A Cultural Perspective on the Socioeconomic Impacts of Uranium Mining on Diné

Abstract

The gist of the initiative is to continue the work started by prior educators and paraprofessionals with presenting Navajo history aligned with United States history using a visual representation (timeline) to give students a frame of reference with themes they may know in U.S. history and compare that with what was happening at that time in Diné history. The added expectation was to align Navajo Nation Department of Education standards with Arizona State standards and objectives. Where eventually when pulling up the district curriculum, Beyond Textbooks, there would be the unwrapped document which would provide the connections between the state and Navajo Nation standards and be able to construct daily or weekly lesson plans.

When I connect ideas of Diné history to U.S. history I make sure I give plenty of background knowledge to my students when we begin a new lesson or standard during the school year. That begins with the beginning lessons front loading content specific vocabulary. Some practice students have are shown below with the visual organizer. While other methods are purely for student reinforcement and opportunities to work with their peer group in a less haughty situation in class