The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian tells the story of a fourteen-year old boy named Junior that lives on an Indian reserve in Washington. After getting in trouble at school for acting out over the age of the textbooks he was being given, he transferred to a school that is off the reserve. With the new schools comes a large culture shock; the students all seem to have money, their families ties are different than this own, and the way others behave does not always align with how he was raised. The story continues to share the story of his year at this new school and how it affects not only Junior, but his relationship with the reserve he came from.

Two strong themes were apparent in the novel: self-identity and alcoholism. Self-identity is how we define ourselves, referencing such themes as gender, academic performance, socio-economic status, and sexuality, among other factors. In Junior’s case, there were additional factors that played into his formation of an identity. Firstly, he had a number of medical deficiencies resulting from being born with hydrocephalus. Secondly, he was the only Indian student in a predominately white school. This caused him to internally battle with the juxtaposition of his two different personas: Indian at home and white at school.

Forming a solid self-identity is difficult for any young adolescent, nonetheless a teen in Junior’s position. As teachers, we must ensure that we serve as a pivotal role model to our students during this period in their lives. We must ensure that we create an emotionally safe environment for all students. Themes of respect and inclusion will help to diminish hateful acts, which will allow the students to feel safe in their exploration of creating a self-identity.

The second theme that stood out to me in this novel is that of alcoholism. Junior loses many family members to the effects of alcohol, which is a serious issue on Indian reserves:

There are a variety of reasons why alcoholism is heavily present on Indian reserves (poverty, history, etc.). No matter what the reason might be, it is important that this issue be addressed, even at young ages. Although alcohol and substance abuse education is one thing that can be done, there is a lot that can be done in the field of positive psychology and coping methods to reduce these statistics. By teaching students that there are ways other than alcohol to solve their problems, we can work towards creating a safer and better prepared generation on the reserves.

The classroom is a very unique concept. Students and a teacher are in a room together for 7 hours every day, which can be longer than some students spend awake in their own homes each day. What does this mean for the teacher, and more importantly, what does this mean for the students?

Hopkins (2011) and Ayers (2010) introduce us to the world of positive environment creation, in relation to our school classrooms. Hopkins presents five key themes that every classroom should account for:

1. Everyone has their own unique and equally valued perspective
2. Thoughts influence emotions, emotions influence actions
3. Empathy and consideration
4. Needs and unmet needs
5. Collective responsibility for problem solving and decision making

Not only do these themes encourage the development of an accepting and student-centred classroom, but they also promote the well-being of the students. This can be either social, emotional, cognitive, psychological, or otherwise. All of these themes are key to creating the highest functioning future generation.

Ayers complements these themes by discussing the multiple purposes that classrooms face and the challenges of incorporating all of these needs into one classroom environment. The following quote struck me from this reading:

We as teachers have our own ideas when it comes to creating a learning environment, but sometimes our “adultness” removes our focus away from our students. We must consciously remind ourselves that the classroom is a shared environment and that we must hear from our students in regards to what environment they learn best in; we must ask, not tell our students where they want to learn.

In was regular during my time in elementary school that I would walk into a classroom on the first day of school and leave on the last day without the classroom environment changing. This meant that the same store-bought posters defining “perseverance” and telling us to “stand out and be unique” stared back at us for 10 months straight. Did that poster encourage me to persevere throughout the year? Not really. Would the concept have had a larger impression on me had we all created a piece of art that defined what perseverance meant to us, and then had them posted around the classroom? Probably. Why? Because the classroom would have been my environment for learning, a product of my creativity and learning.

This is exactly why the teacher must learn to step back from their authoritative role when it comes to creating a positive and enriching learning environment. The classroom might be home for the next 10 months to 31 people: 30 of which are students and 1 being the teacher. Who, then, is the environment truly for? Let students create their collective learning environment. Allow them to collaborate on the rules and goals of the classroom. Most importantly, ensure the students feel at home and included. The more comfortable the students are in their environment, the more enriching their learning will be.

Something that seems as straightforward as outlining four varying levels of accomplishment is far more complex than most people may expect. With the pressure of having to justify a given mark to students, teachers, or administrators, teachers have to be sure that the rubric provides adequate and accurate information about what is expected of the students’ work. All that work just to let a student know what mark they achieved? It’s far more than that. As Andrade states in her article Teaching With Rubrics: The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly:

“We use them to clarify our learning goals, design instruction that addresses those goals, communicate the goals to students, guide our feedback on students’ progress toward the goals, and judge final products in terms of the degree to which the goals were met” (page 27).

We all know how busy teacher’s are, which is why I found comfort in the fact that rubrics are not just simply statements of student achievement; rather, they are a product of the planning, implementation, and assessment processes. But what happens when we have students learning at different levels in our classroom (i.e. IEPs)?

When it comes to instructing students at varying levels, Cooper encourages everyone to adopt “differentiation”:

“[…] beginning with the same unit plan, lesson, or assessment task and then differentiating each of these according to the needs of groups of students in a given class” (page 136).

In Cooper’s text, we also learned that it’s not necessary to create rubrics for each individual student. As long as the content standards are in line with what is expected of each student, then the rubric can remain the same; the requirements of whatever is being graded will be the only thing that actually differs.

In conclusion, rubrics are a great tool, not only for the teacher but for students as well. Rubrics outline what is expected of them and what is required to achieve each specific grade level. Perhaps more importantly, rubrics answer the common question, “Why am I learning this?” by display to students the various learning outcomes that are clearly outlined.