Explain: The lessons in the module did not exactly provide many ideas that were new to me, rather they made me connect a bunch of ideas together. I really enjoyed comparing the Western world to the pre-contact American world. See my post on this for exactly where this led me.
Extend: It is so important to relate classroom topics directly to students’ prior experiences. If there is no context for the information, then there is no foundation upon which to build a structure of knowledge in their minds. It can be challenging to relate the “canned” curricula so many schools have to our Alaskan children. I have rewritten most math assignments in my classes to relate more to students’ prior knowledge.
I have a promise and a challenge I make to the students in all my classes:
1) I will only assign work that is worth your time and effort.
2) I challenge you catch me teaching something I can’t explain why you need to know it in your future jobs or schooling.
In physics I like to use Alaska Native examples as much as I can. A most recent one actually came from a student when we were talking about torque and lever arms. “Like an Atl atl!” That atl atl became a working example for “conservation of angular and linear momentum”, “conservation of energy”, and “work” concepts that we addressed over the following week.
I once had a student spend half an hour in my room after school practicing for the SATs. I asked if I could help, she said yes. She was stuck. The book said if combining the equations in the system of linear equations didn’t get a variable to cancel, then to go back to the “drawing board.” She has just spent 15 minutes searching the book for the definition of the “drawing board.” This is the kind of thing that holds our kids back on standardized tests.
Evaluate: I love the collection of resources and the theme “everything is interconnected.” As a physicist I love to try to make models to describe systems. Be is the human circulatory system in my EMS classes, or the conservation of energy during my bicycle commutes to school.
After reading the essays and watching the videos, I simplified the difference between Native ways and Western science to Qualitative and Quantitative approaches to understanding the world.
3 Colleagues
Tyler Orbison of Sitka writes about the frustrations of standardized testing and how the tests do not measure traditional knowledge.
Dave Sather of Sleetmute writes that the skepticism inherent in Western culture is absent in Native culture.
Jesse Bjorkman talks about the importance of "holistic" teaching.
2 comments:
Matt,
You make some awesome points in your blog. It’s great that you challenge your students to think critically about your teaching and to push back against your rationale about what they are learning. What’s your experience with students who might not be as grounded in Native cultures?
I have many students who struggle to relate to a native group and Western culture. They often move from school to school and feel the effects of poverty, abuse, or a similarly unfortunate family situation. These are the kids I have the most trouble relating to. In situations like this how do you relate culturally to build relationships and motivate students to learn?
Thanks in advance,
Jesse B.
Matt,
I like the comparative pictures from the top of the mountain. That is pretty cool.
I would have a heck of a time with your challenge in my math class. One of the reasons science is fun is for the relevance to life. The kids know that they are learning information that will be used and referred to all of their lives.
Take care,
David Wages
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