The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
by Sherman Alexie
Grade/Course: 9th grade ELA class
Unit Length: 5 Weeks
Educational/Classroom Culture:
 Small suburban school in Woodinville, WA
 Approximately 34 kids per class
 Mixed ability levels
 2nd Period: 22 male; 12 female strudents
 Single, 52 minute periods
Novel Summary:
Arnold Spirit Jr. is the geekiest Indian on the Spokane Reservation. He wears chunky, lopsided
glasses. His head and body look like Sputnik on a toothpick. When he doesn’t stutter, he lisps.
Arnold is a 14-year-old high school freshman. When he goes outside he gets teased and beaten,
so he spends a lot of time in his room drawing cartoons. “I think the world is a series of broken
dams and floods,” he says, “and my cartoons are tiny little lifeboats.”
To say that life is hard on the Spokane rez doesn’t begin to touch it. “My parents came from poor
people who came from poor people who came from poor people,” Arnold explains, “all the way
back to the very first poor people.” The kid was born with 10 too many teeth, so he gets them
pulled — all in a single day, because the Indian Health Service pays for major dental work only
once a year. When Arnold cracks open his geometry textbook, he finds his mother’s name
written on the flyleaf. “My school and my tribe are so poor and sad that we have to study from
the same dang books our parents studied from,” Arnold says. “That is absolutely the saddest
thing in the world.”
Enraged, Arnold beans his geometry teacher with the book and gets suspended from school. The
targeted teacher, Mr. P., visits Arnold at home and gives him a piece of advice: get out. Mr. P.
has seen too many promising students — like Arnold’s sister, Mary Runs Away — fade year by
year, beaten down by poverty and hopelessness. “The only thing you kids are being taught is
how to give up,” Mr. P. says.
“The Absolutely True Diary” tracks Arnold’s year of getting out. He transfers to Reardan High,
22 miles away, a gleaming campus full of wealthy white kids, with a computer room and
chemistry labs. He’s the only Indian — if you don’t count the school mascot. Early on, Arnold
fears being beaten up by the jocks. “I was afraid those monsters were going to kill me,” he says.
“And I don’t mean ‘kill’ as in ‘metaphor.’ I mean ‘kill’ as in ‘beat me to death.’” (The comedian
in Alexie pops up as often as the poet.) Arnold’s toughness soon earns him their respect, though,
as well as a spot on the varsity basketball team.
What he can’t win back is the love of his neighbors at home. On the rez he’s considered a traitor.
His best friend punches him in the face. When Reardan plays Wellpinit High in basketball, the
Indians rain so much abuse on Arnold that a race riot nearly breaks out. Triumph and grief come
in equal measure. Arnold figures out that he’s smarter than most of the white kids, and wins the
heart of a white girl named Penelope. (“What was my secret?” he says. “If you want to get all
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biological, then you’d have to say that I was an exciting addition to the Reardan gene pool.”)
Meanwhile, his father’s best friend is shot and killed, and his sister dies in a trailer fire. “I’m 14
years old, and I’ve been to 42 funerals,” Arnold says. “That’s really the biggest difference
between Indians and white people.”
For 15 years now, Sherman Alexie has explored the struggle to survive between the grinding
plates of the Indian and white worlds. He’s done it through various characters and genres, but
“The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” may be his best work yet. Working in the
voice of a 14-year-old forces Alexie to strip everything down to action and emotion, so that
reading becomes more like listening to your smart, funny best friend recount his day while
waiting after school for a ride home. Which, by the way, Arnold doesn’t have. Unless his folks
get lucky and come up with some gas money.
**Above summary was found at: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/11/books/review/Barcott3-t.html
Rationale:
At a bookstore reading, Sherman Alexie said the one thing he would want students to take away
from this novel is “escaping and confronting familial and tribal expectations.” Afterwards, I
began thinking about how we are all limited to some extent by the myriad of expectations that
are linked to our race, culture, gender, age, and socioeconomic status. This is also true of Junior
who is characterized by his poverty and race. Ultimately, he must choose between accepting
what others expect him to be, or to fight against these forces that are holding him back.
In this spirit, this unit is framed around a central question: how do internal and external
expectations manifest themselves in our lives? Under this umbrella, students will consider issues
of race, class, culture, and gender, how they are tied to the construction and perception of
identity, and how these factors impact life choices. Students will also discuss the expectations
imposed by ones community and family, and how, oftentimes, these can be the hardest ties to
break. The hope is that students will learn that they are not without power; choices can be made,
they can resist. But along the way, they will also learn that there will be consequences for
choosing to go against the grain.
This unit includes supplementary works of poetry and fiction, as well as opportunities for use of
technology in the classroom. As outlined in more depth below, the objectives of this unit are
designed to encourage critical thinking, strengthen analysis, and build communication and
comprehension skills. Moreover, the central text and assessments were chosen with the intention
of reaching multiple intelligences; even the format of the book lends itself well to differentiation
due to the art throughout. Oftentimes, the art in the text highlights the main idea of that chapter,
serving as a useful aid in reading comprehension for struggling learners and ELL’s.
Essential Questions:
1. How do internal and external expectations manifest themselves in our lives?
2. How can such societal expectations impact our identities?
3. Should a person’s responsibility to their family, tribe, or community take precedence over
their individual goals?
4. How does literature help us to understand ourselves and the world around us?
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Learning Goals/Objectives:
In this unit students will:
 Read and respond to The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian as well as
supplementary poetry by Native American authors.
 Draw parallels between themselves and the characters in the novel, developing an
understanding and knowledge of the internal and external expectations in their lives. \
 Explore the roles others play in their lives and their own self-portrayal, developing an
understanding of how societal and familial expectations shape their daily choices and
their future roles in society.
 Discuss the idea of expectations in terms of race, class, gender, stereotyping, eating
disorders, beauty etc.
 Learn and/or review literary terms such as setting, plot, characterization, theme, and tone.
 Participate in a variety of activities and assessments, such as note taking, brainstorming,
Socratic circles, visual representations, role playing, and journal writing.
 Work collaboratively in groups as well as individually, developing communication skills
and listening strategies.
 During in class reading, students will make predictions, inferences and draw conclusions.
 Create a final multigenre project that centers on the overarching class question for this
unit: How do internal and external expectations shape and affect our lives?
 Engage in quick write in their writer’s notebook/journals
 Work on their public speaking abilities by sharing their reflections, and stances with the
class.
Relevant State Standards:
This unit was created and aligned with Common Core Learning Standards.
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Lesson Plan: Stereotypes and Native American Sports Mascots
ESSENTIAL QUESTION:

Does using Native American images and names in professional, collegiate, and high school
sports teams reinforce and perpetuate stereotypes?
ENDURING UNDERSTANDINGS:
By closely examining an array of media, including texts, cartoons, and a brief film clip, students will
question the consequences of using Native American emblems in educational and sports arenas. The
implicit goal of this lesson, and those that would directly follow, is for students to understand how
sports mascots perpetuate racial stereotypes of Native Americans, as well as how writing, art, and
film can be used as an effective means of resistance and activism.
(Prior to the class meeting, students will have read through the chapter “How to Fight Monsters”)
Summary:
Through the close reading of one page out of the chapter “How to Fight Monsters” as well as an
additional article and video clip, students will be asked to consider whether mascots are perpetuating
stereotypes. Does this have negative and far reaching consequences or are they harmless graphics
that honor Native Americans? I envision this lesson as the first in a series of lessons that would lead
up to a Socratic Seminar, debate, or persuasive argument essay on this issue. For this lesson,
students will write a persuasive response to be used in a Socratic discussion of the issue.
Materials:
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A copy of The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
Journal (writer’s notebook), pens/pencils
“NCAA Takes Aim at Indian Mascots” handout
Projector/Media capabilities to show video clip.
Handouts for homework assignment including pre-reading organizer, “Topic of Debate”,
cartoons, and “Sorry For Not Being a Stereotype” handouts
Steps / Procedure:
When students enter class, have the following “Bell Work” on the board:
 Bell Work: Today we will be considering stereotypes in relation to the chapter you have read
thus far, including, “How to Fight Monsters”. In your journal, write about any time you feel
you have been stereotyped, or perhaps a time you have stereotyped others. Or, if you prefer,
free-write on the image on the board (the image taped to the board will be the FSU Mascot;
see attached handout). What does it mean to you? What does it stand for? How could it be
used? Why? (5 mins)
 Think – Pair – Share: Have student’s pair off and share what they have written. After
reading what they have to their partner, encourage them to ask each other questions about
what they wrote about or perhaps to help them define or expand upon their understanding
of what the word stereotype means. (5 mins)
 Have the class reconvene as a group and ask students to volunteer to share out what they
discussed to the rest of the class, making sure that the students understand what stereotype
means. (5 mins)
 Ask students to take out their copy of The Absolutely True Story of a Part-Time Indian and
turn to page 56, a few pages into the chapter “How to Fight Monsters.” Ask for a student to
volunteer to read that page starting at “Then the white kids began arriving for school.” (3
mins)
 Ask the class why Junior thinks Reardan is racist, highlighting the line, “So what was I doing
in racist Reardan…” (56) to trigger discussion of his comment on the Indian mascot. Why is
Junior offended? Should he be? (5 mins)
 Tell students that they will be considering both sides of this debate in class today in
preparation for writing a persuasive response on this topic later. Distribute the attached
handout “NCAA Takes Aim At Indian Mascots.” Ask for a volunteer to read it aloud. After
it has been read aloud, open the floor for discussion. Do sports mascots offend Native
Americans and their culture? If so, in what ways? Can they think of any professional or high
school sports teams that use Native American mascots? (see attached list) (10 mins)
 Show the students a clip of “Savage Country: American Indian Sports Mascots Part One”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVDyldTV9OA&feature=related. Encourage them to
take notes and think critically about what they are watching. (10 mins)
 Wrap-up discussion (5 mins):
1. What did you learn in this video clip and/or the NCAA article?
2. If you are a Native American how does this issue make you feel? (If not, pretend you are.)
3. Tying it back to the novel, do you think Junior is having problems at Reardon because of
the use of such mascots?
4. How do you think Alexie feels about the use of Native American mascots? Why?
5. With what you have read and seen thus far, does the use of mascots have negative
consequences or are they harmless graphics that honor Native Americans?
 The teacher will then hand out the homework assignment below which is a pre-writing
exercise that will help students prepare for the first draft of their persuasive response. They
will receive a reader response organization chart along with additional sources on the topic
to help deepen their thinking on this issue. For extra credit, students can be encouraged to
do research on the topic on their own as well. (2 mins).
This lesson is planned for a 52 minute period.
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Topic of Debate:
Should Sports Teams Use Native American
Names and Mascots?
Against the Use of Mascots…
Team mascots are racist
In response to previous letters about American Indians being mascots for
sports teams, the writer of “Mascots don’t belittle Indians” (letter, Jan. 9)
stated that the fans [don’t think lowly of American Indians because of] an
American Indian mascot.
By definition, racism is discriminatory or abusive behavior toward members
of another race. While the fans of these sports teams feel it is fine to have
an Atlanta Brave or a Washington Redskin, it is abusive behavior toward
members of American Indian tribes.
“The Washington (blank)s” — in the blank space insert any race, and you
will come up with a team mascot that would not be tolerated in today’s
society.
These team mascots need to be retired and we as Americans need to see
that if we are to have freedom from oppression, then we need to start with
our own homeland.
Dante Halleck
Kuwait
**Above clips found at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=125&article=59841&archive=true
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Topic of Debate:
Should Sports Teams Use Native American
Names and Mascots?
In Favor of Mascots…
Names prideful, not racist
In response to the letter “Team mascots are racist” (letter, Jan. 17): Team
mascot names are not racist. The writer correctly gave the definition of
racism, and no team mascot comes remotely close to meeting that
definition.
Teams, whether they be high school, college or professional, choose mascot
names that demonstrate strength and power. Cleveland Indians, Florida
State Seminoles, Atlanta Braves, Washington Redskins … none of these
display discriminatory or abusive behavior toward members of another race,
or more specifically, toward American Indian tribes. In fact, when humans
actually flesh out the part of those mascots, they are done with what most
would agree is dignity and pride.
Perhaps we should rename them, though, in order to appease the letter
writer. I wonder how he would feel about Cleveland Daisies, Florida State
Kittens, Atlanta Peaches or Washington Pussy Willows? Those names would
certainly strike fear in their opponents’ hearts and minds, wouldn’t they?
Jim McDonald
Camp Virginia, Kuwait
**Above clips found at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=125&article=59841&archive=true
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NCAA Takes Aim At Indian Mascots
INDIANAPOLIS, August 5, 2005
(CBS/AP) Fed up with what it considers "hostile" and "abusive" American Indian nicknames, the
NCAA announced Friday it would shut those words and images out of postseason tournaments, a
move that left some school officials angry and threatening legal action.
Starting in February, any school with a nickname or logo considered racially or ethnically "hostile" or
"abusive" by the NCAA would be prohibited from using them in postseason events. Mascots will
not be allowed to perform at tournament games, and band members and cheerleaders will also be
barred from using American Indians on their uniforms beginning in 2008.
Major college football teams are not subject to the ban because there is no official NCAA
tournament.
Affected schools were quick to complain, and Florida State — home of the Seminoles — threatened
legal action.
"That the NCAA would now label our close bond with the Seminole people as culturally 'hostile and
abusive' is both outrageous and insulting," Florida State president T.K. Wetherell said in a statement.
"I intend to pursue all legal avenues to ensure that this unacceptable decision is overturned, and that
this university will forever be associated with the 'unconquered' spirit of the Seminole Tribe of
Florida," he added.
The committee also recommended that schools follow the examples of Wisconsin and Iowa by
refusing to schedule contests against schools that use American Indian nicknames.
While NCAA officials admit they still can't force schools to change nicknames or logos, they are
making a statement they believe is long overdue. Eighteen mascots, including Florida State's
Seminole and Illinois' Illini, were on the list of offenders.
Those schools will not be permitted to host future NCAA tournament games, and if events have
already been awarded to those sites, the school must cover any logos or nicknames that appear.
"Certainly some things remain to be answered from today, and one of those things is the definition
of what is 'hostile or abusive,'" said Tom Hardy, a spokesman at Illinois.
The NCAA did not give a clear answer on that.
President Myles Brand noted that some schools using the Warrior nickname will not face sanctions
because they do not use Indian symbols. One school, North Carolina-Pembroke — which uses the
nickname Braves — will also be exempted because Brand said the school has historically had a high
percentage of students, more than 20 percent, who are American Indians.
"We believe hostile or abusive nicknames are troubling to us and it can't continue," committee
chairman Walter Harrison said. "We're trying to send a message, very strongly, saying that these
mascots are not appropriate for NCAA championships."
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The decision, however, quickly evoked passions and complaints from both sides.
At Florida State, Wetherell said the NCAA was trying to embarrass the school for using its
nickname, even though the Seminole Tribe of Florida has given the university permission to
continue using it.
"Other Seminole tribes are not supportive," said Charlotte Westerhaus, the NCAA vice president for
diversity and inclusion.
Supporters also were unhappy.
Vernon Bellecourt, president of the National Coalition on Racism in Sports and Media and a
member of the Anishinabe-Ojibwe Nation in Minnesota, approved of the ban but had hoped the
NCAA would take even stronger action.
"We're not so happy about the fact that they didn't make the decision to ban the use of Indian team
names and mascots," he said.
Harrison, president at the University of Hartford, said the executive committee does not have the
authority to do that, and schools can still appeal their inclusion on the list.
Brand and Harrison said they hoped school officials would pursue policy changes through the
NCAA first, before going to court.
"I suspect that some of those would like to having a ruling on that," Brand said. "But unless there is
a change before Feb. 1, they will have to abide by it."
Two years ago, the NCAA recommended schools determine for themselves whether Indian
depictions were offensive.
CBS News Correspondent Tom Foty reports that the NCAA had investigated 33 schools
nicknames and that about half have changed their names since then, leaving the 18 schools now
subject to the new mascot and nickname restriction.
Among the schools to change nicknames in recent years were St. John's (from Redmen to Red
Storm) and Marquette (from Warriors to Golden Eagles).
But that hasn't changed opinions on either side.
"They're not willing to give up this money," Bellecourt said, referring to merchandising revenue.
"We would hope that it (the decision) was the handwriting on the wall that would urge them to drop
these team names and mascots."
©MMV, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast,
rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/08/05/sportsline/printable762542.shtml
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Sorry for not being a stereotype
Chicago Sun-Times
April 24, 2004
By Rita Pyrillis
How many of you would know an American Indian if you saw one? My guess is not many.
Certainly not the bank teller who called security when an Indian woman — a visiting scholar —
tried to cash a check with a tribal identification card. When asked what the problem was, the
teller replied: "It must be a scam. Everyone knows real Indians are extinct."
And not the woman who cut in front of me at the grocery checkout a few months ago. When I
confronted her, she gave me the once over and said: "Why don't you people just go back to your
own country."
OK, lady, after you, I said, when I thought of it the next morning.
Even though I was born and raised in Chicago, strangers sometimes assume I'm a foreigner. For
the record, I'm Native American, or Indian — take your pick. I prefer Lakota.
Sometimes strangers think I'm from another time. They wonder if I live in a teepee or make my
own buckskin clothes or have ever hunted buffalo. They are surprised when I tell them that most
Indians live in cities, in houses, and some of us shop at the Gap. I've never hunted a buffalo,
although I almost hit a cow once while driving through South Dakota.
Sometimes, people simply don't believe I'm Indian. "You don't look Indian," a woman told me
once. She seemed disappointed. I asked her what an Indian is supposed to look like. "You know.
Long black hair, braids, feathers, beads."
Apparently, as Indians go, I'm a flop, an embarrassment to my racial stereotype. My hair is
shoulder-length, and I don't feather it, unless you count my unfortunate Farrah Fawcett period in
junior high.
When you say you're Indian, you better look the part or be prepared to defend yourself. Those
are fighting words. When my husband tells people he's German, do they expect him to wear
lederhosen and a Tyrolean hat? Of course not. But such are the risks when you dare to be Indian.
You don't tug on Superman's cape, and you don't mess around with a man's stereotype.
Native American scholar Vine Deloria wrote that of all the problems facing Indian people, the
most pressing one is our transparency. Never mind the staggering suicide rate among Native
youth, or the fact that Indians are the victims of violent crimes at more than twice the rate of all
U.S. residents — our very existence seems to be in question.
"Because people can see right through us, it becomes impossible to tell truth from fiction or fact
from mythology," he wrote. "The American public feels most comfortable with the mythical
Indians of stereotype-land who were always THERE."
Sure. Stereotypes don't have feelings, or children who deserve to grow up with images that
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reflect who they are — not perfect images, but realistic ones. While Little Black Sambo and the
Frito Bandito have gone the way of minstrel shows, Indians are still battling a red-faced, bignosed Chief Wahoo and other stereotypes. No wonder people are confused about who Indians
really are. When we're not hawking sticks of butter, or beer or chewing tobacco, we're scalping
settlers. When we're not passed out drunk, we're living large off casinos. When we're not
gyrating in Pocahoochie outfits at the Grammy Awards, we're leaping through the air at football
games, represented by a white man in red face. One era's minstrel show is another's halftime
entertainment. It's enough to make Tonto speak in multiple syllables.
And it's enough to make hard-working, decent Indian folks faced with more urgent problems
take to the streets in protest. Personally, I'd rather take in my son's Little League game, but as
long as other people insist on telling me when to be honored or offended, or how I should look or
talk or dance, I will keep telling them otherwise. To do nothing would be less than honorable.
Rita Pyrillis is a free-lance journalist and a member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe.
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Reading Towards Your Stance/Position/Belief
Step 1: Read the article or cartoon
Step 2: Identify the major concepts
Article/Cartoon
“NCAA Takes
Aim at Indian
Mascots” article
“Sorry For Not
Being a
Stereotype”
“Topic of Debate”
handout
“Racial
sensitivity” and
“Go Redskins”
cartoons
“Pow-Wow” and
“Really? You
don’t look like an
Indian” cartoons
Step 3: State whether you Agree / Disagree
Step 4: Explain why you Agree / Disagree, providing specific reasons.
Statement: What is this piece saying? Identify
the major concepts.
Post-Reading Reaction
Agree/Disagree
Explain Your
Post-Reading Answer
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