hello

i am very happy to hear that language folks are working on curriculum issues
in the schools.

having written curriculum, i can suggest the following:

1.  school districts want 'ready-to-go' units that
a. are self-contained.	i.e; all pictures, tapes, et cetera are readily
available for use, without copyright restrictions, so teachers can xerox or
computer copy whatever they need for their students;(in other words, do nto
ask a teacher to check out a book or go somewhere to get something like a
video, they don't have the time, so include the video, for example);
and
b.  lessons that meet state or regional requirements (such as guidelines for
state superintendent of public instruction guidelines for grade 4, social
studies, math, what have you, for example).	

in  my experience, a diverse group of  teachers i worked with loved the
opportunity to have new materials in the classroom, and they loved having
new experiences for themselves and their students.  but they are over
worked, and said so, and as a teacher, i totally understand.  thus, teachers
need lessons that are ready to go, and that they can tell their school board
the lessons they are using meet the edu guidelines for the state.	

don't be put-off by this, because meeting the guideilines is really not
difficult, and, the content is already there.  it just has to have the extra
step added, of being 'identified' under the goals for that grade and
subject.	

annie


On Sat, 22 Apr 2006 09:35:10 -0600 ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU wrote:
> I absolutely agree, Susan, and I am working on the materials issue in my
> dissertation. Being a techie, and recognizing the difficulty with
> incorporation the culturally appropriate math stories, I am developing a
> technical structure so that stories can be related directly to the
> curriculum, and with a few grants for community involvement in the
> development of curricular materials, we can make massive amounts of
> materials in Indigenous languages. We can make them fast, we can make them
> good, and we can encourage families and communities all to take part. And
> with a little help from some hardware geeks, we can make them
> portable, like
> game boys, PSP2s, and cell phones. (Yep, cell phones. Kids have those
great
> eyes, you know :-)).
> 
>	
> 
> Happily, 
> 
> Mia
> 
>	
> 
>   _____	
> 
> From: Indigenous Languages and Technology
> [mailto:ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU]
> On Behalf Of Susan Penfield
> Sent: Saturday, April 22, 2006 7:51 AM
> To: ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU
> Subject: Re: [ILAT] Indigenous math
> 
>	
> 
> Thanks Rudy, Jess and Mia
> This discussion is very interesting but, to me, what it underscores is the
> need to have more fluent, trained Native teachers involved in curriculum
> development. (an old refrain...)
> 
> Years ago, I was heavily involved with training teachers for public
schools
> which served tribal communities. These cullturally-appropriate math
stories
> were shared, and may have served to raise awareness, but did little to
> really change the way math was taught overall. The only places where real
> active involvement and inclusion of culturally grounded math activities
> happened were in the rare classrooms where the teacher was a member of the
> community. 
> 
> Although the numbers of certified Native American teachers have increased
> since then, there are still not nearly enough and it is still such an up
> hill battle for them to make substantial changes to established and, now,
> standardized test-driven curricula of most schools. 
> 
> Certainly, the charter school movement offers more potential for the
> inclusion of culturally-appropriate and guided math activities and
> certainly
> there are some such curricula developed for non-public schools serving
> reservation communities,  but it is still a difficult task to lay out 
more
> than a few isolated lessons, i.e.,  establish a complete  set of lessons,
> which reflect a range of culturally-grounded math activities.
> 
> 
> Susan
> 
> 
> 
> On 4/22/06, jess tauber <phonosemantics@earthlink.net> wrote:
> 
> With regard to Rudy's post and mine, just wondering whether language TYPE
> might also have any relevance as to what kind of mathematical knowledge
and
> operations might be found, statistically, in a normal cultural setting 
> (that
> is unmodified by formal Western-style or other imposed-from-outside
> training)- how much does level of culture influence? 
> 
> Jess Tauber
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Susan D. Penfield, Ph.D.
> 
> Faculty Affiliations:
>   Department of English (Primary)
>   American Indian Language
>	  Development Institute 
>   Department of Linguistics 
>   Second Language Acquistion and 
>	  Teaching Ph.D. Program
>   Dept. of Language,Reading and Culture
>	
> Phone for messages: (520) 621-1836 
> 


annie g. ross
First Nations Studies
School for the Contemporary Arts
Simon Fraser University
8888 University Drive
Burnaby, British Columbia
V5A 1S6
annier@sfu.ca
Telephone:  604-291-3575  Facsimile:  604-291-5666

