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 Contact information in earlier issues could be outdated.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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Science and Math Support Available from the SMCNWS by Stephanie Hoag:l. Identify, inventory and disseminate resources for science and math education. 2. Provide technical assistance and training in support of state and local initiatives (such as Alaska RSI!) for quality science and math content, curriculum improvement and teacher enhancement. As the Alaska state coordinator for the consortium, I am interested in finding ways to help the participants in the Alaska Rural Systemic Initiative meet their goals. Last spring, we gave travel grants to help educators participate in many training activities for rural, locally relevant science education. These included the Old Minto Camp, Project WILD, the 4-H Fisheries Project, and the Alaska Pacific University's summer science program for rural teachers. We are working on creating a mailing list to contact math and science educators directly about free and inexpensive classroom materials, training opportunities, grants available and many other resources. We'll use email as the primary means of disseminating information, but would like to encourage anyone interested to sign up-even if they don't use e-mail yet! To sign up for the mailing list, you may contact me using the information given below, or sign up via the World-Wide Web at http://www.col-ed.org. (Look for SMCNWS and "become a partner".) In addition to signing up to receive information, please contact me if you want to tell other educators about great math and science resources you have found. Another project underway is an inventory of all of the "informal" science and math education providers in Alaska. This includes museums, youth programs, government agencies, and other organizations that have science exhibits, hands-on kits to distribute, classroom materials, speakers and experts to talk to classes, math- and science-related activities for young people and other types of programs. We'll be distributing a directory later this year. Meanwhile, please feel free to contact me for information about informal science and math providers, or to tell me about any organizations or programs I might have missed! You may contact me by phone, fax, mail or e-mail as follows: Stephanie Hoag Alaska Coordinator, SMCNWS 119 Seward #4 Juneau, Alaska 99801 Phone: 907-463-4829 Fax: 907-463-3446 E-mail: shoag@ptialaska.net | |
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Searching ANKN's Curriculum Resources Database on the Internet by Sean Asiqluq Topkok:For example, for "Inupiaq", you will find resources sorted from very useful to somewhat useful. You may sort by culture, grade, or theme. You can then click on "Start Search" or press the Return/Enter key. It will give you ten resources at a time, with the title of the resource, author, rating, culture/language(s) and theme(s). If you want to see a more detailed description of the resource, then you can click once on the title. Most resources have detailed descriptions and how to acquire the resource, including an email address for more information. You can also search the database using the spiral chart of twelve themes and grade levels. The link to the chart can be easily found from the Culturally-Based Curriculum Resources page. You may know of a resource which might be useful to include in the database. You could contact us by filling out a simple form over the internet. There is a button "Add Resource" on the detailed webpage. If you have used a resource and want to share how well it works for your community, you could fill out a simple survey form found on the site. If you cannot find exactly what you are looking for or have questions or comments about the searchable database, then you can email Sean Topkok at fncst@uaf.edu or call ANKN Clearinghouse at (907) 474-5897. Type your request: Sort by Return 10 records at a time The database is being updated continuously. Culture Start Search Inupiaq You can search the database using the spiral chart of twelve themes and grade levels. The link to the chart can be easily found from the Culturally-Based Curriculum Resources page. | |
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September Meeting Enriches Staff by Gail Pass:Working groups important to the Alaska RSI were formed and interested members were assigned to a working group. Topics of the working groups are: Cultural and Intellectual Property Rights, Native Educators Network, Indigenous Curriculum Framework, Formulation of the Regional Cultural Atlas, Control of Educational Systems and the Alaska Native Knowledge Network Publication Review. A recap of last year's initiatives followed. The annual report was reviewed as well as the Alaska RSI strategic plan for year two. A brief discussion took place about implementing the Annenberg Rural Challenge MOAs and the effects on staff roles, including new additions like Harold Napoleon who has been hired to direct the Reclamation of Tribal Histories. A work plan with the initiatives was formulated by each region for year two. The remainder of the meeting welcomed the newly-founded board members of the Alaska First Nations Research Network, a division of the Mokakit Research Association in Canada. Dr. Oscar Kawagley presided as director and planning began for hosting the Mokakit Conference in Anchorage on February 10-11, 1997. Overall, the staff meeting rejuvenated everyone into the shift of regional initiatives, the addition of Annenberg Rural Challenge and the new school year. Moses Dirks, Amy Van Hatten, Barbara Liu and Elmer Jackson present the Alaska RSI to attendees of the 46th Annual Arctic Science Conference in Girdwood this fall. PHOTO BY LOLLY CARPLUK | |
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Southeast Alaska Native Education Association (SEANEA) by Della Cheney, SEANEA Coordinator:Throughout most of our lives school has presented facts and hypothesis that most of us do not experience or share with the Western culture. We are always struggling to understand without participating because most of the Western ways are not part of our daily lives. Our cultural activities are more important, not only because they are daily, but because they involve our family and friends. The life we live is different than what we learn in school. There are similarities but most often they involve only the material side, such as money, plane and ferry rides, a new movie, purchase of materials and tools for our way of life. Time changes and with it our way of life. The Southeast Alaska Native Education Association (SEANEA) is working towards fitting our Native ways into the school system so that our children can apply their learning to their daily lives and make them participants in what they are studying. How does this happen? Who will be the teachers? What books are available? What type of curriculum will be needed to accomplish this goal? Does it meet the standards? What political action needs to be taken to allow Alaska Native history into the classroom? Does it only have to be accepted by the local school board or as a blanket "State" action? Do we have people from our Alaska Native community who speak the language and know the history, stories and way of life that can be certified to teach without leaving their communities? These are just a few of the questions that the SEANEA group will have to address as they develop the curriculum needed to reflect the Alaska Native ways of life. The answers to these questions will help students and teachers relate their teaching to our way of life which will provide students with a better understanding of the facts and hypothesis to help them compete in the Western culture. In the book, The Story of Philosophy, by Will Durrant (1926), he stated that John Dewey, an early American philosopher (who was the rudder of education in America) of the early 1900s believed ". . . that even the science should not be book-learning, but should come to the pupil from the actual practice of useful occupations . . . Things are to be explained, then, not by supernatural causation, but by their place and function in the environment" (p. 568). The importance of this statement is what SEANEA is trying to incorporate into the schools. That is to help Alaska Native students use their environment and culture to understand the hypothesis of a liberal education. SEANEA will be influential in bringing Alaska Native ways into our schools because it embodies what Dewey states when he says, "The aim of the political order is to help the individual to develop himself completely; and this can come only when each shares, up to his capacity, in determining the capacity, in determining the policy and destiny of his group" (p. 572). I interpret this to say that Alaska Native people know best how they live and learn and must participate in the education of their children. Struggle It's a struggle Developing Solidarity. It's a struggle Being Positive It's a struggle Making Common Unity. It's a struggle LIVING. It's a struggle Because it's slow But if we Struggle At developing Solidarity, Being Positive Shaping Reality, Making Common Unity, We will all Grow Because to struggle Is to work for Change, and Change is the focus of Education, and Education is the Basis of Knowledge, and Knowledge is the Basis for Growth and Growth is the Basis for Being Positive and Being Positive is the Basis for Building Solidarity Building solidarity is a way to shape Reality and Shaping Reality is Living and Living is Loving, So Struggle -Mel King, 1981, Director of Community Fellows Program, Department of Urban Studies and Planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology | |
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Southeast Region : | |
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Southeast Region by Andy Hope:November 6-8, Juneau: Curriculum workshop with Richard and Nora Dauenhauer of Sealaska Heritage Foundation and Jackie Kookesh, a Tlingit math/science teacher. A Tlingit math curriculum guide will be produced as a result of this workshop. The math guide will be supplemented with a Tlingit country map and traditional Tlingit, Tsimshian and Haida calendars. The map will include surrounding First Nations and a comprehensive listing of traditional tribes and clans within each of the respective nations. Jackie Kookesh is the main author of this publication, with help from the Dauenhauers and myself. Illustrations will be produced by Jackie Kookesh and Harold Jacobs. The guide will be published in late December. November 12-13, Data collection workshop, Sitka: This workshop was facilitated by Jana Garcia, a Haida archivist (email: jan@accessone.com). A detailed report on this article is available. Write to me at UAS, 11120 Glacier Highway, Juneau, Alaska 99801. Among the workshop recommendations: Design and implement a survey tool to identify and describe Southeast Alaska Native curriculum materials and collections. Compile the information together with a bibliography of published resources. Special attention should be taken to ensure accuracy of information, particularly regarding availability (access and use). I will be participating in a follow-up teleconference with Bill Schneider and Jana on December 12 to further discuss the issue of access and use of materials on traditional Native knowledge. This will be a continuing major issue in each of our regions as we move through this project. November 14-15, Alaska RSI Coalition, Juneau. This meeting was organized and hosted by Peggy Cowan, science specialist at the State Department of Education. Participants included a wide spectrum of representatives from organizations around the state who are working with school districts to make their math or science education activities more appropriate for Native students. One workshop highlight was the presentation of the Alaska Math/Science Frameworks Indigenous section "Native Ways of Knowing and the Curriculum." It provides a framework to help districts design compatible learning systems that allow for and support multiple worldviews. See volume 1, issue 5 of the Sharing Our Pathways newsletter for an article by Peggy Cowan on the frameworks. During the Alaska RSI Coalition meeting, I was able to meet with Sidney Stephens of the Alaska Science Consortium (ASC) to discuss completion of the Tlingit chapter of the ASC Native Uses of the Seas and Rivers handbook. This handbook will be published in the next few months, and will include contributions from teachers throughout Southeast Alaska. | |
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Southeast Region by Andy Hope:The math book was originally published by Tlingit Readers in 1973. It was written by the late Katherine Mills of Hoonah and her students at Hoonah High School. The revised book is being produced by Jackie Kookesh, currently a graduate student at University of Alaska Southeast in Juneau. Jackie is receiving technical support from Nora and Richard Dauenhauer and Michael Travis of Sealaska Heritage Foundation. The book will be made available at no charge to teachers in our three 1997 consortium districts: Chatham, Sitka and Hoonah. For others interested, please contact me at 465-6362. The other publishing project to be completed by the end of March is the Tlingit Country Map and Tribal List. The map will list the traditional tribal territories of the Tlingit. It will be accompanied by a list of traditional Tlingit tribes, clans and clan houses. One of our main 1997 initiatives will be starting work on a regional cultural atlas. This atlas will be funded by the National Science Foundation and will have a math and science orientation. To begin work on this inititative, I will be working with a small design team. The team conducted its first meeting in Sitka on February 21 in conjunction with the Third Annual Native Higher Education Conference at Sheldon Jackson College. I have organized two teleconferences to work on plans for summer programs. A number of possibilities have been discussed including a family history workshop, a curriculum development workshop, an Axe Handle Academy and a Tlingit language workshop. There is general agreement that the programs should take place in Sitka and that the target participants should be teachers from the three consortium districts and members of the Southeast Alaska Native Educators Association (SEANEA). Final decisions have not been made as of this date, pending further consultation with the SEANEA and at least one more planning teleconference. The Southeast Regional Elders Council just finished a very good meeting on February 27-28, 1997 and made a number of recommendations: * To call for a summer SE Native language institute to work on Tlingit, Tsimshian and Haida curriculum * To call for a SE tribal charter school and a SE tribal college and to request the SEANEA to investigate * To call for a SE Native archives to be established in Sitka * To call for the next elders council meeting to be held in Sitka the week of August 4, to be held in conjunction with the language institute, a family history workshop and SEANEA officers meeting Members of the council include the following people: Arnold Booth, Metlakatla (Chair); Charles Natkong, Hydaburg; Lydia George, Angoon; Gil Truitt, Sitka; Isabella Brady, Sitka; Marie Olson, Juneau and Joe Hotch, Klukwan. | |
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Southeast Region by Andy Hope:The first day of the ANREC meeting featured presentations by Southeast Region partners with panel discussions on implementing standards/assessment in rural Alaska schools and developing the Tlingit Sea Week handbook. I traveled to Hoonah and Angoon on April 22 with representatives from the National Science Foundation and Ray Barnhardt, one of our co-directors. Chatham School District (headquartered in Angoon) is in its second year as an ANREC partner. Hoonah School District recently signed on as a partner. In early April I coordinated teleconferences to develop plans for implementing the Cultural Atlas initiative. This initiative will involve developing compact discs for use by the partner districts in our region. It is likely that the participants will draw upon the recently completed Tlingit Math Book/Curriculum Guide and the Tlingit Place Name project for source material. The Tlingit Place Name project is being administered by the Southeast Native Subsistence Commission. See my report in Sharing Our Pathways Vol. 2, Iss. 1 for information on the Tlingit Math Book. Jimmy George, Jr. has been hired to coordinate the Cultural Atlas project. Jimmy is a member of the Raven moiety Deisheetaan clan of Angoon. He is currently working at the University of Alaska Southeast Auke Bay campus. Mary Larson of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Oral History Library will be providing technical assistance to Jimmy and the participating districts for the Cultural Atlas project. Mary presented a training session in Sitka April 24-26, with two representatives from each participating school expected (Hoonah, Angoon, Klukwan and Sitka). I would like to thank Della Cheney of Sheldon Jackson College for her recent contributions to our project. Della has provided organizational support for the ANREC and SEANEA meetings and the cultural atlas training. I am in the process of helping plan the start-up of other initiatives in our region, particularly the Axe Handle Academy and the Alaska Native History Text. More on these initiatives in the next issue. Lydia George speaks at the recent ANREC meeting in Sitka. | |
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Southeast Region by Andy Hope:The Sitka team will attempt to work with the Tlingit country map or develop a similar Haida map. The Angoon team will work with the Angoon Tlingit place names. The Angoon place name project has been developed by the Southeast Native Subsistence Commission and the Angoon Community Association. The Hoonah team may work with the revised Tlingit Math Book. The Juneau team will work with the Sealaska Heritage Foundation home page and the Axe Handle Academy curriculum. The team recommended that AKRSI assist Angoon School in their efforts to gain internet access. The team also stressed the need for teamwork and coordination among the AKRSI technology team. I attended several meetings over the last few months in an attempt to develop a certificate for Tlingit language teachers. I am optimistic that a program will be in place by the end of this year. It appears that Yukon College will be a key player in this effort. Sealaska Heritage Foundation will serve as the lead entity on this side of the border. The Alaska Science Consortium sponsored a review of the draft Tlingit Seaweek Book on July 28-29 in Sitka. Teachers from across Alaska participated. The team renamed the book, Lein-git-Tides People: The Tlingit Moon and Tides Resource Book. The group plans to complete the book by mid-November 1997. Dr. Dolly Garza is heading the editing group. The AKRSI Southeast Region Elders Council met July 30-31 in conjunction with the Fourth Conference of Tlingit Tribes and Clans. The conference themes were Native Family/Community History and Native Languages. The language workshop participants made a number of editorial changes to the Traditional Tlingit Country map and tribal list. A revised map and list will be published this fall. The next conference will take place in early spring 1998 in either Sitka or Juneau. Our first Southeast Region planning meeting will take place in early October in Juneau. All southeast consortium partners will be invited to attend. Participants will chart the course for the next year of the AKRSI/ARC. | |
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Southeast Region by Andy Hope:Southeast and the Southeast Region Elders Council. The meeting participants were presented with a comprehensive report on program developments to date and initiatives on line for 1998. The group will conduct quarterly teleconference meetings. Tentative plans for 1998 call for Regional Science/Cultural Camps, Academy of Elders/Camp, the Axe Handle Academy, the Alaska Native History Text, support for the Southeast Native Educators Association and the Village Reawakening Project. I am thinking that the best approach to ensure long term impact would be to develop an interdisciplinary team of educators from our consortium partners to work on developing curricula over the next three years. The field test version of the Tlingit Country Map and Tribal List is out of print. Jeff Leer and Roby Littlefield are heading up the revision and proofreading of the Tribal list and the revised map/list will be published in early 1998. Tom Thornton of UAS and I are working on a Tlingit Source Book, that we hope to publish by late spring. Copies of the Tlingit Math Book are still available. | |
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Southeast Region by Andy Hope:The Southeast Native Language Consortium met in Juneau, May 5-7, 1998. Approximately 50 people participated. The consortium has circulated a comprehensive report on the meeting, as well as a preliminary community cultural database, a mailing list and an inventory of teaching and curriculum materials (Tlingit, Tsimshian and Haida). The consortium is conducting a series of community language planning meetings in August and September and will host another regional planning meeting in Juneau on October 5, 1998. They are recommending that the Southeast Alaska Native Rural Education Consortium schedule their annual planning meeting to coincide with the regional language meeting. For information on the consortium, contact Shari Jensen at sajensen@alaska.net, phone (907) 463-4844. Ted Wright, President of Sealaska Heritage Foundation, and I traveled to Sitka in late May to make a joint presentation on the Southeast Native Language Consortium and Tribal College planning. We were joined by Jimmy Walton, a leader of the Tlingit Kaagwaantaan Wolf House of Sitka. Mr. Walton is heading up a volunteer effort to recruit the support of Tlingit Clan Leaders for Tribal College planning efforts. A number of Haida and Tlingit clan and clan houses leaders have signed petitions of support. Walton, Wright and I also traveled to Haines in late June to meet with Haines and Klukwan tribal and clan leaders. Rhonda Hickok (a Juneau-Douglas High School teacher), Esther Ilutsik (Ciulistet Research group and University of Alaska Bristol Bay Campus-Dillingham) and I presented a course on the cultural standards for the Summer Academy of Applied Research in Education in Juneau, June 11-12. Approximately 25 teachers and administrators participated. The Alaska Staff Development Center is in the process of developing a distance delivery course on the standards. Oscar Kawagley, Nora Dauenhauer and I traveled to Hydaburg in June to meet with Lisa Lang and Woody Morrison of the Hydaburg Cooperative Association to discuss the Tribal Reawakening project. Hydaburg was recommended as the tribal reawakening site for the 1998 program year by the AKRSI Southeast Region Elders Council. We discussed the logistics of starting the project. The purpose of the project is to document the tribal history of the chosen community. The Hydaburg project should get underway in the early fall. The revised Traditional Tlingit Country Map/Tribal List is in print. The poster can be ordered from Two Raven Gifts, P.O. Box 34482 Juneau, Alaska 99803, phone (907) 463-5305. I am looking forward to the regional planning meetings and wish all of our consortium partners well for the coming year. | |
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Southeast Region by Andy Hope:The participants in the language meeting divided into working groups and drafted recommendations for community level programs. A priority for many of the groups was publication (in many cases re-publication) of materials for use in classrooms. The recommendations of the meeting will be utilized by Tlingit and Haida in drafting a proposal to the Administration for Native Americans to follow up on the language planning grant that they are in the process of closing out now. SEANREC participants reviewed 1998 initiatives: Elders and Cultural camps, Reclaiming Tribal Histories, the Axe Handle Academy, the Tribal College Initiative and the Southeast Alaska Native Educators Association. Paula Dybdahl of Juneau-Douglas High School reported on her participation in the Alaska RSI Leadership Institute that took place in Fairbanks in July 1998. Elders' Council members offered comments and recommendations throughout the meetings. A presentation on the Camp Water Science Camp project by student participants was special. Participants then reviewed 1999 initiatives: Village Science Applications, Living in Place, the Axe Handle Academy, the Tribal College Initiative and AISES Camps/Science Fairs. It is my hope that a central activity in 1999 will be an effort to involve more teachers in science camp activities. I believe that getting more classroom teachers (Native and non-Native) involved in our project is the key to long term impact. I am proposing that our partners co-sponsor a Native language and curriculum development institute in Sitka in the summer. The institute would take place at Dog Point Fish Camp and in traditional classroom settings. The Southeast Alaska Native Educators Association would hold organizational meetings in conjunction with the institute. | |
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Southeast Region by Andy Hope:Planning for the 1999 AKRSI initiative began in January with a teleconference and has been followed by a regional planning meeting in Juneau in late February and several subsequent teleconferences. Technical support for planning and implementation of the 1999 AKRSI initiative has been provided by Dr. Claudette Bradley-Kawagley and Alan Dick. Other support has been provided by Dr. John Carnegie of UAS-Sitka Campus. Dates have been set for two AISES Camps this summer. The first (for girls grades 5-11) will be held July 5-17 at Dog Point Fish Camp and the UAS-Sitka campus (for use of science and computer labs.) The second camp (for boys grades 5-11) is August 2-14, also held at Dog Point Fish Camp and the UAS-Sitka Campus. Applications are available from the participating school districts. Ten students, ideally five boys and five girls, from each district will participate in the camps. A special topics course with undergraduate and graduate options will be offered by John Carnegie and Claudette Bradley-Kawagley for teachers and educators in conjunction with the camps. Alan Dick, author of Village Science and Northern Science, will also offer technical support throughout the year. Alan will attend both camp sessions. Claudette will attend the August 2-14 camp. Those interested can e-mail me at fnah@uaf.edu or phone (907) 465-8776. The intent of the planners is for students to develop rough ideas for science projects while at camp. These projects can then be refined in the fall and winter and hopefully entered in the regional, state and national AISES science fairs. The Southeast AISES fair is tentatively scheduled for November 1999 in Juneau. The statewide AISES fair is tentatively set for late January or early February 2000. The Southeast Alaska Native Educators Association will host a Native Curriculum Development Institute in conjunction with the August camp. The institute will be open to the public. The institute will feature the Carnegie/Bradley-Kawagley courses as well as a session on the Axe Handle Academy (a bioregional thematic curriculum) that will be offered by Richard and Nora Dauenhauer. A celebration of indigenous languages is tentatively planned for late fall in the San Francisco Bay area. Tentative co-sponsors include the Athabascan Language Consortium, The Tlingit Language Consortium, The Native California Network, Advocates for Indigenous California Language Survival, News from Native California Magazine and the Before Columbus Foundation. The celebration will be to honor those who have worked to conserve indigenous languages and promote indigenous language literacy. The first Sister Goodwin Award (sponsored by the Before Columbus Foundation and part of the American Book Award program) will be presented at the celebration. Contact me for more information. | |
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Southeast Region by Andy Hope:Teachers and students from Chatham, Hoonah and Sitka School districts participated in the training orientation. That spring UAS Juneau liaison, Tom Thornton, hired Jimmy George, Jr. as a student assistant for the Southeast Cultural Atlas project. Jimmy traveled to Fairbanks for web site training at the Oral History Library. Lydia George (Jimmy's mother) an elder of the Angoon Tlingit Raven moiety Deisheetaan clan, came to Juneau as Elder-in-Residence and lectured Tom Thornton's Ethnopsychology class. In the summer of 1997, Lydia, Jimmy, Tom and Michael Travis began working on the mapping and sound files for the Angoon Tlingit place names. On the technical side, this project was proof-of-concept that educational multimedia can be done without resorting to expensive, proprietary development systems. I hope this encourages others to 'get their feet wet' and start experimenting with what can be done using HTML, JavaScript, and other cross-platform web technologies. Michael D. Travis Working on the atlas for me was a real eye-opener. The thrust of the AKRSI is to promote Native ways of knowing. So much of this revolves around looking at how information is woven and connected through image and symbol. The Angoon cultural atlas CD-ROM allowed us to explore these links through Tlingit images and symbols -regalia, art, crests, place names, personal names, etc.-as well as through oral history. Lydia and Jimmy George's work with clan houses helped me see how Angoon Deisheetaan Tlingits connect their regalia and crests to personal and social identity and how the threads of Tlingit identity always lead back to the land. The multimedia format also allowed us to do this with Native voices and to connect Tlingit traditions to modern science and geography in ways that are just not possible in conventional expository writing. When we showed it to teachers in Angoon, they immediately saw potential applications in their classrooms as well as ways to extend the links to other areas of the curricula and Native culture. All this is very exciting and, I think, good for education, heritage preservation and enhancement, and cross-cultural communication and collaboration. Tom Thornton Associate Prof. of Anthropology University of Alaska Southeast Work on the atlas project will continue. The participants at the August 9-13, 1999 Indigenous Curriculum Institute in Sitka will continue work on the Klukwan and Kake atlas projects and observe a presentation of the Sitka Tlingit place name project. Institute participants will work on integrating other curricula, i.e. the bioregional, thematic Axe Handle Academy and the One Reel Salmon curriculum project. Many individuals and organizations have contributed to the development of the cultural atlas project: University of Alaska Southeast, Chatham School District, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Oral History Library, the Southeast Native Subsistence Commission, the Angoon Community Association, the Chilkat Indian Village, the Organized Village of Kake, Interrain Pacific and Sealaska Heritage Foundation. | |
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Southeast Region by Andy Hope:The I Am Salmon curriculum project is being coordinated by One Reel in Seattle. I Am Salmon is a multi-disciplinary, multi-lingual, multicultural, multinational curriculum designed to develop a sense of place (in one's watershed), a sense of self (in the Circle of Life) and an understanding of how they are connected according to the developers, Judith Roche and Jane Cordry Langill. Participants include teachers from Japan, Russia, Alaska, British Columbia and Washington. Many of these teachers participated in a curriculum design and planning workshop in Leavenworth, Washington, Memorial Day weekend, 1999. The general purpose of I Am Salmon is for sixth-grade students to explore the natural history of their watershed by documenting the history of wild salmon streams near their communities and share that information with other students around the Pacific Rim. The children will work on this project throughout the 1999-2000 school year, beginning in mid-October, 1999, when they received a packet of resource materials compiled by David Gordon, a science writer who currently works for the Sea Grant program at the University of Washington. David worked with a number of other consultants in preparing the I Am Salmon workbook, which he describes as a multidisciplinary program designed to lead individuals and groups of students on in-depth explorations of local watersheds. A watershed is a gathering place, a region defined by hydrology-the way water flows over, under and through the earth. Within a watershed, snow, rain, rivers, streams, lakes, ponds, wetlands and groundwater aquifers are all links in an intricate chain. The unifying theme of I Am Salmon are the six species of Pacific Salmon, their ties to watershed habitats, dependence on natural cycles and roles in ancestral and modern cultures in nations throughout the northern Pacific Ocean. By following the cycle of migrating salmon, students can learn lessons about the larger themes of life-birth, death and transformation-and an understanding of ones place, both in local watersheds and the world. Teachers and students will also interact via the Internet through the school year. One Reel had plans to post an I Am Salmon website in October. A number of sixth-grade and middle-school classrooms from AKRSI/ARC school districts in Southeast and Southwest will participate in the project. Technical support for classrooms will be provided by Richard and Nora Dauenhauer, Claudette Bradley and the cultural atlas technology team of Micheal Travis, Arlo Midgett and Jimmy George. Four I Am Salmon curriculum teams have organized as follows: * Blatchley Middle School, Sitka School District, Patty Dick, sixth grade science teacher and team leader * Angoon School, Chatham School District, Phil Miscovich, team leader * Floyd Dryden Middle School, Juneau School District, Angela Lunda, seventh grade science teacher and team leader * Kake Middle School, Kake School District, Rick Mills, sixth grade math teacher, team leader. Andy Hope, Southeast regional coordinator, interviews Elder Lydia George. | |
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Southeast Region by Andy Hope:Nurture, trans. To foster, cherish. (as defined from the Compact Oxford English Dictionary, New Edition) Alaska tribes and Native educators should take the lead in confronting the challenge of cultivating and nurturing indigenous Alaska Native knowledge. There are many resources that tribes and educators can draw upon in addressing this challenge. One approach would be to begin a substantive effort to develop comprehensive education policies. Tribes and educators could begin by addressing language, culture, research and publications policies. In drafting such policies, the following tools are readily available: Alaska Standards for Culturally Responsive Schools, Guidelines for Preparing Culturally Responsive Teachers for Alaska's Schools, Guidelines for Respecting Cultural Knowledge (see a related article in this issue on these guidelines,) the AFN Research Policy, Alaska Native educator associations, the Alaska Rural Systemic Initiative and the Consortium for Alaska Native Higher Education. Tribes and educators can and should foster the dissemination of Alaska indigenous knowledge and work to support Native and non-Native educators who are incorporating indigenous knowledge into the curricula of schools. Too often in the past, educators have been discouraged from developing curricula that reflect indigenous values because there wasn't an adequate support structure to make sure it was being done properly. Developing tribal education policies will create and promote a healthy learning environment for our communities. For the long term, tribal colleges will be the lead institutions for the ongoing development of Alaska indigenous knowledge. The development of tribal colleges is critical to this effort. Each of us, as tribal members, can contribute to the effort to develop education policies and tribal colleges. Developing explicit education policies and tribal colleges would help ensure the de-politicization of education programs and systems in our communities. There are Alaska Native educator groups in virtually every region of Alaska now. Members of these groups are available to assist tribes in their efforts to construct culturally-responsive education policies. The Consortium for Alaska Native Higher Education (CANHE) has been working for more than two years to develop tribal colleges in Alaska and recently began the process of formally organizing to advocate for tribal colleges on a statewide basis. Members of CANHE will also be available to assist tribes with education policymaking. Tribal colleges will be the proper institutions to carry forward the effort to ensure that Alaska indigenous knowledge continues to flourish for future generations. | |
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Southeast Region by Andy Hope:Following are summaries of the respective action plans/recommendations of the SEANEF working groups: The Southeast Alaska Native Language Consortium working group reviewed accomplishments and activities since the last meeting in October 1998. The working group outlined a list of 20 concerns that should be addressed in specific action plans by consortium members. The Southeast Alaska Native Educators Association working group started a list of Native educators in southeast Alaska and recommended that SEANEA reorganize. SEANEA will meet in the fall in conjunction with the Alaska Native Brotherhood/Sisterhood convention. The Native education-working group expressed serious concern and made several recommendations about the high school qualifying examination that is scheduled to be implemented in 2002. The Southeast Alaska Tribal College (SEATC) working group recommended that the its interim trustees meet in Juneau in August, 2000 to formally adopt bylaws and to appoint trustees. The curriculum working group adopted a two-month action plan focusing on the "I Am Salmon" curriculum project. Participants from respective school districts will work over the summer to develop resources for presentation on the web. An "I Am Salmon" website workshop will be sponsored by One Reel of Seattle and will take place at Evergreen School August 30-31. For more detailed information and reports on the Southeast Alaska Native Education Forum, visit the ANKN website at www.ankn.uaf.edu. | |
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Southeast Region by Andy Hope:In brotherly love let your feelings of deep affection for one another come to expression and regard others as more important than yourself. Romans 12:10 The New Jerusalem Bible 1985 edition Come on boys It's all right We know very well There's a lot of bad Out there Come on men It's all right Don't despair Come on guys It's a fight Come on brothers Let's go to work Come on men Let's take care of the children The nieces The nephews The sisters The brothers The families The wives and mothers The sons and fathers Don't be afraid To learn respect and pride Know your ancestors Keep the clan in mind Come out boys No need to hide From that education From that family From your sisters From your brothers Keep the friendship Keep the family Keep the clan | |
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Southeast Region by Andy Hope:Proposed SEANEA Framework for 12/1/01 to 9/30/02 Scheduled Meetings: December 15, 2001 Teacher Leadership Development Project funding MOA, AFN/Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes for TLDP funding for the Southeast Region. January 12-13, 2002 SEANEA Organizational Meeting/Professional Development Seminar, to be held in Juneau, Alaska. January 12: Organizational Tasks: 1. Elect officers. 2. Appoint an interim coordinator to serve until a lead teacher is selected (target date for selection, 7-1-02). 3. Plan for a professional development institute (Summer, 2002). 4. Select delegates to attend the Native Educators Conference scheduled for February 3-5, 2002, Anchorage. 5. Discuss the I Am Salmon Children's Festival, tentatively scheduled for spring 2002 in Leavenworth, Washington. 6. Set possible quarterly meeting teleconference schedule. Immediately following the organizational meeting, staff from the Imaginarium Science Center will make a presentation on the following project: The Imaginarium is thrilled to announce that our Health and Science Outreach Initiative has received two prestigious grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI). Both grants will expand the Imaginarium's ability to bring meaningful, hands-on science and health experiences to villages and communities throughout Alaska. It is important to the Imaginarium, and indeed the very core of the project's vision, to ensure that these outreach programs are guided by and based on the needs and interests of the communities that they will serve. To this end, we plan to coordinate a town hall type meeting in each of the five geocultural regions of Alaska. We are working with the regional coordinators of the Alaska Native Knowledge Network to identify appropriate locations in each region. January 13: Professional Development Seminar. 1. Introduction to the I Am Salmon curriculum project 2. Introduction to the Tribal GIS Consortium. Ongoing Activities/Discussions: 1. Relationship to existing educational institutions/organizations: * Alaska Rural Systemic Initiative * Alaska Dept. of Education and Early Development Native Education Advisory Council * Consortium for Alaska Native Higher Education * Southeast Alaska Tribal College * University of Alaska Southeast: Preparing Indigenous Teachers for Alaska's Schools * Other Native educator associations 2. Developing community based partnerships, e.g. the Tribal GIS Consortium 3. Alaska Department of Education and Early Development contributions to TLDP We are asking prospective SEANEA members to send us the following information, which will greatly improve our database: Name Address Telephone work Telephone home Email work Email home School Position Past positions held Other: grandparent, Elder, aunt, uncle, community worker, or mentor Please send this information to: Andy Hope, fnah@uaf.edu | |
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Southeast Region by Andy Hope III:Following that conference, in an article in Raven's Bones Journal (which I edited for ANB Camp #2), I made the following statement: "I think that the Conference should formally organize as a learning institute, an educational institute, the School of Tlingit Customs and Traditions. I have recommended that the Sitka Tribe of Alaska charter an independent educational subsidiary with the current planning committee members serving as charter members of the board. STA staff is drafting a charter at press time (late September 1993). Perhaps this entity, whatever it will be named, can serve as the basis for a tribal college." Formally organizing the Southeast Alaska Tribal College has been a long, drawn-out process. I have documented this effort in previous SOP articles. The challenge before the Native community is simple: are we ready to take responsibility for the education of our children? There are a number of issues that must be addressed. The Native student dropout rate in Alaska schools has been unacceptably high for quite some time. As a result, many of our Native people do not have access to higher education opportunities. It is our responsibility to develop programs that will ensure that Natives who slip through the cracks of public schools gain access to higher education. One of the options is for SEATC to develop GED, survival skills, parenting and other basic adult education programs. Perhaps the various adult education programs administered by tribes in Alaska can be consolidated to provide resources to support the education of students enrolled in tribal colleges. There is a great need for Native language and culture programs. I believe that tribal colleges should be the institutions that certify Native language fluency and proficiency. Tribal colleges will be in the best position to offer curriculum to implement the Alaska Standards for Culturally-Responsive Schools, the Guidelines for Developing Culturally-Responsive Teachers, the Guidelines for Respecting Cultural Knowledge, the Guidelines for Nurturing Culturally-Healthy Youth, and the recent law enacted by the Alaska legislature that requires school districts to establish a Native language advisory committee in every community with 50% or more Native student enrollment. In a time of a nationwide shortage of teachers, it is imperative that we begin an effort to train Native teachers. Tribal colleges will be a key player in this effort. It will take a united effort by the Alaska Native community to ensure that tribal colleges succeed. I am thankful to the many Native organizations that have endorsed the development of tribal colleges in Alaska: The Alaska Intertribal Council, Alaska Federation of Natives, the National Congress of American Indians, Alaska Native Brotherhood/Alaska Native Sisterhood Grand Camp, Chilkat Indian Village, Douglas Indian Association, Sitka Tribe of Alaska, Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, Wrangell ANB/ANS and Sitka ANB/ANS among others. The School of Custom and Tradition Where do traditions come from? Where do customs originate? How are customs and traditions learned? Carried forward? What are the sources of inspiration? Look to ones that know Look to creative ones Look to ones with ideas Look to the artistic Look to Elders Look to the young Look to the energetic I attended the school of custom and tradition A school of vitality and richness A school of ideas A school where one will always learn Something new Where people meet Where people teach Where people learn From each other Support each other And move on to become The school of custom and tradition Reflected In their lives In their minds In their eyes -Andy Hope, Oct. 1992 Editor's note: A new book containing the proceedings of the 1993 Conference of Tlingit Tribes and Clans, titled Will the Time Ever Come: A Tlingit Source Book, has just been published and is available through the Alaska Native Knowledge Network. | |
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