I have been in Washington, DC this past week. I got home on Saturday and attended the ceremonial dance in East Lake. It was good to see many people in attendance.
I was in DC on behalf of Women Empowering Women for Indian Nations and I along with two other board members visited offices of the National Indian Education Association (NIEA), National Indian Gaming Association (NIGA), Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Department of Interior. On Wednesday evening, I was able to attend a Democratic National Committee event with Tony Bennett (I left my heart in San Francisco) and most importantly our President Obama was in attendance and gave a speech. That was an exciting evening.
On our visits, Lillian Sparks, Executive Director, of NIEA stated that language revitalization is a priority of NIEA. I mentioned Ojibwe.com but she had not heard of that program. I plan to provide this information to Mary Hermes.
At the meeting with the Department of Interior, WEWIN's objective was to talk about women-owned businesses. What was interesting about this meeting, is that in the mist of talking business, the Chief of this economic development division start talking about the Smith River tribe from California. This tribe was in to visit recently and wanted economic development dollars to purchase Rosetta for their language. Apparently, this tribe has three speakers left and they want to save the language. Wow! I was shocked that this chief would talk about this when we were there to talk women owned businesses. Then of course I had to talk about Ojibwe.com (not that I know any details about it) but will pass on the information to Mary Hermes. I hope that the Smith River Tribe finds a way to save the language before they lose any of their three speakers.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Which of the main five hypotheses do you agree with?
Which of the main five hypotheses do you agree with?
I most agree with hypotheses 4. "Instruction should be responsive to the affective as well as the cognitive needs of students, and their different personalities, preferences, and learning styles should be taken into account."
One teaching process does not meet the need of each and every student. I realize that a teacher would try to perfect his/her teaching style and may get set in his/her way. Any teaching process will have superior students versus students that can't adapt to that teaching style. Phyllis has perfected her teaching style where her students are enjoying the language and therefore learning. We need more teachers like Phyllis.
Once, I watched a student in a class. I could see once the discussion turned to the application of the language that this student lost interest and zoned out. Out came the phone and the texting started. I thought how would I as a teacher brought that student back. Adults are different because they are in class to actually learn. But what about a younger student who is required to be in class like or not, it is important to know the students.
As I study each hypotheses, each have a place in the learning of the language.
Hypotheses 1 - 5:
1. A student should be able to understand and speak the language beyond his/her time in class. I think about English. Most Americans speak English but how many know the rules of English? If we were fluent in our language, would be be studying the rules or just speak the language?
2. I think about the statement that was made in class that we only hear the language in class or in ceremony. Most of the students would only speak in class but not necessarily at ceremony. In my community, one could go to the Elder center and hear and have the opportunity to converse in our language. Media is important for that purpose, an individual can study independently and hear the language whenever he/she chooses. First speakers are important to teach the language because the language is authentic and the opportunity to have creative dialog is greater instead of memorizing and speaking word lists.
3. Another statement in class is that language is full of mistakes and there are few that speak the language in an excellent manner. When teaching the language, I agreee that one goal would be to produce accuracy. Jackie talked about if you have not mastered your dominant language would you be able to master a second language. In one of the post, one of our tribal cohort talked about learning to spell miigwech correctly and for a long time, this student used a differently spelling and now appreciated having the correct knowledge. With phonetic spelling, one word will be spelled in many different ways and therefore many different pronuncations. Therefore the development of accuracy is very important.
5. I think this hypotheses is equally important. To know the way of life of a community is very important. Those old ladies in a community are very adamant about following the teachings (the do's and don'ts). There are certain practices that you would never know if you don't have a knowledge of the community. Even in my community, many of our families that don't know what to do at ceremonies and don't attend or practice because they are afraid to admit that they know what to do.
I most agree with hypotheses 4. "Instruction should be responsive to the affective as well as the cognitive needs of students, and their different personalities, preferences, and learning styles should be taken into account."
One teaching process does not meet the need of each and every student. I realize that a teacher would try to perfect his/her teaching style and may get set in his/her way. Any teaching process will have superior students versus students that can't adapt to that teaching style. Phyllis has perfected her teaching style where her students are enjoying the language and therefore learning. We need more teachers like Phyllis.
Once, I watched a student in a class. I could see once the discussion turned to the application of the language that this student lost interest and zoned out. Out came the phone and the texting started. I thought how would I as a teacher brought that student back. Adults are different because they are in class to actually learn. But what about a younger student who is required to be in class like or not, it is important to know the students.
As I study each hypotheses, each have a place in the learning of the language.
Hypotheses 1 - 5:
1. A student should be able to understand and speak the language beyond his/her time in class. I think about English. Most Americans speak English but how many know the rules of English? If we were fluent in our language, would be be studying the rules or just speak the language?
2. I think about the statement that was made in class that we only hear the language in class or in ceremony. Most of the students would only speak in class but not necessarily at ceremony. In my community, one could go to the Elder center and hear and have the opportunity to converse in our language. Media is important for that purpose, an individual can study independently and hear the language whenever he/she chooses. First speakers are important to teach the language because the language is authentic and the opportunity to have creative dialog is greater instead of memorizing and speaking word lists.
3. Another statement in class is that language is full of mistakes and there are few that speak the language in an excellent manner. When teaching the language, I agreee that one goal would be to produce accuracy. Jackie talked about if you have not mastered your dominant language would you be able to master a second language. In one of the post, one of our tribal cohort talked about learning to spell miigwech correctly and for a long time, this student used a differently spelling and now appreciated having the correct knowledge. With phonetic spelling, one word will be spelled in many different ways and therefore many different pronuncations. Therefore the development of accuracy is very important.
5. I think this hypotheses is equally important. To know the way of life of a community is very important. Those old ladies in a community are very adamant about following the teachings (the do's and don'ts). There are certain practices that you would never know if you don't have a knowledge of the community. Even in my community, many of our families that don't know what to do at ceremonies and don't attend or practice because they are afraid to admit that they know what to do.
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Elder Movie
I spent a couple hours with the Elder movie. When I did the word exercises, I would press the button too fast and miss my opportunity to enter the spelling of the word and for my first test, I only received 51 percent. I haven't been able to record my voice. I'll need some help with that exercise. It is probably something very simple that I am not doing. I'll find out tomorrow when I call my son.
The word eya'. When I entered that word, it said it was incorrect. Maybe it should have been Eya'.
The word eya'. When I entered that word, it said it was incorrect. Maybe it should have been Eya'.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Weekend Class
I agree with Phyliss that Brian put the Hadley Test into perspective for me as well. I won't mind reading the text now.
The weekend flew by for me. The discussion from all of you were inspiring and I left motivated. I rushed out because I wanted to try to pick my mother up for bingo before 2:00 p.m. We made it.
The weekend flew by for me. The discussion from all of you were inspiring and I left motivated. I rushed out because I wanted to try to pick my mother up for bingo before 2:00 p.m. We made it.
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