Code Talker Major Assessment

from Code Talker

by Joseph Bruchac

I seemed to be the perfect student.

When my bilagaanaa1 teachers looked at me, they saw a little Navajo boy who did just what he was told, never got in trouble, and studied hard. Whenever I was called on, I would stand right up.

"Yes, teacher," I would say, widening my eyes and nodding my head as I spoke.

Yes, teacher! Those were the two words I spoke more than any others when I was in mission school. They were like magic. Even if I did not understand something, all I had to do was say those words to make my white teachers nod back at me or smile. Sometimes they did not even ask me to answer the question.

"Very good, Neddie," they would say.

However, I was stubborn in ways the teachers could not see. I spoke nothing but Navajo whenever I was alone with other Indian students. In the basement of the school or out back behind the wood shed, I learned Navajo songs and stories. Some students in that school, especially after being beaten enough times for talking Indian, reached the point where it became hard for them to speak Navajo, even when they wanted to. But it was not that way for me. If anything, rather than taking my language away from me, boarding school made me more determined never to forget it.

1 bilagaanaa: White; Caucasian

This question has two parts. Answer Part 1, then answer Part 2.

Read the first three sentences from the fourth paragraph.

"Yes, teacher! Those were the two words I spoke more than any others when I was in mission school. They were like magic."

Part 1:

What does Ned mean when he says that the words "Yes, teacher" are "like magic"?

• The words allow him to misbehave in front of his teachers.

• The words help him feel like he belongs at the school.

• The words immediately make his teachers happy.

• The words make his teachers think he speaks English.

Part 2:

What does the answer to Part 1 show about Ned's teachers?

• The teachers do not treat all their students equally.

• The teachers do not want students to use their Indian names.

• The teachers mostly care that students obey them.

• The teachers want to be sure the students are learning.

How does the boarding school setting affect Ned?

• He protests by speaking and singing Navajo when teachers are nearby.

• He tries to speak only English to please his teachers.

• He resolves to speak and remember the Navajo language.

• He does not speak Navajo because he is afraid of being beaten.

Which statement best summarizes this passage?

• Although Ned appears to be the perfect student, he secretly defies his teachers by speaking Navajo.

• Though Ned can speak Navajo, his main goal is to please his teachers, so he avoids speaking Navajo.

• Because Ned behaves so well and says, "Yes, teacher," his teachers allow him to speak and sing Navajo.

• While he usually obeys his teachers, Ned also tries to convince other students to honor their Navajo heritage and language.

Which best summarizes the role the Navajo Marines played in the Navajo code?

• They took the oral code and recorded it in writing.

• They joined Philip Johnson and Major General Vogel to create the code.

• They developed the secret code on their own.

• They demonstrated how to use the code but let Philip Johnson develop it.

from Code Talker

by Joseph Bruchac

Two Navajo code talkers, Paul Blatchford and Rex Malone, were reassigned to Army and Navy Intelligence1 and shipped out with special teams to Japan to visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki ahead of our troops. They sent their reports back to San Francisco in Navajo code where others of us had been sent. I was one of those in San Francisco who received their messages. Those messages shocked me.

Paul and Rex were horrified at what they saw where our two atomic bombs had fallen. All the buildings were flat and burned. Pitiful, injured survivors were camping out in sheds made from pine trees. Those sheds looked to Paul and Rex just like the lean-tos2 made back home by our own Navajo people. Many of those Japanese survivors looked so Indian that they might have been Navajos. They said it was hard to look at those people and think of them as enemies.

Our leaders all told us that those atomic bombs were needed to end the war. That may have been so, grandchildren. I have no doubt that they made the war shorter. However, receiving those messages made me pray hard that such bombs would never fall on human beings again.

1 Army and Navy Intelligence: Information collection for the military

2 lean-tos: Shelters

Read this sentence from the second paragraph.

"Pitiful, injured survivors were camping out in sheds made from pine trees."

What does the word pitiful show about how Paul and Rex feel toward Japanese survivors of the United States' atomic bomb?

• They feel sympathy.

• They feel disgusted.

• They feel afraid.

• They feel disconnected.

Read these sentences from the second paragraph.

"survivors were camping out in sheds made from pine trees. Those sheds looked to Paul and Rex just like the lean-tos made back home by our own Navajo people."

What does the comparison between the sheds and lean-tos show that Paul and Rex had realized?

• That every culture has its own unique traditions.

• That their Japanese enemies were not so different from themselves.

• That people will do what is necessary to defend their homes.

• That they have the right to be proud of the code talkers' achievements.

What ceremony was performed on Ned that would provide safety to him?

• Communion ceremony

• Baptism ceremony

• Blessingway ceremony

• Dinas' ceremony

Tags

CCSS.RL.1.10

CCSS.RL.2.2

CCSS.RL.3.2

CCSS.RL.K.5

Ned's feelings the next day after the ceremony conveys...

• the importance of peace and balance within a Navajo.

• the belief of ceremonies to survive the day.

• the need for ceremonies whenever possible.

• the significance of pollen and its potency.

How did the first day of boot campl compare to the first day of school?

• The Navajos were treated unfairly.

• The Navajos had their heads shaved and where given a uniform to wear.

• The other Marines treated them poorly.

• The other Marines laughed at them.