Thoughts About Dreamwork with Central Alberta Cree
Teacher
A. Dreams in Lecture/Discussion
I discovered that my teaching style of a sort of blue-collar self-disclosure mixed with irreverence was a hit with these central Alberta Cree students. All I had to learn was to discard my Type A classroom expectations. Frankly, I was surprised at how quickly I adjusted to classes not always starting on time, tests taken late, alternative forms of tests as a norm, laxly taking attendance, students walking in and out in the middle of a lecture, in class interruptions from visitors, lack of participation and frozen looks when I compare Natives to white culture.
These were behaviors I would have found totally unacceptable in "white" classes. However, by going with these challenges to my "authority". these behaviors mellowed. I am easy about when tests are taken but not a pushover. So long as I am laughing at myself or the topic is not very personal I am able to get participation. Smoking breaks are in direct relationship to the interest in the lecture so I keep them liberally sprinkled with stories, they stay. As they have come to know me and more and more classes have a liberal sprinkling of repeat students the repartee between us has become increasingly loose and light so that they now feel free to challenge me on any number of ideas. If I talk about several different cultures and how they approach whatever the topic is the Natives are comfortable and receptive even when it includes their own. They do not want to be singled out as different as implied in a Native/white distinction. This smooth exchange of ideas and concepts has been hard won but I now find my classes at Yellowhead Tribal Council and Blue Quills Native College the most lively I have ever had. Perhaps as one student told me because I make "everyone feel important."
In every class I have taught to Natives I have included a discussion of dreams in at least one of three ways: lecture, self disclosure, and/or assignments. Inclusion in lecture ranges from asides which might highlight the course material (i.e., telling about the relationship of men to women in the dreams of women as a function of time of menstrual cycle during a lecture in social psychology on interpersonal attraction) to a formal inclusion on the course syllabus. Regarding the latter I have included dreams in Introductory Psychology classes as a separate topic, in Developmental Psychology as an aspect of the development of thinking and feelings in Personality as part of certain classic theorists, and in a special topics class on Altered and Higher States of Consciousness. I have found that not only are they appreciative of any information on dreams but frequently ask me for more information including asking me about a specific dream they have had.
I should point out that my approach to teaching the same psychology courses to nonnatives is basically the same with less of an emphasis on dreams. I find that although they are also quite interested it is not with the intensity and focus of the Natives. This cultural attitude is also evident when nonnatives approach me with a specific dream. They follow the white cultures "etiquette" of asking about a dream, minimizing it by laughing at the very idea that such things could be taken seriously. This sort of apologetic laughter is almost but not entirely unheard of with Natives in their approach to me on a dream.
These cultural differences are nicely captured in these statements from my students. Writes a white student:
Coming out of the North American Protestant work ethic milieu where everyday life centers generally on the family, work and materialistic concerns, anything of a noncorporeal nature was dismissed out of hand.
Any references to dreams as meaningful came out of the church and the parables taught us about dreams. . . . As a child I dismissed dreams, because my culture dismissed them as nonsense.
While this from a Cree man in his thirties:
I am of Cree ancestry, born and raised. In my culture, attitudes and teaching are somewhat vague and ambiguous where children are concerned, unless the dreams produce great amounts of anxiety. In adults, a recurring dream is treated as a warning. Help from a shaman is usually sought in order to prevent disaster or aid in understanding the underlying or latent reasons for the dreams.
Interestingly, in the same class a woman whose family recently immigrated from Greece wrote:
The first thing that I can remember about dreams is that my mom would tell me about her father in Greece who had a huge and very old dream interpretation book. My mom also told me how other people in her town would come and have their dreams interpreted by my grandpa. Both of my parents since I can remember always talk and try to interpret their dreams in the morning. . . . Growing up in this type of atmosphere, dreams to me are very important.
Go to: Teacher: (B). Dreams and Homework Assignments
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