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Lessons Taught, Lessons Learned Vol. II
On Punks and Culture
by Louise J. Britton
Lower Yukon School District
You may have the wrong idea already. The punks
I'm thinking about have nothing to do with orange hair. The punks I'm
talking about are the "arraqs" in our Yup'ik culture. I believe they
are a fungus in English. These are growths appearing on the trunks of
trees, especially birch trees. Ways of relating schooling and
education with these "arraqs" is what I wish to show.
Actually, the whole culture, and its values,
seems to be slipping away, but the purpose is not to attempt in one
short paper to show how the Yup'ik Eskimo culture can be saved. That
would take the combined efforts of numerous people and many ideas.
The punk gathering experience I will focus on here is but one small
part of our tradition. Subsistence gathering is a primary aspect of
the "Yup'ik" lifestyle. Whether it is picking berries, gathering eggs
from wild nesting waterfowl, dry grass cutting in the fall, logging
and wood-cutting, hunting birds and animals for food, clothing, and
tools, or any of a hundred other examples, subsistence is what has
always made our culture work. It could be like a big jigsaw puzzle,
with the culture as the completed picture and punk gathering but one
small part of the puzzle.
Knowledge that is important to our Elders and
how they live is escaping our youth. It is unfortunate that these
individually subtle activities that go into being Yup'ik are fading.
However, an inherent desire for knowledge of who we are, as defined
by these activities, is apparent in the students, and this is our "light at the
end of the tunnel."
By expanding, exploring, and developing an
interest in the single subsistence action of arraq harvesting, I hope
to build up my students' feelings of group awareness, self-knowledge,
and self-achievement. Before going further, it is necessary for the
reader to understand that I am a secondary special education teacher,
teaching in a village, so I am always looking for something that will
be interesting and challenging for me and the students.
Implementation
Converting this idea into real and productive
activity is the challenge. There are several approaches. The idea of
arraq as a cash commodity is important as a tool for teaching math
skills, i.e., counting and weight. Mainly it is beneficial to teach
the Western idea of cash exchange. For example, a gunny sack of
arraqs is sold for 25 dollars, or so much per pound, based on the
market value. Lifetime success for Yup'ik youths lies in
understanding Western values, as well as their own cultural
values.
Another important aspect is the learning
experience of arraq gathering and language arts. Language arts
development here does not necessarily mean just Yup'ik or just
English. Language use and knowledge development in both languages is
essential to the future of the students individually and to the
culture. As pointed out earlier, the effect of this lesson is to
achieve cultural awareness and inner strength. One can use both the
math and language art skill development to achieve this goal, by
explaining and highlighting cultural values and appreciation.
With all that said, following is a lesson by
lesson format for introducing arraq in the curriculum. Each lesson
will probably require two or more class sessions.
Lesson One: The Arraq
For this lesson, visual methods are important.
Arraqs will be shown to the students, along with a gunny sack and
hatchet, gloves and other clothing used in gathering. Village elders
will be invited to explain how and where these grow, and the uses of
arraq will be discussed. Arraq can be used as an art object, subject
to carving and painting, or as an additive in tobacco chewing that
leaves the tobacco less sour (this goes back to when tobacco was
introduced to our culture). Finally, the burning of arraq leaves a
pleasant odor that serves as a mosquito repellent. The specifics of
these three areas will be detailed for the students in the course of
the lesson.
Lesson Two: Cash and
Punks
The idea of punks sold for money will be
developed here. Math skills will be used in a meaningful way (at
least for the students) by showing how arcade games, pop, and other
commodities will be achievable via the selling of punks. A scale will
be used in class to show weight-to-money relationships. A western
work ethic can be shown this way, and responsibility and
self-achievement can be stimulated as well. Also, the barter method
of exchange can be discussed, because before money, this was our form
of trade, especially village to village. Since there were no punks
down the coast, and no seals upriver, a barter situation
developed.
Lesson Three: Field Trip With
Elder(s)
This is the fun part of the unit. Things
learned in the first two lessons will become more meaningful in this
hands-on learning experience. Punk harvesting is not done in winter
or summer months. In the spring sometimes, but mostly fall is the
season of this activity. This lesson develops communal efforts.
Respect for your leader/elder will be instilled, and is long
remembered. An outing like this is of spiritual value. One feels
close to nature and to those who share the common experience.
On another plane, it is just good exercise.
Many of my special education students are not as strong as their
peers in regular classes, so they benefit from this kind of activity.
Storage of goods will also be explained. Tightly sealed plastic bags
are not used. The simple gunny sack is preferred because it allows
air flow, which is needed for the arraq to dry out. In this and other
lessons as well, specific and spontaneous thoughts by the students,
teacher, and elders are encouraged, and will naturally occur.
Lesson Four: Language and
Appreciation
Hopefully the preceding lessons will have done
their purpose, so by now interest and excitement in the activity
should be strong. I hope to encourage a lively discussion, or even an
individual oral presentation by any student willing. A brief paper
can be encouraged, but students will have a choice of which they
prefer. Some historical knowledge should have been reclaimed along
the way.
Traditional values, along with Western ideas
and their mixing can easily be pursued.
As a teacher, I will critique the unit orally
to my students, and parents and participating Elders will be invited
to contribute. Any input by all of the people involved will be
sought. Maybe this will be a good excuse for a little party too. This
will create a social atmosphere, and it will get some or all of the
parents to school. Who knows where we might progress from
there.
Foreword
Ray Barnhardt
Part I *
Rural School Ideals
"My
Goodness, People Come and Go So Quickly Around
Here"
Lance C. Blackwood
Parental Involvement
in a Cross-Cultural Environment
Monte Boston
Teachers and
Administrators for Rural Alaska
Claudia Caffee
The Mentor Teacher
Program
Judy Charles
Building
Networks
Helen Eckelman
Ideal Curriculum and
Teaching Approaches for a School in Rural
Alaska
Teresa McConnell
Some Observations
Concerning Excellent Rural Alaskan Schools
Bob Moore
The Ideal Rural
Alaska Village School
Samuel Moses
From Then To Now:
The Value of Experiential Learning
Clara Carol Potterville
The Ideal
School
Jane Seaton
Toward an Integrated,
Nonlinear, Community-Oriented Curriculum
Unit
Mary Short
A Letter from
Idealogak, Alaska
Timothy Stathis
Preparing
Rural Students for the Future
Michael Stockburger
The Ideal
Rural School
Dawn Weyiouanna
Alternative
Approaches to the High School Curriculum
Mark J. Zintek
Part II *
Rural Curriculum Ideas
"Masking" the
Curriculum
Irene Bowie
On Punks and
Culture
Louise J. Britton
Literature to Meet
the Needs of Rural Students
Debra Buchanan
Reaching the Gifted
Student Via the Regular Classroom
Patricia S. Caldwell
Early Childhood Special
Education in Rural Alaska
Colleen Chinn
Technically
Speaking
Wayne Day
Process Learning
Through the School Newspaper
Marilyn Harmon
Glacier Bay
History: A Unit in Cultural Education
David Jaynes
Principals of
Technology
Brian Marsh
Here's Looking
at You and Whole Language
Susan Nugent
Inside, Outside and
all-Around: Learning to Read and Write
Mary L. Olsen
Science Across
the Curriculum
Alice Porter
Here's Looking at
You 2000 Workshop
Cheryl Severns
School-Based
Enterprises
Gerald Sheehan
King Island
Christmas: A Language Arts Unit
Christine Pearsall Villano
Using Student-Produced
Dialogues
Michael A. Wilson
We-Search and
Curriculum Integration in the Community
Sally Young
Artist's
Credits
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