 Our Language Our Souls:
The Yup'ik bilingual curriculum of the
Lower Kuskokwim School District: A continuing success story.
Edited by Delena Norris-Tull,
University of Alaska Fairbanks,
School of Education, Fairbanks, Alaska
copyright
1999
Chapter 2
The Balanced Literacy Program in
Yup'ik
By Pamela Yancey and Sophie Shield
Bethel, Alaska
Copyright 1998
Parents, educators, administrators, and community members continue
to raise questions about the proper choice of instruction and
materials for the Yup'ik first language and Yup'ik immersion
programs. People are concerned about the quality of education in the
Yup'ik program as compared to the English program. The mission of
providing quality education is not simple either in Yup'ik or in
English. However, since most of the instructional materials are
written in English, it is less of a struggle to teach in English than
in Yup'ik.
The development of Yup'ik materials is a complex task. However,
the devotion and dedication of the people here in the Lower Kuskokwim
School District continues to drive the program forward. We are
fortunate to have the support of the Curriculum/Bilingual Department
in our district, which is responsible for providing training and
development of Yup'ik instructional materials. We have the graphic
arts department which devotes most of its time to support and develop
Yup'ik reading materials. The reading materials that they produce
include big and small books, posters, computer interactive stories,
alphabet cards and so forth.
Since 1995, the Curriculum Bilingual Department has offered a
four-week Bilingual Summer Institute each summer to provide more
training for both certified and classified Alaska Native staff.
During the Institute, the participants also help develop Yup'ik
instructional materials. The training includes Yup'ik orthography,
thematic units, science, health, etc. In the 1997 and 1998 Summer
Institutes, we focused on the balanced literacy program and produced
appropriate reading materials at the students' developmental reading
levels. The Bilingual Summer Institute has had significant positive
effects in providing effective Yup'ik literacy instruction.
There are many ways to implement reading instruction, but the most
successful method we have found is using the balanced literacy
approach. The balanced literacy approach, also known as the
comprehensive literacy program, is firmly established on the whole
language philosophy. It integrates reading, writing, and content
subject areas into thematic units. Students are immersed in a
literate environment. Using the holistic approach emphasizes learning
within the whole context rather than through parts. The students
learn to read in meaningful and zestful text instead of doing
tiresome worksheets. Skills are developed through comprehension, not
drill and practice.
Whole language also involves students in using all modes of
communication: speaking, listening, reading, writing, observing,
illustrating, experiencing, doing, and creating. Students are not
only learning to read by reading and learning to write by writing;
they also have numerous opportunities to learn how to express
themselves in different ways. Last but not least, holistic learning
encourages students to use higher order thinking skills, such as the
three cueing systems: semantic, syntactic, and graphophonic, which
requires students to use the analytical thinking process.
The holistic approach for literacy development is extremely
appropriate for the Yup'ik language programs. Since the programs help
foster students' language development, they not only learn how to
read and write, but also learn to speak and to listen with
understanding. Even though most of the village students speak Yup'ik
as a first language, many do not speak Yup'ik fluently. Even if they
are fluent speakers in any language, children are continuously
developing their language skills. This is especially true at the
kindergarten through third grade levels. In the 1997 and1998 Summer
Institutes, the training for the balanced literacy program has been
targeted on the primary grades. Teachers who attended the Summer
Institutes and implemented the balanced literacy program in their
classrooms comment that they like the literacy program very much
because it makes sense and is effective with students in multiple
language skill levels.
Marta Russell-Hanes, a veteran kindergarten/first grade teacher at
Mikelnguut Elitnaurviat in Bethel, and Pamela Yancey (a non-Native,
non-Yup'ik speaking teacher) taught the first balanced literacy
program in the summer of 1997. We introduced the components of the
comprehensive (balanced) literacy program and modeled how to
implement them. The Juneau School District identified the following
components in the balanced reading program: reading aloud, shared
reading, guided reading, independent reading, familiar rereading; and
they identified the following components in the writing program:
modeled writing, shared writing, interactive writing, guided writing,
and independent writing.
We spent a majority of the time teaching two of the components,
shared reading and guided reading, because they are quite
complicated. We showed the participants how to make a lesson plan for
shared reading and how to do a new book introduction for guided
reading. The teachers worked in small groups and then individually to
practice making lesson plans. The shared reading lesson plan is a
five-day plan, which consists of two or three warm up activities
(songs, rhymes, or chants), the big book of the week, five books for
reading aloud, skills lessons, and extension activities. A new book
introduction for guided reading includes a brief introduction of the
book, mini language skills, writing structure, predicting /locating
words, and a follow-up activity.
The reading material for the shared reading is picked according to
a particular theme. The shared reading lesson is composed of students
who are grouped heterogeneously while the guided reading lesson is
grouped homogeneously for emergent level readers. Guided reading is
derived from the reading recovery program in New Zealand, which is an
individualized remedial reading program. Guided reading is used for
reading intervention and it is done with a small group instead of
one-on-one tutoring. Like reading recovery, in guided reading
students are assessed and placed at their instructional levels. The
teacher provides opportunities for learning reading strategies,
conducts mini language lessons, and evaluates students' progress. A
new book is introduced in each guided reading lesson and each student
has his/her own copy of the book to read. To support this program, we
need an ample amount of big books for shared reading and leveled
books for guided reading.
As a result of the 1997 Summer Institute, the Curriculum Bilingual
Department translated and reproduced twelve big books to go with the
twelve Yup'ik thematic units for shared reading and translated fifty
small books for guided reading. Each participant also wrote and
illustrated one big book and a small book. They were trained to
recognize book characteristics for each developmental level: early
emergent, upper emergent, early fluency, and fluency. When they were
writing their books, they were required to write at a given
developmental level. The district published most of these books
created by the participants.
In the 1998 Summer Institute, Loddie Jones and Pamela Yancey
taught the balanced literacy program. Loddie was the recipient of
Bilingual, LKSD, Milken, Native Educator, and Alaska Federation of
Natives Teacher of the Year awards from 1995 through 1997. Loddie is
currently teaching immersion kindergarten at Mikelnguut Elitnaurviat
School in Bethel. The format of the institute was a little different
than the summer before. Our district adopted the Sunshine literacy
program for this year, so we used the professional resource guide as
our text and guide for the Institute. We taught the teachers how to
use the resource book. It was very helpful because the teachers will
now know exactly where to look to get information in their resource
manual when they are implementing the program.
One unique experience about this Bilingual Summer Institute was
that Loddie and Pamela worked as a team. Pamela taught a lesson in
English and Loddie taught the same lesson in Yup'ik. We wanted to
impart the message to the Yup'ik teachers that whatever we do in
English; we can do in Yup'ik. It was crucial for them to see more
lessons taught in Yup'ik, so we provided more opportunities. They
cooperatively presented the shared reading and guided reading
lessons. The participants reviewed lesson plans, songs, chants, and
project ideas from other groups. The Summer Institute was a community
of sharing knowledge and materials. Everything we did was a
cooperative effort. Working and learning from one another are the
best ways to understand the concepts and to stimulate teaching ideas.
Transferring the English language program to the Yup'ik language
program, the Alaska Native teachers needed time to talk and work
together in order to be able to apply the concept in Yup'ik. In the
1997 Summer Institute the participants had to produce the books
individually. It was difficult for most people because some people
could not illustrate while other people had trouble understanding how
to write books according to developmental levels. We learned by
experience, so in the 1998 institute we asked each small group to
produce two books. They had a joyous time working together. They
wrote over twenty quality books that summer!
Assessment is an integral element of the balanced literacy
program. In order to plan effective instruction, the teachers must
evaluate what their students know and do not know. We examined the
Sunshine assessments, which were very similar to Marie Clay's
Observation Surveys. Marie Clay developed these assessments for
authentic evaluation to help at-risk students in the reading recovery
program. We decided to translate the Sunshine assessments into
Yup'ik. The translation of the assessment was interesting but
difficult, especially on some issues. For example, translating the
running records into Yup'ik was extremely complicated. Running
records are used to determine students' reading level and the reading
strategies they used or did not use. The teachers use the information
to place a child in a small reading group and guide his/her
instruction. First, we needed to translate a set of books for
assessment purposes, known as the benchmark books. Then we developed
the running record forms. To calculate the accuracy of the student's
running record, the teacher subtracts the number of errors from the
running words and then divides the difference into the number of
running words.
We ran into major problems in figuring out the running words.
Since the Yup'ik words are extremely long, we wanted to be in
alignment with the English program. How to divide the words was a
controversial issue. Some teachers thought it would make sense to
divide words into syllables, some teachers believed the words should
be divided into post bases, while other teachers wanted to keep the
words intact. Everyone defended their positions, and sounded
reasonable, but nothing was resolved. Finally we decided that since
we had never experienced the running records in Yup'ik before, the
1998-99 academic year would be the year for trial and error to see
which system works the best.
The running record dispute is a minute example of the
obstacles we encountered in this extended project and there are numerous
ones to
overcome. For example, the translation from English to Yup'ik is an
enormous assignment, which Sophie Shield, our district translator,
will address. As John Holt said, "There are two ways to reach to the
top of the oak tree, either climb the branches or sit on the acorn
and wait." The journey is difficult, but we are on our way!
Table of Contents
- Introduction to the Kuskokwim
Delta - Delena Norris-Tull
- Introduction to the Yup'ik
Language and Culture Programs of the Lower Kuskokwim
School District - Delena Norris-Tull &
Beverly Williams
- Chapter 1: The Yup'ik
First Language Program: Lower Kuskokwim School District
- Mary Lou Beaver & Evon Azean, Sr.
- Chapter 2: The Balanced
Literacy Program in Yup'ik - Pamela Yancey & Sophie
Shield
- Chapter 3: Creating Yup'ik
Books, Translating, & Orthography - Pamela Yancey
& Sophie Shield
- Chapter 4: Ayaprun Immersion
School - Loddie Ayaprun Jones
- Chapter 5: Analysis of the Yup'ik
Immersion Program In Bethel - Agatha Panigkaq
John-Shields
- Chapter 6: Yup'ik Language and Culture: A
Description and Analytical View of the 4-6 Yup'ik Thematic
Unit - Dora E. Strunk
- Chapter 7: K-3
Thematic Units and the Alaska Cultural Standards - Nita
Yurrliq Rearden
- Chapter 8: Yup'ik Language and Culture: A
Description of the 5th-12th
Yup'ik Curriculum and its Revision - Rosalie
Lincoln
- Chapter 9: Yup'ik
Discipline Practices Inerquutet and Alerquutet To
Implement Into Yup'ik Schools - Theresa Arevgaq John
- Chapter 10: Recommendations
for Yup'ik Curriculum at Lower Kuskokwim School District - Sally
Casey
email the
editor, D. Norris-Tull
|
