Category: Student posts

It has been a full few weeks of learning’s and adventures at MEHS.  I am blown away each and every day by the stories and perspectives shared by my students, fellow staff and through my surroundings here in Sitka.

It is hard for me to think of how a teacher possibly wouldn’t use a place-based educational model here at MEHS.  The school is literally situated right next to the water- with a view of the town of Sitka and the harbor across the way.  Looking out my classroom window I see boats passing, float-planes landing, sea lions and otters floating by….  Not only is it a picturesque setting, but situated in a culturally, historically and industry  rich area brimming with cool things to explore and learn!  And students are, in general, coming in from other corners of the state.  So why not use where we are- as a base to expand our learning and connect it to our selves and where we are from?!

So far I have witnessed, at the school, many moments of place-based learning.  Everything from a science class snorkeling up a local river to learn about salmon spawning, to students collecting water and beach samples to test for contamination, to in one of my classes, covering local news and events around campus and town.  In this specific news class, we even had the opportunity to take a boat ride to watch whales migrating south!  Closer to campus, one of my classes had an assignment to as accurately as possible, in a group, draw the state of Alaska.  Once they had accomplished this task, they had some specific southeast additions they needed to add (like where we are- MEHS in Sitka) and then were free to create the map-art that they wanted.  It was a neat project that created some very educational but different results!  I see room for additional place-based learning in my Alaska Studies classes for next semester and hopefully it will become more prevalent in the remainder of this fall semester as we move into other units of the class.

Blog #1: What are examples of place-based and culturally responsive curriculum/instruction at your school?

In certain areas in the school, there are Tlingit words posted in areas that people can see read for an object. Other areas, like the lunch line, have the phrase “I’m hungry” in Tlingit.

I think that there should be more of them around the school. Maybe I will get some students together and post more Tlingit words in areas that could use them. They can all use it 🙂

What are examples of place-based and culturally responsive curriculum/instruction at your school? Be prepared to discuss in class.

The North Slope School District has implemented some really awesome cultural and place-based units through what is called “Project Umiaq.” Each quarter we have certain units to teach that coincide with the times of the year in which each event historically took place. In addition, all the units are taught at the same time throughout the district and in each respective content area class so that collaboration and discussion is possible with teachers and students all over the slope. Some of the units are taught in both Social Studies and English so that teachers have the opportunity to take the units a step further 🙂 These units have been developed by our community’s elders and culture bearers and we have had several opportunities to listen to them speak to us and teach us about the units. The resources that we are provided with really give us the opportunity to learn about the culture, community, and the history of Inupiat people. Each unit has teacher books, student workbook and books, and some have video documentaries that were filmed by culture bearers. I’m hopeful to use these units as a jumping off point and continue to incorporate as much as I can each day in class so as not to fall into the heroes and holidays trap that we talked about this summer. We also have this really cool application called Rubicon that gives us a pacing guide and lets us search our content area for units that other teachers have drawn up which have been reviewed by the district. Each year, new teachers are required to develop a unit to submit for review. I am truly blessed to be working up here this year and hopefully for years to come. The students up here are such a good group of kids and they put a smile on my face every day. I can’t wait to be able to have a good grasp on this thing called teaching so that we can learn from each other and bring everyone’s culture and community into the classroom!

Blog #1: What are examples of place-based and culturally responsive curriculum/instruction at your school?

There are a number of place-based and culturally responsive curriculum/instruction happening at my school. In my own science and social studies classroom my host teachers have been mindful to include Tlingit language and place names in the landforms and mapping units. I was invited to develop and teach a lesson on Maps from around the World, which included different world views, and approaches to mapping by indigenous peoples.

Tlingit language is in the 6th grade exploratory rotation so that all incoming sixth graders have the opportunity take Tlingit language.

There are also several math classes which focus on place-based and culturally relevant math approaches.  One of the 6th grade teachers is currently teaching the Math in a Cultural Context kayak unit with their extreme class.

The Stikine house also visited Sealaska Heritage Institute this week to listen to Elders David Katzeek and Paul Marks on the meaning and importance of Aa.toow as a part of their Archeology unit.

In the music classroom at Riverbend Elementary, I have seen a couple examples of culturally responsive teaching in action.  At Riverbend, there is a large Filipino student population, so music class is a place where Filipino culture and customs can be integrated and explored.  My host teacher has taught a Filipino tongue twister game called Sagidi Sapopo as a classroom activity for the last couple weeks.  This game involves saying a tongue twister while a leader performs rhythms using various types of body percussion and the rest of the group imitates.  The game incorporates multiculturalism into the music classroom and teaches a valuable musical skill – canon.  A canon is a compositional technique in which a melody or rhythm repeats itself in imitation after a certain duration has passed.  So, my host teacher has used a multicultural activity to teach a fundamental musical skill that is present in many cultures.

In a few weeks, my host teacher plans to teach an exploratory unit on Filipino folk dance.  Her students will be able to share their expertise and be leaders and teaching assistants during this unit.  The class will be learning about Tinikling, a style of traditional dance in which two or more percussionists beat long bamboo poles rhythmically against the ground while dancers step and jump through the poles.  When participating in this dance, the Riverbend music students will learn to rhythmize their bodies, develop a sense of inner pulse, and learn to move in time with the music.

Another way that I have seen culturally responsive teaching in the classroom is in the way that my host teacher acknowledges our students’ prior cultural knowledge that they bring with them to the classroom.  Many of the music lessons in the Game Plan curriculum, which we use, involve a weekly “moving to the beat” activity.  In these activities, students are expected to move their bodies in time with the music, taking a step on each beat, showing where rests are by standing still, and accenting different beats in the music using their bodies.  For these activities, my host teacher always asks students to share dance moves from their own popular culture to be incorporated into the activity as a way to express rhythm.

Juneau Community Charter School (JCCS) does a great job of incorporating place-based education into the classroom. In the first week of school, we took students or on a walk through downtown to get them oriented in where we are. The second week of school, we went to Echo Ranch for three days of camping. Students could choose classes like: canoeing, making campfires and cooking on them, knot tying (for boating), trail running, and various other outdoor Alaskan skills. The students’ favorite activity was building “gnome houses” (photo left) out of only natural materials that they found in the forest. About every other week students take either a walking field trip, or go on a hike in gym. One of the most popular exploratory classes is photography, where students have been documenting downtown Juneau through photographs. Another popular exploratory class is working with a naturalist from Discovery Southeast to take field notes on various hikes throughout Juneau.

Another way that JCCS incorporates place-based learning is through the community service focus. JCCS has three different community service courses broken up by grade. The 6th graders plan a menu and prepare a meal for the Glory Hole once a month and use class time to prepare, which means getting donations from families and local businesses. The 7th graders volunteer to help in lower grades in the fall and in the spring they volunteer at Discovery Preschool. The 8th graders design their own community service project that includes working with a mentor for the year.

As far as culturally-responsive teaching, I see some gaps within the curriculum. In Social Studies and Language Arts we have been working on a lesson on reading portraits as biographies, we examined portraits of many diverse historical figures as well as portraits of “regular” people from around the world. I liked the way students had a chance to look at art created by and depicting people from all different cultures. We also have book groups and mine is currently reading “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” by Sherman Alexie. However, in a curriculum that is so project-based and where students get a lot of choice in their learning, many of them do not “choose” to learn about other cultures. I see an many opportunities to incorporate studies specifically on Tlingit culture and the active Tlingit community here in Juneau. When I begin my Social Studies unit on the Civil Rights Movement I plan to show the film Jerry was in about Elizabeth Peratrovich and hopefully invite some guest speakers in to class to speak more about social justice issues here in Juneau. I would also like to take students on trip to the Alaska State Museum and to the Sealaska Heritage Center during our unit on developing biographies of historical figures. I’m also really looking forward to the exploratory class that will take place in the spring with Abel Ryan who is a Tsimshian carver and metal worker. Again though, if students do not choose the certain book group or exploratory class, they could miss various opportunities for more culturally-responsive lessons. I hope to incorporate more culturally-responsive lessons into classes that everyone will take.