Math Trials

The time spent in the 4th/5th classroom today refreshed my enthusiasm for teaching. It went like this...

When I entered the classroom, following the 5th grade math lesson in the library, the teacher gave me a brief outline of who was doing what. Everyone was working on some sort of division math sheet with each place in the room signifying the different level of math they were at. As usual I wasn't quite sure what I was needed to do, so I chose a seat at the back of the room where four students were working. Other than the automatic, "Can you help me?" question coming from a student, who ask that on reflex, no one needed my help.

After about five minutes I noticed one of the students staring at his sheet of paper with few markings on it. In ascertaining that he needed my help I tried to find a good starting point. This student was in the lowest group and his work sheet was comprised of division problems that correlated with basic multiplication facts. It quickly became obvious to me that he had no concept of what "to divide" meant. I explained to him that what the question was really asking was, "How many groups of 4 dots can you make if you have eighteen dots? After you makes groups, do you have any dots left over?" I practiced a few problems with him and left him to try it for himself. This made for pretty slow going division, but he went with it.

A minute later another student, who was working on the same worksheet, had tears of frustration in his eyes and was walking purposefully toward the teacher. I offered him the same explanation I did the other student, worked with him for a little bit, and left him to work by himself.

I spent the rest of the time before lunch walking around the room, checking on various student's progress, paying particular attention to these two students. It was wonderful! Both of the boys were making excellent progress and even finding shortcuts. At one point I looked at the second boy's paper and found them all to be correct. "You're going to be teaching me how to do this pretty soon," I told him. Shyly he grinned, with dimples forming on his chubby cheeks, and kept working on his math sheet.

Within thirty minutes they were finished with their math and one of them was almost giddy. It was so rewarding!

So, *that's* why I am going to be a teacher. :)

Pow wow

I could feel the excitement filling the air at the Tribal School as the students were all looking forward to the long awaited pow wow today. Every time I entered my mentor’s room the smell of smoked deer meat hit me coupled with smell of fry bread that started to waft down the hallway around midmorning. At lunch I overheard girls talking about the Tribal Princess and whether or not the old princess had to give back the crown at the end of her time? The students I talked with had attended numerous pow wows and two of them had been the princess at one time in their life. During the rest of lunch these girls gave me a mini-lesson on what pow wows are all about.

It was really fun to see the students all dressed up. Over half the students were dressed in regalia ranging from simple wing dresses to a full wolf skin on his head, bells on the legs, and feather headdresses. On entering the gym the air was pregnant with the beating of the drum and the processes was headed by three men holding the American, Coeur d’Alene, and another traditional flag. The students had a different air about them than I had ever experienced. They seemed focused and timidly excited. Parents, grandparents, and other elders of the community were in attendance, many of which were also dressed in traditional regalia. For an hour an a half there was dancing, drumming, and singing with a few intermissions taken in order to recognize those who helped set up the pow wow. At first many students danced shyly but after several songs I many of them lost in the beats and music, dancing with their eyes half closed. They were so passionate!

I think one of the most touching moments of the pow wow was when I looked at the student sitting next to me, who I normally only see in class and who has been a bit whiny in my eyes, as he was holding his baby sister. It was extremely touching to see him, how he held her, kissed her head, and bounced her on his knee playing “horsy”. It stood as a simple reminder that these students are connected to a much greater community than what I see at the school and that I have only been privy to scratch the surface.

Fry Bread

In preparation for the pow wow tomorrow select students were taught how to make traditional fry bread this morning. It was soooo good. Other students were able to be a part of smoking deer meat and learning dances for the ceremony. When we were first told about the pow wow for this month I had the impression that it was a one day, two or three hour event. I have since been corrected. The girls have been sewing on their wing dresses (which are traditionally worn during the pow wow dances) since before Christmas, some students were taught how to make fry bread today, others how to dry meat, and still others will practice the dances before the big pow wow tomorrow. I guess I just kind of assumed that all of this stuff was already completed and that all they had to do was throw on some traditional garb and meet somewhere. If this is how intense the preparations are, I wonder what the final event will look like?

The above picture (to be added soon) is of the genuine FBI – Fry Bread Inspector - of the school. She is *the* lady who taught us how to make fry bread. She is definitely the author-i-ty. ☺ You will always be able to tell who is in charge when you walk into her kitchen, especially with an apron like that on.

Culture

I woke up this morning hoping that school would be canceled. Don’t get me wrong I am enjoying working at the Tribal School, but when we left the school yesterday it sounded as though there would be no school the next day… and I seemed to have become attached to that idea. In fact I had already mentally planned what I would do in the case of cancellation and these plans mostly involved sleeping. A lot. ☺ Well, rather than being cancelled school was only delayed two hours, giving me a chance to see what Culture Days look like at this school.

Every Thursday the Tribal school has Culture Day. At first I was a little unsure as to what this meant. I wasn’t sure if they were taught the history of the Coeur d’Alene Tribe or what, but I soon found out that there are several activities for students to engage in during this time. These involved learning the Coeur d’Alene language, making walking sticks, beading, knitting, sewing, and many other things. Personally I had my eye on the language learning part, but fifteen minutes before the activities began I was asked if I knew how to sew and if I would help the girls sew “wing dresses”. Now, I worked as a seamstress for two and a half years at Central and that wore on me. I enjoyed the people and the fact that it supplied me with a bit of money, but in the end I *hated * sewing and I had pretty much decided that I would avoid it in the future if at all possible. So here I was, working with about five girls who had never sewn before, fighting a begrudging attitude, *and * there was no pattern to work with! After a little bit of scrambling my mentor, the math teacher/librarian, and I were able to figure out how to put the all ready cut out pieces together. At the end of the time the dresses were looking pretty good, I was actually starting to enjoy sewing again, and I was wishing that I could make something for myself.
By the way... does anyone know how to turn this picture right side up?

The Crib

Have you ever heard of a crib set? Before today I always thought of a bed for a child age 0-3 with long soft pillows lining the inside walls. Either that or lingo for apartment/house, flat, etc. I was introduced to a new crib set today: the manger scene Coeur d’Alene Indian style.

Every week there is a religion class and this week we were bussed up to the local church (a bus ride that was two minutes due to the fact that the church was 1/8 of a mile away) to check out the crib set. As you can see the characters are all in traditional costumes, surrounded by teepees, animals, and trees. The candles in front of the set were put there by the students. Father explained this ritual by comparing it with candles on a birthday cake. Every candle on the cake signifies how many years your family has loved you, so the candles the students light are to say, “I love you, Jesus, and thank you for making me.” The last surprise was when Father introduced the three wise and compared them with medicine men: three very spiritual men. Three older girls brought these figures from the back of the church while Father spoke of the three wise men, as they arrived later than the rest of the main characters from the Christmas story.

This is such a beautifully created set, I wish you could have seen it as closely as I did.

I'm a teacher *and* a librarian

I taught today! Five minutes, or maybe it was three, before school began Brook and I were asked if we could take over the fifth grade math lesson for the day. Apparently the teacher was having car trouble and was unable to make it to school on time. Brook and I rushed to the library (which is where the class meets) and looked everywhere for the teacher’s guide math book, which we inevitably could not find. We had to wait for one of the students to arrive in order to glance at the lesson and “prepare” a plan of attack. Fortunately Brook is a math major and I love math, making the mad dash a little less scary. Looking back at the lesson I think that Brook (or should I say Mr. Gannon?) and I did a pretty good job. The students were engaged and by the end of the lesson they were able to classify the various quadrilaterals we talked about. The kids even smiled (in a math class!) and *looked* like they were having fun. ☺ I think that Brook and I are going to have more opportunities to teach math (woo hoo) this month and I can’t wait.

The math teacher, who is also the librarian, took the afternoon to retrieve her car from the ditch and I was asked to be the sub-librarian. What a crazy day! I love the fact that I have a role and a purpose, though. It definitely makes the day go by more quickly as well as gives me the opportunity to interact with the kids in a different context.

I am starting to have more time to talk with students and they are starting to tell me more about their families. Usually I ask them about their siblings and they proceed to tell me about their whole, half, and step brothers and sisters. In two separate situations students have told me about a sibling who has died. In the first occasion it didn’t strike me as odd that the girl knew how old her brother would be if he were alive today. Today I spent some time talking with another student who mentioned a sister who died as well as her specific age today. Every year they celebrate her birthday by cleaning off her grave and leaving presents. It struck me as interesting that these students know the ages of their siblings who have passed away. I have never run into a situation like that. It seemed as though the students I spoke with regarded their siblings were still a very large part of the family and I have never had that experience before.

Martin Luther King Day is on Monday and the school is having an essay contest. One of the teachers that I’m working with spent some time introducing the significance of Martin Luther from his perspective as a Native American. He started talking about the fact that the student’s great-grandparents were not considered citizens of the United States until 1928. From personal testimony he recounted several instances when he was not allowed into certain restaurants and how, in college, he was able to be a part of the change Martin Luther King brought about. From various tribe’s combined efforts they were able to produce the benefits the students enjoyed today. This experience allowed me to see more background to the culture that I am working with and it was quite unexpected.

When you go to college...

The school that I am working at has about eighty students with 10-15 per class (at least in the two I work with). I rarely hear voices raised (by the teachers or the students) which is a change from other schools I have been at. In fact, this school is just kind of relaxed and quiet. Sometimes I feel very out of place – I don’t know where I am supposed to be or what they would like me to do. The teachers do not delegate responsibilities to me and don’t seem to find it odd if I roam from class to class without explanation. I am sure that I will start figuring it out eventually. I guess a lot of that will be me getting used to the routine and classroom/school norms.

I think one of the funniest experience that I've had involves expectations of how things are to run in the classrooms. After lunch one day the teacher decided to read a book out-loud. The expectations I have in this situations include the reader sitting in front of those being read to and those being read to sitting quietly, hands in laps, with their attention focused forward. Well, as the teacher began reading the students were wandering around, reading their own books, working on the computer or their own homework. As this was happening every fiber of my being was stressing out. I think the thing about this situation that was the most surprising was the fact that the teacher was reading one of my favorite books - Maniac McGee. I have since realized that read out-loud times are intended for students to have some free time during the school day and that students are not being disrespectful by working on their own work during this time.

The students seem to still be aware of the presence of guests in the school. The three of us are treated somewhat as a novelty by the students and the staff, though more so the students. Sitting by me seems to be a special thing. Something else I noticed today, during silent reading, was the fact that certain students watched me out of the corner of their eyes, whispering to one another when they noticed me looking their way. “She is looking at us,” I heard one of them say as they all turned a little red and giggled silently. At lunch time one student waited until all of the people sitting around me had left, then sat himself down and starting talking about whatever came to his mind. Another student (younger) walked up to him and teased him saying that I was his girlfriend. I cleared up the apparent misunderstanding quickly, of course. ☺ I have to admit that it’s kind of nice being a novelty and receiving special attention. I know it will wear off eventually and it will be interesting to see how things develop over the course of my time here.

The three of us were able to spend some time talking with the school counselor about the students: our observations and his thoughts. One of the things he said (which I have heard multiple times in the past three days) is that this school is a haven for most of these kids. Teachers who raise their voice, or are “not kind”, do not have a place here. It made me think of a student who said, “I get yelled at enough at home, I don’t need it here.” Another thing the counselor mentioned was setting expectations high for the students. Really simple things like saying, "When you go to college..." can be extremely encouraging for these students who probably don't even think about college. I want to show love to these kids. I want to give them everything that I can for them to… succeed. No, that’s not the right term… for them to be able to live life to the fullest – with joy, knowing that they are worth-while, and having encouragement to keep working/honing their skills. Do you know what I mean? I know that I cannot be everything to everyone and that I’m certainly not the answer to all of the problems these kids might have but… I do want to make the most of the opportunities I have.

Day Two

Getting the feel of things

The drive went by quickly this morning as the three of us spent much of the time entertaining one another with our life stories. I think this will be a great opportunity to get to know the two MIT students who will be teaching at the school with me.

Today I felt much more involved that I did yesterday. I’m still trying to get the hang of things, especially the teaching style of the two or three teachers I have been observing. I was able to spend the morning in a fifth grade math lesson. It is great to be able to observe a completely different math curriculum. The one at the Tribal school is more focused on arithmetic where the one I have been observing for the past few months emphasizes connected math. I guess I had spent so much time with the new math that I almost forgot about the old school style.

My favorite part of the day, so far, is lunch. It’s not only because I’m starving by this point, but also because I enjoy eating with the kids. We get to talk about basketball, the holidays, Bowow (apparently he gets a new girlfriend every month… I never would have thought. Well, okay I’ve never really thought about Bowow at all.), and family. I am enjoying getting to know the students a little bit more every day. Today I had the opportunity to play eye-spy with some of the students. They’re pretty good. ☺

If you're interested...

This is the history of the Coeur d'Alene tribe as told by my mentor. I did my best to record it as accurately as I could.

Coeur d’Alene History

The name the tribe gave themselves was Schee-Chu-Umpsh, which means “the people”. The name Coeur d’Alene was given to the tribal people by French fur traders, meaning “heart of the awl”. An awl is an instrument used to sew that has a hole on the end, kind of like the eye of a needle. The reason for this name is contributed to the fact that the French perceived the tribal members being shrewd traders, so much so that they had a hole in their heart.

Originally there were thirty-two strands of Coeur d’Alene Indians living along the banks of the Coeur d’Alene river in the Idaho and eastern Washington areas. The discovery of gold and silver in Shoshone County was a pivotal point in the history of the tribe, causing the government to relocate them. They have since been moved away from the river more inland and have become farmers. The largest the clan became was 10,000 people, however smallpox was responsible for reducing the numbers to half its size and it lessened even more with the introduction of influenza and the common cold. Today the tribe has 1,200 registered members.

In the 1800s a Catholic priest, Father Pier Desmet, traveled west with two Iroquois tribal members in order to convert them to Catholicism. The belief was held that if they reached the tribes before other settlers they would avoid battles and unnecessary blood-shed. Though this attempt did not stop the struggle over land it did successfully plant the seeds of Catholicism that are evident in the fact that the majority of the tribe are practicing Catholics. Before Father Pier Desmet found the Coeur d’Alenes Circling Raven, a tribal member, had a dream that men in black came to the camp. On his way across the country he picked up fifteen languages. When Father Pier Desmet arrived the chief’s daughter was sick and the Father’s prayer healed her. This miracle was the beginning of the Coeur d’Alene’s conversion to Catholicism.

As Catholicism became more prominent a mission school was established. At first the school was for primarily boys, but eventually opened up for girls as well. In this school students were punished for speaking the tribal language at all. There was little value placed on the tribal culture, which was exhibited in the time that Priest Carawana (sp?) ordered the group to round up cultural artifacts and burn them right by the school. Due to the view of tribal people in America much of the language and culture of the Coeur d’Alene’s was lost.

My mentor told us that many grandparents in the community do not have a favorable view of the school or education system of the whites. She noted that many people may be bitter but that these people were doing what they thought was right at the time.

Today the Tribal school is open to members and, if there is still space, any one else who desires to attend. This school is well known, in the area, for it’s high scores in math and it competes with public schools in reading scores.

This is a long way!

A phrase I heard often today on the way to and from the Coeur d'Alene Tribal school. It is true that the we have a long commute every day, however I think it will be worth the experiences this month. :)


It was pouring rain outside this morning as we drove to school. When we arrived I did not see any students and it was very quiet inside the building. In fact, I noticed that the level of noise in the building was very low compared to the school I have been at the past few months. Overall the atmosphere was relaxed, friendly, and respectful. The staff meetings today made me feel as though these people were close and respectful of each other. I noticed this in the way they address topics of discussion. In every instance I saw people did not address topics directly, as I am used to in other situations, rather they were brought up in a more suggestive manner. This seems to reflect their values of respect (of elders, their culture and the culture of others) and acceptance (non-judgment).

During the meeting we were assigned mentors. In specificity I have been assigned to the Math coach, a mentor who is extremely encouraging and helpful. She has made it clear that she is willing to answer any questions I may have as well as share her office with me. She even gave the three of us a brief history of the Coeur d’Alene tribe.

Later in the day I found that that we (Brook, Megan, and I) ) are going to be in the Coeur d’Alene Tribal Newspaper! The newspaper comes out monthly featuring what is happening in the Tribe and any exciting or new things. A lady who is on the tribal counsel interviewed us asking about where we grew up and our first impressions of the school. I always second-guess my answers in these situations: “Did I truly say what I wanted to say?” “How will the interviewer translate what I have said?” “What will the people who read the paper think of what was said?” Anyway, I hope that it turns out alright. :)


Before I came today I kept saying that I didn’t know what to expect and on arrival I realized what I had expected. I did not expect Christianity to be emphasized like it was. The administrator opened up the morning staff meeting with a prayer and the involvement of the church was mentioned several times in the course of our initiation. They even had the Jesus story played out in the Christmas program. I’m sure that it’s not big surprise, then, that the majority of Coeur d’Alenes are practicing Catholics.

I also did not expect the technology to be at the level it was. They have all new eMac computers to work with in their computer room as well as three or four in the other classrooms! It was great to see the resources they have available to them.

Now I am sitting at my house with a cat curled up on my lap, decompressing from the day. I'm excited to see how the rest of the month looks like and I'll do my best to keep you updated.