Ioana Ward

ALST600- Final reflections

ALST600 Alaska Studies was not a typical history course, and you were not the typical History teacher.

You saw potential in each of us, and gave us the freedom to experience a new situation. We were the historians in the room. I started this journey with excitement and hesitation for the big project ahead- writing our own book. You were there for us each step of the way, helping us when we got stuck.

Project- based learning involved a dynamic classroom approach, in which we acquired a deeper knowledge through exploration of the region we choose.

I found out so many things about the region, the culture,and the people. Working in small groups gave us the opportunity to share our ideas, present our point of view, and develop this project. By proofreading our classmates work, we learned about the other regions as well. There were days when you told us it was time to go home, but nobody hurried to leave. We formed a community within the classroom where we investigated and came up with answers to our questions.

What I learned from this, was that students are motivated when they are doing the researching and inquiring themselves. The teacher is coaching both knowledge development, and social skills, assessing what students have learned from this experience.

Standard C

A culturally-responsive curriculum uses the local language and cultural knowledge as a foundation for the rest of the curriculum.

A curriculum that meets this cultural standard:

utilizes the local language as a base from which to learn the deeper meanings of the local cultural knowledge, values, beliefs and practices;
recognizes the depth of knowledge that is associated with the long inhabitation of a particular place and utilizes the study of “place” as a basis for the comparative analysis of contemporary social, political and economic systems;
incorporates language and cultural immersion experiences wherever in-depth cultural understanding is necessary;
views all community members as potential teachers and all events in the community as potential learning opportunities;
treats local cultural knowledge as a means to acquire the conventional curriculum content as outlined in state standards, as well as an end in itself;
makes appropriate use of modern tools and technology to help document and transmit traditional cultural knowledge;
is sensitive to traditional cultural protocol, including role of spirituality, as it relates to appropriate uses of local knowledge.

This curriculum is about including the local knowledge, beliefs, and values into the classroom. By inviting members of the community to share their knowledge and be part of your lesson, you as a teacher, connect the Native culture with the content standards.

I would use the local language in my science class to name different plants and invite an elder to speak about their medicinal use. That would engage students to learn more about the traditional cultural knowledge of their home.

Lesson plan- Impact of mining on the environment

As part of our lesson, we discuss the impact of obtaining natural resources and their effects on the environment. Students learn about different minerals found in Southeast Alaska and how minerals are used in our daily life.

This lesson focuses on pros/ cons of mining on environment and the role of minerals in our society.

The lesson addresses content and curriculum standards. It uses modern tools and technology, like a Kahoot! Pre-assessment, matching names of minerals with photos, and watching a video about an abandoned Gold Mine in Juneau, Alaska.

By doing the lab activity simulating mining, students will develop an understanding that solving problems involves different ways of thinking, and perspectives. They will each receive a blueberry muffin. The muffin represents a land area and the blueberries are valuable deposits. The goal is to remove as many mineral deposits (blueberries) with the least amount of damage to the land. Students can use different materials to mine,and different mining methods. The activity will lead them to the essential question of the lesson:

Can we mine while not destroying the Earth?

I chose to bring members of the community to share their knowledge and expertize: a U.S. Forest Service employee and a USGS employee. They will speak to the students about resource sources in the forest and the local mines, presenting mining from their perspective.

Students will listen to a story about the resources of the Tongass which opens up a discussion about the wildlife that will be endangered by mining.

To assess the outcomes students will be split in 2 groups and will have a mock debate in front of our guests and classroom. One group will be given the task to brainstorm 5 things pro mining and the other group will have to come up with 5 things against mining. Both groups will have 2 minutes to support their cause. The last activity gives us the chance to share opinions, and to reflect on the impact of mining on the environment.

For a PDF version of the lesson plan click here:Lesson plan- Impact of mining on the environment

Culturally Responsive Teaching – Determination

Michelle’s presentation had a few tips that we could use in teaching culturally responsive. Splitting the class in groups where she chose the person that would facilitate the discussion and the person that reflects on the small group discussion, showed that she knew her students. As a teacher you know the students that are active and participate in class, but this strategy gave the opportunity to students whose voices are not heard to be part of the discussion. As facilitator, the student ensures that all the members are provided with opportunities to be engaged, and helps individuals expand on their ideas or perspectives.

The reflector provides the final summary of what the group accomplished, and shares it with the whole class.

Michelle also shared with us that at the end of the class she would vote with bodies for her lesson essential question. I’ve seen this before in a Social Study class and students responded to it very well. The students that were in the same group shared their opinions and then listen to their peers’ opinions.

Scott’s presentation was the perfect example of bringing different subjects together and engaging your students in a project that is place based. Students don’t always know a lot about the place they live, and Scott’s exercise gave them the chance to dig deeper while bringing also the community in the project.

Ernestine Hayes’s reading from her book “The Blonde indian” was very emotional. Neither fully Native American or Euro-American, she encounters a feeling of alienation from both her Native culture and the Western culture. She realized early in life that she could never be” a blue bird” and she would just be “ a seagull”, like her elementary teacher told her. Ernestine’s message to us was to believe that every child is brilliant, and to engage them into critical thinking. She tells her students that the recipe to succeed is: “ 1% what you know, 2% who you know, and 97% DETERMINATION”. As teachers, we need to realize that we are not only changing a child’s life, but a generation.

Salmon Creek

I chose the book called Salmon Creek by Annette LeBox & Karen Reczuch, which received the B.C.Book Prize for illustrated Children’s Literature.

This book tells the story of a coho, called Sumi from her birth creek:

“Home is the scent of cedar and creek

Home is the journey’s end.”

Where she could hear the wind, the creek stones, and her salmon mother singing.

Sumi swam down the river, past factories, farms, forests, tugboats, and docks until she came to a place where the river met the sea. The infinite sea was her new home where she became a mature fish. And then one summer something changed. She started missing her birthplace, so she set out for her birth creek.

She came back to her birth creek to lay her eggs. Exhausted Sumi looked at the sky, she could hear the wind, the creek stones, and as she drifted downstream, Sumi sang to her eggs, just like her mother’s done when Sumi was just an egg.

“Home is the scent of cedar and creek

Home is the journey’s end.”

This book tells a wonderful story about the life cycle of Coho Salmon. It is filled with beautiful images and metaphors.

I was attracted to this book because I saw the connection that I could make between this book and teaching a Science class about life cycles or protection of Salmon and their habitat. This book can also be used in an Ecology class. The story can be a good starting point for a discussion about Pacific Salmon who are in danger because too many of them are being caught. Only a small percentage of salmon live to reach their natal stream or spawning grounds. Since salmon do not feed once they leave the ocean, some will die on their way lacking stored body fat to make the whole trip.

The Transformation within Ourselves

Beyond Heroes and Holidays: The True Colors of the New Jim Toomey: Transformation, Integrity,Trust in Educating Teachers about Oppression (p57-68)

After reading the pages that were assigned to us, each person shared with the group something that stood out for them from the text. In this way everyone’s voice was heard which is one of the important aspects of being a culturally responsive teacher. Something that stood out for me was the importance of active listening. Everyone has a story to tell, and we value each other stories by responding to them, by creating within the classroom a community characterized by strong relationships. It is our duty as culturally responsive teachers to engage the students that think they don’t have a story to tell. We need to create a sense of belonging, and trust in order for students to feel safe and open up to share their stories. Students should be proud of their background; there is no shame if you have a different background, religion, ethnicity, race,or class. Sharing these stories will open “windows onto the worlds of people they’d never before encountered”. Students experience how a community grows closer when all of its members’ stories are acknowledged and celebrated.

I think this paragraph is bringing out another important aspect: the transformation, which needs to happen within ourselves. ” By engaging students with a sense of pride, and by supporting them to articulate their fears and their resistances, I hoped to help them reach through their defensiveness, to strengthen their capacity to acknowledge both their oppression and their privilege. In order to have the strength and flexibility to acknowledge their complicity in racist and sexist dynamics, they first need to reaffirm the valuable aspects of their backgrounds and the goodness of their person”.

Culturally Responsive Teaching: “All the knowledge is in your hands”- John Martin

Friday class was a wonderful experience for me, because we had the honor to meet amazing people that had years of knowledge to share with us.

Listening to Paula Savikko I realised that a culturally responsive teacher knows what to teach and how to teach it. As teachers we all have a curriculum that needs to guide us, but how we choose to teach the information is up to us. Her words “own your own curriculum” will stick with me throughout my teaching career. In order to engage your students you need to make the subject accessible to students, be clear about the purpose, and the process. Culturally responsive teachers coach their students to question, make observations, test hypothesis, consult original sources, connect content to their own lives, collect , and analyze data. It is very important to make time to build relationships with your students and guide them in their attempts. Another good advice from Paula was to involve the parents, community, different organizations in your activities.

The other activity that we’ve done, the Math Trail was a good way to apply our skills and knowledge with another two peers. Working in groups is always engaging, because each member has an idea that is worth exploring. By doing this you can look at a Math problem from a scientific or an artistic point of view. Most of the problems have multiple correct answers. You can reach the same result following different trails.

I would use this in my science class, as a way to connect science with other disciplines like social studies, or art. English classes could be used to introduce a certain historic event through a novel that students would read as part as their English curriculum. Students can create riddles or word games to learn different chemistry or math formulas. I remember what Reuben said when he explained the problem to us: SOH, CAH, TOA. It made me smile because many people didn’t have a clue what he was talking about at first, but he presented the information in an accessible form to all of us. This is the essence of CRT- ”developing a good recipe of words that you will share with others”( David Katzeek).