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Lake and Peninsula School District Liaison by Gregory Anelon, Jr. : Camai, I'm Gregory Anelon, Jr. and I will be working as a liaison between the Alaska Rural Systemic Initiative project and the Lake and Peninsula School District. I have two boys, Chad and Matthew, and a very lovely wife, Staci, who, I must admit, is expecting our third child. I was hired in August after moving to Newhalen from Bethel where I worked at the Lower Kuskokwim School District as a Community & Career Development Specialist. In my new position, I found that I must work with three cultural groups: Yup'ik, Athabascan and Aleut. A very ambitious task but after meeting the Alaska RSI regional coordinators, I feel that they will make my job more tolerable. It was a pleasure to have met most of the people involved with the Alaska RSI project during the September staff meeting in Anchorage. At the present time I do not have a permanent e-mail address, however you can contact me through my America On-Line address, GAnelon484@aol.com, or my home phone (907) 571-1568. Have a safe and a happy Thanksgiving.

Keyword(s): Volume 1, Issue 5

Leadership Institute Enhances Kodiak Village School Programs by Eric Waltenbaugh : A student from Port Lions gingerly steps up to the podium in the Kodiak Borough Assembly Chambers and speaks in support of a resolution she has worked on over the course of a week. Then another student from Ouzinkie slides up to the microphone to voice her arguments. For ten minutes a steady stream of students from seven villages in the Kodiak Island Borough School District saunter quietly, but proudly, up to the microphone to speak on three separate resolutions they have crafted as a collective group. The mock board, made up of the school superintendent, a school board member, a city council member and the borough mayor, listens carefully to what the students have to say, discusses and debates the issues and then votes on them. This mock board meeting was the culminating experience of an intensive week of leadership training held to bring village high school students together. The week of September 18-22, thirty-one high school students from seven different villages in the Kodiak Island Borough School District flew to the town of Kodiak to attend the 2000 Leadership Institute. Workshops focused on teaching aspects of leadership in an applied manner. There were no lectures. Instead students were immersed in a variety of interactive workshops. They learned Parliamentary Procedure by doing it, explored the concept of leadership by facing numerous challenges as a group, practiced public speaking in a nonthreatening environment, wrote resolutions about issues that affect them and had a chance to present them in a forum that mirrored the real process. In addition, it is expected that students will take some of their resolutions to the Alaska Federation of Natives Youth and Elders Conference to be presented in that real forum. The Leadership Institute was designed to enhance the village school curriculum, to provide age-appropriate interaction among high school students in village sites and to engage students in a real task that leads to personal action and empowerment. The institute was scheduled in advance of the Alaska Federation of Natives Youth and Elders Conference in an effort to help prepare the students for that important event. Numerous community organizations were involved in the planning, development and implementation of the Institute. It brought together members from Native corporations, tribal councils, the borough, the school district, the State Troopers, Toastmasters (a public speaking club), the Alutiiq Museum, Kodiak town teachers and many others. This collaboration from a broad range of community organizations was essential to making the Leadership Institute a success. Funding for the Leadership Institute comes from a three-year Federal Department of Education grant that provides for two immersion institutes per year in addition to supporting the village programs in implementing a model of education that is more culturally sensitive. Village teacher reports after the institute indicate that students are talking about how different this immersion activity was; they are more motivated in their regular classes and they are already asking questions about when the next institute will occur. These types of interactive, personally-relevant and socially-significant immersion activities go a long way in enhancing existing village programs and empowering our rural students.

Keyword(s): Volume 5, Issue 5

Learning Dinaxinag (Our Language): A Personal Journey Through Higher Education by Beth Leonard : Keynote Speech to the 2004 Bilingual Multicultural Education Equity Conference Dogidinh (thank you) for your introduction. Since Deg Xinag is one of the languages honored at this conference, I would like to give the Deg Hit’an Elder teachers the opportunity to introduce themselves as they are the teachers, and the ones who provided the translation of the conference theme: My aunts, Hannah Maillelle of Grayling and Katherine Hamilton of Shageluk and my father, James Dementi of Shageluk. The Deg Xinag language area has been inappropriately labeled on the Alaska Native Languages Map as “Ingalik.” The term Deg Hit’an references the people of the area, while the term Deg Xinag refers to the language. There are currently Deg Xinag speakers living in Anvik, Grayling, Shageluk and Anchorage. The conference theme, “Enriching Student Achievement Through Culturally and Linguistically Responsive Instruction”, was difficult to translate. We reworded it in English and the speakers put forward the phrase Sraqay Xe¬edz Deg Xiq’i Xidixi Dindli’an’ that means “kids learn well/good through Deg Xinag.” Members of the author’s family, L to R: James Dementi (father), the late Lena Phillips Dementi (grandmother), Katherine Hamilton (aunt). In front is the late Susan Dutchman (aunt). In 1992 I attended this conference for the first time. I was an undergraduate student at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and had recently changed my major from accounting to linguistics. I had become interested in learning my heritage language and contributing to language revitalization efforts. I was very new to the fields of education and bilingual education. I remember being overwhelmed as this was the first conference I had attended, and I didn’t know many people. I was so impressed with the keynote speakers, and all the expertise represented at the conference from the different areas of Alaska. If someone had told me that I would one day be chosen to give a keynote address at this conference, I would not have believed it. I have attended this conference fairly regularly for the past seven or eight years. I have learned so much from all the present and past participants through your presentations and workshops. You continue to educate me as I go through the process of writing my dissertation, the final stage of my Ph.D. program. The mentoring and support you have provided has been invaluable. For me, and probably others as well, this conference is a time of renewal and re-energizes us to continue the work that we do. I have lived in Fairbanks since 1978, and currently work as a language coordinator-instructor for the Interior Athabascan Tribal College (IATC), a post-secondary educational center operated by Tanana Chiefs Conference, a consortium of Interior Athabascan tribal governments. The IATC language program currently has partnership agreements with the Alaska Native Language Center and the Yukon Koyukuk School District. However, I do want to say a few words about a family language program we are trying to promote—a program that involves children and their parents or caregivers. This program started a couple of years ago when Susan Paskvan, who is currently working with the YKSD Athabascan language program, decided to offer a Fairbanks community schools course that was open to 8–12-year-old students with an accompanying parent or guardian. Kathy Sikorski also taught Gwich’in and accepted students at the high school level and above. Kathy and Susan developed a variety of games and other language learning activities and offered their courses once a week. The community really appreciated these courses and they had a great response. Thanks to our current partnership with the YKSD, and funding from the Administration for Native Americans, this program is starting to pick up within some of the TCC region villages. We are also hoping to continue this program in Fairbanks with the help of Velma Schafer and Virginia Ned. I did not grow up speaking my ancestral language, Deg Xinag. I am currently learning my language as an adult with other adult students from our area. My mother, Jean Dementi, was a non-Native woman from California and English was the primary language used in our home as I grew up. My father grew up in a small community on the Innoko River below Shageluk called Didlang Tochagg, which means spruce slough. His father—my grandfather, Charlie Dementi—was from the Holikachuk language area and his mother from the Deg Hit’an area, so he speaks two Athabascan languages in addition to English. My father has some education within the formal Western system, however is more highly educated in the place-based subsistence educational system that was, and still is, necessary to the survival of the Deg Hit’an people. My grandmother, Lena Phillips Dementi, who had spent time in the Episcopal mission at Anvik, taught my father and his siblings how to read, write and speak English. I am enrolled in the interdisciplinary Ph.D. program at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. My research focuses on illustrating Deg Hit’an epistemologies and knowledge systems, or Native Ways of Knowing, through analysis of Deg Xinag oral traditions. Through language learning, I am becoming more familiar with cultural beliefs, world views and value systems that sustained the Deg Hit’an people for thousands of years prior to contact with Russians and Europeans. However, there is a certain measure of frustration involved. I find myself struggling with the best way to learn the Deg Xinag language. Many times I am not aware of obvious differences between English and Deg Xinag or do not understand the social and kinship relationships within the culture. Many of the written resources we have access to do not connect the language with the cultural contexts. I believe this is due in part to the lack of knowledge of deeper Athabascan cultural contexts and constructs and the failure to document language beyond the lexical and grammatical levels. For instance, in the Deg Xinag Noun Dictionary, if I was to look up an entry under kinship, I would find the word for “grandfather” is sitsiy. If I looked further into the dictionary under birds, I might find a similar word yixgitsiy or “raven.” In another section under plants, I would find yixgitsiy no¬chidl, or “puffball mushroom”. When you see these words grouped together, you can tell there is some relationship here. For example, yixgitsiy literally means “your (pl) grandfather”, so there are connections with this bird within the human kinship system. Yixgitsiy no¬chidl, or the puffball mushroom, literally means “Raven’s sewing bag”. So within many of our resources, there are all these glimpses into kinship relationships and the whole cultural context that goes unexplained without going beyond a literal translation to some other means of cross-referencing. This past summer I took my written comprehensive exam. On the exam was a question about a story told by the late Belle Deacon who was honored with a Honoring Alaska’s Indigenous Literature (HAIL) posthumous award. In her book, Belle told each story in Deg Xinag, then English. The Deg Xinag is presented in the book with a line by line English translation. Some of the speakers who are here today helped with those translations of her book. Here is the question from my exam: Based on your research, discuss Deg Hit’an symbolic, ontological and epistemological notions of the pike in Belle Deacon’s story, “Man and Wife” in Engithidong Xugixudhoy. Discuss the cultural implications of transformation, subsistence and hierarchy in this narrative as contrasted to other Athabascan peoples. I will briefly summarize the parts of the story that relate to the creation of the pike and then address the different components of the question: “Ni¬’oqay Ni’idaxin—The Man and Wife” (Deacon, 1987) tells the story of a couple living by themselves at the mouth of a side stream. When fall came, the man spent a lot of time trapping while the wife stayed at home chopping wood, sewing and cooking for her husband. The wife would always make fish ice cream for her husband and after he had eaten he would specifically ask for this. As the man continues to go out hunting and trapping for days at a time, his wife begins to feel lonesome. This cycle of the same activities goes on for a number of years, with the wife making fish ice cream (occasionally snow ice cream) for her husband. One day during falltime she does not feel well and does not make the ice cream for him. He urges his wife to make the ice cream since he does not get full without it, and sleeps well after eating ice cream. His wife then goes outside for snow to make ice cream and does not return. The man searches for her and finds the bowl and spoon she had taken with her, but finds no tracks beyond the water hole. He mourns for her during the subsequent fall and winter then becomes thin and weak, thinking that he will die. At mid-winter an old man (whom he later learns is Raven) visits him and tells the husband that his wife was stolen by a giant and taken to “a land deep down in the water” (p.15). Raven tells the man that he will not be able to get his wife back without his [Raven’s] help. After the man has eaten and rested, they begin work by cutting down a large spruce tree with a stone axe. They then limb the tree and cut the top off, making it about “12 arm spans long” (p.19). The spruce is then peeled and over the course of at least a month, it is carved into the shape of a pike with the insides and mouth hollowed out. After the pike is complete, they tie a rope to it and drag it to the water hole. The carved pike is then painted with white spots. Belle comments that “ . . . ¬egg xit’a chenh ngizrenh,” “it was such a beautiful fish” (p.21). The man then goes to the cache and brings “things [beads] that were like eyes” (p.21). Raven uses a medicine song on the beads and then puts them in place, whereupon they begin to wiggle and move. Raven instructs the man to go fetch an ice chisel. They then measure the fish (again) and find it to be 12 arm spans long. The man is instructed to chop a hole in the waterhole big enough to accommodate the fish and fetch other items for his journey. Items include a clay lamp which is to provide light for him while inside the fish. Raven then “blew with his hands and made medicine with a song” (p.25), hitting the fish on the back. The fish sinks to the bottom of the river with the man inside and produces a humming noise that shakes the man. Upon arriving at the underwater village the man leaves the pike and eventually rescues his wife from the giant and villagers. The husband and wife return and enter the pike, whose head is resting on the shore. The giant and villagers prepare to shoot arrows at the pike, when it swamps their canoe and swims around. Belle says, “Di¬ yan’ yi¬ yixudz xiti’ihoyh” (p.29), indicating there is blood all over. The pike then swamps the village with waves, straightens itself out and begins the humming sound again. Upon their return, Raven is waiting and then washes the head and teeth of the pike with a rag. Raven instructs the fish to “stay in a place where there are lakes, where no one will go,” and “for people who step there on the ice of the lake, you will shake your little tail,” indicating “someone’s impending death” (p.31). The fish then “goes to the bottom,” however they (man and wife) “don’t know where” (p.31). In the English version of the story, Raven strongly reprimands the pike for killing the people in the village. This is not the end of the story, however, I will end the summary here as there are no more direct or indirect references to the pike. The Pike’s Role in Subsistence Practices For the Deg Hit’an people, pike or “jackfish” as referenced by Osgood (1940; 1958; 1959) were an important part of the traditional subsistence cycle as they can be harvested year-round from lakes, side streams and rivers. Traditionally, pike were harvested in basket traps—gidiqoy tidhi’on. Osgood (1940) indicates that traps were set as part of a fish weir during the fall and winter months and the harvest was most abundant after breakup (p.231). Pike also could harvested individually, in clear water, using a double-pronged fish spear—ni¬q’adz ggik vaxa gindiggad. Data from a study by Wheeler (1997) done in 1990–1991 indicates that Anvik’s pike harvest consisted of 19.5% of its non-salmon harvest; Shageluk, 35.8% and Holy Cross, 28.1%, illustrating the continued importance of this fish in the current subsistence cycle (p.160–162). Nelson (1983) indicates that pike are aggressive, predatory fish and can grow up to six feet in length and 50 pounds in weight (p. 72–73). Their jaws and gills are laced with thin sharp teeth, so they are picked up by inserting fingers in the eye sockets rather than the gills. Pike are currently harvested using gill nets and the meat is boiled, roasted or fried. As stated above, it is also used to make vanhgiq—fish ice cream—as pike flakes well and is readily available at most times of the year, although other white fish are used as well. Fish ice cream is made by combining fat (Crisco or, traditionally, fish oil) with the boiled meat of the fish. This is an extremely time-intensive process as the fish is deboned and the liquid is previously squeezed out of the meat by hand so that becomes dry and powdery. Air is whipped into the fish and fat mixture using the hand, until fluffy. Sugar, berries and often milk are added to finish the dish. This is served at potlatches, mask dances, funeral feasts and other important events. Epistemology and Ontology: Aspects of the Pike Moore (1998) references the following definition for the term “epistemology”: “the study of the cannons and protocols by which human beings acquire, organize, and verify their knowledge about the world” (p.271). In his introduction to the book Native Science, Leroy Little Bear (Cajete, 2000) talks about science as a “search for reality” and “knowledge,” thereby encompassing both epistemology and ontology within a single term (p.x). Gregory Cajete emphasizes that Native science is a participatory process with the natural world and that the understanding of Native science requires developing the ability to “decode layers of meaning embedded in symbols”; symbols that “are used artistically and linguistically to depict structures and relationships to places” (p.36). Stories, or mythology, according to Cajete “are alternative ways of understanding relationships, creation and the creative process itself. . . how humans obtain knowledge, how they learn responsibility for such knowledge and then how knowledge is applied in the proper context.” These mythologies contain “expressions of a worldview in coded form . . . ” (p.62). Reflecting on the epistemology and ontology of the Deg Hit’an, according to Osgood (1959), the name for pike in the Deg Xinag language is giliqoy, literally, “a lance” (p. 24). There are several different entries in the Koyukon Dictionary (2000) for pike, including a cognate term which means “that which is speared at something” (p.345); another term for a large pike, literally “that which stays on the bottom” (p.527) and term which means “that which floats” (p.416). The Ahtna Athabaskan Dictionary (1990) has a single reference that is said to originate from an “obsolete verb theme ‘fish swims rapidly’” (p.179). Creation/Transformation, Symbolism and Hierarchy The spruce tree, or didlang, that was used to create the pike, was one of the most useful plants to the Deg Hit’an people providing, for example, medicine in the form of new shoots in the spring that could be collected and made into tea to treat colds; pitch which was used for bandaging cuts and waterproofing canoes and wood for burning, or the construction of items such as sled runners or household items. This wood burns at a higher temperature than other woods and is softer than birch, making it easier to work with. The creation of the giant pike takes place through transformation of the spruce tree via the medicine song/breath of Raven. Witherspoon (1977), indicates that the Navajo have established cultural categories or hierarchies that classify the world based on “potential for motion” (p.140) and acknowledge “air as the source of all knowledge and animation” (p.53). Posey (2001) also references the energy stored in inanimate objects that can be transformed into an animate being (p.7). In a similar vein, Gregory Cajete (2000) states that “In many Native myths, plants are acknowledged as the first life, or the grandparents of humans and animals and sources of life and wisdom . . . ” (p.108). In the Deg Xinag language, the word yetr means “life” or “breath”. Deg Hit’an medicine men or shaman were often able to cure using their breath in ritual song or blowing in a person’s ear for example to cure an earache. When examining these ontologies that acknowledge the power of air, the role of plants in the environment, and potential for motion, the transformation of the spruce tree into a giant pike becomes a natural process. The clay lamp referenced in the story also seems to be part of the creative or transformative process, contributing to the ontology of the Deg Hit’an concerning fish in general. In Osgood’s (1959) description of the “animal’s ceremony” (p.116), he references an “insignia which holds a clay lamp tied to the bottom crosspiece” in recognition “that each kind of fish . . . have their own light which corresponds to a person’s clay lamp. When fish pass in the Yukon, the side streams are lighted up by other fish which look like lights in the houses of people. Among human beings of course, only shaman can see them” (p.117). Summary The information I covered just scratches the surface in terms of the educational value of one story. In keeping with the conference theme, I guess the point I’m trying to get across is that language learning and research involve core educational processes and content. Bilingual education or heritage language learning are fields of education. Those of us who are struggling to learn our heritage languages are not merely learning another language for the purpose of learning another language, or learning another language so that we can go visit another country and be able to order off the menu. These efforts are not some ephemeral, ivory tower field of study with no real goals or objectives. Language learning within valid cultural contexts causes us to think about the world we live in and the relationships within this world. Investigation of these questions using both written sources and the expertise of cultural tradition bearers requires rigorous scholarship and involves learning about biological and physical sciences, philosophy, religious/spiritual belief systems, ethics/values and literature that is many, if not all, of the content areas. This is a small example of what I have learned and what can be learned by following the models and processes many of you, the Native educators participating in this conference, have developed. Dogidinh to all of the educators for all that you have taught us and especially the Elders who continue to mentor and support us. References Cited: Cajete, G. (2000). Native Science: Natural Laws of Interdependence. Santa Fe: Clear Light Publishers. Deacon, B. (1987b). “Ni¬’oqay Ni’idaxin: The Man and Wife”, Engithidong Xugixudhoy: Their Stories of Long Ago (pp. 5-40). Fairbanks: Alaska Native Language Center. Jette, J., & Jones, E. (2000). Koyukon Athabaskan Dictionary. Fairbanks: Alaska Native Language Center: University of Alaska. Kari, J. (1990). Ahtna Athabaskan Dictionary. Fairbanks: Alaska Native Language Center. Nelson, R. K. (1983). Make Prayers to the Raven: A Koyukon View of the Northern Forest. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Osgood, C. (1940). Ingalik Material Culture (Vol. 22). New Haven: Human Relations Area Files Press. Osgood, C. (1958). Ingalik Social Culture (Vol. 53). New Haven: Yale University Press. Osgood, C. (1959). Ingalik Mental Culture (Vol. 56). New Haven: Department of Anthropology, Yale University. Posey, D. A. (2001). “Intellectual Property Rights and the Sacred Balance: Some Spiritual Consequences from the Commercialization of Traditional Resources”. In J. A. Grim (Ed.), Indigenous Traditions and Ecology: The Interbeing of Cosmology and Community (pp. 3–23). Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Wheeler, P. C. (1997). The Role of Cash in Northern Economies: A Case Study of Four Alaska Athabascan Villages. Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Alberta. Witherspoon, G. (1977). Language and Art in the Navajo Universe. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press.

Keyword(s): Volume 9, Issue 3

Learning Put Into Cultural Perspective by William Beans : I have observed interaction in a number of situations where I have watched students learning in an out-of-school situation. The adults who taught them were always willing, when given an opportunity, to teach skills they used in their everyday lives. They were the "elders", or professionals by right, in their daily life activities. I will give two examples-one of a male and the other of a female-teaching skills they have mastered in their perspective roles. The first one I would like to describe is the making of a taluyaq, or trap, used for catching black fish, mink, otter or muskrats in the traditional way. The instructor already had straight grain driftwood split into strips for the students. He explained that this wood can be found during the summer when at camp, etc. He explained that not just any wood can be used for this purpose. Students were able to look at and touch the wood as he explained. He described the grain of the wood and how it could bend easily without breaking. The straight grain wood was three and a half to four feet long. The driftwood had to be carved down to approximately one-half inch wide by three-eighths of an inch thick. The instructor then had the students get a feel for the canasuun, or carving tool, by giving them one. He demonstrated how to use it. Then he gave the students scrap wood so they could practice using the tool before they began carving the material for the traps. He explained that it was important for all the strips to be carved down and he told them how many they needed to complete the trap. Once done with the strips, he went on to make the neck of the trap, estimating how big he wanted the trap to be. He made his estimation based on materials at hand. The students carefully observed as he worked on the neck of the trap. He showed them each step of the way how it was to be done. The instructor also had roots of alder trees that he had gathered for tie downs. The roots had been gathered during the summer months from along the river bank. The elder showed in detail the process of putting the trap together, giving the students examples and having them work through the process firsthand step-by-step. With every success he gave them praise, letting them know that they have the ability and skill to make anything that they set out to. The students experienced success with each step they completed and were excited about what they were doing. The trap is considered completed when the apprentices, or students, set the trap and provide a meal for the elder and his family. The apprentice type teaching by the elder works with great success. The next teaching situation I would like to describe is the making of a parka. An elder, in the process of making her own parka, had two young ladies working with her while cutting, measuring and sewing materials. She did not use measuring tape, but rather used herself as a mannequin. She talked her students through the steps, describing how and which cuts and measurements went where. The elder had the students do the actual hands-on as she went about making measurements and cuts. She laid out the materials and explained why certain pieces went where. That is, there are certain patterns on the skins that the maker wants to match up. It is like working a puzzle, by piecing the skins together to get the visual just right. The cutting of the materials has to be just right, so that when the sewing begins the skins will not be lopsided or uneven. The elder got the visual of the pieces together then began the process of cutting. Under her close supervision the students were tasked with helping her cut the materials. As they completed a task, the elder explained the steps to the next one. Parka making involves a number of tasks. The ruff and trimming are added to make the parka complete. Each step involves sewing. The elder continually demonstrated how to do this while explaining the importance of the stitching. With each phase of work, the elder praised each lady's work. The students gained self-confidence as their efforts were acknowledged. The end result was a nice, completed parka for the elder. For the ladies, there was a feeling of accomplishment and a good feeling inside, knowing that the elder would have a parka to keep warm in the cold. The ladies also sensed that they would receive praise from other women about what great skills they possessed for being able to do a good job. In both of the tasks I have described, the teacher/elders showed much patience in working with the students. The frequent encouragement, praise and help they gave along the way kept the students from becoming frustrated, giving up and quitting. Learning the skills became a meaningful, unforgettable and enjoyable experience. In comparing and contrasting these examples to how learning occurs in school, it is to be noted that in the classroom setting this type of teaching and learning very rarely occurs. Why? In the classroom setting, teachers are textbook driven. Lessons are designed in such a way that teachers stick to teaching in a chronological order. Teachers are locked into a method of teaching that goes from addition to calculus, from Columbus to World War II. This method of teaching is very contradictory to the learning and teaching that occurs in our daily lives. The educational system we impose on students is contrary to the methods used by our elders. This puts into perspective why it seems our educational system is not working. In the classroom, our students are not interacting with someone, but rather are taking symbols and numbers and trying to make something of them. In many situations, students get frustrated and angry and as a result, do just enough to get by. In an interactive teaching situation, such as with the elders, students learn what is being taught and they grow through experiencing. The elders gain as they share with and learn from the students with whom they are interacting. In summing up, I would like to say, from the observations made, that we need to step back and look again at the population with whom we are working with. We need to reassess how we can become better educators, using the rich resources available to us, and capitalizing on the elders and what they have to offer.

Keyword(s): Volume 2, Issue 2

Learning Styles Grant Summary by Bob Maguire : The Association of Interior Native Educators (AINE) recently received a three-year grant from the U.S. DOE to fund the establishment of a Learning Styles Center to train teachers in both the Fairbanks North Star Borough School District and the Yukon-Koyukuk School District. National research on the effect of learning styles-based teaching has demonstrated that this style of teaching can produce a dramatic increase in student achievement and learning. The training of classroom teachers in how to assess individual students learning styles and, more importantly, how to set up classroom learning environments and develop teaching strategies based on learning styles is very exciting for Interior Alaska school districts. In the AINE Learning Styles grant there will be three "partner teachers" hired to serve as trainers and mentors for other teachers within the two districts. The FNSBSD will have two partner teachers and the YKSD will have one. During the first year of the grant, AINE will advertise and hire one position within YKSD and one position within the FNSBSD. The timeline for hire is second semester of the 2003-04 school year (January-May). These partner teachers will reside in Fairbanks and receive Learning Styles training as well as observing and working in a model Learning Styles classroom in Fairbanks. They will also be extensively involved in the planning of the 2004 Summer Institute on Learning Styles for teachers. Beginning with the second year of the grant, the partner teachers will mentor and work with both the YKSD and FNSBSD teaching staffs on site in their various classroom locations. In addition, the AINE Learning Styles Center grant will contain a curriculum development strand. This will allow for the continuation of culturally-relevant curriculum through the Project AIPA model based on the concept of an Elders academy bringing together certified Native teachers and selected Elders in a camp setting. The certified teachers then develop curriculum units based on their experiences. The potential for educational change throughout these two Interior school districts through the Learning Styles concept is extremely exciting. Anyone wishing further information regarding this new grant can contact Sheila Vent, Learning Styles Center project secretary at (907) 459-2141 or by e-mail: vents@doyon.com.

Keyword(s): Volume 9, Issue 1

Leave No Language Behind : presented by Sally and Sperry Ash at the 29th Annual Bilingual Multicultural Education/Equity Conference, Anchorage, Alaska, February 5, 2003 Camai, gui ataqa Kuku, nupugpakarpilama quyanakcagyumiamci nupugt'sllunuk mugtamllu unuarpak. Sugpia'ukuk Nanwalegmek nupugcilluki Sugpiat taumi Aluttit. Guangkuta uturpet Sugt'stun. Sungq'rtukut Nanwalegmek ernerpak ililillemta aualarnirt'slluku litnaurwik Sugt'stun. Katia Brewster, Ataka Moonin taumi Guitka Guangkuta Dynamic-kegkut, guangkunuk allu kimnuk, nanluta. Cali tainenguk Nanwalegmek Acuuk Kvasnikoff taumi Qelni Swenning. Sally and Sperry present at the 29th Annual Bilingual Multicultural Education/Equity Conference * Sally Ash teaches in the Nanwalek Sugt'stun Preschool. Sperry Ash received his Bachelor's degree in Education from the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) in 2002 and is continuing on toward his master's degree from UAF. Camai! My name is Sally Ash. Before I go on I would like to thank you very much for letting us speak here this morning. We are from Nanwalek and we are representing the Sugpiaq people from the Alutiiq-Sugpiaq region. Our Native language is Sugt'stun. There are some people from Nanwalek today that helped us get the immersion program started: Kathy Brewster, Rhoda Moonin and Sperry Ash. We are a dynamic team, not just the two of us, but all of us. Also a couple of people who didn't make it are Natalie Kvasnikoff and Emlie Swenning. I am Sugpiaq-Russian born to Sarjus and Juanita Kvasnikoff. I was born and raised in Nanwalek, which used to be known as English Bay. I didn't realize it but as I was growing up, my village was slowly changing from Sugpiaq to a more Western lifestyle. Forty-five years ago big changes came to Nanwalek-a big BIA school was built. Speaking only Sugt'stun, to me it was exciting, new and bright but the teachers who came were different-frightening, authoritative and appearing superior to my grandparents, aunties and uncles or even my own parents. Our Elders encouraged us to learn as much as we could and to speak English. I was a good learner, always interested about the outside world, as much as any of my peers. The teachers were always promising us great things if we finished school. The Elders wanted us to get an education and get back something that was taken away from us, not to mention the pain and shame they went through for speaking a Native language. They were only trying to protect us from what they went through. It wasn't until I had to go out of the village for high school that I realized what my Elders were talking about. How different the outside world became. I was happy to finally finish school, and then I got married and had kids. I was proudest when our kids were born because I was back in the village and learning once again from my Elders and women in the village about the rules on being a mother and raising a child in the Sugpiaq ways. It was through my children's eyes when I realized the important ingredients needed for life that I had left off in my rush to fit into this world. We moved to Anchorage for a few years when the kids were small. As I attended their parent/teacher conferences, the teachers would always end the meetings telling me how much the kids talked and wrote about the village. That sounded to me like their hearts belonged in the village, so we moved back. When I got the school bilingual instructor job I felt so lucky! What an important job. I didn't know what I was doing but I really took my job seriously. It was only then that I really realized how much of the language was dead and dying in my home and in the Alutiiq-Sugpiaq region. I had always thought our language would be alive and well in Nanwalek, but it seemed in a blink of an eye that only the Elders and a few young adults were speaking the language. This void, this emptiness had come silently, subtly. How did I, a speaker of the language, let this happen? It was through my children's eyes when I realized the important ingredients needed for life that I had left off in my rush to fit into this world. Where did the Elders and I fit in our community and school to pass on our God-given knowledge of culture and language? I tried my best to teach with no real support from anywhere until I finally met Sandra Holmes, to whom I am forever grateful. She literally opened my eyes and ears. She critiqued my classes and helped me understand how I need to teach in order to be effective. She moved and after that I had no real support from the school district. Over the years I came to realize that forty-five minutes a day, five days a week was hardly making a dent in saving our language. At the bilingual conferences I'd hear the bilingual representative from our district talk with the Russians about their school and they sounded like they were really doing good and moving along. Our program was so sad that I started dreaming of an immersion school. With the help and inspiration of individuals from other Native language immersion schools-Dr. Jeff Leer, our main linguist from UAF Alaska Native Language Center; Dr. Roy Itzu-Mitchel; Loddie Jones from Ayaprun Immersion School in Bethel; my husband Marlon and so many others (some of you may be even here today)-we were finally able to see our dream come true. We started our immersion school for our pre-school kids three years ago. Our Nanwalek Village Council sponsored us. With the support of parents and grandparents who could see the erosion of our language and culture and the rate we were losing our Elders, and with financial support from various agencies, we got started. Getting started was both an exciting and frustrating time for us. We just converted everything in the head start preschool curriculum into Sugt'stun. We used traditional songs and made up songs and borrowed from our Yup'ik friends. We wanted to work with our district school but they wouldn't even acknowledge us as a school. I remember when I used to teach as a bilingual teacher my credentials were never questioned-supposedly I knew enough to run the program and have complete responsibility. But when I suggested an immersion program, all of a sudden I knew nothing! They tried to discourage us saying that our kids would get confused in school if we did not teach in English. I did some worrying because my own daughter, Ivana, was one of our first students but the thing that kept me going was "Hey, English is all around us through TV and music and even our own people so it will always be there." I can tell you, Ivana is in the first grade and she is doing just fine and so are the rest of our first immersion graduates. We have the happiest times in our little school when our kids are responding to us or to each other in our language or when parents proudly let us know what they hear or what their kids are bringing home. Nothing in the world can beat that! In the mornings we do regular school work, songs and arts and crafts. Then we have lunch followed by some physical education and some total physical response (TPR) and everything is done in Sugt'stun all day. Our cook, Angun Seville, prepares as much fresh and healthy Native foods as he can. We have a long way to go, but as I look back, I am proud and grateful for our little school, for our Elders who share their knowledge so freely, for the parents who give us their little ones to pass on our language, and as our Yup'ik sister Loddie says, to pass on our inherited gift from our ancestors. When I hear of other villages struggling to keep their language alive, I say, "work harder; this is our opportunity and maybe our only chance." Our wildest dream is to teach a Sugt'stun immersion program from preschool to high school in the school that BIA gave us. We want to be a part of the healing that needs to take place for our lost culture and language. Are we, the Elders in our village, really the people our young kids look up to? We want to be. We should be. We, like any other village or community, want our children to be successful students and young adults. As our Elders say, "Agun'lu Kinautacin-don't forget who you are." We are doing it the best way we know works. I know that when my grandfather said about our language, culture and traditions, "I hope this will go on forever," he meant well. On behalf of all Alaska Native languages that are struggling to survive I urge, "Please don't leave our language behind." Continued by Sperry Ash: Mom just told you her experiences. I would like to discuss some other aspects of our language situation so I want to begin by saying we Sugpiaq/Alutiiq people, especially in the Kenai Peninsula, are minorities in our Native land. I think that is also the case for other Sugpiaqs in their regions-Prince William Sound, Kodiak and the Alaska Peninsula. Because of our minority status the use of our language suffers, especially within our educational systems: . We receive no meaningful Native language support from our school districts. . We are not allowed to have an immersion program for K-12 students, even though immersion programs do exist in our very own district for the Russian language. . Our immersion school is not recognized by our school district. . Not once has there been a Sugpiaq representative on any of the various school boards formed to determine education policies for our village. All of these decisions are made for us Sugpiaqs by others. Someone somewhere tells us what's good for us. As many of you are familiar, the history of American education with regard to cultural and language learning, especially in Alaska, is not one to be proud of. The educational flavor of the month is "Leave no child behind." Forgive my negative view, but as far as we can tell this is a new name for doing the same thing they were doing before. All it amounts to is teaching kids to pass some tests. Personally, I think a more appropriate name would be "One size fits all." Whether you agree or not, I can tell you it has not worked well in our village. The truth is we have only two graduates from Nanwalek. That's a pretty bad record. Even though we, in our village, pay the price for this miserable record, we lack the control to try things our way. Everything about the borough school in our village permeates with the attitude "we know what's best for your kids." Immersion is the unmentionable "I" word. This situation makes it very hard to make any progress when it comes to revitalizing our language. With the support of parents and grandparents who could see the erosion of our language and culture and the rate we were losing our Elders, and with financial support from various agencies, we got started. Besides our language we want to teach our kids to be proud of their culture, who they are, to be risk-takers and to have that can-do attitude they will need to solve the problems that they will face later on in life. The reality though is us kids will be just like our parents. We need to see our parents in charge instead of being helpers, having fun speaking their language instead of ashamed to say it in front of the principal, doing something proactive instead of crying or being consumed by anger about the situation and sharing our culture instead of being only observers and consumers of another culture. The struggle we continue to fight against alcoholism and other social diseases is in part a result of not being in control of our lives. These are the things we aim to promote in our school and none of them are on a test. I have heard it said "Your culture is so important . . . don't lose it," but when you try to actually do something then they say "first get your college degree and then we'll talk about it." For example, I took a lot of math in college. I was able to solve quadratic equations long enough to solve a few on a test. But you didn't invite me here to do that. Nobody does and probably never will. All you want to know and many like you is about our language and culture-all of which I could have learned from people who never went to college, maybe not high school or even grade school. My mom never went to college. It is an honor to sit beside her and talk to you about our situation. She, like so many of the parents and elderly in the Sugpiaq region, went through the period as a child when speaking Sugt'stun/Alutiit'stun was shunned, shameful or even forbidden. As children they swallowed this guilt. They held on to it. They also raised their children with it. I see it in the common From Sally & Sperry Ash: We really want to thank the organizers of this bilingual conference for inviting us to speak. We enjoyed the experience and the warm support we received. One of the things we do regret is that we did not adequately thank the many people and organizations that have helped us get to this point. Some of you that we would like to thank are: * Guilia Oliverio, UAF Alaska Native Language Center * Dr. Jeff Leer, UAF Alaska Native Language Center * Jennifer Harris, Chugachmuit * Sherrie Buretta, Chairman, Chugach Alaska Corporation * Teri Schneider, Alaska Rural Systemic Initiative * Staff of Ayaprun Elitnaurvik Immersion School in Bethel * All the parents who sent their kids to our school and Nanwalek IRA Tribal members who supported us * Our corporate donors: Chugach Alaska Corporation, CIRI, English Bay Corp, Rasmusen, DCRA, North Pacific Rim Housing Authority * Many of the staff and management from Chugach Alaska Corporation, Chugachmuit and the Nanwalek IRA Council. We also know that there are probably a few people and organizations who we forgot to mention. Please forgive our omission. There are also many of you out there who may not have time or money but support us in spirit. We thank you all for your support. mannerisms and attitudes towards our Sugpiaq language by this generation. Some still hold on to this. But my mom and a few others finally came to realize that it's okay to be Sugpiaq, Aleut, Alutiiq. It's okay to talk Sugt'stun, Alutiit'stun. Speaking Sugt'stun is not equated with being dumb or slow. Heck, they have two languages in their brains and we only have one. Who's using their brain more? I don't want to leave you with the impression that it has been a one- or two-person show. Many, many people have contributed to the effort of passing on the Sugt'stun language. There are many proactive community members in the village that share the high hopes for Sugt'stun. Just as we have support in the village, we also have support outside of the village. These connections have been equally as vital to the continuation of our efforts. Mom has mentioned a few so I will not run through the names again but I just want to reemphasize that the support we get is truly helpful. Cali, quyana! Unfortunately, we also have people in our small village of 250 and some outside the village who do not see value in teaching our language to future generations and that has been an additional burden to our efforts. Maybe I shouldn't have talked like this; those that are in disagreement with us might not understand what they are doing. Maybe we ourselves don't know what we are doing either. As my departed grandmother taught us many things about prayer, I ask you, the audience, to please pray for all of us. Pray for us and our efforts, that they are pleasing and acceptable to God. There are many more issues that need to be addressed related to language and its continuation, but of course we could not discuss them all in this time. I look forward to hearing from the rest of you and especially what you have to teach and share with us. Quyana. Besides our language we want to teach our kids to be proud of their culture, who they are, to be risk-takers and to have that can-do attitude they will need to solve the problems that they will face later on in life.

Keyword(s): Volume 8, Issue 3

Lessons For All Schools by Ray Barnhardt : As we go about the work of implementing the locally-oriented rural school reform strategies that serve as the basis for the Alaska Rural Systemic Initiative (AKRSI) and Rural Challenge, it is important that we be mindful of how Alaska fits into the larger school reform agendas that are underway on a national level. To what extent can we learn from what is happening elsewhere in the country and what lessons can we contribute to school reform efforts nationally? The good news is there is a lot of convergence in the direction of school reform initiatives at the state and national levels, in part because the lessons from Alaska are having an impact on policy-making and funding nationally. The bad news is, we have a long way to go to achieve the levels of improvement in schooling outcomes that are at the heart of the reform agendas at the local, state and national levels. One avenue AKRSI is contributing to the national agenda on school reform is through the data collection and analysis that we are doing as part of the National Science Foundation's effort to track the impact of the systemic reform strategies that are being funded through its Educational System Reform division. AKRSI is being implemented in all geographic regions of the state and is focused specifically on Alaska Native students in small rural schools. The current reform initiatives encompass 70% of Native students in rural Alaska who are located in 20 rural districts directly involved with AKRSI, most of which serve a student population that is over 90% Alaska Native. Following is a summary of some of the results that we have submitted to NSF as part of our annual report on the impact of the AKRSI. Lessons from Rural Alaska AKRSI is working directly, through MOAs, with 20 of the 48 rural school districts in Alaska. To gauge the impact of the AKRSI initiatives, data comparing the performance of the AKRSI and non-AKRSI schools on measures selected from the DOE summary of school district report cards has been included in the Year Four Annual Report. The data indicates that the cumulative effect of increasing the connections between what students experience in school and what they experience outside school appears to have a significant impact on their academic performance. The initial indicators of the effects of the first three years of implementation of the Alaska Rural Systemic Initiative follows: There has been a net gain between AKRSI partner schools over non-AKRSI rural schools in the percentage of students who are in the upper quartile on eigth-grade standardized achievement tests in mathematics. There has also been a corresponding decrease in the percentage of students who are performing in the bottom quartile. Eighth grade mathematics performance. Percentage of students in top quartile on CAT-5. At the eleventh-grade level, AKRSI students are moving out of the lower quartile in math performance at a greater rate than non-AKRSI students, while non-AKRSI students are entering the top quartile at a slower pace than AKRSI students, though both groups are showing signs of improvement. t The student dropout rate for grades 7-12 in AKRSI partner schools declined from a mean of 4.4 in 1995 to 3.5 in 1998, whereas the dropout rate decreased from 2.6 to 2.4 in non-AKRSI rural schools in the same time period. t The number of students enrolled at UA campuses from rural districts involved with AKRSI (20 districts, 133 communities) increased by 21% between 1995 and 1998, while the enrollment of new rural students from non-AKRSI rural districts in Alaska (28 districts, 120 communities) decreased by 7% in the same period. t Of the 12 major math, engineering and science fields of study available at UAF, the percent of Alaska Native student enrollment has increased in seven fields (math, biology, geology, civil engineering, electrical engineering, fisheries, and wildlife biology), stayed the same in two (chemistry and mining engineering) and decreased in three (physics, mechanical engineering and petroleum engineering). It is noteworthy to point out the substantial increase in the enrollment of Alaska Native students in the life/biological science fields (including fisheries and wildlife biology), since that is consistent with the interests shown by younger students as they select topics for developing a project to enter into a science fair. It also reflects strong practical considerations, since the increases in Native enrollments are in those fields for which job opportunities are most likely to be available in rural communities. In addition, these are the majors that are most consistent with the areas of expertise that have been at the heart of the survival of indigenous cultures and traditional knowledge systems. The results of the first three years of AKRSI indicate that the integration of Native knowledge, ways of knowing and world views into all aspects of the educational system can have a significant beneficial impact on the academic performance and aspirations of Alaska Native students. These strategies are now reflected in the Alaska Standards for Culturally Responsive Schools, which have attracted interest in rural schools and communities throughout the U.S. as well as in indigenous communities elsewhere in the world. Similar results are being reported from other rural schools around the country participating in the Rural Challenge reform effort, where the community-school link is at the heart of the reform strategy. Reinforcement from the National Level The most recent indication that the results of these large-scale, rural school systemic reform initiatives are beginning to have an impact at the national level is the major policy initiative announced on October 13th by Richard Riley, U.S. Secretary of Education, entitled "Schools as the Centers of Community." Secretary Riley outlined the following points as the focus of this new federal initiative: 1. Citizens need to be more involved and engaged in planning and designing schools. 2. We need to build smaller schools rather than "schools the size of shopping malls." Research supports smaller schools. Rural schools that have resisted consolidation deserve a closer look as a model that all schools should aspire to. 3. We need to build new schools that serve the entire community through multipurpose use at all hours throughout the year. It makes no sense to build costly buildings that are closed for two-thirds of every day and one-quarter of every year. 4. We need to look at every community as a living classroom to help students find new pathways to learning. The "shopping mall" approach to schooling has not produced the academic or economic benefits that its bigger-is-better proponents espoused. Any gains associated with the mega-schools have come at the expense of personalized relationships in the classroom and disassociation from the families and communities being served, both of which are strengths of small rural schools. Rural schools in Alaska have clearly demonstrated that they can provide strong educational programs for the students they serve. Many have begun to close the achievement gap with their urban counterparts. They are doing so with an educational approach that capitalizes on their strength as small scale institutions and on the rich educational opportunities in the surrounding community. While schools in rural Alaska have a long way to go to adequately address the many unique issues they face, the current signs of progress indicate that now is not the time to pull the rug out from under them, as some recent legislative proposals would do. The state has a constitutional responsibility to provide equitable educational opportunities for all its citizens, but that does not mean all schools must look alike or that equity can be achieved with the same levels of funding for each school. Instead, we need to focus on what is working, locally and nationally, and continue to build a strong community-oriented educational system that can accommodate the diverse needs of all segments of the state's population. The return on the state's investment will be many-fold and the lessons we learn along the way will be of benefit, not only to rural schools, but to all schools. Percentage of Alaska Native student enrollments at UAF in math/science majors (1994, 1995, 1997, 1998)

Keyword(s): Volume 4, Issue 5

Lessons Learned by Mary Rubadeau : An address for the Alaska Native Education Leadership Retreat, January 1999, Wasilla, Alaska It has been a remarkable and rewarding afternoon, listening to the talented and committed people speaking today. They are giving us their pledge to keep the educational needs of rural Alaska and Alaska Natives at the very center of their decision-making on the statewide scale. I applaud the vision and commitment of everyone in this room and the organizers of this retreat. What we are about today is Alaska Native student success. Twenty years ago my husband, Bob, and I moved from New York to Unalakleet. I was to be the special education teacher for the BIA school there. I had a shiny new degree and was ready to get right in there and "change the world!" But, as happens often in life, things turned out differently than I had planned. And, looking back, I guess you could say that the best part of my "real education" began there on the Bering Sea coast. I want to spend a few minutes telling you about some of my teachers and how they taught me what I needed to know. A few "lessons from the bush." I also want to share a short list of guiding principles I learned from these cultural teachers-a checklist I have used as a quick test for myself to see if an idea meets the high standards of cultural relevance and application. And then I will relate briefly how the Juneau School District responded positively to an Office of Civil Rights complaint and built programs and services to better meet the educational needs of our Alaska Native students. My first teachers in Unalakleet were Thora and Martha-the two oldest women in the village. They waved us over on our first walk through town. Many of you know the kind of wave I mean! With a mischievous twinkle in their eyes and not an ounce of shyness in their direct interrogation, they introduced us to our first important lesson. They asked the important questions first, to put us into a context they could understand with information about the single most important influence on who we were: our families. Where does your family live? Is it a city? Have they been to Alaska? Will they miss you? Brothers? Sisters? Nieces, nephews? Why don't you have any children yet? Over tea they spoke about their own families. It was important that they let us know how their lives had grown in relation to others. So many names! Martha alone had twenty-four grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. Thora, as a much sought after traditional midwife, had delivered hundreds of babies over her fifty-year vocation. All were "family." In the following years I learned to listen to people as they told me about a child. You know what I mean, "That little Rosie, she is Diane's second girl, fourth baby. Her mother is Elsa, sister to Ruby from Bethel. Baby's father is Clarence. His mother was Ethel and married to the postmaster . . . " I always found within those names the right person to call if Rosie was having a difficult time. They gave me the adult mentor for this child. Just the right advocate in this child's life that would help me see to the child's needs-Lesson Number One. Before we left that first day they pulled me aside and agreed that now that I was in Unalakleet I would have babies. They told me to drink stinkweed tea and sleep with my feet towards the door. Sure enough, both of my children came as naturally into the village as that first conversation with these remarkable women. All of the latest findings in developmental brain research points to the tremendous importance of nurturing, parental involvement and positive stimulation during the earliest years of a baby's life. As a cornerstone of their culture, Alaska Natives understand and reinforce this concept. Children from birth were not left behind. They were brought to every event, every meeting. Their well-being was factored without mention into planning large community gatherings or small groups discussing matters at city hall. Children were not excluded. Their needs were never thought of as separate from the agenda of a meeting. This was Lesson Number Two. As a teacher I watched with interest the keen, but fair, competitiveness of the children. Although setting high goals and meeting the mark was evident in athletics and subsistence activities, it was hard to find the right way to transfer the strategy to the classroom. I asked Thora about how could I get my students to view algebra like a foot race. She sat me down in her kitchen and with all of the great acting ability of an accomplished storyteller, and told me why competition, although sometimes necessary, should always make us laugh, not create winners and losers: Two old women were picking berries on the tundra in their long dresses and their break-up boots. These women had spent their whole lives as friends, gone to school, raised their families, and enjoyed their status as Elders. The picking was good and in the late afternoon they found themselves far away from the village, near a stand of willows. Suddenly a big grizzly bear lumbers out of the trees and spots them. They begin to back away and the bear slowly follows them out across the tundra. The two women turn and run arm in arm across the tough footing of the tundra. Looking back they see that the bear is gaining. Suddenly, one of the ladies sits down on the tundra, kicks off her rubber boots and begins digging in her backpack for her tennis shoes. Her friend is trying to pull her back to her feet as the bear closes the distance. "Hurry up, hurry up," she said. "Those shoes aren't going to help you outrun the bear!" The seated woman ties her last knot and jumps to her feet. "I don't have to outrun the bear," she said with a wink, "I just have to outrun you!" Competition is not the only way to motivate and interest a child in achieving high standards-Lesson Number Three. We need to look to our pockets of excellence in Alaska: There are many exceptional classrooms already in rural and urban Alaska. Classrooms in all of our districts where: * The learning outcomes-the targets for success are clear. * All students find opportunities within the school day to shine. * Teachers have resources-including technology. * There are many ways for students to demonstrate competencies. * There are consistent high expectations for all students. * Highly trained and creative teachers employ a variety of instructional methods to meet diverse learning styles. * The richness of Native language, music and culture is celebrated for its cognitive and spiritual worth. * Parents and caregivers are full participants in the educational plans for their children. * The challenge to all of us as educational leaders is to expand the success of these model classrooms system wide. * The role of parents in a child's education is one of the highest predictors of future success. * All children are special. Each learns in their own unique way. Beware of categories that divert resources from the primary teacher-student relationship. * Community partnerships with business leaders, elected officials, parents and family service agencies strengthen an educational system. * Keep what is best for children and learning at the very center of your agenda. Put bargaining units, facility needs and grant criteria secondary to designing an educational program to meet each child's needs. * Schools are a community asset to be used to assist children and families. Mental health counseling, family support services, before and after school programs, structured recreational activities and adult learning opportunities all belong within the walls of a school. * A positive and safe school climate where respect is a core value that is reinforced at every opportunity. I'd also like to share a few stories from Juneau. There are 1,150 Alaska Native students in the Juneau Schools, approximately 20% of the student population. When I went to Juneau in 1994, there was a complaint against the district from the Office of Civil Rights regarding the over-identification of Native students in special education. This was a national problem that was very real in the Juneau School District and it was not clear how to resolve it. If we decertified children from eligibility, then funding and services would be cut. Many Alaska Native leaders, parents, specialists, teachers and even administrators become students of the problem. We networked with national experts and read and thought and talked and listened to each other. Today we can't claim that the issue is resolved, but we have new strategies that work far better to serve kids and families while placing a high value on cultural influences on learning. Those strategies include: 3 cultural interviews, 3 new assessments, 3 intervention teams and 3 a long term plan for staff development on equity and multicultural issues. We have also developed a vision for identifying Alaska Native language and cultural and traditional learning styles as gifts, not handicaps. We have stopped putting bureaucratic labels of "communication disordered" and "learning disabled" on kids, and have taken administrative and paperwork time and used it to better serve them. In the past year, the district has worked with Native leaders to develop a Tlingit Language Plan. Juneau is making a commitment to blending the traditional language and cultural history within multiple aspects of the curriculum, not simply creating a separate class that must compete for limited resources. We have a cadre of teachers who have made a commitment to be our anchor team to kindle this fire that we know will take years of resolve to flourish. But it does feel good to be taking action on this critical issue instead of just talking and wringing our hands! The actions we have taken in Juneau have one common goal-to increase the achievement and success of Native students. We've worked towards this goal on many fronts: new alternative programs, more classroom options, summer school, tutorials, an Early Scholars and Elders-in-the-Schools program and a partnership with Headstart to serve 20 additional Native children and families in a new site in one of our schools. We are making progress, but again these actions require long-term commitment. We have much to learn from each other. I feel privileged today to share some of my reflections and experiences with you. My vision for the future is an individualized learning plan for every child-a blueprint for learning. My future has students demonstrating their competencies in a project-based format. Each student will have a portfolio of their educational products that show their abilities and work. My future for education includes a positive adult mentor for each student. No child can have too many people interested in their well-being and development and every child deserves a mentor and advocate. I look forward to building on the many other lessons handed down from Thora and Martha. I am excited about listening and learning from all of you over the next two days. Thank you for hosting this retreat. Thanks to all of you for being here. It will take every ounce of our leadership, vision and resolve to make sure that all of the children in Alaska have not only the opportunity to dream big dreams, but also the skills to make them come true. Thank you, Quyana, Gunalcheesh

Keyword(s): Volume 4, Issue 3

Linking Indigenous and Western Knowledge Systems in Education by Ray Barnhardt : On September 22-23, AKRSI brought together a group of scientists, Native educators, and members of the Alaska Native Science Education Coalition, along with AKRSI staff, to participate in a colloquium on "Linking Indigenous and Western Knowledge Systems in Education." The purpose of the colloquium was to takgfe stock of current thinking regarding the interface between indigenous and Western knowledge systems as they are brought together in schools, particularly in the areas of science and mathematics. The Alaska Rural Systemic Initiative has been experimenting with various approaches to integrating Indigenous knowledge into the formal education system over the past three years, and while this has led to some very promising and innovative initiatives, it has also raised a lot of complex issues and challenging questions regarding the implications of bringing two very different knowledge systems together under one roof. We began the colloquium with presentations and discussion regarding the experiences gained from several of the Elders' academies and science camps that were held around the state this past summer and fall. Reports were presented on the Old Minto Cultural Camp, the AINE Academy of Elders, the ANSWER Camp in Galena, the AISES Science Camps in Fairbanks and Afognak, Camp WATER in Southeast Alaska, Camp Qungaayux in Unalaska, and the Alakanuk Cultural Camp that had just been completed the previous week. All of these camps and academies brought together Elders, students, and teachers in various camp settings to focus on learning aspects of both Indigenous and Western knowledge. The presentations set the stage for a more extensive discussion the next day around the reactions of the participants to various issues raised by the camp experiences, with the intent being to develop guidelines for schools on how to get the most educational value out of traditional camps as learning environments. Alan Dick is now preparing a draft Science Camp Handbook, which will be distributed in draft form for review and feedback, and then published for general distribution to schools throughout the state. A copy will also be posted for access on the Alaska Native Knowledge Network website at: http://www.ankn.uaf.edu. We also invited those colloquium participants who could stay on for another day to join an on-going working group that Peggy Cowan has been convening to develop culturally-appropriate measures for determining how well students at various levels have learned the knowledge and skills associated with the Alaska Science Content Standards. The results of this work will be made available to schools by the Alaska Department of Education as part of the state's Quality Schools Initiative. We wish to express our appreciation to all the people who helped organize and participated in the colloquium. It was a mind-stretching exercise from which we will all benefit.

Keyword(s): Volume 3, Issue 5

Local Culture and Academic Success Go Together by Mike Hull : by Mike Hull, Principal Place-based Education in Russian Mission Something special is happening in Russian Mission. Just three years ago one-third of the children ages 12 through 16 were not attending school. Now every child of school age is in school. Three years ago there was great concern about test scores because they were among the lowest in the district. Last year six of our seniors passed all three sections of the Alaska High School Graduation Qualifying Exam, and the other two passed writing. Our ten third-graders achieved advanced or proficient scores on all sections of the Benchmark test. Margie Larson and Jimmie Polty with their first beaver. Changes that are this broad-based are not merely the product of great teaching-though we have great teachers. Research shows that teachers can accomplish a lot, but a high level of success is attainable only if you have family and community support. There are many great stories within the process we are going through. I will present one change because it is at once simple and perhaps a catalyst for others. Members of the school staff and community targeted the junior high because that was the age group that was dropping out of school. We built a curriculum based on the subsistence activities of each season. Young people of that age have a lot of energy, do not do well in confined spaces, and they are trying to define their place in the world. Traditionally these adolescents would have begun learning the roles of young men and women, getting prepared by the community to take positions of responsibility. We sent them to camp for two weeks in the fall. They caught fish, picked berries, learned about medicinal plants, cooked and they climbed mountains. While doing this, they recorded their activities with digital cameras and lap top computers. When they came home, they processed all this information and developed web pages to share their adventures with others. They became storytellers-to the global community. When in the classroom much of their reading and writing focused on the wildlife of the area as well as local history. They studied their world. Then they went out, on a weekly basis, for experience-based learning with local experts. Max Nickoli, the librarian, and Wassily Alexie, the school maintenance man, took them ice fishing and had them set rabbit and beaver snares and blackfish traps. They learned how to skin beavers and build snow shelters. And they came home and, again, told their stories. Seventh- and eighth-grade students studied a beaver lodge. Seventh- and eighth-grade students camped on top of the mountain and got a view of their home. This fall students traveled by canoe between three different camps. Each camp focused on a different aspect of subsistence. Students caught and cleaned fish, went hunting, studied beaver habitat and built a cabin they will use for trapping this winter. The activities set a pace for the students that carries over into the classroom. We need to keep moving because there are things we need to get done-inside the classroom and outside. Set the snare . . . finish this book. Kids who had never seen a beaver lodge snared and skinned their first beaver. The same kids raised their reading level by more than a year in just five months. Junior high students are, by circumstance of their own developmental level, self-conscious and even self-centered. So, why not make them and their world the things they read and write about? They are trying to find out who they are-show them. They want to know their place in the world-bring them into their world. The resources are within each village-each has land, heritage, experts and children. This is but one element of what is taking place at Russian Mission. The school has done nothing more than integrate into its program the skills necessary to sustain life in a subsistence setting. Isn't that the purpose of an education-to acquire the skills one needs to lead a productive life in one's community? By doing so the school has made a statement about the value of traditional skills and the value of culture. Students study their heritage and practice it and it is working. It is gratifying to see young people excited about what they are doing. It is even more special to see young people excited about who they are. Perhaps the community of Russian Mission has come to acknowledge the value of school because the school has come to acknowledged the value of the local heritage?

Keyword(s): Volume 7, Issue 5

Love and Caring for Balance by Angayuqaq Oscar Kawagley : Because I have not always loved myself and was thus a parent who did not experience fully the maturation of my children during their teenage years, I missed out in that critical time of their growing up. I have one important piece of advice for those of you who may not have a love for yourself, and that is to do some thoughtful self-examination. The problem may arise due to being dysfunctional as a result of poverty, alcoholism or some sort of mental or physical disability. If you find yourself lacking in self-worth, then you must change yourself first. To love someone else, you must first learn to love yourself. This allows the process of loving your children and others to become a part of your life. I applaud those of you that have this emotional and spiritual quality in you already. Several issues ago, I wrote an article about talking to, singing to and making the child feel good while still in the mother's womb. This is important for the child to learn the sounds you make as the mother, the father or the grandparent. They will learn to identify you as parents and as members of the family. They most importantly will recognize the love being shown to them. Through this love they will obtain a sense of belonging-belonging to the mother, the father, siblings and grandparents. At a later time the child will learn that s/he belongs to a village/community, a group of people, and in some instances, a tribe. You as the parents begin to teach the youngster by example. which is a more powerful teaching/learning tool than any formal method you may use. And now here is my secret, a very simple secret; it is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye (Antoine de Saint-Exupery). This builds the self-respect and pride of the child by knowing who they are and where they are from. As the Golden Buddha is made of pure gold, so there is a golden essence in each child. We, as parents, must nurture this natural self, so that the child grows up strong with the golden glow of self and never loses it. Below is a poem written by Kahlil Gibran1. Ellam Yua, God, has a plan for each of us. It is these inner assets that the child already possesses that we want to develop so s/he can grow up to become the very best they are capable of becoming. Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself. They come through you but not from you, And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you. You may give them your love but not your thoughts, For they have their own thoughts. You may house their bodies but not their souls, For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, Which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams. You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you, For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday. You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth. The archer sees the mark upon the path of the Infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows might go swift and far. Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness; For even as He loves the arrow that flies, So He loves also the bow that is stable. by Kahlil Gibran The modern world has been struggling with the education of our children for quite some time. We in Alaska are trying to change education so that its foundation becomes our Native worldviews using the languages that constructed them. We continue to struggle against those that oppose us, laws that present obstacles and money that is reduced or taken away. Yet, when you think about it, our ancestors and parents knew what they were doing when they provided an education based on knowing who you are and where you are. They produced children with minds that have a home. Many of us have homeless minds because of lack of being told our stories. I am again going to provide another story from the book, All I Ever Really Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten by Robert Fulghum: Most of what I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be, I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not be at the top of the graduate mountain, but there in the sandbox at the nursery school. These are the things I learned. Share everything. Play fair. Don't hit people. Put things back where you found them. Clean up your own mess. Don't take things that aren't yours. Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody. Wash your hands before you eat. Flush. Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you. Live a balanced life. Learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some. Take a nap every afternoon. When you go out into the world, watch for traffic. Hold hands and stick together. Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the plastic cup. The roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that. Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the plastic cup-they all die. So do we. And then remember the book about Dick and Jane and the first word you learned, the biggest word of all: LOOK. Everything you need to know is in there somewhere. The Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation. Ecology and politics. Sane living. Think of what a better world it would be if we all-the whole world-had cookies and milk about 3:00 o'clock every afternoon and then lay down with our blankets for a nap. Or if we had a basic policy in our nations to always put things back where we found them and cleaned up our own messes. And it is still true, no matter how old you are, when you go out into the World, it is better to hold hands and stick together. From this we learn that we acquire a lot of knowledge without realizing it from conception to birth to death. For our children in schools, it is necessary that they not only learn the three "Rs", but include a fourth "R", relaxation. We have forgotten how to do this. Children from the first grade through high school need time for quiet. A time for reflection, a time to imagine, a time to visualize what one would want to be in the future. Teach our children to dream and then help them make those dreams come true. Quyana. 1. The poem and story were excerpted from Canfield, J. & Hansen, M. C., editors. Chicken Soup for the Soul: 101 Stories to Open the Heart and Rekindle the Spirit. Deerfield Beach, FL.: Health Communications, Inc., 1993.

Keyword(s): Volume 7, Issue 5

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