1. Alaska Native Literature
and Writing
PART OF AN “ENGLISH” UNIT BY NICHOLAS EVANS

2. Glennallen
248 miles SSE of Fairbanks
48% “minority” students
• English 9-12 (Rotating)
• Honor’s English (Alternating)

3. • Museum of the North
• EDSC 407 – Developing
Literacy Across Content Areas
• Anthropology and Alaska
Native Studies Programs
• Alaska Native Knowledge
Network
• Alaska and Polar Regions
Collections and Archives
• Alaska Federation of Natives /
Festival of Native Arts
Unit Development

4. Unit Literature Review
A. Suresh Canagarajah
James Paul Gee
June Jordan
Lisa Delpit
Paulo Freire
Yi-Fu Tuan
Aldo Leopold
John Dewey

5. Unit Overview -
Literature and Writing:
Athabascan
• Unit exists as a template / map
• Compare Native Alaskan oral and
written literature
• Introduce critical / literary approaches
to traditional myths
• Connect Native Alaskan literature with
world literature
• Engage students with local culture
(creation, recording, writing)
• Connect Native ways of knowing
• Conflict between Standard English and
“Village English”
• Leave time each class

6. 1 - Comparing Oral and Written “Literature”
• Day One (?):
• Read / hear one version of a local
story (can be non-traditional –
telling should be as close to primary
as possible)
• Write (Village) / Present (Standard)
• Day Two (?)
• Hear / read another version of a
local story (can be non-traditional –
telling should be as close to primary
as possible)
• Present (Village) / Write (Standard)

7. II - Oral Histories
• Should follow Lesson I
• Involve students in community
cultural efforts
• Listen to oral histories / interviews
(Project Jukebox)
• Seek out and create oral histories
• Bring local elders / sourdoughs in to
class
• Writing vs. Transcribing
• Time frame: 15-20 mins at a time
• Age group: any (not this)

8. III - Dialogue Play
• Pick a local (polarizing)
topic of interest –
subsistence laws, English
language learning
• Students adopt characters
• Sticky note statements
• Decide on a setting
• Organize into a play and
perform
• Time span: ~1 class period

9. IV -Comparative Literature
• After King Lear
• Write about how setting informs text
• Situational translation
• Translocate and present another
story (Perseverance Theater – Moby
Dick)
• Time frame: 3+ days, full classes
• Age group: 11-12th grade

10. V - Non-Native Alaskan Writing
• Shoehorn in some poetry lessons
• Non-Native perspectives of the North
• In-class exercise comparing the writing
process of “Dream of the Lynx” (John
Haines, Jim Warren)
• “Sourdough” Literature – Trapping,
Hunting, Subsistence, Northern
Climate
• Students write poems out of class
• Time span: 20-30 mins each time
John Haines

11. (Some) Standards Addressed
Alaska State Reading Standards for Grades 9-10:
Standard 1: Students should be able to cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of
what the text says explicitly as well as implicit inferences from the text.
Standard 4: Students should be able to determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used
in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the cumulative impact
of specific word choices on meaning and tone (e.g., how the language evokes a sense of time
and place; how it sets a formal or informal tone).
Standard 6: Students should be able to analyze a particular point of view or cultural experience
reflected in a work of literature (e.g., mythology, colonialism and local culture), drawing on a
wide reading of world literature.
Standard 10: By the end of grade 9, students should be able to read and comprehend a range of
literature from a variety of cultures, within a complexity band appropriate to grade 9 (from
upper grade 8 to grade 10), with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.
Alaska State Content and Performance Standards for English and the Language Arts:
Standard E: A student should understand and respect the perspectives of others in order to
communicate effectively