Embedded Files
A Navajo (Diné) boy, Kii Yazhi, is taken away from his family at the age of six and sent 100 miles away to a mission boarding school. While at school, he is stripped of his “Indian name” and becomes “Ned Begay.” For the next ten years, “Ned” is forced to abandon any sign of his culture and heritage, particularly his native language, but after the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor, Ned longs to join the fight and convinces his parents to allow him to enlist. Ned thrives in boot camp and after graduation learns he will be part of a special unit of fellow Navajo recruits whose mission is top secret. Ned’s unit transmits critical messages across the Pacific theater of war using a Navajo-based code language and is crucial to the success of the Allied efforts. But, while Ned feels pride in the contribution of his language and role, he continues to experience the discrimination and lack of acceptance of many of his fellow marines. After the war ends, the Code Talkers and their role in the Allied victory remain classified, and Ned feels keenly the unfairness suffered by Native Americans. However, he refuses to give up and continues the fight to tell his story about the strength of the “Dine’.”
Big Ideas:
Identity is shaped by cultural and social influences as well as the decisions we make about those influences.
Subordinate ideas:
Being stripped of one’s language and one’s name is a way to strip one’s identity.
Language is an essential part of one's identity and one should retain their language.
The groups we belong to influence our identity.
Our traditions and customs shape our identity.
There is value in knowing and honoring one’s heritage.
In order to find “balance,” we must value and hold onto our cultural roots even when the majority try to strip them away.
Forced assimilation often devalues the contribution that exposure to and incorporation of another culture brings.
Courage is refusing to conform to societal expectations when it requires a denial of culture and personal belief systems.
Our history is communicated through the stories we tell, and our stories help us understand who we are and where we come from.
War, though sometimes necessary, is not a good thing, it causes not only physical but also spiritual injuries.
Culminating Task:
Culminating Task:
Option 1: Throughout the novel, Ned shares things and events that are important to him. His “medal” prompts the telling of his story as both a Navajo and a marine. His description of the “Blessingway” reveals his journey from young boy to a young man going off to war. In Lesson 3, students drafted a story about an “artifact” that meant something in their life. In Lesson 9, students drafted a story about a “rite of passage” or ritual. Both of these stories told of things that shaped who they are. Students will build upon one of these two formative assessment tasks to write a chapter in one of these stories.
Option 2: Throughout the novel, Ned has consistently referenced his Navajo roots and how this has shaped him. Although this is Ned’s story, it is so much more than the story of one person. It is the story of Ned’s Navajo buddies, it is a story of Smitty & Georgia Boy, it is a story of Ned’s white teachers and fellow soldiers, and it is a story of the Japanese people. In Lessons 22 & 23, students were asked to consider Ned’s story from a different perspective: as a grandchild or as a citizen of Japan. Students will build upon one of these two formative assessment tasks to write a chapter in one of these stories.
Lesson Guidance Documents : These documents provide guidance for lesson planning.
Lesson Guidance Documents : These documents provide guidance for lesson planning.
Page updated
Report abuse