Response to Materials Development Grant

Material Development Grant Ideas

I think that it is great that you will be working on this grant to help develop materials for the Yupik/English program. I think it is a worthwhile project that will benefit and strengthen our Yupik language programs even more once lessons and activities are created. The stakeholders are the teachers, students, and parents. If the lessons are created by teachers that already work for the district, I don’t see any problems with sharing materials with eachother on the Yupik share folder that Sally already uses. I can’t really see myself being able to participate in this grant until I am finished with this Masters program. I am also confused about it in the sense that it may just involve the Yupik teachers and not the ESL/ English only teachers. It seams like there is enough websites and curriculum in English, but maybe not in the sense of culturally relevant kinds of activities that are tied to this unique area and culture.
I feel that one important part of the grant should be to focus on the history of the Yupik people and where we came from so that students feel like there is a strong sense of identity and pride built into the curriculum. It would be interesting to talk to Cecilia Martz who was my college professor in Alaska Native Studies to see how her knowledge could be somehow put into some Yupik Eskimo Social Studies guide or curriculum. I remember how powerful her class was to me as a college student because it was like I was learning about myself and where my roots were for the first time because it was never told to me before. I feel like the core values of being Yupik is taught through the central grain of the curriculum, but I wonder about our past history and all that we can learn from the taboos, qasqik, and the struggles that our people had to endure to survive. I don’t know how much of this is being passed on and feel like there is a lack of pride and identity in many of our youth today due to the influence of television, technology, and possibly gambling (bingo).

Native Languages and the Internet

Words as big as a screen response/power point ideas

What an interesting article! Tracey McHenry did a thorough job in describing Native American Languages and the complexities associated with language revitalization efforts using technology. I loved reading about our own Yupik Immersion program in the article and Iutzi-Mitchell’s research that he has done in our region. I just wonder what ever happened with his proposal for a new language policy? I recognize some of the efforts in revitalizing the language are happening here right now in Bethel with the college with the creation of a program where a person can get a Bachelors in Yupik. I also see myself in the article when she discusses the question of ownership and conducting research about our people and the issues that so called “specialists” or district office personnel deal with when trying to determine what is best for our students and the unique language culture that we live. The community issues that the author discussed were relevant to my research. I felt like she touched a common cord when she mentioned that there are many community members who want to make sure that learning the Native language will not interfere or slow down their child’s ability to learn English or be successful in larger society. I feel like this is a common concern for many parents when dealing with the placement of their child in an English only or Yupik Immersion program and thus a valuable resource for me to use in my research. Finally, in regards to technology, I appreciated her insight into the use of technology and how it can benefit Native language efforts in schools. I am excited to look at Tulalip Elementary School’s Lushootseed page to get some ideas on my power point lesson. I’m especially interested in the TPR section of that web page and hope to get more ideas for my assignment.
For my powerpoint assignment, I know that I want to incorporate pictures in some of the common songs that I am teaching. I also want to figure out how to incorporate the song onto the page so that the words are highlighted as we sing the words together. Is that possible through garage band and power point together? I might need your help doing this if it is possible. I already picked out some songs, but am having a difficult time putting all of my ideas together. I need to set up a time to go over my ideas with you or anyone in Bethel that knows how to do this. Please let me know if you can help me.

Reaction to Sally's paper on Power Point

I enjoyed reading Sally’s paper about the pros and cons of power point. I was very impressed by how much Sally knew about power point and wondered how long it took her to get to the point that she is now at. I like how Sally uses power point to teach vocabulary words with the audio and visuals. I also thought how great it must be for her students parents to have access to the lessons as a way to build a stronger bridge between the school and the home as a way to reinforce the second language! I am hoping that she is sharing all of her lessons with other teachers who are less tech savvy so that all students and parents can benefit from her lessons. Finally, I appreciated her advice on the difficulty in transferring power point lessons onto her web page.

Technology issues and concerns

I found this article to be interesting and informative on the impacts of technology in the school and social environment. The question of power and ethics that are involved in the use and possible overuse of technology definitely are a concern to me as a parent and educator. Do we want our students to grow up relating to a computer rather than each other? As a parent of two boys, 11 and 13 year olds, I have struggled with this issue at home. Both of them are always wanting to get on the computer to check their emails, my space, or play computer games. My husband and I are constantly monitoring how much time they spend on the computer and it has become a power struggle at times. I even find myself preoccupied and zoned out into the computer when I am feeling bored and distracted from work, home, and school. I wonder about the long term impact that technology, cell phones, ipods, and computers will have on the future generation of our children. How much is too much information overload? Like the article mentioned, I am especially concerned about those students who over rely on technology through email and my space, to fill the empty void of social ineptness that they may have in real life contexts. I also worry about a teacher’s over reliance on computers to teach a class without providing a social contexts that involves problem solving and critical thinking among the students. This article shed some light on the questions and concerns that should be discussed when using technology in the classroom setting.