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Sharing Our
Pathways
A newsletter of the Alaska Rural Systemic
Initiative
Alaska Federation of Natives / University
of Alaska / National Science Foundation
Volume 2, Issue 3, Summer 1997
In This Issue:
Alaska RSI Launches Into Summer!
by Dorothy M. Larson
The Alaska Native Rural Education Consortium (ANREC)
spring meeting was held in Sitka on April 23-24, 1997. The meeting
was held at Centennial Hall and our members stayed at the Sheldon
Jackson College Campus. Thanks to our memorandum of agreement (MOA)
partner, Sheldon Jackson College staff, Della Cheney and Sherri
Steele for their assistance.
This spring consortium meeting provided an opportunity
for the members to get acquainted with one of the five cultural
regions of the Alaska Rural Systemic Initiative (Alaska RSI) and
the Alaska Rural Challenge (ARC) projects. During the meeting,
the consortium heard reports from each of the regional coordinators
and partners who are doing the work in each region, as well as
from those who are working on statewide initiatives.
Southeast Alaska region provided an in-depth report
on last year's and the current year initiatives. Regional coordinator
Andrew Hope introduced a number of the staff of the Southeast MOA
partners, elders, school district members and others including
superintendent Bruce Johnson of the Mt. Edgecumbe High School who
represented Dr. Shirley Holloway of the Alaska Department of Education.
There were over 60 people in attendance at the Sitka
consortium meeting, including each of the regional coordinators
and elders representing each of the regional elder's councils.
National Science Foundation Visit
A site visit was conducted by several people representing
the National Science Foundation (NSF), including Deputy Director
of Education and Human Resource, Dr. Jane Stutsman, Dr. Gerald
Gipp, program officer of the Alaska RSI and Dr. Linda Warner of
NSF. Two other individuals, Dr. Valerie Thornton from the Department
of Energy and Dr. Nora Ramirez from the Phoenix Urban Systemic
Initiative accompanied the NSF visitors. Their visit took them
to schools located at Hoonah, Angoon and Tenakee Springs, as well
as the Alaska State Department of Education, University of Alaska
Southeast, Mt. Edgecumbe, Raven Radio and the Channel Club.
Dr. Gipp provided a report to the group on the recent
performance evaluation review in which each of the rural systemic
initiatives participated. Dr. Ray Barnhardt of the Alaska RSI and
Peggy Cowan of the Alaska Department of Education represented the
Alaska RSI at the meeting. There were several recommendations which
NSF provided to the Alaska RSI which we will be following up on.
Originally the Alaska RSI set as a goal that over
40 rural school districts would be impacted over the five years
of the project. Given the scope of work, however, we may shift
our emphasis from breadth to depth and concentrate our efforts
on the current 20 districts which contain over 70% of the Native
students in rural Alaska. We do not consider this a scaling back
of our activities, but shifting our focus to provide more in-depth
work with the current MOA partners. The intention is to achieve
greater progress, success and impact of the Alaska RSI with concentrated
effort rather than spread ourselves too thin across all the rural
schools in the state.
The regional presentations at the consortium meeting
provided a clearer understanding of each of the initiatives and
the work that is in progress in each of the regions. As we move
into the second year initiatives, it is exciting to hear of the
progress that is being made in the various areas which directly
impact the education of rural students in the math, science and
technology subject areas. The work that is being done on the development
and documentation of materials was impressive with CD-ROMs, the
Frameworks documents, the curriculum materials collection, the
Tlingit Math book, the Village Science book, the cultural atlas
work, the work of the Alaska Native Knowledge Network and many
others.
Following the consortium meeting a number of training
sessions were held for the Southeast representatives involved in
the use of Juke Box for cultural atlas work. The training was provided
by Mary Larson of the Oral History Project. The regional coordinators
and others were also involved with a training session on standards
with Peggy Cowan of the Department of Education. Discussions will
continue in this area in Dillingham where the Alaska RSI curriculum
working group, staff and MOA partners will be working with the
Alaska Native Science Education Coalition and the State of Alaska
Department of Education.
As you can see the meeting was a busy one. Another
change will occur this next year. The Alaska Native Rural Education
Consortium will meet as a statewide group only once rotating to
one of the regions that has not yet hosted it. In place of the
second statewide consortium meeting, the regional consortium partners,
regional coordinators and co-directors will hold mini-consortium
meetings at the regional level in the fall.
There will be a large number of regional activities
and meetings which will be taking place throughout the year such
as regional cultural camps, American Indian Science and Engineering
Society (AISES) camps, Alaska Native Science Fair in November in
Ambler and a technical assistance plan will be developed for implementing
the same curriculum and assessment activities with the school district
in the fall.
The hospitality of the Southeast region was outstanding.
A potluck of traditional foods was held on Wednesday evening. The
weather cooperated and during the early morning and late evening
breaks, participants were able to enjoy the scenery, historical
points, and the SJC, UAS and Mt. Edgecumbe campuses.
Teaching/Learning Across Cultures:
Strategies for Success
by Ray Barnhardt
The following is the third of three excerpts from
an article addressed to teachers who are seeking guidance on how
to best enter a new cultural/community/school setting and make
a constructive contribution to the education of the children in
that setting.
What should you teach?
Having negotiated your way into a new cultural community,
how do you now integrate what you have learned into your teaching?
Some of the first concerns you will have to confront revolve around
the expectations of the other teachers, the school district and
the community, not all of whom may be in agreement on where or
how the local culture fits into the curriculum. As a professional,
your first responsibility is to the students in your charge, but
they do not exist in isolation, so you will have to balance consideration
of their individual needs with consideration of the many other
immediate and distant variables that will come into play in the
course of their experiences as students and as adults in a rapidly
changing world.
Your task is to help the students connect to the
world around them in ways that prepare them for the responsibilities
and opportunities they will face as adults. That means they need
to know as much as possible about their own immediate world as
well as the larger world in which they are situated, and the inter-relationships
between the two. To achieve such a goal requires attention to the
local culture in a holistic and integrative manner across the curriculum,
rather than as an add-on component for a few hours a week after
attending to the "real" curriculum. The baseline for the curriculum
should be the local cultural community, with everything else being
built upon and grounded in that reality.
Whatever piece of the curriculum you are responsible
for, imbed it first in the world with which the students are familiar
and work outward from there. Adapt the content to the local scene
and then help the students connect it to the region, the nation
and the world. Keep in mind the adage, "Think globally, act locally!" as
you prepare your lessons. If students are to have any influence
over their lives as adults, they need to understand who they are,
where they fit into the world and how "the system" works. It is
your responsibility as a teacher to help them achieve that understanding.
When considering what to teach, keep in mind that
the content of the curriculum is heavily influenced by the context
in which it is taught. Think less in terms of what you are teaching
and more in terms of what students might be learning. How can you
create appropriate learning environments that reinforce what it
is you are trying to teach? Does an elder telling a traditional
story have the same meaning and significance when done in a classroom
setting as it would have out on the river bank or in the elder's
home? Most likely not, so carefully consider the kind of situational
factors (setting, time, resources, persons involved, etc.) that
may have a bearing on what your students are learning. Content
cannot be taught apart from context-each influences the other.
This is especially critical when cultural differences are present.
In the end, your most important task is to help students learn
how to learn, so while you are teaching subject matter, you also
need to be attending to broader process skills, such as problem
solving, decision making, communicating and inductive reasoning-skills
that are applicable across time and place. It is skills such as
these, learned in culturally adaptive ways, that enable students
to put the subject matter they acquire to use in ways that are
beneficial to themselves, their community and society as a whole.
How should you teach?
There are as many ways to teach as there are teachers,
and for each teacher there are as many ways to approach teaching
as there are situations in which to teach. The first axiom for
any teacher, especially in a cross-cultural setting, is to adapt
your teaching to the context of the students, school and community
in which you are working. In other words, build your teaching approach
in response to the conditions in front of you, and don't assume
that what worked in one situation will work the same in another.
While it is useful to have a "bag of tricks" available to get you
started, don't assume the bag is complete-continue to develop new
approaches through trial-and-error on an on-going basis.
Whenever possible, make use of local community resources
(parents, elders, local leaders, etc.), and extend the classroom
out into the community, to bring real-world significance to that
which you are teaching. To facilitate this, incorporate experientially-oriented
projects into your lessons and put students to work performing
everyday tasks and providing services in the community (e.g., internships,
student-run enterprises, local histories, community needs assessments,
etc.). Take students on extended field trips to cultural sites,
local offices, businesses and industries. Whether in the classroom
or in the field, create a congenial atmosphere that draws students
into the activity at hand and allows them to experience learning
as a natural everyday activity, rather than a formality confined
to the classroom. Natural settings are more likely to foster mutually
productive and culturally appropriate communication and interaction
patterns between teacher and student than are highly structured
and contrived situations created in the confines of the classroom.
To the extent that you as a teacher can make yourself accessible
to the students, you will be that much more successful in making
what you teach accessible to them. This requires much patience
and a willingness to risk making mistakes along the way, but the
payoff will be greater success with the students in the long run.
How do you determine what has been learned?
The question of what constitutes success is difficult
to answer under any educational circumstance, but it is especially
complex in cross-cultural situations. Different people can exhibit
competence in different ways, and when cultural differences are
added to the mix, the ways can multiply dramatically. In addition
to determining what it is we want students to learn, there is the
task of determining how it will be measured. Not everything we
want students to learn lends itself to easy and reliable measurement
within the timeframe that schools expect to see results. On top
of all this, we have the issue of cultural bias in everything from
the instruments we use to the way we use them.
One of the most important considerations in this
arena is to recognize that there are multiple forms and ways of
displaying intelligence, and therefore, we need to provide multiple
avenues through which students can demonstrate their competence.
Recent studies indicate that there are at least seven prominent
forms of intelligence, with each individual, as well as clusters
of people, having strengths in some forms and weaknesses in others.
These include potential aptitudes in linguistic, logical-mathematical,
spatial, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal and intrapersonal
intelligence (see The Unschooled Mind, by Howard Gardner, 1991).
The problem is that schools tend to rely almost exclusively on
the first two (linguistic and logical-mathematical) as the basis
for measuring academic success, leaving other forms of intelligence
largely on the sidelines. While you as a teacher are not in a position
to unilaterally revamp the schooling enterprise to more fully incorporate
the full range of intelligences, you are in a position to recognize
them in your students and to provide a variety of avenues for them
to access what you are teaching. At the same time, you can incorporate
some of the more culturally adaptive modes of assessing student
performance, such as portfolios, exhibitions, demonstrations and
productions. Through these more flexible and responsive approaches
to assessment, it is possible to officially recognize the various
forms of intelligence and accommodate cultural differences at the
same time.
What can you do in a large urban school?
While some of the strategies described above may
seem most appropriate for small rural schools with a homogenous
cultural population, there are additional ways to make large multicultural
urban schools more culturally sensitive as well. One of the most
culturally inhibiting factors in urban schools is size and all
the impersonal and bureaucratic conditions that go along with a
large-scale institution. Some of the negative effects of size can
be ameliorated within an urban setting by rethinking the way students
(and thus teachers) experience the school and by viewing it more
as a community than as an institution. For instance, a large school
can be broken down into several smaller "learning communities," or
schools-within-a-school. Students and teachers can form clusters
that function as a cohesive unit with a support system based on
personalized relationships. To overcome the constraints and inefficiencies
of a highly compartmentalized schedule, classes can be organized
in a block schedule format, where longer periods of time are made
available for extended field trips and intensive projects without
interfering with other classes. Through such arrangements, the
economies-of-scale advantages of a large institution can be coupled
with the flexibility and human dimensions of a smaller school.
The other area in which a potential problem can be
made into an asset in an urban school is the cultural mix of the
student population. While it is not possible to fully attend to
the particular cultural needs of every student on a daily basis,
it is possible to incorporate the rich mix of cultural backgrounds
present in the classroom and school into the curriculum in ways
that help students learn to understand and appreciate the similarities
and differences among themselves. The interests and strengths of
each student can be recognized and rewarded through practices such
as peer tutoring, cultural demonstrations, group projects and language
comparisons. Over time, students in culturally-mixed schools can
learn to treat cultural differences as part of the natural fabric
of society, to be celebrated and identified as a strength, rather
than as a threat. To this end, teachers in urban schools should
be encouraged and supported in their efforts to capitalize on the
diversity of cultures present in their classrooms.
Summary
What has been presented in this series of articles
is but a sampling of the strategies that teachers may draw upon
to make their classrooms inviting places for students from all
cultural backgrounds and persuasions. Teachers must recognize,
however, that to stop here and assume you are now ready to take
on any teaching situation runs the danger of oversimplification
and misapplication of practices that are much more complex than
a short review such as this can convey. If you wish to put any
of the above to use, you should enter into the task with an open
mind and an open heart, recognizing that the journey has just begun
and that it will take a lifetime to complete. Happy travels!
Active Reality Research, Part
I
by Angayuqaq Oscar Kawagley
During recent times many articles have been produced
that address ethical values of doing research in the North. I will
not address them except to say that confidentiality is important,
that villagers know what they are participating in and that research
results be provided to the villagers. It has been too long that
Native people have been subjects of research without the honor,
respect, reciprocity and cooperation due them. It is now time that
we recognize that they are human beings with particular ways of
knowing, being, thinking, behaving and doing. They have successfully
survived for many thousands of years.
For the Yupiaq people, culture, knowing and living
are intricately interrelated. Living in a harsh environment requires
a vast array of precise empirical knowledge to survive the many
risks due to conditions such as unpredictable weather and marginal
food availability. To avoid starvation they must employ a variety
of survival strategies, including appropriate storage of foodstuffs
that they can fall back on during the time of need. Their food
gathering and storage must be efficient as well as effective. If
this were not so, how could they possibly hope to survive? To help
them achieve this balance, they have developed an outlook of nature
as metaphysic.
The Alaska Native world views and technologies are
conducive to living in harmony with the universe. Their lives,
subsistence methods and technology were devised to edify their
world view. After all, the Alaska Native creator is the raven.
So, how could the human being be superior to the creatures of Mother
Earth? How could their hunting and trapping implements be made
of offensive materials to animals that they have to kill in order
to live? Thus, their tools were fashioned from resources which
were not refined, but formed and shaped using the natural materials.
Their tools, housing and household utensils had to be with and
of nature. Harmony was the key idea behind this practice. They
believed all plants, creatures, winds, mountains, rivers, lakes
and all things of the earth possessed a spirit, therefore had consciousness
and life. Everything was alive and aware, requiring relationships
in a respectful way so as not to upset the balance.
The four values of honor, respect, reciprocity and
cooperation are conducive to adaptation, survival and harmony.
The Native people honored the integrity of the universe. It is
a whole living being. As it is living, all things of the earth
must be respected because they also have life. The Native people
had the ability to communicate with all things of the universe.
This is called reciprocity. From observing nature, the Alaska Native
people learned that the earth and the universe are built upon the
premise of cooperation. Researchers must implement these tour values
to advance knowledge and expand consciousness. The constructs and
understandings of the Alaska Native people must be honored for
their integrity on the level of the modern scientific holographic
image.
The holographic image does not lend itself to reductionism
nor fragmentation. Reductionism tries to break reality into parts
in order to understand the whole without realizing that the parts
are merely patterns extant in a total web of relationships. The
Native world views do not allow separation of its parts as each
part must be understood in its relationships to all other parts
of the whole. Respect for the Native people who formalized this
view must be practiced. The Native people have transcended the
three-dimensional, quantifying and sensory constricted studies
of nature practiced by the modern world. It behooves that there
be cooperation between the researcher and Native people. The researchers
must forget about human superiority to things of the universe and
to people considered primitive and backward. The Native people
must be treated as equal human beings with powers of observation,
critical analysis and a gift of intuition and the magical.
Following are some examples that make the practice
of the four values difficult or impossible from the perspective
of the modern world for doing research in a Native world.
The tools of mathematics have given us some ideas
about patterns and forms as well as abstract and esoteric formulae
that sometimes leave us confused and questioning the use to which
they will be put. For example, when will the hunter need to know
the exact distance across a river using trigonometric functions?
However we agree with a lot of mathematical and scientific theories
and concepts, such as the shortest distance between two points
is a straight line; that a circle is a line that keeps falling
in toward the center; that the radii in a circle are equal length;
that the circle has no beginning and no end; and so forth. These
are common sense ideas that indigenous people can readily subscribe
to.
Part two of this article will appear in the fall
issue of Sharing Our Pathways.
Village Science
by Alan Dick
Amoon rock on display has been worn incredibly thin
by thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands of people who needed
the experience of touching the rock for it to become real to them.
A display of beautiful wood finishes in Anchorage
had a large sign, "Do Not Touch." I had to put my hands in my pockets.
The desire to touch the fascinating wood surfaces was too great.
The sign was a strong indication that I wasn't alone in my desire
to feel the grain under my fingertips.
I wondered why funeral services often include individuals
walking by the grave site and gently throwing a handful of dirt
on the coffin. It seemed a strange custom until I experienced a
few funerals. The ones where we individually put dirt on the coffin
were far more real than the ones where we didn't. I realized the
importance of handling the dirt. The person's passing became a
reality. Denial was impossible.
Handling a worksheet and a pencil are not the same
as handling a slimy fish, a jagged rock or feeling the pressure
on the rope of a block and tackle.
Sticking a couple of toothpicks into a carrot top
and suspending it in and over a glass of water is hardly hands-on
science, but at least there is some physical interaction with the
reality of the event.
Touching, handling, feeling and sensing are unmeasurably
important to processing science content and concepts. Do we know
the difference between physical education and history class? In
physical education we are physically active. In history class we
read about other peoples' activities.
It is important to learn about the science other
people have done as a model for our own experiments and efforts.
But that is history! If we want to promote science that stays alive
and remains a reality in students' minds and hearts, we must recognize
the difference between history and discovery, then honor the student's
right to personal explorations and conclusions from touching, handling,
feeling and sensing every possible aspect of the science event.
New Pathways to Excellence
by Florence B. Kuzuguk
The following article won first place in the 1997
Bilingual Multicultural Education Equity Conference student speech
contest. Ms. Kuzuguk is from Shishmaref. The bilingual instructor
is John Sinnok.
Students who succeed in practicing the arts of their
culture are those who have a role model from a member of their
family, an outstanding citizen of the community or an inspirational
teacher. Just as you make up a part of your family, school and
community, they are a part of you. Your ability to become a better
part of your family, school and community is limited to your motivation
to succeed. With a little encouragement, skills, talents and knowledge
can become treasured possessions.
As a member of the community, people develop culture
that is shared by the students. From the hunting skills passed
on from generation to generation, students are taught how to live
off the land. The skills students learn are important to the community
because they preserve the culture as well as make the community
stronger. By learning the skills from the elders of the community,
students develop their own individual ways of doing things. Our
cultural beliefs became a very important part of the community
and these beliefs go on through the community's history. The key
to passing along our culture is in the family. Without our culture
people would have a hard time functioning in the community. We
live in a community that has a culture of its own. And its own
unique way of doing things. Our culture is a source of pride for
many families and communities. Every family's cultural heritage
is valued.
Whether a student decides to give up or not is his/her
choice. And many things affect that choice. Communities are made
up of families and neighbors who help each other out. Once a student
has been honored for any achievement, the community does many things
to show how proud they are of that student. Once one student achieves
excellence, more students are eager to participate.
Until children are 16 years old, they are forced
by the law to go to school. But the next two years of school are
optional. And when a student stays in that last two years of school,
it indicates that the family and the community have made the student
what they are.
What drives students to get up every morning to get
to school is their family's encouragement and their own desire
to learn. When children do badly in school, the family encourages
them to do better. When the community sees a family who doesn't
care, the community can guide that family and do its best to help
the family out.
The opportunity to achieve excellence is also provided
by the school. What you are to become is thought of long before
you grow up. Many students in the Native study classes offered
throughout their preschool to senior years became great sewers
and carvers and are able to speak their language and learn more
about their cultural traditions. When you graduate the next thing
you want to do is go to a good college or become involved in some
program. After that you want to go into a line of work that you
enjoy. You make this happen by first graduating from school.
The knowledge and skills you gain transfer to the
larger part of the world. In time you will be able to take all
that you have learned about where you come from and use it when
you are on your own. Within the family you grow and develop and
discover the kind of person that you are and that you need and
want to be.
Students who know family togetherness, community
involvement, school participation and their cultural tradition
are the ones who will excel in whatever they want to. To find the
new pathways to excellence you have to want to look. Don't expect
anyone to look for the pathway for you. You make who you are and
who you want to be. Find yourself, and when you look back, you
will have achieved excellence. You will also have found new pathways
to look forward to.
Welcome Jeannie O'Malley-Keyes!
Jeannie (Creamer) O'Malley-Keyes was born in Fairbanks
and grew up with parents, grandparents and six brothers and sisters
on a dairy farm outside of Fairbanks that is now a wildlife and
migratory waterfowl refuge.
Jeannie is currently a part-time student with the
University of Alaska Fairbanks, working towards a degree in sociology
and human services technology. She has one daughter, Kirsten O'Malley-Keyes,
who graduated from UAF in 1994 and who is now happily teaching
in a rural, mountainous area in Japan.
Jeannie brings to the ANKN project many years of
experience as an administrator for various Fairbanks organizations
and UAF departments. Memorable projects include scheduling local
and national visiting performing artists into the local schools
and communities, working on Claire Fejes' manuscript, The Villagers,
being one of the pioneer women to help build the Trans-Alaska Pipeline
and initiating and helping bring about the Chena Athabascan culture
and history exhibit at the Creamers' Refuge Visitors' Center.
Jeannie's passions are drawing and painting, hiking,
canoeing, cross country skiing, berry picking and gardening.
"We have much to learn from the ways of the Alaska
Native people who lived and survived (and continue to survive)
in Alaska" says Jeannie. "If we had listened to them, we wouldn't
have houses and buildings sinking into the permafrost, people getting
lost, starving and freezing to death in the woods or a radioactive
Amchitka. We would know and protect the plants that are good for
food and medicines and know better how to survive physically, mentally,
emotionally and spiritually on this part of the earth.
I am honored and happy to be a part of the Alaska
Native Knowledge Network and am looking forward to learning more
about Alaska Native cultures and doing whatever possible to be
of assistance to those involved in promoting and preserving the
Native ways of knowing. I feel the survival of humanity depends
upon it."
Alaska Students Participate
in National AISES Fair
by D.J. & Karen Huddleston
The 10th Annual National American Indian Science
and Engineering Fair (AISEF) was held in Albuquerque, New Mexico,
April 3-5, 1997. Nine Yup'ik (Eskimo) students from Akiuk Memorial
School in Kasigluk, Alaska participated as representatives from
Alaska.
These Lower Kuskokwim School District (LKSD) student
researchers-the first Alaskans to ever attend an AISEF event-experienced
great success. Of the five projects entered, three received medals.
Ann Marie Twitchell, representing the research team of A. Twitchell
and Alexie Kalila, earned first place honors in the 11th and 12th
grade team life science category with the project entitled "Effect
Time of Pre-Soak on Germination Rate of Radish Seeds." The research
team of Elena Berlin and Kathleen Evon earned second place honors
in the same category with their project entitled "Effect of Salt
Concentration in Pre-Soak on the Germination Rate of Legume Seeds." Earning
top honors in the 9th and 10th grade team life science category
was the Kasigluk research team of Matthew Brink and Alexie Kalila
with their project entitled "Effect of Acid Scarification on the
Germination Rate of Seeds with Hard Testa." Also participating
from Akiuk Memorial School were Allison Kassel, Wilson Brink, Victoria
Pavilla and Teddy Wassillie.
Over 1,000 students in grades K-12 represented American
Indian communities from Alaska, Arizona, Canada, Minnesota, Montana,
New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, South Dakota,
Utah, Wisconsin and Wyoming during the annual three-day event.
The National American Indian Science and Engineering
Fair provides a learning experience which promotes academic and
cultural enrichment for the student participants. The 1997 fair
provided students the chance to meet other American Indian students,
learn about each other's projects and interact with professional
role models during the project judging. Participants in each grade
level and category were honored with scholarships, medals, plaques
and other gifts from many prestigious science and engineering organizations
including the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Mayo Clinic and the U.S.
Department of Energy. Grand prize winners were sponsored to Science
Service's 48th Annual International Science and Engineering Fair
to be held May 10-16, 1997 in Louisville, Kentucky.
Many tribes, federal agencies, corporations, foundations,
universities and schools supported this educational opportunity
by funding fair activities and presenting awards. More than 250
scientists, mathematicians, engineers and university students from
all over North America attended the fair to judge the student projects.
Each science project and researcher is evaluated by and receives
feedback from a minimum of three judges.
American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES)
is a private, nonprofit organization which nurtures building of
community by bridging science and technology with traditional Native
values. The national fair is one of AISES' pre-college education
initiatives which supports the advancement of American Indian students
in mathematics, science and engineering.
For the Alaska Natives, this year's National Fair
was the culmination of a sixteen-day odyssey. These young scientists
left their "tundra" homes in Kasigluk on March 21 to compete at
the Alaska State Science and Engineering Fair in Anchorage. On
March 23, the group flew to Seattle, Washington to begin a two
week "overland" trip to Albuquerque that covered the five states
of Washington, Montana, Idaho, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico. Kasigluk's
AISEF ambassadors were able to experience a multitude of natural
and man-made wonders as they traveled the country via mini-van,
ferry, bus and train. Walking through the dense temperate rain
forest of western Washington, tasting the brackish waters of the
Great Salt Lake, estimating the energy potential stored by the
awesome Glenn Canyon Dam, hiking the beautifully-colored Bryce
Canyon and marveling at the tremendous size of the Grand Canyon
are only a few of the wonders these young Yup'ik (Eskimos) were
able to experience.
The 1998 National American Indian Science and Engineering
Fair will be held April 2-4 in Rapid City, South Dakota.
AISES Corner
(American Indian Science and Engineering Society)
by Claudette Bradley-Kawagley
The AISES summer camp, for students entering grades
seven through nine, starts July 14 at the UAF campus for ten days
and continues for eleven more days at the Howard Luke Camp, five
miles from Fairbanks on the Tanana River. The camp objectives are
to:
- Stimulate interest in mathematics, sciences, and
engineering among Alaskan Native students.
- Increase student's confidence and knowledge in
mathematics and science.
- Prepare students for cultural challenges away
from their traditional environment.
- Incorporate Native values with western mathematics
and science.
- Encourage parents of students to support the academic
pursuits of their children.
- Spend ten days on campus with rural educators
and UAF professors.
- Spend eleven days in an Athabascan camp located
on the Tanana River just outside of Fairbanks.
- Learn first hand from Native elders with hands-on
projects relative to rural survival.
Students will have an opportunity to work on their
science fair projects with teachers, scientists and elders employed
by the camp. They will have use of the Rasmusen Library and other
university facilities and begin their experiments and the collection
of data. All projects will be completed by the student either during
the camp or in his/her home village. Students will develop their
display boards with village teachers during the fall and enter
their region science fair to be held November 20-22. The regional
science fair will be in Fairbanks for Interior students and in
Ambler for Inupiaq students.
AISES Update: Barrow, Alaska
by Carla Willetto
The spring semester has been one of rejuvenation
and regrouping for the Ilisagvik chapter of AISES. After a brief
hiatus, the chapter has resurfaced and has been busy reshaping
itself into a well-received organization. Still few in number,
the members have taken several steps in initializing and implementing
activities. The initial strategy of the small group is to present
a number of interesting activities that would increase the chapter's
visibility and attract more members from a student body unaccustomed
to participation in student-run organizations.
The llisagvik chapter began hosting a lunch-time
lecture series which entailed an invited speaker giving a twenty-five
to thirty minute presentation on a science or engineering topic.
College students and staff, as well as the public, were invited
and encouraged. Speakers have included the North Slope Borough
veterinarian who spoke about rabies and a local borough administrator,
also an amateur astronomer, who presented information about the
comet Hale-Bopp. These lectures were very well attended.
Through the Inupiat Research Institute at Ilisagvik
College, one student was able to arrange for the AISES StarLab
to be brought to Barrow. The StarLab is a portable planetarium
and was shared with the K-12 schools in Barrow where it was a big
hit with the students. The chapter was also represented by a student
who helped judge the Barrow High School Science Fair in March.
The highlight for several members was the AISES Region
I Conference at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. The college
was represented by four student members and keynote speaker, Richard
Glenn. They thoroughly enjoyed the tours, sessions, Career Expo
and fellowship with new friends throughout the conference, as well
as the concurrent Festival of Native Arts. They returned to school
armed with notes, ideas and souvenirs.
Plans are underway to implement a weekend activity
every month that would be open to all Ilisagvik students as well
as pre-college AISES students. They also intend to assemble recruitment
displays to take to community events to increase AISES visibility
and attract more members.
The chapter has been supported and encouraged by
various factors of Ilisagvik College-faculty advisors, administration
and the Inupiat Research Institute. Support like this is crucial
for the success of a young organization and speaks highly of those
who support the participation of Native students in science and
engineering.
Project Learning Tree
by Susan Rogers
Thank you for the opportunity to introduce Project
Learning Tree (PLT), one of the statewide programs in the Alaska
Native Science Education Coalition! It's an environmental education
program which can be used by teachers or camp leaders for youth
in all grade levels. PLT offers a possible forum for integrating
Native science and culture with Western science.
This interdisciplinary curriculum introduces tree
biology, forest ecology and people's inter-relationship with their
environment through hands-on, cooperative activities. Lessons also
relate to air, water, soils, pollution, ways of using land and
how people interact with parts of the natural and man-made environment.
Developing problem-solving skills and creative thinking are emphasized.
The curriculum framework for PLT's education program
leads students through awareness to knowledge and concept building
with opportunities for action projects. There are lots of chances
for students to use visual arts and to write and talk about the
activities while they are doing them.
Many activities are designed to be done outdoors.
Students at camp, in 4-H or ecology clubs could use the activities
easily. Because the curriculum is used in all fifty states and
U.S. territories and six other countries, activities can easily
be adapted to a local setting. For example, to give an Alaskan
focus to two activities concerning products we use from trees-We
All Need Trees and Tree Treasures-examples of Native Alaskan tree
products such as canoes and paddles, birch-bark baskets, masks
and bentwood boxes are included.
Because one of the major themes of PLT is building
awareness of diversity of kinds of organisms, points of view and
uses of the natural environment, there are examples of Native American
culture written into the existing lessons. One activity, The Native
Way, focuses on Native attitudes toward the environment and is
just right for adaptations from regional education coordinators
or other interested people.
Workshops to obtain the material can be set up for
an individual school or district in-service, or for any other group
in a village. Any community member is welcome to attend the day-long
workshop. After some activities are led by the facilitator, participants
work in groups to present other lessons. For more information or
to schedule a workshop in your area, call the PLT coordinator,
Susan Rogers, (907) 269-8481, fax (907) 561-6659 or write to Alaska
Division of Forestry, 3601 C Sreet, Suite 1034, Anchorage, Alaska
99503-5937
Athabascan Region
by Amy Van Hatten
Three exciting developments under the initiative,
Sense of Place are taking shape: Project WINGS, AISES Gaalee'ya
Spirit Camp and Cultural Geography Camp.
The AISES Gaalee'ya Spirit Camp will be recruiting
42 rural students, six to seven people for each of the following
divisions: teachers, Native elders and college students as resident
advisors. A contact person from each school district will distribute
the applications to interested students. It is scheduled for July
14 through August 5, 1997. The latter part of the camp coincides
with the Fourth Annual Association of Interior Native Educators
Conference. It is our hope to have the AISES students show their
science project achievements during that time and to be an integral
part of the conference.
Project WINGS has an article following mine. Now
that program took off the ground right away. I think it was because
of the very interesting components it concentrates on. It has a
fall schedule of October 5-19, 1997.
There will be two cultural geography camps in the
summer months. The geographic area is the Minto flats with students
from Minto. They will be researching place names through talking
with their respective elders, parents and other stake holders of
the community. Consultation members will be involved with curriculum
development on compact disc with a guide book that would contain
the Athabascan and English names for places, land forms, descriptive
information for each name, stories and anecdotes from the elders
about life and activities in the Minto Flats.
Other Tidbits
Students in Shageluk are interviewing students in
New Hampshire on the internet who in turn are sharing with students
in Delaware. Shageluk student's Iditarod race updates are a hit
in New England.
The most pleasurable time I've spent recently was
listening to speakers for the Native history of the Fairbanks area
before Creamer's Field days. Speakers were Howard Luke, Robert
Charlie, Clara Johnson and Jim Kari. They shared information they've
gathered from elders and research on the Chena Athabascan people
and their historical contributions before Creamer's Field Dairy
Days.
The sponsors of the meeting were the Friends of Creamers.
The meeting was also a training session for new volunteers. I think
it pleased them very much when Jim Kari said their educational
site was the first and only place that used Athabascan translations
in identifying places. I will close on this high note.
Project
WINGS
by Dee McDonald
Thanks to the many elders who have graciously shown
an interest in attending and teaching the WINGS program and to
schools and tribal councils throughout the Interior who have pledged
their support, agreeing to send students and pay air transportation
and registration. A special thank you to the staff at Denakkanaaga
for their unfailing support and assistance.
Project WINGS is an educational program for Native
high school freshmen and sophomores from villages in Interior Alaska.
The goal of the project is to introduce young people to scientific
knowledge and skills related to Fairbanks and their home villages
and integrate this with traditional Native values, knowledge and
skills so youth may become well informed decisionmakers and leaders.
After moose season, 12 youth will be invited to fly to Fairbanks
to learn the following:
Political Science
How federal, state, and tribal governments work;
how political agencies in town make decisions that affect their
life in the village; how to write a political resolution.
Health Science
How traditional and Western ways of healing are used
to cure and prevent illness. Local elders will be asked to speak
about traditional medicines.
Museum Science
How to maintain and preserve cultural artifacts.
Elders explain how hunting tools, cooking utensils and other objects
were made and used.
Fire Science
How to protect structures in the village from wildfires;
fire safety in the home; the effects of fire on moose habitat,
small game and berries and how elders used fire to improve local
conditions.
Air Science
What elders know about the weather, the moon and
the stars; how to use telescopes, build model airplanes and learn
what it takes to keep planes flying to and from the villages.
Environmental Science
How to build a water treatment plant; how technology
impacts the village environment; solid and hazardous waste management,
fish, wildlife and lands.
Youth will visit a local post office, spend a day
at a high school in Fairbanks, visit the Alaska Native Language
Center and a local radio station. There will be dinners with elders,
swimming lessons, talking circles and drum-making. Boy, are we
going to be busy! Classes will be taught by Native instructors
and elders. A booklet will be produced at the end of the project's
first year describing the activities and outlining content areas.
This booklet will be sent to schools throughout the Interior, allowing
districts the opportunity to award high school credit to students
who have completed the program. Your continued support will strengthen
the educational quality of this program, and ensure an even better
education for the students and leaders of the future.
Aleut Region
by Moses Dirks
The Aleut Region is moving ahead with the implementation
of two initiatives for 1997: Elders and Cultural Camps and Reclaiming
Tribal Histories/Alaska Native Reawakening Project. The next critical
step would be to get all the memorandum of agreement (MOA) partners
who will be assisting with the program signed up. The partners
for this year's initiative who will be asked to assist will include
regional school districts and non- profit Alaska Native organizations.
Thus far we have all but one MOA signed; once that
is completed in the Aleut Region, we will proceed with the 1997
initiatives.
Elders and Cultural Camps
Aleutian/Pribilof Islands Area
In the Aleutian/Pribilof Islands area the Alaska
Rural Systemic Initiative and the Annenburg Rural Challenge will
be working closely with two newly signed MOA partners: the Aleutian/Pribilof
Islands Association and the Unalaska School District.
They will assist in the following capacity:
- Identify Alaska Native elders and their specialty
and who will be willing to contribute their expertise to educational
and scientific endeavors.
- Prepare a half-hour video that will foster the
use of cultural camps in a natural setting, especially those
related to local cultural traditions and indigenous science practices.
- establish guidelines and some process for the
protection of cultural and intellectual property rights of Alaska
Native people as they make their traditional knowledge available
to others.
The Aleutian/Pribilof Islands Association, Inc. will
be hiring a graduate assistant who will assist in the formation
of the Aleut Academy of Elders, the Aleut Teachers Association
and an Aleut cultural camp in the region.
The Unalaska School District will assist in the development
of multimedia curriculum materials and also assist in the formation
of a Native teacher association in the region.
Alutiiq Area
Kodiak Island Borough School District will assist
in the development of an Academy of Elders, Alutiiq Teacher Association
and an Alutiiq Cultural Camp.
The Kodiak Area Native Association has once again
hired a graduate assistant. She will be assisting in the development
of the Alutiiq Academy of Elders and the Alutiiq Cultural Camp
on Kodiak Island.
Reclaiming Tribal Histories/Alaska Native Reawakening
Aleutian/Pribilof Area
The Aleut Region will implement a new initiative
connected to language arts or social studies. The initiative is
entitled "Reclaiming Tribal Histories/Alaska Native Reawakening
Project." The participants in the Alutiiq/Aleut Region will consist
of the following:
- Alaska Rural Systemic Initiative: Moses Dirks
will assist Harold Napoleon in the development and implementation
of the Alaska Native Reawakening Project/Reclaiming Tribal Histories.
- Alaska Federation of Natives: Harold Napoleon
will be coordinating the project.
- Unalaska Public School: Students and teachers
will be actively involved in the implementation of the Alaska
Native Reawakening Project/Reclaiming Tribal Histories.
Alutiiq Area
The Alaska Rural Systemic Initiative and the Alaska
Federation of Natives will be doing the same thing as the Aleutian/Pribilof
area with their initiatives.
Harold Napoleon of AFN will be the coordinator of
the Alaska Native Reawakening Project.
- Kodiak Island Borough School District: Students
and teachers will be actively involved in the implementation
of the Alaska Native Reawakening Project.
- Alutiiq Community: One community from the Alutiiq
Region to participate in the Alaska Native Reawakening Project/Reclaiming
Tribal Histories.
Lastly, the Aleut Region is closing out on its first
initiative: Indigenous Science Knowledge Base. We are waiting for
a few more signed release forms from the elders.
If you have any questions concerning Annenberg Rural
Challenge or the Alaska Rural Systemic Initiative, please call
Moses Dirks or Harold Napolean at (907) 274-3611.
Tatitlek
Students Work with Smithsonian on Alutiiq CD-ROM
by Dr. Aron L. Crowell, Director Arctic Studies
Center, Alaska Region Office
Through a project carried out last spring by the
Smithsonian Institution's Arctic Studies Center (Anchorage) and
the Chugach School District, students at Tatitlek Community School
explored their culture, learned new computer skills and produced
an interactive computer program that features color photographs,
Sugcestun language terms and information about a variety of objects
made by the Alutiiq people.
To create the HyperStudio program, high school students
Kelly Kompkoff, Jo-Ann Vlasoff, Jason Totemoff and Marcia Totemoff
first talked with elders in the community and studied extensive
documentary materials prepared by Arctic Studies Center researcher
Dee Hunt. With the guidance of teacher Dennis Moore and Chugach
School District consultant Mel Henning, they then scanned in photographs,
prepared texts, and programmed a computerized "exhibit" that lets
viewers learn about masks, clothing and other beautiful and interesting
museum pieces that were made in Prince William Sound, Kodiak Island
and the Alaska Peninsula more than a century ago. The 20 objects
studied by the Tatitlek students now reside at the National Museum
of Natural History in Washington, D.C., but will be coming to Alaska
in 1999 as part of a traveling exhibition called Looking Both Ways:
History, Culture, and Identity of the Alutiiq People. The exhibition
is being planned by the Arctic Studies Center in partnership with
the Alutiiq Museum and Native organizations throughout the Alutiiq
region.
The Tatitlek project was fun, exciting and interesting
for the four students, and gave them a chance to learn more about
what goes into the production of multimedia for computers. In accordance
with the Arctic Studies Center's educational and research mission,
I am interested in working with the Rural Systemic Initiative and
individual school districts to consider similar projects elsewhere
in Alaska. In addition, a much larger educational CD-ROM, which
will include more than 250 Alutiiq, Yup'ik and Dena'ina objects
purchased by Smithsonian collector William Fisher between 1879-1894,
is currently under development at the Arctic Studies Center in
Anchorage and will be available within two years for nonprofit
distribution to schools, cultural centers, museums and libraries.
Chugach School District assistant superintendent
Rich DeLorenzo, who has presented the Tatitlek project at statewide
educational meetings, supported the program as a way to help village
students connect not only with their cultural traditions, but with
the fast-changing world of computer technology. In-kind support
from Mark Standley at Apple Computer is gratefully acknowledged.
Inupiaq Region
by Elmer Jackson
In Sharing Our Pathways Vol. 2, Iss. 1, I reported
on the memorandum of agreements between the Alaska Federation of
Natives (AFN) and four school districts, Ilisagvik College and
Kawerak, Inc. This report will have information on the goals and
benchmarks on this year's initiative: Native Ways of Knowing and
Teaching. Three school districts, Native corporations, tribal organizations
and other organizations will work together to develop a culturally-based
curriculum for teachers in the classroom. Many Inupiaq teachers
create lesson plans; they are the experts in curriculum development.
This new curriculum will be based on the Alaska Native Land Claims
Settlement Act (ANCSA) and the subsistence economy.
Goals for Native Ways of Knowing
- To incorporate Alaska Native ways of knowing into
the pedagogical practice (teaching methods) of schools in rural
Alaska in such a way that knowledge can be drawn from the local
culture and physical environment.
- To identify strengths that Alaska Native teachers
and parents bring to their teaching and to create an educational
environment that capitalizes on those strengths.
- To integrate appropriate Alaska Native pedagogical
practices into the pre-service and in-service preparation of
teachers for rural schools.
Benchmarks: (Year 1)
- All teachers have integrated some form of experiential
learning activity into their planning each week.
- All participating school districts have reviewed
their teacher evaluation procedures, taking into account local
culture variations in successful teaching practices.
- All schools report a significant increase in parent
interest and involvement in school activities, including a ten
percent increase in attendance at parent-teacher conferences.
- Native student enrollment in teacher education
programs has increased by ten percent.
- The proportion of time in in-service programs
devoted to cultural issues associated with teaching has increased
by twenty percent.
ANCSA and the Subsistence Economy
The North Slope Borough School District, Northwest
Arctic Borough School District and the Bering Strait School Districts'
goals and benchmarks for ANCSA and the subsistence economy are:
- To achieve a balanced and thorough treatment of
the role of cash-based and subsistence economies in rural communities
through a comprehensive and culturally-aligned curriculum design
adaptable to local circumstances.
- To develop a curriculum structure that takes into
consideration the context in which learning occurs and makes
use of local resources.
- To form a coalition of organizations associated
with resource management and related economic issues to coordinate
curriculum resources and technical support for rural schools.
Benchmarks: (Year 1)
- Each participating school district has an articulated
curriculum design that integrates the study of issues associated
with ANCSA corporations and the subsistence economy and lifestyle.
- Students in all participating districts are actively
engaged in activities associated with the everyday life of the
community.
- A coalition of organizations and resources have
been drawn together in each region to provide curricular support
for rural schools in teaching ANCSA and the subsistence-related
issues.
The following organizations will participate in the
implementation of the goals and benchmarks: the Alaska Rural Systemic
Initiative, the Alaska Native regional and village corporations,
the Indigenous Peoples Council for Marine Mammals, the Inuit Circumpolar
Conference, the Eskimo Whaling/Walrus Commissions, the Native American
Fish and Wildlife Society, the Alaska Natural Resources and Outdoor
Education Association, the Alaska Society for Technology in Education,
the Alaska Association of Economics Education, the Alaska Association
of Social Studies Teachers, tribal colleges, school districts and
the rural campuses. "The Inupiaq region will also serve as the
initiator for the first of a rotating annual meeting of representatives
from all resources, technology and economics education-related
professional organizations throughout the state, to promote the
incorporation of ANCSA and subsistence-oriented issues in school
curricula in culturally appropriate ways."
The North Slope Borough School District, Northwest
Arctic Borough School District and the Bering Strait School District
will hold subsistence curriculum development workshops. If everyone
works together, the tasks will be easier to accomplish. I will
keep you updated on planning meetings and other events.
Noatak
Science
by Deborah Webber-Werle
"The Northern Lights are as cool as Superman," said
Kenneth Downey, first grader in Noatak, Alaska after Kathy Bertram
from the Geophysical Institute recently visited his class as part
of the Alaska RSI Scientist-in-Residence program. Ms. Bertram spent
several days working with K-12 students at Napaaqtugmiut School.
In addition to an excellent slide show presentation about the aurora,
students watched videotaped launches of research rockets from Poker
Flats Rocket Range near Fairbanks, Alaska. The next day, students
made model rockets of their own that they launched outside the
school.
Junior and senior high school students were awed
by aurora photographs taken from the space shuttle Challenger. "Many
high school students don't know about the research being done at
the Geophysical Institute," said Ms. Bertram. "This information
is so new that it isn't even in their textbooks yet."
"I think the students learned that science is happening
today," said Stan Van Amberg, junior high and senior high school
science teacher. "It was great that the science was from their
own element. These kids see Northern Lights all the time." Mr.
Van Amberg also thought the students were impressed by the information
about the Sprites and Jets, a new form of colored lightning that
shoots upward from some thunderstorms. This phenomena was recently
discovered by researchers at the Geophysical Institute.
The Scientist-in-Residence program promotes student
interest in science by bringing working scientists into the classroom.
Bering
Strait Region: Our Vision for the 21st Century
by Bernadette Alvanna-Stimpfle
Part of my job as a Native Ways of Knowing coordinator
with the Alaska RSI is to help form a Native educators' association
in the Bering Strait Region. I see this as an opportunity to become
a group with common interests to help better the education of our
Native students. We as Native educators are the VOICE for Native
students learning and for developing culturally relevant teaching
materials. We also need to support each other as professional people.
A group of Bering Strait School District and Nome
City Schools teachers met on April 3-5 to discuss the formation
of an association and to make recommendations to focus on. A large
part of each day was spent on brainstorming recommendations. The
recommendations focused on the imbalances in the educational system
and were made to begin to address solutions to the imbalances.
Some of the recommendations were:
- to begin to make aware to the general public,
governing bodies and employees of school districts of the imbalances
that exist within the school and communities;
- to design integrated cultural activities inherent
to the communities into the basic curriculum and
- to encourage parent involvement and to begin work
on implementing a Native language immersion program.
On the afternoon of April 4, Esther Ilutsik, Ciulistet
Native educator from Dillingham and Henry Alakayak, Ciulistet elder
consultant from Manokotak gave a great presentation on the beginnings
of the Ciulistet Research Group (CRG) (see Sharing Our Pathways,
Vol 1, Iss. 2). Esther demonstrated some of the educational materials
that were developed by CRG that stem from traditional Yup'ik knowledge
base rather than translating Western educational materials for
use in the classroom.
On the last day we made a list of possible names
for our group and decided on "Kii" Educators Association (KEA)
which means "go" in Inupiaq and the acronym shows the "KEY" to
Native education. However, it is only a temporary name. I will
be sending another list of names for the Native educators and participants
to choose from and keep everyone updated on our progress.
Yup'ik Region
by Barbara Liu
This is an update of the regional meeting on February
24 and 25, 1997. The memorandum of agreement (MOA) representatives
were Charles Kashatok, William Beans, Natalia Leuhmann, Mike and
Cecilia Martz, Maryann Lomack and ANKN staff Lolly Carpluk. The
elder representatives were Elena Nick, Billy McCann, Cecelia Beans,
Justina Mike, Louise Tall and Elizabeth Peter. Representatives
from Chevak, Dillingham, Manokotak and Iliamna were unable to attend
due to the inclement weather.
The elders conveyed their formal schooling experiences.
We learned through them that there were many interesting aspects
of the school. The most significant parts of territorial schooling
were that the teachers were bilingual in Yup'ik and English and
taught in both languages for a period of time. The students were
around puberty age. Prior to attending school, the language skills,
traditional values and customs were taught by parents and elders.
Despite the lack of formal education in science and math, the parents
and elders inherited the role as teachers in teaching their children
through events in their daily life. This home teaching environment
continued to nourish until the development of schools. The elders
who did not attend this year's Bilingual Multicultural Education
Conference relived their traditions in parenting by the speech
of elder Clarence Irrigoo. The emphasis given by Mr. Irrigoo was
that parenting should begin before children reach puberty age.
The elders also voiced their recommendations in working together
on the cultural and intellectual property rights issue. Unfortunately,
the coordination of the regional MOA activities were not discussed
due to time constraints.
I hosted two additional teleconferences since the
February meeting to address the coordination of regional MOA activities.
MOA representatives were all invited to join the teleconferences
and the outcomes were positive. A curriculum planning meeting took
place in conjunction with the Department of Education initiative
in the first week of May in Dillingham. Quyana.
Yup'ik
Immersion: A Student Perspective
by Danielle Dizon
The following speech placed first in the Academic
Pentathlon Speech Scholastic Division sponsored by Lower Kuskokwim
School District on March 10, 1997. The speech was given by eighth
grader, Danielle Dizon of Bethel, Alaska. Danielle is the daughter
of Barbara Liu, Yup'ik regional coordinator.
The Yup'ik Immersion program began here in Bethel
two years ago. The planning started nearly eight to nine years
before the program began. The plans started with parents, community
members and teachers who were interested in offering something
more than what the regular program offered which was 30 minutes
a day in Yup'ik for elementary students and 50 minutes a day optional
for high school students.
Last summer, I attended a World Indigenous Peoples
Conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico. A workshop I attended was "The
Evolvement of Maori Education in a Predominantly White School." The
presenter was Mihi Roberts, principal for the Forest Lake School
in Hamilton, New Zealand. It took them 14 years of planning to
reach long-term development plan for Forest Lake School which now
offers enrichment, partial immersion and total immersion in the
Maori language and culture. Their total immersion program now owns
their own property, personnel and curriculum. The community helped
renovate a building that they now use. The personnel are all Maori
speaking from their principal, teachers, janitor, cook and resource
people. Their resource people work right in the school developing
their teaching curriculum. The philosophy of their school is based
on Te Wheke Waiora, which embodies total well-being.
For the past eight years attending all three Bethel
schools, I have taken Yup'ik classes taught by our full-speaking
Yup'ik teachers 30-50 minutes per class day. The basic words I
learned in Yup'ik are Waqaa, Camai, Cangacit, Assirtua and Piuraa.
I was taught these same words every single year. Besides these,
I have learned numbers up to 10 and basic commands such as stand-up
and sit-down.
My brother who attends kindergarten at the Yup'ik
Immersion school since August of 1996 knows more Yup'ik now then
I've learned in school the past eight years. He continues to learn
our Yup'ik language. I think the Yup'ik Immersion program is working
and is doing a great job, so far.
I also think the school needs to have 100% Yup'ik
speaking faculty like principals, teachers, janitors, cooks, etc;
more hands-on curriculum like going and exploring our land, maybe
going on a ice-fishing field trip for the older ones, go and sight-see
our land animals and birds such as the ptarmigan in Bethel. By
doing that we would be doing more hands-on things instead of just
seeing it on paper.
It took the Yup'ik Immersion program almost a decade
to get going in Bethel. It has been a positive change for Bethel's
young students. I think it may take a decade to make our program
100% Yup'ik but if we put our heads together and start planning
toward it, it could happen.
Southeast Region
by Andy Hope
The Alaska Native Rural Education Consortium (ANREC)
met April 23-24 in Sitka. The Southeast Alaska Native Educators
Association (SEANEA) met April 23 in Sitka.
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.
My Sitsu (Grandmother)
by Judith F. Evans
Even as I write, this computer does not have Athabascan
in its directory. For spelling it says "no suggestions." Somehow
this makes me sad and things surface in my mind.
The people-what does that mean in today's world?
I want to write my memories and beliefs as I feel with an Athabascan
heart-young, strong and proud. At times I really wish I could go
back to that house by the creek that gently flows by and whispers
secrets that no one can understand but the woman that lived in
the house-my grandmother, Kitty Evans. I write these words to share
my memories and give as a gift to the youth and my brothers Paul
Jr. and Robert Evans. I want people to know how great my grandmother
was and will always be.
Someday I wonder when we ourselves will be looking
through books to find our identity that was lost as we said our
good-byes to our passing elders and buried their knowledge and
tradition with them.
I weep for each one and everything that they were
and represent to me as a young Athabascan woman struggling to find
my place in this modern world. I remember the times I spent back
at my Grammy's house as a child, from the feel of her skin to the
strength of her hands, the way she gently scolded, burnt bacon,
her closets cluttered with everything from plastic bags to bolts
of cloth (which my sister and I explored in child-like wonder),
to the time she called me, Bee Sne E whoa which means "we tell
her but she never listens." My name from grandmother-it means more
to me than I can express in words. Just feel what I feel and maybe
you will get a glimpse of where I come from.
My grandmother never let me down; her heart never
quit giving and still gives even though she is in another place.
I feel it everyday; I see it in some of the things I do. I feel
her love as I walk outside and look around and see the Yukon River
and the land that shaped and put forth the necessities for my grandmother
to forge her life as an Athabascan elder. As I am older, when I
think back and I see my grandmother's eyes staring at me, I see
in those eyes all the knowledge that I wish I could have known.
If only, if only, if only . . . but that does not
take away the regret I have in my heart. If only I would have learned
or listened a little harder, been more attentive and put away all
those modern ideals that engrossed my mind at the time and reached
for what was in front of me all along.
No money, no college, no one can bring her or what
she had to teach me back or change my regret. But what I do have
are the memories that I am blessed with and I carry them with me
everywhere I go.
Appreciate and utilize the time you have with your
elders.
Alaska RSI Contacts
The Alaska RSI Regional Coordinators are located
in five regions within the state of Alaska. They are listed below
to help you identify the correct contact.
Amy Van Hatten
Athabascan Regional Coordinator
University of Alaska Fairbanks
ANKN/Alaska RSI
PO Box 756730
Fairbanks, Alaska 99775-6730
(907) 474-0275 phone
E-mail: fyav@uaf.edu
Elmer Jackson
Inupiaq Regional Coordinator
PO Box 134
Kiana, Alaska 99749
e-mail: fnej@uaf.edu
Andy Hope
Southeast Regional Coordinator
University of Alaska Southeast
School of Business/PR
11120 Glacier Highway
Juneau, Alaska 99801
(907) 465-6362
E-mail: andy@ankn.uaf.edu
Barbara Liu
Yup'ik Regional Coordinator
Box 2262
Bethel, Alaska 99559
(907) 543-3457
E-mail: fnbl@uaf.edu
Moses Dirks
Aleutians Regional Coordinator
Alaska Federation of Natives
1577 C Street, Suite 201
Anchorage, Alaska 99501
(907) 274-3611
E-mail: fhmd@uaf.edu
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