Stand – Page 4 – UAS MAT Program ~ 2016 Cohort

Poster Session CRT

For the Culturally responsive activity we were selected to explore the third, Standard C, in the suite. The standard:
“A culturally-responsive curriculum uses the local language and cultural knowledge as a foundation for the rest of the curriculum.”

Of the seven parts I believe our poster was, to me at least, best suited to meet standard C. 6. This standard states: Makes appropriate use of modern tools and technology to help document and transmit traditional cultural knowledge;

Our poster was a representation of a fish wheel built in more or less traditional manner. I think this exemplifies part 6 in that most fish wheels are rooted in the traditional values and methods yet incorporate modern technology and materials to accomplish the goal of feed the people. Moreover, the construction and use of fish wheel by subsistence users often are constructed by community members of multiple generations. There is passing of knowledge, not just of the fish wheel but of the fish, the river and the river environment.

I believe it would be an easy lesson to adapt to the classroom as the connections are between the indigenous knowledge and methods and can be viewed also through a western scientific lens whether form a and engineering or biological perspective.

Alaska Culturally Responsive Curriculum- Section A

My group in class focused our attention on Standard A of the Alaska Culturally Responsive Curriculum. Although our poster may have been less intricate than some, that was part of the beauty of it. We focused a lot on our conversation in class– and really, our poster was perfect for our Standard A; in many cultural traditions, a beautiful aspect is the deepness- rather than amount- of content and a ‘less is more’ attitude around words, actions and time.

“Culturally Responsive Curriculum Standard A: A culturally-responsive curriculum reinforces the integrity of the cultural knowledge that students bring with them.

recognizes that all knowledge is embedded in a larger system of cultural beliefs, values and practices, each with its own integrity and interconnectedness;
insures that students acquire not only the surface knowledge of their culture, but are also well grounded in the deeper aspects of the associated beliefs and practices;
incorporates contemporary adaptations along with the historical and traditional aspects of the local culture;
respects and validates knowledge that has been derived from a variety of cultural traditions;
provides opportunities for students to study all subjects starting from a base in the local knowledge system.”

As a Social Studies teacher, and this seemingly being the most broad of Standards, its’ implementation would come through allowing students space, in any lesson, for reflection, processing and also giving options for different methods of participation. A lesson that is place-based, such as the Math-map class that we performed on campus last week,would be a good example. As a Social Studies teacher, I would create some sort of History-geography map activity for my class to get to know first the school and then branch out into the larger community.

Curriculum Culture Standard D

Curriculum Standard D: A culturally-responsive curriculum fosters a complementary relationship across knowledge derived from diverse knowledge systems.

A lesson that meets this cultural standard:

draws parallels between knowledge derived from oral tradition and that derived from books;
engages students in the construction of new knowledge and understandings that contribute to an ever-expanding view of the world.

A lesson for this standard could include a literature lesson featuring oral story telling and written stories drawing parallels with the overall themes from both traditional and western culture stories, much like Shaun’s lesson plan.

Teaching Curriculum Standard A

My group and I had a grand time dissecting the main facets of the Cultural Curriculum Standard A found in Alaska Standards for Culturally Responsive Schools. We came up with a handy alliteration to remember the different aspects of this standard, which states that, “A culturally-responsive curriculum reinforces the integrity of the cultural knowledge that students bring with them”:

This curriculum…

Reinforces
Recognizes
Roots
Responds and Reflects
Respects
Makes Relevant

With this in mind, I thought of a cultural sharing activity I can do in the music room. Every student has a culture, and every student has music that influences that cultural identity in some way- whether music is a deep part of their culture, or it is just viewed as something catchy to listen to. Students would be asked to find a song that reflects their culture (whether that be a racial/ethnic one, one involving their sexuality, living environment, belief system, etc.) and share it with the class.

We could even expand this to the greater community by having a “cultural music fair”, where each student researches their song, and subsequently their culture, and presents what they learned to their relatives and friends who would be invited into the classroom.

Culturally Responsive Curriculum: Standard C

Culturally Responsive Curriculum Standard C: A culturally-responsive curriculum uses the local language and cultural knowledge as a foundation for the rest of the curriculum.

There are seven parts of this cultural standard, but I’m going to focus my reflection on the following two parts. A curriculum that meets this cultural standard: 1. utilizes the local language as a base from which to learn the deeper meanings of the local cultural knowledge, values, beliefs and practices; and 2. 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.

I really appreciate how much Tlingit language we have been exposed to through this class. We have listened to expert speakers, we have watched young people use the language, and we have learned about the connections between language and culture. We have seen that this language is vibrant and very much alive. During our group project David mentioned how he would like to do a Tlingit word of the day to teach us as a class and I really like that idea! I also think it’s something we could easily incorporate into a classroom throughout the year, especially since there are recordings of Tlingit available online, dictionaries, and even these cool videos with puppets from 1969. It would be great to have an Elder join the classroom and help us work on Tlingit language, but that might not be an option daily.
Thinking about rooting a lesson in place makes me think of Paula’s lesson on Japanese Knotweed. You could teach a lesson on invasive plants simply by reading about them in a text book, but would it really be memorable? I grew up in Douglas and when Paula showed us the map of where the invasive plant grew, I could picture the patches in my former neighbors’ yards. My best friend and I used to build tunnels through the knotweed by lashing the tops of it together with grass. Some of the most important meetings about the latest elementary school drama were held within the walls of this invasive plant. This lesson helped me reexamine something that I thought I already understood. I was encouraged to reconsider it, examine it, and think critically about this plant and how it arrived in Alaska. Paula’s students got to observe the plant in the wild, record data about it, and learn (or solve the mystery!) of how it got to Douglas. Through interdisciplinary lesson “place” seemed to be the glue that held science, math, history and language arts together. I have learned so much in this course about how we we can meet curriculum standard C and teach many complex topics using the resources and knowledge right here in Juneau (or whatever community you’re working in!)

Culturally Responsive Teaching: More than Differentiation+Lesson

Culturally responsive teaching envelops the traditional values as a foundation and platform for lessons in the regular classroom. In class, I studied Standard C as part of the Alaska Standards for curriculum which states “a locally responsive curriculum uses the local language and cultural knowledge as a foundation for the rest of the curriculum.” After doing this activity, I believe a lot of teachers think of culturally responsive teaching as differentiation-accommodating to those of different cultural backgrounds, but it is us who should use the Alaskan cultural roots as the core of our curriculum.

I can use Standard C in music class by involving community members and school cultural specialists as a starting point to accomplishing standards. For example, state standards for elementary music education include learning syncopation, ostinato, and the ability to do call and response songs. Traditional Tlingit songs contain all of these elements…I would have students initially learn songs from a guest from the community while I emphasize the state/national standards. This allows students to learn the cultural inter-relationships between multiple types of music.

Reflection on Cultural Standards for Curriculum “A”

Well, our poster was quite simple. But to be fair, Curriculum A is perhaps the broadest of the five cultural standards for curriculum, so it was hard for us (I think) to get a visual hook into it.

I wish I would have drawn my “Sea of Ontology” with the Three levels of culture (Concrete, Behavioral and Symbolic) within it as an Eye because that would have made more metaphorical sense. Ie. the drawn Eye would be the lens that we view culture through, rather than the Greek idea of the sea of knowledge that bounds every life. I also wish that I had drawn it right side up.

It was cool and insightful to see Mischa and Jasmine focus in on the ovoids. They explained that in the Tlingit culture, drawing always starts with an ovoid. Mischa said that other shapes can always fit around an ovoid (I guess because it has three curves and one straight side). Mischa also said (I think) that she sees ovoids first in Tlingit art, while triangles or diamonds aren’t shapes that stand out to her, but tend to do so to people outside of the Tlingit culture and way of knowing. I thought that was super interesting. Anyway, I think our visual representation did evoke these two parts of Curriculum A fairly well:

1. recognizes that all knowledge is imbedded in a larger system of cultural beliefs, values and practices, each with its own integrity and interconnectedness;

The ovoid of cultural ownership within a larger of ovoid of cultural context of some other kind speaks to #1.

5. provides opportunities for students to study all subjects starting from a base in the local knowledge system.

Obviously, our poster was centered around symbols that are deeply associated with the local knowledge system – #5. All the other side drawings/text on our poster sprung up in the corners.