Students at Majestic Elementary Arts Academy received a real-life lesson in Native American culture and traditions in their classrooms recently. They were even treated to a taste of homemade Fry Bread.
On this episode of the Supercast, we head to Majestic along with BYU’s Brenda Beyal. Brenda grew up in New Mexico as part of the Navajo Nation and she shared her incredible story with students celebrating National Native American Heritage Month.
Audio Transcription
Anthony Godfrey:
Hello, and welcome to the Supercast. I'm your host, Superintendent Anthony Godfrey. Students at Majestic Elementary Arts Academy received a real-life lesson in Native American culture and traditions in their classrooms recently. They were even treated to a taste of homemade fry bread. On this episode of the Supercast, we head to Majestic along with a representative from BYU who grew up in New Mexico as part of the Navajo Nation. She shares her incredible story with students and the Supercast as we celebrate National Native American Heritage Month.
We're here with the principal of Majestic Elementary Arts Academy. Introduce yourself and tell us about what's happening today.
Marianne Johansen:
My name is Marianne Johansen, and today we are celebrating Native American Heritage Month by inviting the Native American Arts and Culture Initiative Director from BYU. She's here reading a story called Fry Bread to our students, and she's talking about Native American history and Native American culture. And then we will be using her special recipe for fry bread and serving it to the students so they can kind of have that experience.
Eric, what do you want my man? Yeah, put this in the middle right here. Okay. Okay. Honey butter. That's where it's at, my friend. There you go, enjoy it!
Anthony Godfrey:
Tell me about why you invited BYU here to help. Tell us about that relationship with BYU.
Marianne Johansen:
Yeah, so Jordan District has an arts partnership with BYU and that has really helped us as we have started this Arts magnet school. They are helping all of our classroom teachers get their Arts Integration Endorsements. So one of their facilitators is here today helping Brenda, she's the Native American director that is here helping us read the story today. One of their professors is here helping her get the lesson pushed out, and she helped write the fry bread lessons that all of our teachers have been doing in class with their students over the last couple of weeks to prepare them for today.
Anthony Godfrey:
So this is a culminating activity for some things that kids have been doing in class throughout the last couple of weeks.
Marianne Johansen:
Yes. So the professor that is here today, Jen Purdy, wrote the Fry Bread lesson plans in conjunction with input from Brenda, and our teachers were asked to do parts of those lessons. So that has included some videos of watching people make fry bread. That has included some information about Native American history and culture. And then the students using instruments or vocal play to make some soundscapes representing kind of those stories and that history and using some of that culture and those lessons.
Anthony Godfrey:
And the food, and the soundscapes, and the partnership with BYU, and taking advantage of the Native American Curriculum Initiative are just examples of the way that Majestic is focused on creating a really immersive experience for kids. Just making sure that their learning is at a deep level and involves some real life experiences.
Marianne Johansen:
Yes, exactly. And we really wanted to focus on making sure that we brought in somebody from the Native American culture that could really connect our students to those stories and to that experience. We definitely shoot for a high depth of knowledge on all of those subjects, and that's how the arts help with that. They help the students create things on a higher level so that they really get a full understanding of what that means.
Anthony Godfrey:
I love how intentional you are about this and many other things that are wonderful about Majestic. Just making sure that teachers are laying the groundwork so that when you have these guests here from BYU that it has the most impact that it possibly could because they're prepared. They're ready to learn more from someone with a Native American background.
Marianne Johansen:
Yes. And we are very intentional about those things. In fact, we even had Jen prepare teachers in their Arts Endorsement class. So my teachers are here from 4:00-7:00 every Monday earning their Arts Integration endorsements. And Jen came in and prepped the teachers on the lessons to make sure that those were delivered correctly and efficiently with the students. And we do try to do that with all of the core subjects. With math, with science, we really try to think things out beforehand to make sure that the students get the most out of what they're learning.
Anthony Godfrey:
And in case anyone missed that the first time you said it, every week teachers spend from 4:00-7:00 getting additional training on how to, not just make art a part of the day, but to integrate it into instruction. And this is another example of that, with the soundscape and everything that they've done to prepare for today. So congratulations on going all in. Majestic doesn't do anything halfway, and it's really exciting to be here this morning.
Marianne Johansen:
Well, thank you so much. We're so, so excited to have you. And we love having the opportunity to help students learn in a unique and creative way.
Anthony Godfrey:
Stay with us. When we come back, find out how much students enjoyed their fry bread.
Break:
In Jordan School District, we like to support students in and outside the classroom along with their families. That's where the Jordan Family Education Center comes in, offering support services and a wide variety of classes for students and their families, free of charge. You can take a class called Blues Busters for children feeling sad or worried. Just Breathe is a class that helps students reduce stress. Or how about a class that supports parents in helping their children make and keep good friends. There are also support groups and free counseling, all provided by Jordan School District school psychologists and counselors. To find out how you can benefit from free family support services offered by the Jordan Family Education Center, call 801-565-7442 or visit guidance.jordandistrict.org.
Brenda Beyal:
I want to know if you have been learning this week about fry bread, just by the raise of your hand. Oh, fantastic. What activities have you done with fry bread, with the fry bread lesson? Oh, do you want to show me how to make it? Okay. Stand up and show us how you make it, and if you know how to make it go ahead and work with him and just do what he's doing.
Student:
Okay. So first you put the powder and flour and then you put some kind of powder or whatever.
Brenda Beyal:
Salt.
Student:
Salt. And then, um, yeah, you do this.
Brenda Beyal:
What is that called?
Student:
Dough.
Brenda Beyal:
You mix it.
Student:
It's called dough.
Brenda Beyal:
It is called dough.
Brenda Beyal:
Oh, first of all you, what do you do first?
Student:
You put water maybe.
Brenda Beyal:
You put water in it.
Student:
And then you like stretch out the dough stuff, and then put it on the pan, and then just flip it over when it gets to like bread stuff.
Brenda Beyal:
Oh, fantastic. Fry bread is made all across the United States. I'm going to read this story, that a man that's not even Navajo wrote, because fry bread is a part of every Native American culture here in the United States. This is called Fry Bread, a Native American Family Story. Fry bread is food, flour, salt, water, and he says corn meal. So his tribe makes it different. Baking powder, perhaps milk, maybe sugar, because they took the original recipe and they added their own ingredients to make their kind of fry bread.
Anthony Godfrey:
We're here with two representatives from BYU who are here at Majestic Elementary Arts Academy as part of the Native American Curriculum Initiative. Thank you very much for being here. Would you please introduce yourselves.
Brenda Beyal:
(Brenda Beyal introduces herself in Navajo.)
I just introduced myself to you in Navajo and it's just something that we traditionally do. I let you know that I am born into the Salt Clan and born for the Towering House people. And then I let you know about my maternal and paternal grandparents.
Anthony Godfrey:
So tell me about that.
Brenda Beyal:
It's a way of developing kinship and finding those who you may think you have no relations to in a group setting. You may find that they have the same clan as you, and so automatically you find that you have relatives among you. When I was teaching school, I had a young boy come from the Navajo Nation to my 3rd grade class. He introduced himself to me in Navajo. And he was t'áá 'áhání, which means that he was my grandfather. And so for the rest of the school year, I called him Shicheii, which made him feel like I am a part. This place that I am in, away from the Navajo Nation, I still can find relatives. And so sometimes, I still see him and I'll call him Shicheii.
Anthony Godfrey:
I love that it's a way of making a connection immediately when you introduce yourself. Now tell me again, break that down for me again. Tell us about the information you shared in Navajo.
Brenda Beyal:
So I shared that I was born into the Salt Clan.
Anthony Godfrey:
So what does the Salt Clan mean exactly?
Brenda Beyal:
The Navajo people belong to different clans, and we all belong to the clan that our mother is. And then we are born for our father's clan. And so we have over 40 some odd clans that are traditional clans in the Navajo Nation. And so anywhere you go, you might find a relative. Just because you are able to, you know, share your clan.
Anthony Godfrey:
Oh, great. So through the Clan is where you would possibly determine that you are related?
Brenda Beyal:
Yes. Yes.
Anthony Godfrey:
And then what was the next part that you talked about?
Brenda Beyal:
The next part we're talking about was my maternal grandfather's clan and my paternal grandfather's clan. So you already know that I am born into the Salt Clan, which is my mother's clan, and I'm born for my father's clan. And so now I share my grandfather on my mother's side's clan, and my grandfather on my father's side's clan. My grandfather on my father's side, he would be my shinálí. And on my mother's side, my grandfather would be shicheii.
Anthony Godfrey:
That's very moving because it emphasizes right out, even as you introduce yourself, just the broad connection you have with ancestors and with family.
Brenda Beyal:
Family is extremely important to the Navajo people. In fact, all indigenous cultures, we believe in multi-generational kinds of learning. And so school, or our kind of school before we had buildings where where learning was had, there was constant learning with people among us. Whether it was our aunts or our uncles or our grandfathers or our grandmothers. And so the idea of multi-generational learning and living is one of the fabrics of Navajo culture.
Anthony Godfrey:
Now you grew up as part of the Navajo Nation in New Mexico, is that right?
Brenda Beyal:
I grew up in Tohatchi, New Mexico. It is around the Four Corners area, probably 80 miles from Shiprock, New Mexico. And yes, I grew up there and I graduated from high school there and then came to college.
Anthony Godfrey:
So you're talking to third graders today?
Brenda Beyal:
Yes.
Anthony Godfrey:
What was it like being a third grader for you?
Brenda Beyal:
When I was a third grader, I had a wonderful teacher. I loved to read and I loved to just learn new things. But I was actually the champion cursive writer in third grade.
Anthony Godfrey:
Wow. Impressive.
Brenda Beyal:
Impressive right?
Anthony Godfrey:
It makes an impact still today that, ‘Hey, wait a minute. I was a champion back then.’
Brenda Beyal:
Yeah. Third grade. And so that's one thing I remember about third grade. But also, I remember around this season when the first frost and when things started getting cold, we started playing string games. I just remember carrying around my string and learning all different kinds of patterns and designs. And I have a sister, my older sister, who I would consider one of the most expert string game people. And so to this day, when she comes and visits, we still get our string out and we will play with them. And one of the reasons why you do this in the winter time is because that's when the spiders are away. And if you were to play with them in the spring or the summer, you invite the spiders into your web. And I don't ever wanna do that.
Anthony Godfrey:
Yes. No, none of us do. What do you hope students come away with after having the chance to meet you and hear your presentation today?
Brenda Beyal:
Well, that's an interesting question because what we hope they continue to do is to learn and become more curious about the true history of the indigenous tribes here in Utah. What we share in our Native American Curriculum Initiative is not what people think, maybe historians or curriculum book writers or anyone else feels that children should know, but we share information that the eight Sovereign Nations here in Utah would like children to know. And so what I hope they come away with is a new understanding, maybe a correction of narrative, of how they think about Native Americans. That we are still here, that we are not invisible, that we are continuing to move forward. That we have a legacy of resilience. Though there have been many things in history that have been hard for Native Americans, but we have overcome.
Anthony Godfrey:
That's a compelling message. Thank you very much for being here to share that with our students.
Brenda Beyal:
You're welcome.
Anthony Godfrey:
So tell us about this program and introduce yourself a bit.
Jennifer Purdy:
My name's Jennifer Purdy and I'm a program coordinator with BYU ARTS Partnership. My primary art form is music, but I've been an elementary educator for many years as well as special education and music education. And now I get to work with these amazing people like Brenda. And like she said, collectively we talk and develop things. And so this lesson plan, Fry Bread, and the activities contained in that lesson were developed in collaboration with other team members.
Anthony Godfrey:
Fantastic. Now, I heard you talking about soundscape before. Tell me what that means and why that's a part of this lesson.
Jennifer Purdy:
We actually took a video of a woman, a traditional woman, making fry bread in Monument Valley over an open fire. And it gives students an opportunity to listen, what are you hearing? And as they listen to this video, they may hear the sound of the crackling of the fire, the bubbling of the oil, the patting of her hands as she's flattening the dough into the shape to fry the bread. And you can combine those and have children actually use instruments to represent some of those sounds, or vocalizations, or body percussion, which means clapping or patting or things like that. And just create and recreate what they heard on the video. And that may not sound like your traditional music concepts that you talk about. But you're listening, you're playing, you're creating, and those are all really important aspects of music.
Anthony Godfrey:
Well, it's engaging all of the senses in learning and making sure that we don't glide over and forget the importance of sound as we're trying to create an immersive experience for students. I love the intentionality of the way that you've gone out to talk with people and say, what do you want kids to learn about your culture? It's just a great way to approach it.
Brenda Beyal:
So this fry bread lesson is more of a general lesson? Yeah, because fry bread is eaten all across the United States. And so we felt like we needed to,
Anthony Godfrey:
By me on numerous occasions.
Brenda Beyal:
Numerous. So now what we're doing is we're helping children build a context around fry bread. And through this lesson, they learn important history of the Navajo people and where fry bread originated and how it came to be. And then we bring in all of the other cultures that use or make fry bread now across the country.
Anthony Godfrey:
You talked about curiosity earlier. And I think these lessons are gonna be impactful for the rest of their lives, not just because of the content, but because it will ignite this curiosity about people around them so that they can really be open to learning more about the people they interact with throughout their lives.
Brenda Beyal:
You're absolutely right. Another component of that curiosity is just children who come from indigenous cultures that are in the schools. It's an opportunity for them to see themselves reflected in the curriculum. And so if we have children who are from, from different Native American tribes, it sometimes. I remember third grade, there wasn't much that represented me in the curriculum. And so the string game connected me, that I could do in school. That was what I did. But all of the other things I learned were not reflective of who I was. And so we are hoping to change that for children.
Anthony Godfrey:
Well, thank you for bringing this rich experience to our students and to our school. They've been sitting behind us this whole time. I think. I haven't even looked, but they're so quiet. I'm not even sure they're there.
Brenda Beyal:
I know. They're amazing.
Anthony Godfrey:
Yes. There they are. Look at that. Okay. Well, I'm going to stop standing in the way of you getting to interact with these great students. Thank you again for taking the time for these students and for talking with me today.
Brenda Beyal:
Thank you. Thank you. We appreciate it.
Anthony Godfrey:
Thanks for joining us on another episode of the Supercast. Remember, education is the most important thing you'll do today. We'll see you out there.