Salmon help kids with math in Tlingit immersion program (fwd)

Wed Nov 23 19:38:56 UTC 2005

Salmon help kids with math in Tlingit immersion program

JUNEAU: Blending culture into curriculum meant to boost interest,
self-esteem.

By ERIC MORRISON
Juneau Empire
(Published: November 21, 2005)
http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/7224295p-7136321c.html

JUNEAU -- Harborview Elementary School teacher Shgen George has been
teaching math to her second- and third-grade class this fall in an
unusual way -- with fish.

George, one of the school's Tlingit Culture, Language and Literacy
Program teachers, has been using salmon this autumn to engage her
students in the classroom by mixing aspects of the culture with the
district's curriculum. She said it has proven to be both important and
effective.

"It's amazing. When we talk about this as our culture and how this is
important to us you can see them sit up straighter and get that spark
in their eyes," George said. "They feel like it is them and they care
about it so they want to learn."

The district's curriculum has all third-graders studying area, volume,
multiplication using repeated addition, and finding medians. George's
students took a more hands-on approach, jarring salmon to learn about
volume and counting the number of fish scales on squares of fish skin
to learn about area.

George said these and other similar activities help the students better
grasp the curriculum.

"They have stories to share and they connect to it and it doesn't seem
like some abstract thing to study area when we have the salmon right
here and they are already connected to it," she said.

Third-grader Cora Bontrager, 9, said she enjoys learning more about her
culture.

"We were studying the salmon and measuring it and weighing it," she
said. "I learned about their life cycle and that they spawn and die."

Now in its sixth year, the culture program at Harborview has grown from
one kindergarten and first-grade split-class to having three classrooms
dedicated full time to integrating Tlingit culture into the contemporary
learning environment. There is also a fourth- and fifth-grade
split-class.

Painted paper salmon hang from the ceiling in George's classroom along
with cutouts of Alaska's five different types of salmon strung up
together displaying the species name in Tlingit. Ray Wilson, a Kiksadi
elder, was visited George's classroom recently to discuss traditional
fishing techniques with the aid of a cod spreader that he received at a
potlatch in Kake.

"I wanted to bring this to show you how smart your ancestors were," he
told the children, who were huddled around and engaged by the
spreader's craftsmanship.

Wilson said he hopes to be a good role model for the children so they
will take pride in their culture. By giving them a cultural connection
within the school, he said, he hopes Native children will become more
successful students in the modern classroom.

"To me the big thing is trying to build self-esteem in our Native
children so that they can endure whatever they have to," Wilson said.
"There are a lot of things going on in the schools that aren't very
pleasant, so we want them to endure anything that may come along."

Sharon Parks, a cultural specialist and para-educator with the school
district who helps in the program's three classrooms, agrees with
Wilson.

"I think that this program is important because it's showing these
children they have something to be proud of," Parks said. "I think that
if a child has pride in who they are, has pride in where they come from,
and pride in what they are doing it can really help make them
successful."

Wilson said he hopes the program will translate to higher graduation
rates among Native students -- a continuing issue for the school
district.

"We're trying to find ways to keep our children in school," he said.
"Hopefully this is one of the ways that will help them to stay in
school and go on to college where they can compete in the work force."

George said she hopes this program will help Native families be more
proactive with education.

"There's a high percentage of families who have bad experiences with
schools," she said. "It's important getting the families, not just the
kids, but families to have positive experiences in school and with
schools and be excited about learning."