Post by blackcrowheart on Oct 22, 2005 17:27:56 GMT -5
Teachers eye ways to embrace curriculum of Indian Education for All
By ROB CHANEY of the Missoulian
Montanans have pretty well absorbed the need for Indian Education for All, but they're still waiting to see it take shape, educators agreed at the conclusion of the annual statewide teacher's convention in Missoula on Friday.
“We still need the money to go into every classroom and reach every teacher,” Rep. Carol Juneau, D-Browning, told her audience during a keynote panel discussion at the Montana Education Association-Montana Federation of Teachers conference.
The 2005 Legislature's provision of $3.4 million to jump-start Indian education efforts works out to about $20 per student, she said. The Quality Schools Interim Committee has recommended bumping that to $7 million. But the work can't end there, Juneau said.
“The process of growing a curriculum is not going to magically stop after 2006,” Juneau said. “We wouldn't ask you to do that for the math and science curriculum, or for the English curriculum. It's got to continue to grow.”
That growth got a big push at the two-day conference, according to Superintendent of Public Instruction Linda McCulloch.
“There are over 100 Indian Ed for All workshops at this conference,” McCulloch said. “We're looking at teacher training and classroom resources - we need both. We don't want anyone to have to stop a lesson and say, ‘Now it's time for Indian Ed for All.' ”
Panel members pointed out the push must come from both the top and bottom of the system. Rep. Norma Bixby, D-Lame Deer, said years of lobbying school districts and the state Board of Regents for more attention to Indian education didn't compare to last year's court decision and legislative action.
“We've got to get the laws,” Bixby said. “There are good people out there doing Indian Education for All, but they haven't been able to grow it because the dollars aren't there. And we can't do one-time money. The curriculum has to continue to grow.”
Even with laws, however, Indian education must win at the grass-roots level - in the classroom.
“Teachers have to choose to integrate their curriculums,” said Kadene Drummer, an instructor from Stone Child College near Box Elder, who brought 10 student-teachers to the conference. “They have to decide if they're willing to enjoy this diversity and embrace it. It's like Lewis and Clark. We've got people coming from back east to study them here, and we've lived right next to it and often done nothing with it.”
There are two sides to Indian education. The one that's received the most publicity has been how to make all Montana schoolchildren aware of their Native American heritage.
But a second component looks at how to help Indian children close troubling achievement gaps. State legislative research shows that Native students lag between 25 and 44 percentage points behind white students in reading and math tests.
They also report a 50 percent high school graduation rate for Native students, compared with 82 percent for the white majority. Part of that must be addressed by helping Indian students overcome poverty, segregation and discrimination.
“In rural Montana, the reality for our small communities and our reservation communities is that No Child Left Behind is almost impossible to implement,” said Joyce Silverthorne, the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes' education director. “It's up to us to make a difference in the schools we have.”
As the process gets under way, more and more Montana teachers may become aware of their leadership role for the nation, several speakers said. While Native cultures touch every state and every community, Montana has made the most progress toward teaching about Native cultures at all levels of public education.
“For those of us from schools that have been teaching this for decades, this is a real source of pride,” said Tammy Esler, who administers a federal Indian education program in the Arlee School District. “Other subject areas have been around long enough that they can bring in national speakers for their keynote conferences. But there's a very small group of teachers that have been teaching this. We don't have all that literature out there yet. Our heroes are up there on that panel.”
Reporter Rob Chaney can be reached at 523-5382 or at rchaney@missoulian.com
By ROB CHANEY of the Missoulian
Montanans have pretty well absorbed the need for Indian Education for All, but they're still waiting to see it take shape, educators agreed at the conclusion of the annual statewide teacher's convention in Missoula on Friday.
“We still need the money to go into every classroom and reach every teacher,” Rep. Carol Juneau, D-Browning, told her audience during a keynote panel discussion at the Montana Education Association-Montana Federation of Teachers conference.
The 2005 Legislature's provision of $3.4 million to jump-start Indian education efforts works out to about $20 per student, she said. The Quality Schools Interim Committee has recommended bumping that to $7 million. But the work can't end there, Juneau said.
“The process of growing a curriculum is not going to magically stop after 2006,” Juneau said. “We wouldn't ask you to do that for the math and science curriculum, or for the English curriculum. It's got to continue to grow.”
That growth got a big push at the two-day conference, according to Superintendent of Public Instruction Linda McCulloch.
“There are over 100 Indian Ed for All workshops at this conference,” McCulloch said. “We're looking at teacher training and classroom resources - we need both. We don't want anyone to have to stop a lesson and say, ‘Now it's time for Indian Ed for All.' ”
Panel members pointed out the push must come from both the top and bottom of the system. Rep. Norma Bixby, D-Lame Deer, said years of lobbying school districts and the state Board of Regents for more attention to Indian education didn't compare to last year's court decision and legislative action.
“We've got to get the laws,” Bixby said. “There are good people out there doing Indian Education for All, but they haven't been able to grow it because the dollars aren't there. And we can't do one-time money. The curriculum has to continue to grow.”
Even with laws, however, Indian education must win at the grass-roots level - in the classroom.
“Teachers have to choose to integrate their curriculums,” said Kadene Drummer, an instructor from Stone Child College near Box Elder, who brought 10 student-teachers to the conference. “They have to decide if they're willing to enjoy this diversity and embrace it. It's like Lewis and Clark. We've got people coming from back east to study them here, and we've lived right next to it and often done nothing with it.”
There are two sides to Indian education. The one that's received the most publicity has been how to make all Montana schoolchildren aware of their Native American heritage.
But a second component looks at how to help Indian children close troubling achievement gaps. State legislative research shows that Native students lag between 25 and 44 percentage points behind white students in reading and math tests.
They also report a 50 percent high school graduation rate for Native students, compared with 82 percent for the white majority. Part of that must be addressed by helping Indian students overcome poverty, segregation and discrimination.
“In rural Montana, the reality for our small communities and our reservation communities is that No Child Left Behind is almost impossible to implement,” said Joyce Silverthorne, the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes' education director. “It's up to us to make a difference in the schools we have.”
As the process gets under way, more and more Montana teachers may become aware of their leadership role for the nation, several speakers said. While Native cultures touch every state and every community, Montana has made the most progress toward teaching about Native cultures at all levels of public education.
“For those of us from schools that have been teaching this for decades, this is a real source of pride,” said Tammy Esler, who administers a federal Indian education program in the Arlee School District. “Other subject areas have been around long enough that they can bring in national speakers for their keynote conferences. But there's a very small group of teachers that have been teaching this. We don't have all that literature out there yet. Our heroes are up there on that panel.”
Reporter Rob Chaney can be reached at 523-5382 or at rchaney@missoulian.com