Author Archives: evarga

Module 4.5: Career Prep and Opportunities

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/nativevoices/resources/careers-high-school.html

Native Voices: Native Peoples’ Concepts of Health and Illness is a travelling exhibition in Maryland that explores the culture, wellness, and illness of Native Americans. The corresponding website offers resources on art, healing ways, and a timeline that teachers are able to use in the classroom. Also of particular interest is the information regarding careers in medicine and the sciences and the ways in which to get there including pre-college programs and post-secondary options.

Module 4.3: List of successful teaching practices

https://indspire.ca/for-educators/successful-practices/practices/

Indspire offers an annotated list of Successful Practices they have evaluated of programs across the country that embody Aboriginal culture and education. The criteria used to evaluate these various programs include ones that nurture a supportive school climate, support formal learning, set high expectations for learning behavior and achievement, and encourage positive relationships between school and community. On the list of Successful Practices is the Toronto District School Board Aboriginal Education Centre, the Manitoba First Nations Science Fair, the North Vancouver School District (BC), and Courage to Soar Alternative Secondary School Program (Ontario).

Module 4.2: Exemplary Classroom Practice

http://www.maei-ppw.ca/exemplary_classroom_practice.html

Promising Practices in Aboriginal Education has provided a list of resources and lesson plans, categorized by level of education, which directly addresses a number of identified issues in the classroom. The resources offered include such things as an online Cree dictionary, historical links, A Guide to Inuit Culture, First Nations and Stereotypes in Math, maps of treaty making in Canada, and contemporary art. This is a fantastic site to bookmark!

Module 4.1: Early College High School Program for Native Youth

http://sparkaction.org/node/27128

There are a few high schools in Washington State working with Antioch University (Seattle) to offer high school students an Early College program to complete concurrent to their high school education. The above article is dated back to 2004, but comments on the affordances of such a program for native youth: family and community involvement, culturally relevant curricula, higher graduation rates and lower dropout rates, and higher grade point averages, (which is remarkable considering the challenging college level courses).

Module 3.5: First Nations’ Games of Chance

Post 5: First Nations’ Games of Chance

http://web.uvic.ca/~tpelton/fn-math/

I found a site housed by the University of Victoria outlining a couple of traditional games played by First Nations’ peoples: dice games and guessing games. The website outlines the rules and point systems for the games, as well as provides worksheets and images that could be used in the classroom alongside the games. These games would be ideal to incorporate into a culturally responsive mathematics lesson concerning counting, comparisons, or probability.

Module 3.4: Aboriginal Forestry Initiative (AFI)

Post 4: Aboriginal Forestry Initiative (AFI)

http://www.nrcan.gc.ca/forests/federal-programs/13125

When considering ways in which to bring culture and meaning into classroom lessons, I decided to research issues pertaining to ecosystems and aboriginal connections. On the Government of Canada website I found the Aboriginal Forestry Initiative (AFI), which is focused on enhancing Aboriginal participation in sustaining Canada’s forests. The site includes data and statistics of Aboriginal participants (could be used in a mathematics or business course) as well as details on the projects currently being conducted (could be used in a social studies, science, or English class).

Module 3.3: Cultural Survival

Post 3: Cultural Survival

http://www.culturalsurvival.org/

Cultural Survival is an organization that has been promoting the rights of Indigenous communities around the globe since 1972. They utilize community radio, letter-writing campaigns, and other programs in order to help Indigenous communities defend their lands, languages, and cultures. The website outlines each of the programs as well as links to the reports and publications created in conjunction with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Module 3.2: InTime (Integrating New Technologies into the Methods of Education)

Post 2: InTime (Integrating New Technologies into the Methods of Education)

http://www.intime.uni.edu/multiculture/curriculum/culture.htm

InTime is a website that is designed to help educators of all grade levels integrate technology and multicultural education into the classroom. They provide models, videos, case studies, and questions that educators can incorporate into the classroom to improve learning in all areas. While this site does not focus solely on Indigenous learners, the models and methods could be applied to any cultural aspects. Also included in this website is a section on culturally responsive education.

Module 3.1 – Culturally Responsive Science Curriculum

Post 1: Culturally Responsive Science Curriculum

http://ankn.uaf.edu/publications/handbook/

The topic covered in Week 9 (Culturally Responsive Education) was directly related to my topic of choice for the final research paper, so of course I had to delve deeper! I found a website that featured a “Handbook for Culturally Responsive Science Curriculum” in both online and PDF format published by the Alaska Science Consortium, the Alaska Rural Systemic Initiative (ARKSI), and the Alaska Department of Education. In it, the author (Sidney Stephens) outlines ways in which to involve cultural experts, topics of cultural significance, cultural standards, science standards, and best practices for integrating curriculum into culture.

Module 2.5 – Institute for Integrative Science & Health

The Institute for Integrate Science and Health is a Canadian site that has been non-functional since mid-2013, but is still maintained for its contributions to the science community.  Of particular interest are the articles and videos related to two-eyed seeing, the idea that students benefit from being able to view the world and learn through a Western perspective, as well as the eye from an Indigenous perspective.  Many videos, including interview with elders, are provided that focus on this concept of viewing the world.