In Yatta Kanu’s work, “Getting Them Through the College Pipeline: Critical Elements of
Instruction Influencing School Success Among Native Canadian High School Students,” (2006)
she stresses the disproportionate high school dropout rate between Native and Non-Native
students. In Canada, Native students are 66% more likely to not finish high school compared to
only 37% of their Non-Native peers. Kanu (2006) notes that Native students who do not finish
high school often lack the prerequisites to enter higher education or the skills to positively
contribute to the economic life of their communities. In order to prevent these limiting outcomes
for many Native youth, Kanu seeks to research both strategies teachers can use in the classroom
that would help Native students thrive, and investigate educational barriers that could be
hindering student success. At the core of Kanu’s research, she seeks to explore how teachers can
usefully integrate Native cultural knowledge and perspectives into the classroom, and in turn
how this would influence academic achievement, class attendance, and school retention of
Native students.
Kanu’s research is conducted on students in an inner-city high school where close to 33%
of the student population identifies with Native-Canadian heritage, and the teacher population is
primarily Euro-Canadian. Kanu’s research is collected based on a comparison between two
grade 9 social studies classrooms. In one classroom the teacher is offered support from
curriculum specialists to devise a curriculum that heavily incorporates Native culture and
perspectives into the classroom. Instruction was infused with “understanding [of]the importance
of respect in Native cultures, the vital role of elders, the importance of family and community to
Native identity, the importance of spirituality in learning and education and in the lives of many
Native peoples, the various effects of European contact and settlement on Native peoples, and
Native contributions to Canadian society.” (Kanu, 124) The other teacher did not incorporate
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Native perspectives or cultural practices into the classroom other than those written in the
textbook.
The results of Kanu’s study overwhelmingly illustrates that students in the “integration”
(infused with Native culture and perspectives) classroom vastly outperformed those in the
classroom with no integration of Native ideologies. In addition to academic results, these
students also exhibited higher levels of self-confidence and demonstrated more advanced
abilities for higher-level critical thinking.
Interestingly enough, the only area of Kanu’s study that did not lean in favour of the
Native integration classroom were results in school attendance and regularity. Although the
integration classroom vastly outperformed the other class academically, both classrooms
presented almost equal statistics of students missing or dropping out of school. Kanu’s findings
determined that these grade 9 students were in fact leaving school at this point because of greater
societal issues that mainly accompanied living in poverty. A handful of students left school
because of pregnancy, juvenile detention, parents moving, needing to take care of siblings or
feeling obligated to work in order to support their families. For the rest of the students that
attended class however, through interviews Kanu found key differences in their motivations for
attending class. For instance, students in the integration class expressed they wanted to attend
class in order to “gain a better understanding of Native culture, increase pride in their cultural
identity and gain self-esteem.” (Kanu, 130) In contrast, many students in the non-integration
class expressed extrinsic views about attending class such as expressing the only reason they
attended class was because they were “required or forced” to do so.
Kanu’s work is commendably applicable for outlining the critical importance of
integrating Native perspectives and cultural knowledge into the classroom. Although Kanu’s
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research conclusions offer many helpful general strategies for accomplishing this, she does not
cite many specific examples of how this was done. When Kanu details her research
methodology she notes that the integration teacher was offered support from many specialists on
how to best infuse curriculum with Native ideologies. In order to be as informative as possible, I
think Kanu could have added some more supplementary material that outlines how this was
specifically accomplished in the social studies curriculum. I would have loved to see an
accompanying document or additional information in her work that showcased the specific
strategies, assignments and assessments that this teacher used to so successfully motivate and
captivate students.
I do think however it was commendable and important that Kanu brought into discussion
that no matter how effectively a teacher might integrate Native culture and perspectives into the
classroom, there could be external variables in students’ lives that might prevent and hinder their
learning. Aboriginal populations both in an urban and on reserve settings face many social
obstacles that potentially make accessing education challenging. As teachers we need to access
support and resources within the school and wider community to help these students before even
considering curricula so that they are in a safe place where learning can happen.
Kanu’s research draws many conclusions that are very applicable in the classroom.
Kanu’s research findings are generally divided into two categories: what an effective teacher
looks like, and what strategies they use in the classroom to engage Native learners. First, the
most important attributes Kanu noticed that contributed to the one teacher so vastly
outperforming the other was their high level of self-efficacy and knowledge of their subject
matter. Self-efficacy as Kanu describes is a “teacher’s own perception of his or her ability to
accomplish a task.” (Kanu, 131) Effective teachers in integrating Native ideologies are those
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that attend educational workshops, read informational material on Native education and emerge
themselves into the surrounding Native community. Some teachers view the integration of
Native perspectives into the classroom too time consuming, difficult, or even controversial.
Ultimately, it is these teachers and their low sense of self-efficacy who are failing to meet the
needs of their Native students. In addition, Kanu notes that a teacher’s capacity or knowledge to
bring Native perspectives into the classroom contributes to student success because students feel
as though their teacher is taking the time to learn and respect their culture. Interviews with
students illustrate that teachers who integrate a wide range of Native resources gain the respect
of students because it shows the teacher genuinely wants student learning to be interesting and
relevant.
I do feel as though I have high sense of self-efficacy and understand Kanu’s perspective
of its importance for educators. As someone who was not raised with any Native cultural
knowledge, I now understand the importance as a future Aboriginal Educator that I need to learn
as much as possible in order to best connect and relate with my students. In order to avoid
ignorance and build meaningful relationships with my students, the pursuit of gaining and
understanding Indigenous knowledge is forever ongoing. In addition, it is a reality that many
Native students might not even themselves be surrounded with Native teachings. Therefore by
bringing Native cultural knowledge into the classroom both through my own learning and
through community resources, I hope that all Native students have the opportunity to gain a
sense of identity and cultural pride.
In a more practical framework, Kanu’s research offers some concrete evidence of
strategies that the teacher who integrated Native ideologies into the classroom that proved to be
effective. The first is implementing clear Native learning objectives or goal for each unit. A
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learning objective should always be shared with students so both the teacher and students can
work together to achieve it. For example, if I were teaching a unit on voice in drama I could use
a learning goal for an assignment such as “I will be able to expressively and articulately share a
story or legend I learned from my community.” This learning goal takes into consideration
native perspectives and clearly states what the student needs to accomplish in order to eventually
be successful.
In addition, Kanu’s findings illustrated that students in the integration class were
especially responsive to teaching methods that promoted: the use of stories, Native guest
speakers, filed trips to Native communities and discussion circles. All of these strategies I think
would be highly successful in a drama classroom. First, drama through storytelling is an
obvious choice. So much of drama is done through storytelling and gaining the perspective of
another person. Second, Native guest speakers such as Native artists in the community or
inviting community Elders to share legends could be integrated into the curriculum. Next, field
trips to other Native communities were noted by Kanu to be especially important in order to
maintain a spiritual sense of self. Students participated in Sweat Lodges, Pow-Wows and other
cultural events. Maintaining the spiritual and mental well being of our students is essential for
learning to occur in drama and all subject areas. Finally, I hope to start or end each class with a
taking circle. Discussion circles provide an invaluable opportunity to check in with you students
and evaluate any issues, questions or concerns they may be facing.
Discussion circles
contribute positively to a nurturing learning environment in which students feel safe because
their needs are met and heard.
Finally, Kanu’s research concluded with offering practical suggestions for student
assessment. A strategy for effective assessment I hope to integrate into my classroom is the use
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of journals. Journals offer students the opportunity to reflect on how they felt, thought and
interpret the course material. Kanu additionally notes that many students did not thrive when
asked to do oral presentations. Performing in front of others however is an integral component
to drama so this does present some problems. I do believe however that if a safe space is created
in a drama classroom many of these walls can be broken down. Additionally, dramatic
presentations are slightly different from an oral presentation because drama is an artistic
exploration of an idea, whereas a presentation is someone being an expert on a body of
knowledge. Drama is less about being “right” and more about representing a unique perspective
to an audience.
Overall, Kanu’s work highlights the importance of putting the students at the centre of all
teaching and learning. If we do not take in mind whom we are teaching and why what we are
teaching is relevant to the learners, then ultimately the material is irrelevant and inapplicable to
students. Kanu’s research and findings are very logical to this idea. She stresses that when we
are teaching Aboriginal students cultural knowledge and perspectives need to be at the core of
the learning in order for these students to be successful. Although Kanu’s research is specifically
on Native student populations, her research would be relevant to any diverse population of
students. That is the needs, interests, and an identity of the student population needs to be
infused into the overall curriculum. Statistics show that many Aboriginal students are
unfortunately falling through cracks and not making it to higher education. This is not however
because they are not capable, but because in many cases teachers themselves are inadequately
reaching these students. Kanu’s research illustrates change starts in the teacher. Teachers of
Native students need to begin familiarizing themselves with Aboriginal cultural knowledge and
perspectives and begin accessing resources to help bring this information into the classroom. Of
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course greater macro-societal factors prevent just teachers alone from eliminating more than half
Native students from ever completing high school. However, teachers do hold the responsibility
of giving their students the best and most fair education to help them complete higher education
and become proud contributing members to their communities.
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Works Cited:
Kanu, Yatta. (2006). Getting them through the college pipeline: Critical elements of instruction
influencing school success among Native Canadian high school students. Journal of Advanced
Academics, 18(1), 116-145.
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