| Urban public schools serve children in a manner that results in significant differences between the thinking and ways of knowing that Mexican American or Chicana/o and Native American students bring to the classroom and the ways of knowing used in U.S. public schools (Gay, 2010; Valenzuela, 1999). The problem of cultural incongruence is addressed by investigating how the higher order critical thinking skills of Native American and U.S. born, non-immigrant Mexican American children are maybe influenced by storytelling pedagogies of the home. More recently, cultural incongruence has been examined through an emerging theory best described as Indigenous ways of knowing and learning per the research of Indigenous scholars and scholars studying Indigenous peoples of world and Asia such as Cajete (1994), Fixico (2003), Reinhardt and Maday (2006), Spring (2007), and Tuhiwai-Smith (1999) that explain Indigenous ways of knowing and learning. Additionally, Latino Critical Race Theory and pedagogies of the home as explained by Chicana/o and Latina/o scholars such as Delgado (1989), Delgado Bernal (2001), Moll, Amanti, Neff, and Gonzalez (1992), and Solorzano and Yosso (2001), as well as Tribal Critical Race Theory as explained by Native American scholars such as Brayboy (2005b) and Haynes Writer (2008), add a critical framework utilized by this study.;Consequently, this qualitative study uses storytelling methods and is guided by creative narratives in keeping with the storytelling traditions of American Indian and Chicana(o) peoples as stories guide learning and Indigenous ways of knowing (Au, 1998; Brayboy, 2005a; Brayboy, 2005b; Brayboy & Castagno, 2008a; Brayboy & Castagno, 2008b; Cajete, 1994; Delgado Bernal, 2001; Preston et al., 2012; Solorzano & Yosso, 2001; Yosso et al., 2009). The findings revealed an abundance of data that demonstrated critical thinking and learning styles that dwell in indigenous ways of knowing and learning and led the author to propose the Peoples Thinking, Stories, and Becoming a Human Being Theory as a foundation for Native and Chicana(o) education. Hence, this study provides an opportunity for educators to reexamine their own views towards Native American and Chicana(o) students and how to best serve these two aboriginal groups. |
