditional Trickster tales are not in the story explicitly. Readers interpret the lessons based on their own maturity.

Often in today's Trickster tales, a moral is written in the end of the story, a reflection of western tradition.