"The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian" by Sherman Alexie

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexia was a spectacular read. The story was easy to follow because of the language and the images that supported the narrator’s story. For those who have not read this story it is about a young Indian boy’s struggles of attending a white school, growing up in poverty with a rough home life, the friendships that come and go, and the hope he has to get out and succeed in life.

After reading this book and considering how it can be used in the classroom, I believe that the idea of hope can be an important aspect to focus on. Although the narrator faces a variety of challenges throughout his life he continues to hope for a better future. “You kept your hope. And now, you have to take your hope and go somewhere where other people have hope . . . You’re going to find more and more hope the farther and farther you walk away from this sad, sad, sad reservation.” (p. 43) Teachers can connect the narrators hope to what students believe hope is, their own hopes in life, as well as connecting hope to dreams. Along with hope this story has a selection of themes that can relate to adolescent students (bullying, friendship, relationships, role models, etc) and can be used to help students make connections to better comprehend this story. 

A second teaching approach could be educating students about reservations all over the United States, Washington reservations, Native American history, education and other Native American relations that are talked about in this book as well as real life.

A third teaching approach for the classroom could be using the idea of imagery and drawings. I found in my own cooperating classroom that a majority of the students are struggling with home life and school, but doodling and drawing help them express themselves (just like the narrator of the story). The images are important to this story because they illustrate friends, family, society, stereotypes, and many more relatable aspects of a high school student’s life. Students could be given an end of the unit assignment to illustrate their own world just as the narrator has done. We have learned in education classrooms that drawing may not be every students strong point, so they could use a variety of approaches (pictures, magazine cutouts, drawing, painting, etc).

There are so many more teaching ideas that can come from this book. I am not sure what grade of students this book would be most suitable for, but I think it can be very beneficial for student learning in a language arts classroom.