Kate G. Assignment #4c Blogging

In Monday's class we learned about the Indian Education For All Act. Each group was given a different topic which they would teach the rest of the class about. Katie and I taught about the Boarding School Era. One thing that I remembered from this topic was that the whites told the Indians that they lost their land because they were uneducated so they should send their children to the boarding schools. Some things I learned from the other groups were that most tribes used sign language, facial expressions, pictures etc. to communicate with other tribes. The thing I found most interesting was that Native American students learn better doing hands on things. Some activities I would like to do with my class would be to have them all write a short story and draw a picture about a time when they were away from home and might have felt the same way the Indian children felt when they were taken to boarding schools. The second activity I would like to do would be to have a prominent native from one of the local reservations come in and talk to my class about what their culture is and anything they can share to help the children understand better.

Stephanie Sharbono

I learned about all of the seven different reservations in Montana. Also, I learned a lot of information for each reservation including the tribes that live on each reservation, size, population, location, and economic activities. I also learned about how they communicate through pictures, sign language, and smoke signals. If I was teaching a health enhancement class I would find some games that have cultural meaning, and have them play these games as a warm up in class. If I was teaching an art class I would have the kids draw something that would tell a story by using some common symbols from the tribe.

Mike Rider IEFA 4c

The IEFA learning lesson was a valuable one. There are two things that I learned last week that stick out in my mind. The first one is that there are 12 tribes located throughout Montana. It is crazy I did not know that considering I have lived here for 20 years. The second thing that sticks out in my mind and is something I learned is the idea of boarding schools and getting rid of native american culture and such. I was completely unaware that they tried doing that and I now have a better understanding of the subject.

As an elementary teacher, I would do two things as far as IEFA. I would teach my kids about the particular tribes that are located in their state and show them a video of a pow wow so they can get a feel for the music, culture and environment. Both of those things would spark their interest and stil be a learning experience.