NOTE: Issues range from 1996–2006. Contact information in earlier issues could be outdated. For current information, please contact the Alaska Native Knowledge Network, 907-474-1902.
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Calendar of Upcoming Events:September 17-18 Calista Elders Council Meeting The Calista Elders Council Meeting will be held in Kasigluk, Alaska. Contact Mark John, (907) 279-5516. September 24-27 Healing from the Four Directions 4th Annual Healing Conference Held in Anchorage, Alaska at the Regal Alaska Hotel. Sponsored by Alaska Native Foundation and Providence Health System of Alaska. Contact Kathe Boucha-Roberts at (907) 261-5678 or visit the website http://www.ankn.uaf.edu/webannou.html. October 8-10 Alaska Native Education Council Annual Meeting The ANEC annual conference will be at the International Airport Inn in Anchorage, Alaska. Contact Charles Kashatok, (907) 896-5011. October 11-14 National Indian Education Association The NIEA Conference will be held in Nashville, Tennesee. Contact Jennifer Welch, (615) 383-2247. October 14-17 AFN Convention The Alaska Federation of Natives Convention will be held in Anchorage. Contact Alaska Federation of Natives at (907) 274-3611. October 25-28 49th Arctic Division Science Conference "International Cooperation in Arctic Research: Detecting Global Change and its Impacts in the Western Arctic." Hosted by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Contact Syun-Ichi Akasofu, (907) 474-7282. Website: www.gi.alaska.edu. December 4-5, 1998 AISES International Science Fair Contact Claudette Bradley-Kawagley for information, (907) 474-5376. January 31-February 2 1999 Native Educator's Conference. Held in Anchoarge, NEC will provide the opportunity for people engaged in education that impacts Native people to come together and learn from each other's work and to explore ways to strengthen the links between education and the cultural well-being of indigenous people. Contact Lolly Carpluk for information, (907) 474-5086 or email ftlmc@uaf.edu. February 3-5, 1999 Bilingual Multicultural Education and Equity Conference. Held in Anchorage, contact Helen Mecrkens, (907) 465-8730. | |
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Calling for Mokakit Conference Presenters!:On September 18, representatives from the major cultural regions in Alaska met in Anchorage to form the Alaska First Nations Research Network that will function as a chapter of the Canadian Mokakit Native Education Research Association. In addition to getting a process underway to develop by-laws and form a board for the AFNRN chapter, primary attention was given to planning for the upcoming 1997 Mokakit Conference to be held in Anchorage February 10-11. Along with the Canadian participants, we are urging anyone in Alaska with possible ideas related to Native-oriented research issues, projects or reports to submit a proposal for the Mokakit Conference program. Deadline for submission is December 15 and you can get ideas for possible presentation topics from the last issue of the SOP newsletter. If you have questions, please contact Oscar Kawagley or Ray Barnhardt at the Alaska Native Knowledge Network, University of Alaska Fairbanks. | |
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Camping on the Tanana River by Claudette Bradley:I served as the camp coordinator with support from Dixie Dayo as the staff assistant and Dawn Durtsche of the Gaalee'ya Board as the fiscal officer for the camp. Together we organized the camp held at Howard Luke's Gaalee'ya Spirit Camp which is also his home. The camp is designed to enhance students' Athabascan cultural knowledge and provide opportunity to do science research in a culturally-relevant setting. Virginia Ned (far right) and camp participants perform "He'eeteghtldzaayh" at the ANSES camp potlatch. The camp employed four Elders: Howard Luke, Elizabeth Fleagle, Margaret Tritt and Steven Toby. Howard Luke is well known for his many talks and the advice he gives the students. He welcomes our students every year and looks forward to helping young Native people grow into intelligent and respectful individuals. Elizabeth Fleagle is originally from Alatna and Manley Hot Springs. She taught the students how to sew beads on pouches and headbands using Athabascan designs. Margaret Tritt is from Arctic Village. She brought caribou hides and quills. The students learned to clean and tan caribou skins and make quill necklaces. Steven Toby, from Koyukuk, enjoyed taking students for walks in the wilderness. He told them about the animals, trees and survival in the forest. He had many old-time stories to share. This summer was the first time students had Koyukon Athabascan classes. Velma Schafer is a certified teacher from Allakaket and is a fluent speaker of Koyukon Athabascan. Virginia Ned is also a certified teacher from Allakaket. Virginia acknowledges that Velma is her Athabascan language mentor. Together they taught students to introduce themselves, sing a song and play a game using the Koyukon Athabascan language. IBM of Rochester, Minnesota, has been generous to our camp. Each year they have donated six laptops and one color printer which are operated by battery and generators since the camp has no electricity. In addition, they sent Todd Kelsey, an IBM education consultant to teach in our camp and help students with science projects. George Olanna is a certified teacher from Shishmaref and an Iñupiaq Elder-in-training. George is a veteran teacher in our camp. He teaches collaboratively with Todd in the computer classes and helps students with science projects. Both Todd and George have had a significant influence on our students. Our students have the natural environment to research, Elders to provide the cultural knowledge for the background of their project and a computer lab to create labels, narrative, charts, graphs, diagrams and photos for their projects. The certified teaching staff has extensive experience with middle school Alaska Native students. George Olanna, Todd Kelsey, Virginia Ned, Velma Schafer and myself comprised the teaching staff, who worked with the students in small groups on the many phases of their science projects. Jin Zhiyong is the deputy division chief of the China Science & Technology Exchange Center, Beijing, China. He presented an overview of China and its 56 minority groups. The boy, Yang Guang, developed a Powerpoint presentation of his school life in Beijing. The girls had yearbook photos of their high school and organized some Chinese games for the students to play. The three Chinese students study English in their Beijing high school. Song Huanran, their English teacher, was an enthusiastic participant in the camp. She especially enjoyed helping Howard split the salmon caught in his fish net. Elder Elizabeth Fleagle demonstrates beadwork to students at camp. Every year Howard gets an education permit from Fish and Game to use his fish wheel to catch salmon on the Tanana. This year Fish and Game banned all salmon fishing on the Tanana, though they wanted to have the fish tested for bacteria. Since Howard already had our camp operating, Fish and Game decided to send Paul Hershberger, a research biologist from the University of Washington to the camp. Paul wanted to test 60 fish, so they allowed Howard to use his fishnet to catch them. Cutting fish was a big event. The biologist took samples from the liver, heart and circulatory system. Howard, Dixie and Song were kept busy splitting and hanging fish on the fish rack, which looked very full with nearly 60 fish waving at the edge of the riverbank. Bradley Weyiounna, originally from Shishmaref, is a gold medal highkick champion of the World Eskimo-Indian Olympics. He is very knowledgeable about the WEIO athletic events and demonstrated the games one evening along with Josh Rutman, another WEIO athlete. They demonstrated the high kick, arm wrestling, leg wrestling, arm pulls and Eskimo dancing. The students thoroughly enjoyed trying to do these events with each other. Adeline Peter-Raboff is a Gwich'in Athabascan from Arctic Village who is going to Washington, D.C. to lobby on oil drilling in ANWR. She came to the camp one day to have dinner and talk with the students about the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) and the environmental issues involved in drilling for oil. Most of the students were uninformed about the issues and Adeline inspired great interest in oil drilling and ANWR. Zelma Axford is an expert on Alaska's indigenous plants. She had the students gather plants from the surrounding area and then draw them in their journals. She gave them the Alaska Native names of the plants and their medicinal uses, which they also wrote in their journals. Then the students were given a plant encyclopedia and they looked up the Latin name for each plant and copied the names in their journal. When the journal writing was done, she sang and drummed for the students as they danced to her music. Zelma is from Stevens Village and enjoyed teaching the students traditional Athabascan dancing. Rita O'Brien is a certified teacher and has worked in our camp for the past four years. She joined us for the weekend to work with students. She discussed mining and rocks in Alaska. She asked students to find rocks and then, using rock encyclopedias, they found the names and other features of each rock. Rita asked students to draw and write about their rocks in their journals. The grand finale of the camp was the potlatch which people from the community were invited to attend. Our students helped the cook and Elders prepare the meal and set up the tables. At the potlatch everyone was introduced to the audience and given a small gift to signify our appreciation for their contribution to the camp. The students demonstrated the Athabascan songs and games they learned in their language class. At the end of the event everyone entered the Elder's Hall where the science project posters were on display. The students stood by their posters to explain their science projects to the visitors. The visitors moved from poster to poster and viewed the display table of beaded pouches and the wall display of their photos and brief autobiographies written in Koyukon Athabascan. The following is a list of the science projects the students prepared: * Birch or Spruce? by Kimberly Rychnovsky * Which Tastes Better? by Britta Kellman * Beads by Adele Stickman * Will Pitch Kill More Bacteria Than Water? by Sommer Stickman * Do Frogs Croak Faster in Warm Weather? by Katrina Madros * What Chickadees do for a Living by Esther George? * Can Water Temperature Go Below Freezing? by Terry Bower * What do Salmon Eat After Leaving the Ocean? by Cynthia Agnes * How Many Different Athabascan Dialects are There in the Interior Of Alaska? by Stephanie Moe * The Speed of the River by Li Hanqiao * Why are There so Many Mosquitoes in and Around Camp? by Yang Guang * I Want to Know Some Mysteries About Hair by Yan Jinbo * How Can I Improve Lighting in a Trap Line Cabin? by Mathew Shewfelt * How to Reduce Mosquitoes in Fort Yukon by Kyle Joseph * Nets by Catherine Keane These students are expected to take their display boards to their classroom teacher this fall and then search the web and their school libraries for more background information on their project. They will have an opportunity to discuss their project with Elders, teachers and other experts in their villages or over the Internet, and then upgrade their project and enter it in the Fairbanks ANSES Science Fair 2001 in December. We look forward to seeing the students at the science fair. | |
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Caribou-Tuttu -Rangifer Tarandus by Elmer Jackson:Every fall and spring, the tutu travel in the thousands; their fall migration leads to their winter feeding grounds and as spring approaches the females lead the migration north, where they soon give birth. The bulls are the last to arrive; this is the time when their antlers, covered with velvet, begin to grow. The female caribou also grows a set of antlers. The bulls drop their antlers in winter. The female uses her antlers for protection, and to ward off predators. Later in spring, they also drop theirs and before long they begin to grow new velvety antlers. With the arrival of spring they nourish their developing antlers with fresh herbs, willow leaves, and grass. Other food includes sedges, lichens, mosses, and other green plants. The habitat of the tuttu changes like the seasons. Their habitat is in the Arctic tundra and Alpine tundra, near or above the timberline. In winter, they feed in the tundra and taiga forests. They feed on tundra mosses and lichen. They use their large concave hooves to paw through the snow to get to their food. Fantastic Facts Alaska is home to nearly a million caribou in thirty-two herds. Caribou travel greater distances each year than any other land mammal, up to three thousand miles. The Western Arctic caribou herd count is estimated at 340,000. Their migration takes them crossing the Kobuk, Noatak, and Squirrel Rivers; channels, and the Baird and Schwatka Mountains. For many generations they have followed their ancient trails. The caribou are excellent swimmers. Their large concave hooves and hollow hair fibers allow the animal to swim across rivers and streams. The Western Arctic herd crosses every fall at their traditional crossing at a place called Onion Portage. This place is special; it is a place where the Iñupiaq lived thousands of years ago. The implements found there are made from the bones of the tuttu. The caribou have provided the Iñupiat with food and clothing from time immemorial. That is why the Iñupiaq value of sharing and respect for the animal must be taught to the young. Respect for the land and its inhabitants is crucial; the land and water will not be polluted. There are environmental indicators that will show if there are problems in terms of the caribou and people's health. Fact: Acid rain kills lichens and moss, the main winter food for the caribou and reindeer. Many of NANA's reindeer have mingled with the Western Arctic herd. The predators of the caribou are wolves, wolverines, bears, and man. Is it important to keep ours and the caribou's environment pollution-free? Something to think about. What will happen to the caribou if their food source dies? | |
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Challenges Facing Alaska RSI/RC by Frank Hill:However, we need to look ahead to the time when NSF and Annenberg funding lapses. Who will continue this valuable and relevant initiative? Perhaps AFN and its partners will request continued funding from the same organizations. It is not certain that our project would be eligible for the same funding again. Those of us working for the project need to address the challenge as to what will happen in two more years. Is it conceivable or even possible that the Alaska Department of Education and or the University of Alaska would carry on the project initiatives without the funding we have now? Of the 20 rural school districts we work with directly, how many would elect on their own to continue the initiatives with their own funds that may be budgeted for staff development and curriculum improvement? The value of the knowledge we have gained from our Native Elders should compel us to work as hard as we can to make sure that their contributions will continue to be utilized in local schools. As we communicate with all of our MOA partners, we need to encourage them to make plans to continue Alaska RSI/RC initiatives, and to assist them in doing so when possible. During this past year, we have made numerous contacts with all levels of education policy makers and administrators, as well as with teacher-practitioners. Now we need to redouble our efforts to encourage MOA partners and others to continue the work of the project on their own. | |
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CIRI Foundation Teacher Mentor Project:The goal of the Teacher Mentor Project is to increase the number of eligible and qualified Alaska Native and American Indian teachers in the Anchorage School District, so that by the year 2000 they will comprise seven-percent (210) of all teachers. We hold seminars and private sessions to assist individuals who wish to apply for teaching positions with the Anchorage School District and other Alaskan school districts or for students in the educational field. They receive assistance with applications, interviewing, resume writing and support services. There is no charge for our services. 1997-1999 Highlights The Teacher Mentor Project had several accomplishments during its first two years of operation. We have assisted 43 Alaska Native and American Indian teachers in obtaining teaching positions with the Anchorage School District, made 172 new contacts with prospective teacher applicants, had 151 participants in the Teacher Mentor Training Sessions and 44 teachers were offered positions with other Alaska school districts. Guidebook The Guidebook for New Alaska Native/Native American Teacher Applicants to the Anchorage School District is available free-of-charge from The CIRI Foundation, 2600 Cordova Street, Suite 206, Anchorage, AK 99503. This book gives suggestions to consider when applying for a teaching position and information on coaching strategies, interviewing skills, telephone contacts and other resources and ideas to assist teachers who are pursuing a teaching career. Should you need further information, please contact Marilyn Forrester at 907-263-5583 or e-mail mforrester@ciri.com . | |
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Ciulistet Report: Overview of 1996-97 School Year by Arnaq Esther A. Ilutsik:City; furthering the development of specific units that apply to traditional Yup'ik knowledge such as the traditional Yup'ik border patterns, traditional Yup'ik game of Kakaanaq, the Legend Sonor Board game and expanding the heartbeat unit to the third grade level; also sharing the unique process used by the Ciulistet Research Association in collecting, documenting and developing traditional Yup'ik knowledge with other educators at the state, national and even at the international level. The Ciulistet Research Association's meeting in Dillingham focused on documenting traditional geographical place names within the region. Many areas were identified with in-depth stories that were associated with these places. Certified teachers and paraprofessional educators were given the opportunity to enroll in a special topics course, ED 193/ED 593 Traditional Geographical Place Names and Its Application for Schooling, for one credit. In this session, the participants developed a lesson using the traditional geographical places names within their area. These lessons were taught in the classroom and the results will be shared at the next meeting scheduled for the fall in the small village of Ekwok. | |
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Code of Conduct for Research in Indigenous Communities (draft):* Inform local leaders and people in the community of the proposed research. * State the purpose of the research and explain clearly how it will benefit the community. * Obtain consent from the proper sources to do the research. * Build reciprocity between yourself and the community and become familiar with community protocol. * Show respect for and build trust with the person(s) or community being studied. * Have community members assist and be an integral part of the research. * Actively involve community members in reviewing the draft and final product before publication or distribution. * Give credit and copyright control to the individual(s) or community involved. * Report results of the research to the community during and after completion of the project. Some questions for individuals, communities and/or tribes to consider before consenting to be researched are: * Can indigenous knowledge be owned by an individual or does ownership belong to the tribe or the community? Who does ownership belong to? * Who will have the copyright to the material? * Is the information considered "sacred knowledge" which is not to be shared with people outside of the community? * Is there a consensus among the people on the sharing of information? * Was consent acquired from the proper sources? * Was the purpose of the research project fully explained to the person(s) or community studied? * Who should be doing research in our communities to give an accurate portrayal of our peoples? | |
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Collaboration in Education by Ayaprun Loddie Jones:The following was a keynote speech given to the Alaska Native Education Council Conference, October 9, 1998. My parents were my first teachers who taught and made me very knowledgeable of my Yup'ik culture. They collaborated in my educational upbringing, each one knowing their specific roles. My father was the head of the household-sheltering, feeding and loving all the thirteen children in the family. My mother's role was to raise the family, take care of my dad's catch and model what a mother should be. They taught me in my first language: Yup'ik. They taught me using the traditional methods where my mother was the only one who talked to us every morning about what to do and what not to do. She used the traditional discipline method but never raised her voice and my father never intruded but gave his support. What are the discipline policies in the schools doing to our children? Those of us who were raised by our elderly parents know that the Western schools are doing the opposite. Our children don't show a lot of respect, one reason is because we, the working mothers, had them raised by a line-up of babysitters. To follow up on the roles my parents had, I told a story about the time that my family and I came back from a long, tiring day of berry-picking. Just before we had dinner, my mother said, "Kitak tauna neqliurru," meaning get your husband's plate ready. Without thinking I responded, "Atam ellminek piyumauq," "Oh, he gets his own food!" My mother got up and said, "Takumni pingaituq," "Not while I'm around," and she gave a plate of food to my husband. My husband said, "See!" and he looked like he had just made the winning touchdown of a super bowl game! In this day and age now, most women have jobs and the roles seem to be reversed. For my teacher preparation I was trained in a field-based teacher preparation program called the Alaska Rural Teacher Training Corp. There are a lot of professionals, principals, etc. from the other culture who gave me the confidence and belief that I can be a good teacher and who believed in me. They also helped raise my self-esteem and helped me seek to improve myself. We, the Native speakers, were trained in the Western school system. Why can't there be collaboration and have the teachers be trained in our culture and language? When the missionaries had to reach and convert their Native followers, a lot of them learned our languages. We have to have pride in what was given to us by our parents. I once wrote that every year we are losing our most precious and important resources-our Elders. What a fine gift it would be to give the gift of our Native tongue back through our Yup'ik-speaking young people. I feel proud to be involved in the Yup'ik Immersion Program. At least this community knows the importance of retaining our language and culture. In this day and age there are too many controversial issues facing our lives, both in our communities and schools. We must get self-esteem and pride back into our children or else we'll keep losing them to drugs, alcohol and finally suicide. Let's work together and aim for one goal-the happiness of our young people. [Author's note: I ended the speech with the following story:] There were two people who had bought a new outboard motor and were out hunting. All of a sudden the outboard motor fell into the water because it wasn't securely fastened to the boat. The two waited a while, hopeful that more hunters would pass by and help them, but no one came by. Finally one of them said, "I'm going down to check on the motor. So he took off his clothes and dove under. After a while the second person was wondering why the his partner never surfaced and finally looked down. He saw the his partner trying to start the motor under water. He hollered down to the him, "Why don't you choke it first!" No matter how much we seem to be drowning in our jobs as educators, let's work for the well-being, success and future of our children! | |
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Coming soon!:Guidelines for Culturally-Responsive School Boards A new set of guidelines has been developed addressing the role of school boards in providing a culturally-responsive education for the students under their care. The guidelines are available now on the ANKN website or in booklet form this summer. For information, contact the ANKN office at 474-5086. | |
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Commentary on "Future Alaska Native Educators" by Nels Anderson, Jr.:by Nels Anderson, Jr. My name is Nels Anderson, Jr. of Dillingham. I read the article, "Future Alaska Native Educators," by Cathy Rexford, in the Jan/Feb 2003 issue of Sharing Our Pathways. I enjoyed the article and it prompted me to comment and ask some questions that I think people throughout Alaska should be considering. "Rather than trying to reinvent the Alaska education wheel, we should mainstream our values and ideas of what is good learning into the school districts we now have at our disposal." The article says that 459 out of a total of 8,206 public school teachers are of Alaska Native or American Indian descent. If my math serves me correctly, that is about 5.59%. That is a very sad statistic. That leads me to ask how many Alaska Natives we have working in the university system? I have always felt, to the greatest extent legally possible, that our institutions should reflect the makeup of the population served. One of many places where we, Alaska Natives, exceed our percentage of the total Alaska population is in our jails. Another place where we exceed our percentage of the total population is in our dropout statistics in our schools and university. What is the teacher retention rate in our Regional Educational Attendance Areas (REAAs) and rural and remote schools as compared to urban schools? How many of our schools' aides, cooks, janitors and maintenance personnel are Alaska Natives? How many Alaska Native professors and administrators do we have at the University of Alaska? How many of our schools across the state, especially our REAAs and rural and remote schools, have Alaska Native principals, financial managers or superintendents? How many Alaska Natives are there on the University of Alaska Board of Regents at this time? How many of our REAAs are locally controlled by Native school board members? Question: If what I suspect is true-that most of the REAAs are locally controlled by predominantly Alaska Native school board members, then-why are we not using that power to achieve the goals and objectives identified by the Alaska Rural Systemic Initiative? Shouldn't we be making sure that our REAAs are using their power to move toward academic excellence as envisioned by AKRSI? Answer: It would appear to be an ideal strategy to utilize the resources of the state of Alaska to move toward good learning principles. Rather than trying to reinvent the Alaska education wheel, we should mainstream our values and ideas of what is good learning into the school districts we now have at our disposal. We should be working very closely with the University of Alaska to adopt and implement sound policies that improve our delivery of education, increase teacher retention rates and reduce our dropout numbers in our schools and university. Question: If indeed Alaska Natives control many of the boards of our REAAs and rural and remote school districts, then why can't those boards assert their power and authority and adopt the necessary policies that will move them toward training AND hiring more Alaska Native and American Indian teachers and administrators? Can't our school boards collectively develop a "memorandum of understanding" with the University of Alaska to join forces to make sure that our future teacher and administrative personnel are recruited, trained and hired from our Alaska Native teacher aide and substitute teaching pool in our REAAs and rural and remote school districts? Answer: We should support any existing university programs that are taking our teacher aides and substitute teachers and moving them into our classrooms as full-time accredited teachers. If necessary, those programs should be expanded to move ALL of our teacher aides, tutors, mentors and substitutes into a certified training program that will allow them to become accredited, certified associate teachers with a higher pay scale. We should then encourage these associate teachers to continue their education to get them full accreditation and become full-time certified teachers. This strategy should be encouraged and pushed aggressively. Most of this can be done by our university distance education delivery system. In addition, our university and school boards should be grooming and training future administrators in a similar program. Question: Are our school boards and the university insisting on teaching the basics and adopting a teaching plan that will help our students excel academically, understand who they are, learn about how they fit into our overall Alaska society and reduce their drop out rates? Answer: I believe that our REAAs and rural and remote school boards have the necessary legal authority needed to assert their power to make sure that we have a public school system that is teaching our students the basics-that is learning to read at the end of the second grade; reading to learn by the end of the fourth grade; mastering math basics of adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing by the end of the fifth grade; having a fundamental understanding of basic scientific principles by the end of the eighth grade and, in addition, having a rudimentary understanding of Alaska Native history and Native cultures within the context of Alaska history by the end of the eighth grade. Finally, we should be developing the necessary strategies that will reduce the number of dropouts in our schools and university. In summary, I think that the article "Future Alaska Native Educators" is very good and should be expanded to include the following: It should examine the statistics on dropout and teacher retention rates in our schools. It should also look at how many Native principals, superintendents, financial officers, teacher aides, tutors, mentors and substitute teachers we have in our REAA, rural and remote village school districts. It should look at what the University of Alaska dropout rates are for Native students and see how many Alaska Native university professors and administrators we have. It should review the existing teacher training program we have at the University of Alaska to see if improvements can be made that will increase the number of Alaska Natives being trained from the teacher aide and substitute teaching pool found in our REAAs and rural and remote school districts. And finally, after that is done, we should make sure that all educators and news media across the state get a copy of this article to wake people up so that we can exert the power we have to make the changes we need to have our students excel in our schools, university and university rural campuses. Thank you for that great article and giving me a chance to express some of my views about education in Alaska. We should support any existing university programs that are taking our teacher aides and substitute teachers and moving them into our classrooms as fulltime accredited teachers. | |
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Commissioners' Panel Addresses NEC by Frank Hill:Marshall Lind (1971-83, 1986-87) addressed the following: * How do we fulfill the promises of local control associated with the creation of regional educational attendance areas? * How do we address the instability of professional staff in rural schools? * Alaska Standards for Culturally Responsive Schools should be implemented. * Assessment issues related to students and teachers. * Vocational/technical education needs. * Strengthening early childhood education programs. * Low success rates for Alaska Native students in higher education programs. Bill Demmert (1987-90) shared these issues: * Development of a child's cultural identity and language should be foremost in their education. * Students need to know who they are and connect with their cultural heritage to enhance their highest ability to learn. * More attention needs to be given to early childhood education. Jerry Covey (1991-95) discussed the following issues: * Local control of schools; opportunity and responsibility where it belongs. * Standards-driven education; culture needs to be included in the process. * Strong communities are essential to school success; need to address the problems of alcohol and drug abuse. * Politics of appeasement; politicians chasing public opinion without real leadership. Need political leaders who represent all Alaskans. There is no shortage of financial resources to serve all schools, but there is a shortage of the will to do so or to care for each other. Shirley Holloway (1995-99) highlighted the following: * In answering to the question of whether rural education will survive in the 21st century, she stressed the need for strong Alaska Native leadership that addresses high-stakes testing (i.e., the High School Graduation Qualification Exam), bilingual/bicultural education issues, government mandates, technology issues and the lack of Native professional educators. * Students learn best when taught by teachers who speak their own language. We extend our thanks to these Alaska education leaders for their insightful responses and adding another highlight to the Native Educators' Conference. We are also pleased that all former commissioners are still working to improve education for all of Alaska's students. | |
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Community Values and Beliefs by Bernice Tetpon:These values and beliefs are: Qiksiksrautiqagniq, which means respect for Utuqqanaanun or Elders, respect for allanun or others and respect for inuuniagvigmun or nature. We also learned the importance of respect for ilagiigniq or family kinship and roles, and respect for signatainniq or sharing. Other values and beliefs include knowledge of language, cooperation, love and respect for one another, humor, hunting traditions, compassion, humility, avoidance of conflict and spirituality. How do we go about this? The Life Cycle: From Infancy to Elder When children are taught by example within the everyday life of growing up from infancy through the Elder stage, these values and beliefs stay with them for the rest of their lives. Looking at the circle with the community values and beliefs in the center and the cycle of life extending from infancy to the Elder stage, we can see how important it is for these values to be built upon as we enter Western-oriented elementary and secondary schooling. It wasn't until I was in my teacher preparation years and in graduate school that I was taught anything related to my own culture, language or environment. When instruction does not relate to the students' community values and beliefs, or is taught out of context, they cannot relate to what is being taught and lose interest in school. Everyone in the community is a teacher, and all teachers must also be learners. The Alaska Standards for Culturally Responsive Schools includes standards for students, educators, schools, curriculum and communities. Our students need a strong sense of self-identity and that can only come from our students being strongly grounded in the values and beliefs and traditions of their communities. Our students also need to learn about their local environment so that they can gain a better understanding of where they fit in the world in a global sense. Everyone in the community is a teacher and all teachers must also be learners. As we learn from one another, we can strengthen the sense of well being in our communities. What can we learn? Educators who come to our communities from outside must make an effort to become part of the community so they can incorporate the local knowledge system into their teaching. How do educators find out about the community's values and beliefs? Many educators have learned that their survival depends on becoming acquainted with a knowledgeable Native person in the community to help guide them in their everyday lives as they join in community activities and informally visit community members to develop a sense of how the community functions. There are many survival skills that have to be learned when educators move to a community they are not familiar with. Most of us growing up learned to understand the world around us through patient observation and practice in hands-on activities. Similarly, educators will have to take the time to observe and figure out how to communicate and actively participate in their new communities. In the same manner, it is our responsibility as community members to give our children (and the teachers) time to observe and participate in hands-on activities and learn the values and beliefs while actively engaging in the community. We need to ensure that they learn well in their Native ways of knowing and are able to succeed in the Western world. As we return to the circle with the community at the center, let us identify our community's values and beliefs. How can we incorporate these values and beliefs into our school? How can we integrate the school into the community and not see it as a separate entity? First of all, everyone in the community is a teacher. Some of us are licensed and have credentials in certain subject areas, but many others are experts in language, dancing, singing, hunting, outdoor survival, mediating, reading the weather, preparing traditional foods and so on. Everyone has something to contribute. Secondly, incorporating the Native language into instruction gives students advantages in their ability to understand the content that is required in exams and statewide tests. When a child is taught in their heritage language first, whatever the content may be, the child can then learn that content in the English language and succeed equally with students whose first language is English. Being bilingual is a benefit, not a deficit. Students who are bilingual have cognitive skills that surpass monolingual students who can relate to concepts in only one modality, while bilingual students can relate to concepts through their own culture and make the transition to the English language. Elders can be very helpful in this endeavor. Even when they are unable to speak in the Native language, the Elders can provide a wealth of resources for educators to learn how to integrate local knowledge into the curriculum. Finally, knowledge of language is an important value within the Native community. From knowing your language, the rest of the values and beliefs come into place. Within the circle we want our children to grow from infancy to Elder status and to fulfill the cycle of life without barriers. Without these strong values we leave our children with a lack of self-identity that often results in the loss of a sense of community. As educators and community members, we will all benefit from helping the children learn the community's values and beliefs. Through the Alaska Standards for Culturally Responsive Schools, we can find ways to make sure these values and beliefs are incorporated into the teaching of our children. | |
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Comparative Ethnopedagogy by Lydia Fyodorova:Ethnopedagogy is a science of folk pedagogy which consists of the study of cultural traditions, customs, sayings, games, etc. I am exploring the similarities in folk pedagogy of the Native people of Alaska and the Sakha Republic. Traditional Native peoples of the Sakha Republic (Yakutia) and Alaska are closely connected with nature. They have tried to live in harmony with the world around them for ages. The most important values for them are respect for yourself (if you don't respect yourself, your language and your culture, you can't respect other people, other cultures, etc.), respect for others and respect for the environment. For example, the Sakha philosophy of "Kut-syur" contains notions of the three elements of the soul: 1. "Ye-kut"-an element from the mother that makes a person intelligent and capable of thinking; 2. "Byor-kut"-an element from the land that makes a person healthy, strong and supports his physical life; and 3. "Salgyn-kut"-an element from the air that creates informational contacts with the environment, providing receptivity and harmony with the environment. All the elements of the soul are united in the "Sur"-a notion of the vital strength of a person. To injure the "Sur" leads to the person's loss of spiritual and emotional strength. So a person should keep all these elements of the soul in balance in order not to die. To support our "Sur" (elements of a soul), the Sakha people honor folk traditions and customs through ceremonies of respect and honor of the Supreme Spirits (protectors of people's life). This includes "Ysyeh"-which is a variety of the national feast with prayers of gratitude and supplication of well-being. Sakha folk life is reflected in tales, stories, myths, legends and poems; I have found many similar stories and tales here in Alaska. The folk pedagogy is our roots. For child-rearing, the folk pedagogy emphasizes labor, feasts, nature, plants, songs, tales, epics and legends which demonstrate that Native people of the North are correct and tender to their children. We don't shout, beat or mock them. The lessons to our children are accurate, simple and accessible. Children of the tundra are wise and reasonable and with few words, they can do much. The Northern/Sakha people don't like to explain morals to their children. Instead, the parents model and influence the children by their hard work, honesty, respect, love and patience. These examples appear to be similar in the life of the Northern people of Alaska. I know these practices very well because after graduating from the Yakut State University in Yakutsk, I started my career in Zhigansk secondary school in 1972 in the north of the Republic. At that time the school was large and comprised of about 1,300 students of different ethnic groups: Evens, Evenks, Sakha, Russians and Ukrainians. Evens and Evenks students came from Native villages. The main occupation of their parents was reindeer breeding, hunting and fishing. The students stayed in a boarding school for two years during their ninth- and tenth-grade years. When the holidays began, the Even and Evenk children returned to their communities and helped their families who were involved in traditional occupations. Several times I traveled to Native communities and stayed there for some time, so I could see my pupils in their natural environment. I saw them putting traps in the taiga or chasing and lassoing reindeer. I saw them making a campfire and cooking traditional meals. I understood what nature was for them, how deep their attachment was to their settlement and their families and their traditional way of life. They were a part of nature. I have observed the same picture in Olenegarsk, a village in the Chyukurdah region, and in the Sakha village of Kachikatsy in the Ordzeykydzevsky region, where I worked as a vice-director of the schools up to 1991. But in the Sakha villages the main occupation was cattle breeding, hunting, fishing and maintaining vegetable gardens. The students everywhere worked hard and lived in boarding schools during the school year. I wondered why those who lived in boarding schools were behind in their studies when they came back from their homes, and why they were so difficult to be controlled. What were the reasons? The reason was that the life in school was quite different from the life in the village or tundra or taiga. The children who were used to moving around a lot, had to sit for long hours of school lessons. The content of the school program also was not close to their Native culture. This was a standard program similar to that of many other schools in Russia. There was no connection with the Native culture or with the traditions of their forefathers. The children were put into a rigid frame of standards. The need for language reform, widening of the schools functions, developing of local cultures, and life-mode preservation require change in the system of education and training in schools. The conception of school reform and development in Yakutia takes into account the Yakut, Russian, Evenks, Even, Ukagyr and Chukchi Dolgan cultures and folk traditions and acts for the Yakutia peoples interests now. It was adopted at the state level in 1991. The basic ideas of the concept of Native school revival and development in the Sakha Republic are guided by: (a) provisions for the right to education and upbringing in a Native language; (b) incorporating the younger generation into the Native culture and spirituality and enriching it with the cultures of neighboring nations, thus initiating the youth into the values of world culture; (c) the idea of teaching on the principle "from the near to the far"-from the Native home to the world of all human knowledge; (d) training for life and work with regard to the traditional life style and labor traditions while simultaneously regarding the demands of new economic relations in the transnational world; and (e) a special approach to the definition of content and form of teaching in schools for the Northern minorities. The methodological approach is connected with the treatment of the Native school as a phenomenon of its own dialectics of development, having deep traditional roots in ethnopedagogy, and internal ties with the historical roots of the culture. A lot of programs and curriculum are implemented in schools based on the traditional culture. The Sakha, Even and Evenks people in the Sakha Republic (Yakutia), as with the Native people of Alaska, had to overcome a lot of difficulties. They had to survive in a harsh environment but nevertheless created on the eternal permafrost their own economy, art, folklore, literature, and their culture. Their culture consists of survival, material values, beliefs and mother tongues-all of which people created for the ages. There is no culture without a mother tongue. People all over the world understand this idea and the fact that without our roots and cultural heritage, we cannot survive. If we drop out one link in the cycle of life, everything else will drop out too. Thank you for the opportunity to study and learn about the experiences of the Native people in Alaska. We have much to learn and share from one another. I have enjoyed my visit very much. | |
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Components of Culturally-Responsive Schools by Frank Hill:What exactly does a "culturally-responsive school" look like? What would be happening in a culturally-responsive school that will be different? Local Native Elders are prominent in every classroom and are regulars in the school throughout the day and school year . . . Alaska Native Knowledge Network publications Alaska Standards for Culturally-Responsive Schools and Guidelines for Developing Culturally-Responsive Teachers for Alaska's Schools provide guidance for describing what we should find in culturally-responsive schools. Rather than go into all of the sections covered in the referenced publications I will share my version of what constitutes a culturally-responsive school by listing what I believe should be evident if I were visiting that school and the school community: * Teachers and administrators would be those who were born and raised in the community or region. * Local community has direct and significant input in the process and recommendations for hiring all school staff. * School is named for a local cultural hero or leader and whose picture and contributions to the community and region are detailed in the pictorial presentation. * Local cultural statement of values and beliefs are prominently displayed throughout the school. * Behavioral standards for students are based on the values of the local culture and are developed with full participation of local parents, Elders and leaders. * Classrooms display local cultural events and people and * Local Native Elders are prominent in every classroom and are regulars in the school throughout the day and school year (celebrate Elders‚ birthdays in school.) * Elders are accorded "dignitary" seats during important school functions (games, meetings, graduations, etc.) * Local school's annual goals for students are prominently displayed. * Teachers teach within the culture, not about the culture. Teachers utilize local environment, language and culture in developing and delivering lessons for students. * The instructional program and curriculum includes: - instruction in the local Native language - local cultural history and a correct and complete Alaska history course that details how Alaska Natives have been recognized and treated as well as how they are now organized for cultural, political and economic reasons. * Flexible/alternative instructional methods including regular classroom trips outside the school and incorporates the local environment. * Process for reporting student academic progress includes options besides report cards (school academic fairs, highlighting student achievement during student basketball games, etc.) * School calendar/daily schedule take into account the local community's cultural activities. * ALL school staff are included in staff meetings and inservices. * Administrators, teachers and other school staff learn and use local cultural language greetings and words for praise when working with students. * The school's facilities are readily available to the local community when not in use for instruction or student activities (someone in the community has keys to the school.) * Local school board meetings include regular reports by all of the classroom teachers, instructional support staff and maintenance personnel. * Administrators/teachers attend all local village meetings including tribal councils, cultural celebrations, local holiday events, etc. * Students learn and present plays and performances of local legends spoken in Native language, develop and wear traditional clothing with assistance from local cultural experts. * Students translate reports and other activities into local language and present to Elders/community. * Local community develops standards for students that would prepare them for participation in local cultural community, takes responsibility for and delivers instruction both within and outside school day. Students meeting these standards are recognized by village leaders during end-of-year graduation ceremonies. These observations are really only a beginning of what could be developed for any local school and could be the beginning of a plan for a local school to become culturally responsive. We know, too, that some rural schools have developed their own list of culturally-responsive practices. It would be helpful for all of us if those components were shared with those schools wanting to become more culturally responsive. For additional information on cultural standards' guidelines available through the Alaska Native Knowledge Network, contact Dixie Dayo, 474-5086, dixie.dayo@uaf.edu or visit our website at www.ankn.uaf.edu. | |
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Congrats to Dolly Garza!:Congratulations to Dolores A. Garza who graduated May 25, 1996 from the University of Delaware with a Doctorate of Philosophy in Marine Policy. Dolly's dissertation topic was Policy Options for Managing Alaska's Herring Resources. Dolly was recently selected to serve on the National Native Science and Education Advisory Council. Good work Dolly! | |
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Congratulations to Harley Sundown!:One of four Alaskan teachers to win a 1997 Milken Award! Born and raised in Scammon Bay, Harley graduated from UAF. The last year of his teacher education program was spent in Cross-Cultural Educational Development (X-CED). He has been teaching for the last four years in Scammon Bay. Harley with his mother, Maryann "Arnaucuaq" Sundown. | |
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Contaminants Have Found Us by Angayuqaq Oscar Kawagley:We, as indigenous people, were adapted to these climatic conditions and so were the plants and animals we depended on for food. Perhaps these special adaptations made us, the plants and animals more susceptible to certain anthropogenic contaminants. And now our own activities in using technological devices in our everyday activities are contributing to the physical, chemical and biological pollution of our Arctic ecosystems. From what scientists have told us, you get the idea that there are two sources of contaminants-sources far from the Arctic and within the Arctic. The industrial complexes in Russia and other Eurasian countries contribute to the Arctic contamination. The main modes of transport for these contaminants are air currents, ocean currents and riverine systems. The meltwater in the spring carries the pollutants downriver to the deltas and into the oceans. Another way of transporting contaminants is through the migratory birds and mammals which winter in the warm climates and then migrate north in the summer. These are often at the top of the food web and are the most effected. But we, as a Native people, continue to eat these nutritious foods as well as maintain breast feeding for our young children. Because of contaminants contained in these foods that we eat, we may very well have a higher exposure to and accumulation of contaminant contents. Some of the major areas of concern for the effects that these contaminants can have is "influencing the ability to conceive and carry children, reducing our defense against diseases, affecting children's mental development or increasing the risk of cancer" (AMAP, 1997). How do we as Alaska Native people and others begin to alleviate the situation? As long as we believe that science and technology is the answer to our problems, we will forever remain in the morass of the modern world. Unless we encourage our youngsters to go to the Elders and to pursue higher education to learn another way of making sense of this world, we will never get out of this trap. We must relearn our own Alaska Native languages and ways of making sense of this world. We have a way of looking at the universe that recognizes there are different perspectives-the outward and the inward. By using both viewpoints we can gain wisdom. The Eurocentric way of knowing tends to rely on the physical and intellectual processes and pays less attention to the emotions and the spiritual dimensions. We must find a way of marrying the senses with the spiritual side for a more balanced perspective. Our Native languages are of wholeness and healing. They are languages of Native eco-philosophy, or "ecosophy". We need to relearn how to live in harmony with nature. Our languages describe these thought worlds, these worldviews. Our space-time concepts are cyclical according to the moon phases, seasons and the plant and animal cycles that determine the times of abundance and times of scarcity. The location and timing of these cycles give us scheduling and spacing tools. To relearn and revitalize our Alaska Native languages and cultures is to liberate ourselves from the industrial and materialistic prison into which we have been thrust. To relearn our mythology that Raven created Mother Earth helps us realize that we cannot think of ourselves as being superior to anything of Mother Earth. Raven is a deity in this mythology but Raven can also be a buffoon, a comedian and a picaresque. The reason we do not worship the raven is because we are animists, not theists. We must relearn our history but not from history books. We learn history particular to an individual, a family, a community from the quliraat and from the mythology, galumcit, stories, placenames, songs, dancing and drumming peculiar to that place. All these will give you a strong sense of who you are and where you are from. This beautiful concept of respect becomes clearer to us as it is connected to a belief system with high moral attitudes, rules and standards for personal character to become the best person one is capable of being. All of this is needed to begin to rebuild a new world based on what we learned from our ancestors, coupled with selective adaptations from the contemporary world. Here are a few suggestions that we can work on: Insist on sustainable development-perhaps projects that require we work closely with nature-regenerative or reclamation activities such as cleaning up wetlands and fish-spawning areas. We must demand that industries and manufacturers find ways to reduce the use of natural resources, reduce packaging and pay attention to effluent and emission laws. We must demand that manufacturers of such thing as TVs, microwave ovens, snowmachines and other durable goods redeem and recycle those items when they become inoperable-perhaps they could establish a "lend-lease" program. We should begin to assess what technological tools are acceptable in the village instead of accepting whatever comes along. Let's become more biologically literate, not just electronically literate; let us strive to live healthy. I think that if we begin to pay attention to such matters, we will begin to live life with a strong sense of belonging, discipline, independence and generosity. After all, the ultimate standard is to live a life that is healthy and stable in a healthy and sustainable community. | |
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Correction:Correction: In the previous issue of Sharing Our Pathways (vol.2, issue 3), we mistakenly identified the photo on page 14. The photo is of Mary Beth Duncan of Angoon. Our apologies to both Mary Beth and Sabrina Sutton for the mistake. | |
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Correction:* Another new link to a very useful resource is to the Nikaitchuat Il.isag.viat Project. . . . http://www.alaskool.org/native_ed/curriculum/OTZImmersion/PROJECTABST.html. Please accept our apologies for any confusion this might have caused. | |
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