Rebecca M Assignment #4

I learned that Native Americans are struggling to keep their cultures alive. Every tribe has its own history and beliefs that need to be salvaged including their language. I found it very fascinating that these tribes could communicate to each other without words or a written language. I believe as teachers we need to help be keep this history a part of the American culture by teaching the next generation.

Michael B. Assn. 4c

I have learned that the IEFA Act has its heart in the right place, yet perhaps needs to limit the scope. That might sound a little ironic at first, but my point is that sometimes the increased focus can make native students uncomfortable, even singled out. A good example is the interpretive center where I used to work. As a joint project between the Corps of Engineers, the MT Fish and Wildlife, and a local paleontology center there was a mix of local wildlife, local history, and paleontology. When students would come through from a reservation school I made it a point to try to let them somehow incorporate their own culture into the experience. Wildlife; this worked. History; this worked. Paleontology; ... not so much. According to IEFA I should be pushing for Indian experience in every avenue of my education attempts, but in this case there is simply no reason to ask, "Gee, what is the Native American perspective on dinosaurs?" I'd likely just get blank stares. I might ask once to see if there's any relevance, but to bend a curriculum in this way for IEFA is inefficient and ultimately insulting to a people that I have a great deal of respect for.

I would like to know if there are clauses within the act that allow for this kind of discrepancy.

Activities with language are always excellent to include native students. (I would usually ask them the names for animals as we talked about them. If there is a Lakota word for T. Rex, I'd like to hear it.)

IEFA

The last week during the indian education for all activity, there were numerous things that I learned that I previously did not know. It was pretty remarkable that I have lived in Montana for 20 years now and did not know that there are 12 tribes lcated throughout the state. In addition to that I was unaware of the boarding school issue and the intent to try and get rid of all indian culture. It was shocking and I cannot imagine how those children must have felt. The IEFA activity was a very valuable one!

As an elementary teacher there are two activities that I would make sure to do. First off I would find information on the tribes that are located in YOUR state. That is applicable because it is more interesting for your students to learn about their state rather than some other state across the country. In addition to that I would find a video on a pow wow so they can get a better feel of how they work and the environment and all. That is very important.

Jennifer C #4c

Not being from montana I didn’t know much about the different reservations and tribes existing here. This lesson allowed me to learn some interesting information. I didn’t know that there were so many reservations in montana. I also thought it was interesting to learn about how the tribes communicated with one another. Also that the children of the tribes were taken to be educated. Overall I really enjoyed this lesson. For my class I would have the kids work in either small groups or as individuals and research some of the boarding schools in the country. I would have them find things like where and when the school was established, how many students attended the school, and when the school closed or if it is still running today. Then I would have the kids present the information to the class.