Implementing Indian Education for All

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Implementing Indian Education for All MCA
20-1-501
Mike Jetty (Spirit Lake Dakota) Indian Education
Specialist
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Article X of the Montana Constitution Education
and Public Lands
Section 1 (1) It is the goal of the people to
establish a system of education which will
develop the full educational potential of each
person. Equality of educational opportunity is
guaranteed to each person of the state. (2) The
state recognizes the distinct and unique cultural
heritage of the American Indians and is committed
in its educational goals to the preservation of
their cultural integrity.
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Indian Education for AllMCA 20-1-501

• Every Montanan, whether Indian or non-Indian, be
  encouraged to learn about the distinct and unique
  heritage of American Indians in a culturally
  responsive manner.

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Indian Education For AllMCA 20-1-501

• Every educational agency and all educational
  personnel will work cooperatively with Montana
  tribes when providing instruction and
  implementing an educational goal.

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The 1997 Montana Legislature passed a law
designating the fourth Friday of September as
American Indian Heritage Day.

• This law means that Montana's school districts
  are to conduct appropriate exercises during the
  school day commemorating the role of Indians in
  Montanas past and present.
• While setting aside one day is good we hope
  schools infuse Indian content and perspectives
  throughout the entire year.

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Districts rating teachers background knowledge
in these areas at none or basic level (2004 ADC)

• Montana American Indian government
  structures/sovereignty 97
• Montana American Indian treaties/federal policies
  97  
• Montana American Indian arts/literature - 91
• Montana American Indian contemporary issues - 94
  
• Montana American Indian history - 87

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Districts rating teachers background knowledge
in these areas at low to medium level (2005 ADC)

• Montana American Indian government
  structures/sovereignty 96
• Montana American Indian treaties/federal policies
  98  
• Montana American Indian arts/literature - 86
• Montana American Indian contemporary issues - 90
  
• Montana American Indian history - 85

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Districts rating teachers background knowledge
in these areas at low level (2005 ADC)

• Montana American Indian government
  structures/sovereignty 50
• Montana American Indian treaties/federal policies
  57  
• Montana American Indian arts/literature - 20
• Montana American Indian contemporary issues - 28
  
• Montana American Indian history - 11

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For most immediate needs in implementing Indian
Education for All schools reported (2004 ADC)

• Resources
• Materials 694 or 80
• Presenters 542 or 63
• Literature 476 or 55
• Consultants 348 or 40

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For most immediate needs in implementing Indian
Education for All schools reported (2005 ADC)

• Top 3 Needs
• Materials
• Teacher Training
• Sample Lessons

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For most immediate needs in implementing Indian
Education for All schools reported (2006 ADC)

• Top 3 Needs
• Teacher Training
• Curriculum Integration
• Background Information

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Comments from Montana Educators

• Elementary school teacher, Bozeman
• I love learning this stuff along with my
  students. I see Montana in a whole new way. And
  Im from here! I only wish we had had this
  emphasis on Indian Education when I was growing
  up.

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Comments from Montana Educators

• Indian Education Coach, Great Falls
• Indian Education For All is not about blaming
  people, or making them feel guilty. Its about
  teaching us all to include each other when we
  think about the world, and about our place in it.
  Its about getting rid of the biases that weve
  all inherited, and looking at each other as
  fellow human beings, and not as a collection of
  stereotypes. And students get it. They really
  get it.

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Comments from Montana Educators

• High school teacher, Central Montana
• This stuff this Indian Ed stuff is so cool.
  Because, at the end of the day, its not just
  about Indians. Its about teaching kids to look
  at everybody around them as fellow human beings.
  And that carries over into every academic area,
  and every part of life.

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Comments from Montana Educators

• Middle school principal, western Montana
• I think Indian Education for All is the best
  thing to come along in a long, long time. Lots
  of teachers at our school are really excited
  about it. Because, its not like this is stuff
  we werent doing at all, or didnt know about.
  But it puts a kind of emphasis on Indian issues,
  Indian history, Indian worldview, whatever. And
  it opens peoples eyes. Not just kids, teachers
  too.

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Comments from Montana Educators

• Librarian, Western Montana
• I think this is the greatest stuff ever. The
  Indian Education For All stuff. Seriously. And
  as a librarian, I feel I have an important role
  in this. Look at all the books out there! All
  the skewed history! Most of us are not even
  aware how biased so many of our text books are.
  Sometimes its subtle. But its important to
  root it out. And I must say, I was aware of it
  before, but Im really aware of it now.

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Comments from Montana Educators

• High school principal, Central Montana
• Why Indian Education? Why not Irish Education
  For All? Why not Norwegian Education? I mean,
  Im not trying to be disrespectful, but give me a
  break!

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Comments from Montana Educators

• Middle school teacher, Northwest Montana
• No offense, but I feel like OPI is shoving this
  down our throats. Theyre sitting back in Helena
  telling us what to do. Do you know how hard it
  is to teach, and keep your class in order, and
  just get through the day, and get through the
  year, without having to worry about Did I
  remember to teach about Indians today?

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There is a larger critical purpose to learning
about, protecting, and encouraging indigenous
culture, here in Montana, and around the world.
As global society burgeons forth, knowing who
were are, and from where weve come, is essential
to maintaining our relationship to the
foundations of our existence, rooted in the
earth. - Nicholas Vrooman, Director, Helena
Indian Alliance Historian
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Districts rating teachers background knowledge
in these areas at none or basic level (2004 ADC)

• Montana American Indian government
  structures/sovereignty 97
• Montana American Indian treaties/federal policies
  97  
• Montana American Indian arts/literature - 91
• Montana American Indian contemporary issues - 94
  
• Montana American Indian history - 87

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Districts rating teachers background knowledge
in these areas at low to medium level (2005 ADC)

• Montana American Indian government
  structures/sovereignty 96
• Montana American Indian treaties/federal policies
  98  
• Montana American Indian arts/literature - 86
• Montana American Indian contemporary issues - 90
  
• Montana American Indian history - 85

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Districts rating teachers background knowledge
in these areas at low level (2005 ADC)

• Montana American Indian government
  structures/sovereignty 50
• Montana American Indian treaties/federal policies
  57  
• Montana American Indian arts/literature - 20
• Montana American Indian contemporary issues - 28
  
• Montana American Indian history - 11

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For most immediate needs in implementing Indian
Education for All schools reported (2004 ADC)

• Resources
• Materials 694 or 80
• Presenters 542 or 63
• Literature 476 or 55
• Consultants 348 or 40

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For most immediate needs in implementing Indian
Education for All schools reported (2005 ADC)

• Top 3 Needs
• Materials
• Teacher Training
• Sample Lessons

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For most immediate needs in implementing Indian
Education for All schools reported (2006 ADC)

• Top 3 Needs
• Teacher Training
• Curriculum Integration
• Background Information

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Essential Understandings Regarding Montanas
American Indians

• In the year 1999, OPI brought together
  representatives from all the tribes in Montana
  and created 7 Essential Understandings. These
  are some of the major issues all tribes have in
  common. They form the basis for all of our
  curriculum efforts and initiatives.

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The Seven Essential UnderstandingsRegarding
Montanas American Indian Tribes

• These teaching principles are not called the
  seven Essential Facts or Essential Guidelines.
  They are Understandings, a way of knowing that
  goes beyond surface knowledge a way of knowing
  that requires a deeper sense of the complexity of
  human interaction
• - Dr. Richard Sims
• Director, MHS

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Essential Understanding 1

• There is great diversity among the 12 tribal
  Nations of Montana in their languages, cultures,
  histories and governments. Each Nation has a
  distinct and unique cultural heritage that
  contributes to modern Montana.
• What does this mean?
• How does it apply to my content area/grade level?

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Essential Understanding 2

• There is great diversity among individual
  American Indians as identity is developed,
  defined and redefined by many entities,
  organizations and people. There is a continuum of
  Indian identity ranging from assimilated to
  traditional and is unique to each individual.
  There is no generic Indian.
• What does this mean?
• How does it apply to my content area/grade level?

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Essential Understanding 3

• The ideologies of Native traditional beliefs and
  spirituality persist into modern day life as
  tribal cultures, traditions and languages are
  still practiced by many American Indian people
  and are incorporated into how tribes govern and
  manage their affairs.
• Additionally, each tribe has their own oral
  history beginning with their origin that is as
  valid as written histories. These histories
  pre-date the discovery of North America.
• What does this mean?
• How does it apply to my content area/grade level?

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Essential Understanding 4

• Reservations are land that have been reserved by
  the tribes for their own use through treaties and
  was not given to them. The principle that land
  should be acquired from the Indians only through
  their consent with treaties involved three
  assumptions
• That both parties to treaties were sovereign
  powers
• That Indian tribes had some form of transferable
  title to the land
• That acquisition of Indian lands was solely a
  government matter not to be left to individual
  colonists.
• What does this mean?
• How does it apply to my content area/grade level?

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Essential Understanding 5

• There were many federal policies put into place
  throughout American history that have impacted
  Indian people and shape who they are today. Much
  of Indian history can be related through several
  major federal policy periods.
• What does this mean?
• How does it apply to my content area/grade level?

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Essential Understanding 6

• History is a story and most often related through
  the subjective experience of the teller.
  Histories are being rediscovered and revised.
  History told from an Indian perspective conflicts
  with what most of mainstream history tell us.
• What does this mean?
• How does it apply to my content area/grade level?

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Issues To Consider...

• We must temper our national pride with critical
  self knowledge
• History through red eyes offers our children
• a deeper understanding than comes from
• encountering the past as a story of inevitable
• triumph by the good guys.
• - (Loewen, 1996 Lies My Teacher Told Me)

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Essential Understanding 7

• Under the American legal system, Indian tribes
  have sovereign powers separated and independent
  from the federal and state governments. However,
  the extent and breadth of tribal sovereignty is
  not the same for each tribe.
• What does this mean?
• How does it apply to my content area/grade level?

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Accreditation Standards
10.55.803 Learner Access (2) In developing
curricula in all program areas, the board of
trustees shall consider ways to (h) provide
books and materials which reflect authentic
historical and contemporary portrayals of
American Indians
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Hegemony
By hegemony we refer specifically to the
influences that dominant classes or groups
exercise by virtue of their control of
ideological institutions, such as
Schools. Within history texts, for example, the
omission of crucial facts and viewpoints limits
profoundly the ways in which students come to
view history events. (Griffen Marciano,
1979) Hegemony is working best when you dont
see it...
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Examples of Bias

• The following slides contain excerpts/images from
  books/documents about American Indians.
• Evaluating Materials resources available from OPI
• The purpose of this activity is to highlight
  issues with accuracy and perspective not to
  promote censorship or the removal of books from
  libraries.
• When used properly they can be powerful teaching
  tools

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Examples of Bias in Montana History Text
The death of the Indian culture took less than
30 years after its 9,000 years of building p.
68 the Treaty of 1855 gave sovereignty and
citizenship to the American Indian p. 69 Battle
of the Little Big Horn gets one paragraph and a
picture with a captionimplies that Custer and
his troops were ambushed The ambush in the
summer of 1876 wasp.78 Another Little Big Horn
statementIndian warriors, waiting in the grass,
jumped and killed all 208 soldiers, including
General Custer, in the Battle of the Little Big
Horn p. 163
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• There was no such person as "Chief Sitting Bull
  of Cheyenne nation." (p. 14) His name was Tatanka
  Iotanka, whom the whites called Sitting Bull. He
  was a spiritual leader, not a chief and he was
  Hunkpapa Lakota, not Cheyenne.
• American Horse was not a "chief of the Red Cloud
  Sioux." (p. 20) He was a cousin to Red Cloud.
• The Cheyenne and Oglala "Sioux" were not the
  only ones to fight Custer. (p. 50) Hunkpapa and
  Arapaho were also part of the battle.
• The whites did not "give" the Lakota the Black
  Hills in a treaty (p. 12) by treaty, the people
  were able to retain a portion of what had been
  theirs for millennia. They are still fighting to
  keep it.
• Review from Oyate (www.oyate.org)

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Excerpt from Seamans Journal
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Ongoing Curriculum Initiatives

• Tribal History Projects
• Sending out to all school libraries (Ft. Peck,
  SKC projects sent out)
• Curriculum (units/lessons) to be developed based
  upon this information
• Other Examples
• Music Guide
• Ready to Go Curriculum Projects (Arlee example)
• Ongoing work to develop model lessons in all
  content areas
• Embedding IEFA into MT Content Standards (Social
  Studies, Science and Math examples)

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Lesson Plan Rubric

• Developmentally Appropriate
• Is the concept/content matched well with the
  grade level?
• Relation to Essential Understandings
• How are the Essential Understandings addressed in
  the lesson?
• Does the content address Montana tribes?
• Are the standards addressed?
• Teacher Friendly
• Could any teacher use the lesson?
• Is the lesson self-contained?

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Curriculum Issues

• Social Studies Standards
• Grade 4 Benchmarks
• Identify characteristics of American Indian
  tribes and other cultural groups in Montana.
• Explain the history, culture and current status
  of American Indian tribes in Montana and the
  United States.
•  
• Recognize that people view and report historical
  events differently.
•  

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Curriculum Issues
Social Studies Standards Grade 8
Benchmarks Identify the significance of tribal
sovereignty and Montana tribal governments
relationship to local, state and federal
governments.
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Curriculum Issues
Social Studies Standards Grade 12
Benchmark Analyze and illustrate the major
issues concerning history, culture, tribal
sovereignty, and current status of the American
Indian tribes and bands in Montana and the United
States (e.g., gambling, artifacts, repatriation,
natural resources, language, jurisdiction).
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Science Standards

• SCS 3B5 - Grade 8
• 5. create and use a basic classification scheme
  to identify plants and animals.
• - Grade 12
• 5. generate and apply biological classification
• schemes to infer and discuss the degree of
  divergence
• between using ecosystems

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Science Standards

• SCS 4B7 - Grade 8
• 7. identify scientific theories about the origin
  and evolution of the earth and solar system

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Science Standards

• SCS 5B5 - Grade 4
• 5. identify how the knowledge of science and
  technology
• influences the development of the Montana
  American
• Indian cultures
• -Grade 8
• 5. describe how the knowledge of science and
  technology influences the development of the
  Montana American Indian cultures
• -Grade 12
• 5. explain how the knowledge of science and
  technology
• applies to contemporary Montana American Indian
• communities (e.g., natural resources development,
• management and conservation)

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Science Standards

• SCS 6B 1 Grade 4
• 1. give historical examples of scientific and
• Technological contributions to communities,
  cultures
• and societies, including Montana American Indian
  examples
• Grade 8
• 1. give examples of scientific discoveries and
  describe the interrelationship between
  technological advances and scientific
  understanding, including Montana
• American Indian examples

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Science Standards
SCS 6B 2 Grade 4 2. describe how scientific
inquiry has produced much knowledge about the
world and a variety of contributions toward
understanding events and phenomenon within the
universe -Grade 12 2. trace developments that
demonstrate scientific knowledge is subject to
change as new evidence becomes available
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Math Standards
MCS 4 B 3 4 Grade 8 -(3) Represent
geometric figures on a coordinate grid. -(4)
Explore properties and transformations of
geometric figures.
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Math Standards
MCS 5 B 3 Grade 4 -apply measurement skills to
everyday situations. -Grade 8 B 1 -estimate,
make, and use measurements to describe, compare,
and/or contrast objects in real-world
situations.
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Math Standards
MCS 6 B 5 -Grade 8 -make predictions based upon
experimental results or probabilities. -Grade
12 -design a statistical experiment to study a
problem and communicate the outcomes.
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Implementing Indian Education For All
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN INDIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO
THE WORLD 15,000 YEARS OF INVENTIONS AND
INNOVATIONS, edited by Emory Dean Keoke (Lakota)
and Kay Marie Porterfield. (2003) AMERICAN
INDIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE WORLD, edited by
Emory Dean Keoke (Lakota) and Kay Marie
Porterfield. (2005) 5 Book Set NATIVE AMERICA
IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY, AN ENCYCLOPEDIA, edited
by Mary B. Davis. (1996). NATIVE NORTH AMERICAN
ALMANAC A REFERENCE WORK OF NATIVE NORTH
AMERICANS IN THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA, edited
by Duane Champagne (Ojibwe), (2001).

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Implementing Indian Education For All

• The following DVD's were sent to all Montana
  public school libraries by OPI
•  
• Tribes of MT and How They Got Their Names
• Long Ago in MT
• Talking Without Words
• View From The Shore
• Assiniboine Chief Rosebud Remembers Lewis and
  Clark
• Story of the Bitterroot
• Fire on the Land
• 2 Worlds at Two Medicine
• Tribal Nations  Federal Indian Law

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OPI sent a copy to all Middle High School
libraries
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OPI sent a copy to all Montana school libraries
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E Pluribus Unum
From out of manyone

We are all related
Mitakuye Oyasin
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OPI Website www.opi.mt.gov Choose Indian
Education from the pull down menu to view
resources Film Clip from Blackfeet Tribal
History Project
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Pidamaya