The questions that drive the curriculum
How can teachers incorporate research on multiple intelligence into classroom instruction to benefit all learners? How can teachers plan instruction that is informed by culturally based learning strengths rather than perceived weaknesses?
How can teachers who have been socialized to accept the values of the dominant culture learn to educate children and youth without denying or rejecting their cultural heritage?
How can teachers apply current knowledge about language acquisition to benefit learners in multilingual settings?
How can teachers in their K-12 schools support Indian tribes involved with language restoration efforts?
What role might Paulo Freire's liberatory learning philosophy play in enhancing both state and national educational reforms and Native American education?
What will it mean in general to be an educated U.S. citizen in the 21st century?
What will it mean specifically to be an educated Native American in the 21st century?
How do you reach out? How do you show respect?
Cara Francis - 01:29pm Oct 12, 1998 pst
I spent time on Sunday at the Steilacoom tribal museum in (surprise) Steilacoom. The curator was a late middle -aged Navajo woman who spent a
generous amount of time telling my daughter and I about the various artifacts from a variety of North American tribes. I told her about the
program at Evergreen and she was so moved she was almost teary. I was tenative, I admit it, in asking her anything about her experiences in life.
But curiosity won out (which it generally does with me. Sometimes with disasterous consequences.) She told me that she had been taken away from the reservation under some serious pressure from the government and sent to a boarding school in Oklahoma. She learned English there and experienced the phenomenon discussed in Education for Extinction of having her mouth washed out with soap when she spoke her native language. Needless to say, I am glad I reached out. She was seemingly pleased to speak to someone who wanted to hear her story. I just wish I could (REALLY not just intellectually) dump the "White Guilt' when these opportunities arise. I wish I could internalize that the grim fact of historical oppression is not my PERSONAL albatross 'round the neck. I think that if I could, I would be able to hear others speak more clearly and ultimately be a wiser conduit for change. Whatta you think?-------------------------
Marziah Kiehn-Sanford - 06:36am Oct 13, 1998 pst (#1 of 4)Cara, is it "guilt" or is it empathy? You never want to dump the empathy. It's what makes you human and balanced with the belief that "healthy people perceive options or a different way of being, existing, etc." that will make you effective as a teacher. The fact that you asked reveals a caring person (and there's all too little of caring in the world).
I've been doing a lot of thinking about fostering community for children and ourselves in the MIT program. It seems to boil down to a need to build
trust, which then leads to hope, which in turn makes possible a sense of common mission to secure a future with a positive relationship to
environment and the earth. One of the first elements of trust is demonstrating continuous caring concerns toward relationships, commitment,
reciprocity, concern for and acceptance of others.There probably aren't any overnight fixes or cures except those that require global/community action. Patience and listening for now. Peek ahead at the Kivel text; it might help you along the personal journel ahead. It won't be an easy one, but it sounds like you'll be as well or better prepared than
most of us.
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Brent Conklin - 10:54pm Oct 13, 1998 pst (#2 of 4)
MIT 2000Thanks for this discussion. It could be our most important task ahead. My philosophy has been "Kill them with kindness." This is a pretty aggressive saying so let me qualify it a bit. One can never know just what cultural heartache or baggage a person carries with them. Reaching out with, as Phil puts it, a "gentle touch" seems to be our only option. Nice work Cara on escaping a little cultural encapsulation, I've often wished I had been braver in similar situations. What have we got to lose? Or rather, think of all we can gain!
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Mary McKenzie - 03:19pm Oct 23, 1998 pst (#3 of 4)I'm familiar with Cara's hesitancy. We definitely need to continue to challenge whatever our own cultural encapsulation is. However, it has been
pointed out that there is cause for concern in expecting folks to be our "cultural brokers". This creates a fine line between being inquisitive
learners and cultural encroachers. As Brent mentioned, that balance is more likely struck with a gentle touch. And, of course, that gentle touch comes
from the openness and trust that we offer when we are genuine individuals brokering real relationships rather than simply gleaning information for our own use. The respon- siveness of the curator had much to do with Cara's own trust, of self and others.
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Kari Neff - 06:42pm Oct 28, 1998 pst (#4 of 4)CARA: I TOO AFFIRM YOUR WILLINGNESS TO LIVE AND ACT IN AN UNCERTAIN SITUATION. I THINK THE OPPRESSION CONTINUES IF WE DON'T TAKE THE OPPORTUNITIES PRESENTED TO US TO BE INTERESTED IN THE STORIES PEOPLE ARE
NEEDING TO SHARE (AND WE'RE NEEDING TO HEAR). GUILT IS CRAZY; I THINK BY BREAKING OUT OF THE TEMPATION TO NOT ASK QUESTIONS YOU'RE TAKING THE FIRST STEP. BY BEING HUMBLE TO THE SITUATION AND THE POSSIBILITY THAT IT WON'T GO THE BEST AND YOU'LL BE EMBARASSED OR PRETENTIOUS, YOU ARE STEPPING INTO A PLACE WHERE THE GUILT LEAVES. YOU ARE REACHING OUT, ATTEMPTING TO BREAK DOWN THE BARRIERS THAT FEAR CREATES.
Comments and thoughts on Silko's book.-------------------------
brian moreland - 06:48pm Oct 6, 1998 pst (#1 of 2)Ceremony
Much like Momaday's House Made of Dawn, Ceremony is a novel concerned with healing, with the Pueblo's, with word arrows, and with the restoration of balance. It is this idea of the restoration of balance in which this novel contains its strongest statement. Again, much like House Made of Dawn.
Silko's presentation is though, to my eyes at least, less subtle in this particular area in delineating the importance of women, of the feminine to the idea of community and a balanced world. That said I willingly admit that her novel is more contemporary, and thereby more intricately fashioned then is Momaday's while maintaining a more traditional form (The story is not hers. She is only the story teller).Ceremony
I will tell you something about stories, [he said] They aren't just entertainment. Don't be fooled. They are all we have, you see, all we have to fight off illness and death.You don't have anything if you don't have stories.
I find it interesting, intellectually and spiritually, that Silko reminds us that without stories we have nothing.
"I dreamed of the rooted. Of the green shoots, tender and frail. Of Tao, and of the trees that stand deep rooted. The mother principle holds good for a long time. It is prayer, spirit, that gives us deep roots and a firm foundation."
This is perhaps the most important thing that I have learned. Arrows arrive from many directions.
The medicine man stated that the hogan was in place before the town. Therefore it was not the hogan that was out of place, but the town. Teachers complain about staying up until three o' clock in the morning. Sacrifice. You must respect that, sacrifice. Indians have given for over five hundred years. It is understood, by some. Others, however, are in denial. Their thinking is different. Perhaps. Which belongs where? Who has ownership of what?
Then they grow away from the earth then they grow away from the sun then they grow away from the plants and the animals. They see no life When they look they see only objects.
They fear
They fear the world. They destroy what they fear. They fear themselves.Anger and control issues are issues of fear. Of violence. The white men who threw bottles and insults at the shanty town women (page 112) were expressing their fear. But typical of issues of fear the police responded by blaming the victims, by arresting them, and by burning down and destroying their homes. Fear leaves no room for compassion or understanding. It is the little death. Uncontrolled it is a terrifying force.
It is the uncontrolled fear that destroys. The T-shirts that proclaim, "No Fear" lack wisdom. Fear like many other things can be a good guide. It is then, not a thing to be ashamed of, that hollow feeling in the pit of your stomach. Just a friend, trying to help. To ignore it would be to allow it to take over, to live in hollowness:
"[T]he lies devoured white hearts, and for more than two hundred years white people worked to fill their emptiness; they tried to glut the hollowness with patriotic wars and with great technology and the wealth it bought. And
they were fooling themselves, and they knew it" (Silko, 191)."Only a few people understood how the filthy deception worked" (Silko, 204). The teachers, and the assimilationists, and even the "traditionals" each with their own particular fear have bought into varying degrees and types of
fear. Each with their own idealogy to push, each thinking that they know what's best. However, as Betonie states, "Nothing is that simple," continuing he asserts, "you don't write off all the white people, just like you don't trust all the Indians" (Silko, 128).By not initially understanding the deception, let alone how it worked, Tayo could not bring himself to think of the rancher Floyd Lee as a thief (page 190). He knew, per his educational and assmilational experiences that only
Mexicans and Indians were thieves. The only people who performed negative actions, and thus were negative peoples. Better to be white. Nothing unique to this country. People in Japan for instance talk about and emulate Hakujin
[( ) White people.]. Tayo's realization of himself being corrupted by the deception occurred when he realized that on a metaphysical level:[T]he thick white skin that had enclosed him, silencing the sensations of living, the love as well as the grief; and he had been left with only the hum of the tissues that enclosed him. He never knew how long he had lost there, in that hospital in Los Angeles" (Silko, 229).
An awareness that his elders, his grandma and Ku'oosh and the other medicine people, knew of, but were hoping to cure. Tayo, came to understand this in his conversation with Ts'eh. "And the old men from home?" . . . "The only
thing is they haven't been able to agree" (Silko, 232) "Agree on what?" "They are trying to decide who you are" (233).This problem of identity particularly for Tayo in this instance, but also for all Indians in these times, and for a growing number of mixed bloods currently plagues "Indian Country." Being invisible, primarily to the
dominant culture, with words formed by an invisible tongue, not having any sound is a profoundly spiritual dilemma. Such a contrast to the White Buffalo Calf Woman:"With visible breath I am walking. A voice I am sending as I walk. In a sacred manner I am walking. With visible tracks I am walking. In a sacred manner I walk."
In this manner Tayo literally becomes the "Ghost in the Machine." Hence his self-reflection, "For a long time now he had been white smoke. . . because white smoke had no consciousness of itself . .
There ought to have been, for as a mixed blood Tayo embodies conflict and resolution. He is the Monster Twins.
That Tayo was the awaited one, the one planned for by the Mexican captive and Descheeny was initially heralded by the dragonflies, "Dragonflies came and hovered over the pool. They were all colors of blue
--powdery sky blue, dark night blue, shimmering with almost black iridescent light, and mountain blue" (Silko, 95).Dragonfly, the transmuter, and blue, colors of blue and black the powers of the west. Not long after this event Tayo met Night Swan, and his identity was affirmed, for as Moss notes (page 132) she says goodbye to Tayo by thanking him for bringing the message. The message to which she is alluding, according to Moss, is Tayo, not the written message from Josiah.
>Reminds me of The Grand Inquisitor.<<
Somewhat disjointed but these are some of my thoughts on Ceremony.
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Michael Hammond-Todd - 10:55am Oct 25, 1998 pst (#2 of 2)Ceremony by Leslie Mormon Silko
Summary: Tayo, a shell shocked vetran from the Laguna Pueblo returens with fears. First, he feels that he has failed family obligations by allowing Rocky to die. Second, he feels that hrought a drought to his people through cursing the tropical rains as a soldier. And third, Tayo feels he let down his family by falling thin the path and wold of the white man (he may not have been aware of this).
When Tayo returns, his family gradually realizes (Robert) he is sick and needs help. He is taken to a non-traditional shaman (who like Tayo is also a "half-blood") who performs the scalp ceremony and gives him three signs; the
stars, cattle, and a woman. Each of these signs comes to pass and he is strengthend. His friends, however, fall (and he has to let them to survive).Key Symbols: The woman, ceremonies, cattle, lion, alcohol, mountains, directions, witchcraft, spiders, and bear.
Key Concepts: 1.) As a Laguna man, Tayo comes to recognize that his center rests in the traditions of his culture.
2.) For Native Americans the author argues that it takes many members, perspectives, views, and directions to heal sick members.
Applications for Educators:
*Trust in the strength of traditional and non/european perspectives, resources, rituals, and customs to help Native children succeed in conventional learning environments.
*Be aware of your own cultural perspectives when teaching.
*Learning is more complex than most traditonal educators believe. It involves many social and environmental aspects outside of the classroom.
Marziah Kiehn-Sanford - 08:51pm Oct 4, 1998 pst
Resources, comments and observations.
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Marziah Kiehn-Sanford - 09:01pm Oct 4, 1998 pst (#1 of 4)"The Life Millennium" now on the newstands lists the 100 most important events and people of the past 1,000 years. Right behind the #1 hit (Gutenberg prints the Bible in 1455) was Columbus' Voyage of 1492. The text follows.
Christopher Columbus died a magnificient failure. Fourt times he tried to find a route to Asia by sailing west across the Atlantic. When his quest ran aground against another continent, he simply insisted Cuba was part of China.
Columbus set sail in August 1492--and got lost. Only shouts of "Tierra, tierra!" on October 12 ended threats of mutiny. The island the natives called Guanahani, renamed San Salvador by Columbus and now part of the Bahamas, is believed to have been his first landfall. He thought the native people simple, naturally good and "easy to conquer"--until they resisted.
Then things got ugly. His governorship of Hispaniola (Haita) was the low point, an outburst of gold fever accompanied by the enslavement and slaughter of the native poeple. In December 1500, Ciolumbus was arrested for mismanagement and sent home in chains. Ideas goods, deadly microbes, colonizers and African slaves followed him to America. His discovery of a "new world" may have been accidcental, but his adventurous spirit played no small role in creating a new, global civilization.TRADING PLACES
Some things Europe got from the New World: avocados, cacao beans, cod, corn, peanuts, pineapples, potatoes, tobacco [the list ends here, but I've seen much longer examples elsewhere...]
Some things the New World got from Europe: apples, Christianity, guns, hogs, horses, oranges, rice, roses, smallpox, wheat [and this list could be expanded too....what about influenza for starters?]
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Marziah Kiehn-Sanford - 07:35am Oct 7, 1998 pst (#2 of 4)Another article of interest:
"America Before the Indians: How Discoveries are Rewriting Our History" in the October *12*, 1998 issue of US News and World Report. It's the cover story and here's the teaser:
"The very first Americans.....Archaeologists sift startling new evidence that America's human history may be as much as three times longer than the accepted figure of 12,000 years. If true, we will have to rethink not only who came first but also what routes they used to get here"
Later in the article...."If this proves true [migration over a wider variety of routes and with a more diverse ancestery], it will force a rethinking of the whole concep6t of America: a land whose human history may be three times longer than imagined, and one where Columbus would have been just one of the last of many waves of "discoverers." [quotes are original]"
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Cara Francis - 06:51pm Oct 9, 1998 pst (#3 of 4)My daughter's Kindergarten class is doing a small "skit" about Columbus. The skit is factually based but VERY sketchy. It mainly focuses on the terrified mutinous activity of Columbus's men and the relief of spotting land. It ends with shouts of "India, We've arrived!" No discussion of Columbus's encounter with the native people is planned. It remains to be seen whether Columbus
will be proclaimed "the discoverer of America." Just thought you'd all want to hear a case study of what is currently being taught. Hopefully my daughter will prove to be subversive and start a discussion :) I discussed the issue with the teacher (in a friendly and brief way.) She felt at a loss with what to do. She sighed "last year we just skipped it."
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Marziah Kiehn-Sanford - 07:41pm Oct 9, 1998 pst (#4 of 4)http://www.sifc.edu/humor/name1.jpg
Cara, I thought of you and your "historically accurate" parents when I asked my own child what she knew about Columbus. First response: "Well, he didn't [making quoting gesture with fingers on both hands]'discover'America."
Bet your daughter's teacher leaves the kidnapping of slaves and their demise out of the skit...
Personally, I liked Berkeley, California's idea of an Indigenous Peoples Day.
Adam Boesel - 10:10pm Oct 22, 1998 pst
We found out that we can get 4 laptops with internet access in the longhouse for the november feast weekend. It seems like this could be a good time to catch everybody up on web crossing and also check out some websites that may interest us. What we need is four students, one from each seminar group to be responsible for a computer. Any volunteers? Any other computer use ideas for the weekend?
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brian moreland - 07:49pm Oct 25, 1998 pst (#1 of 2)Hi Adam, great idea! I'll help, just let me when and where.
brian
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Tim Koontz - 01:00am Oct 26, 1998 pst (#2 of 2)
MIT 1998-2000Adam,
I can help out as well. Let me know.
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Internet Sitesbrian moreland - 09:11pm Oct 8, 1998 pst
Internet Sites and Indian Education
In initiating this discussion it is hoped, by me, that this may remain a "discussion" solely for internet sites of interest.
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brian moreland - 09:12pm Oct 8, 1998 pst (#1 of 5)So here's a few to start
* American Indian Higher Education Consortium
* AISES
* Chief Leschi HS
* The Cradleboard Project
* MIT-2000
* NIEA
* Native Education Directory
* This Week in NA HistoryEnjoy, brianm
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brian moreland - 06:59pm Oct 15, 1998 pst (#2 of 5)More web sites
Education:
* NorthWest Regional Education Laboratories
* Instituto Paulo FriereWebpages and HTML
* A quick guide to scripts
* A beginners guide to HTML
* Links to tutorials, graphics and moreSpanish
* Yahoo's resource list
* La Hermandad Educativa
1. La Escuela de La Monta?a One school I attended.Tribal Profiles
* NPAIHB Profiles
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Adam Boesel - 09:58pm Oct 22, 1998 pst (#3 of 5)Project Reach (repecting ethnic and cultural heritage), a Seattle based non-profit does multicultural training for educators and also has
multicultural curriculums for k-12. I believe their website is reach@nwlink.com
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Tim Koontz - 10:20pm Oct 25, 1998 pst (#4 of 5)
MIT 1998-2000Adam I could not get the Project Reach website address to work. Can you check the address?
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Adam Boesel - 10:24am Oct 26, 1998 pst (#5 of 5)Tim, sorry about that. It turns out the REACH center address is just an email address. I do have a bunch of information about Reach if you would
like to see it though.
Name Poems from Yvonne's Seminar
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Mary McKenzie - 02:50pm Oct 23, 1998 pst (#1 of 3)Monahue. Where in the world did they get Monahue? ThatÕs what Pete and Steve called me. Until IÕd been in school awhile, when I said my name, thatÕs what they said it sounded like I was saying: Monahue. This was not a nickname of endearment, though. They brought it out when they wanted to tease me or hurt me or make me feel less.
Mare. Great. A female horse. ThatÕs what all my brothers and sisters called me most of the time. Their two-syllable names neatly translated into single syllables: Sue, Jack, Pat, Tom, Bob, Pete and Steve. Except for Carol. They called her "Carol the Barrel." Somehow, Mare didnÕt seem so bad. Besides, this one was a term of familiarity and connectedness.
Mary Eileen McKenzie. "You get in here this instant!" Chuck and Georgia always brought out all three names when we were in trouble, then wondered why none of us were fond of our middle names.
Mary. What Catholic parents name a daughter if they are devout or have run out of imagination by the last girl. Or so I thought. It took three decades
before it dawned on me that I had been named for my aunts, Mary Lou and Leenie. IÕve come to know that Dad deeply loved and respected these women. I am honored.McKenzie. The surname of a highly complex, complicated, confounding group of fiercely connected folk. Immediate and extended; these are my people.
Twenty-two years old. Time to marry and discard everything that I have known to be me, alone. We are to become one. I am expected to throw away who I am to prove my love and devotion. Starting with my name.
I donÕt think so.
Mary McKenzie. Loyal, stubborn, strong. Inquisitive, open, honest. Advocate, passionate, compassionate. Trusting. Worthy of trust. Warm, loving, flawed.
Woven into my life, through my name.
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Pamela Murphy - 12:17pm Oct 26, 1998 pst (#2 of 3)Pamela Murphy
Once, a long time ago in the state of Utah, there were two Lithuanian men. they had moved their young families from their temporary homes in Chicago to that remote place with the hope that they could find work. Settling in the mountain town of Park City, they were employed in the large copper mine located near by. The rest of the miners who worked with them were recent arrivals from Ireland. Separated from the others by language and culture, the two Lithuanians kept to themselves. The Irish miners couldn't pronounce the foreign sounding names of their two co-workers, so they gave them new ones; Flannigan for the first, Murphy for the other. My grandfather shed his old world name along with his history to fit into the fabric of his new surroundings. When he took out his citizenship papers in the 1920s, he used the name Murphy instead of Mozetavicz.
Decades later, I muse on how my life might of been different if, instead of growing up as Pamela Murphy, I had been Pamela Mozetavicz. Teachers could have fought with those letters each new school year, mangling and reforming them into something pronounceable. Assumptions that I was Irish and Catholic would have been dropped in favor of "what nationality are you anyway?" I think about my grandfather's decision to change his name and wonder if I would have made the same choice given the situation.
Mozetavicz. A complicated name for sure. Do I miss not having it as my name? Not really. What I feel I've lost is the heritage and culture that my
grandfather buried with his name. Never teaching his children, my father, what it was to be Lithuanian, he chose instead to dwell on what it was to be an American, to fit in.
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Sue White - 05:32pm Oct 29, 1998 pst (#3 of 3)SUUUUUUUU-EY! SUEY, SUEY, SUEY.
That's how you call pigs. It's how my friends used to call me. I was also called Sewer and Soup. I didn't mind. They were my friends and it was all in fun.
Besides, in my family names were plain. My parents, Bob and Marge, named their kids Paul, Tom, Steve, Anne and Sue. We even had a dog named Gus. I always wanted a fancier name.
Sue. Sue White.
"Yes, White, just like the color." It should be easy enough, but it's hard to say such a short little name.
I used to be called Susie. I like going home. When people call me Susie, I realize they have known me for a long time. My old soccer coach. My grade school friends' parents. I don't remember telling people to start calling me Sue. They just did.
Sometimes people call me Susan. It makes me smile. I know they have read my name off of something formal. They don't really know me yet.
"I'm going to sue you." "Sue Who?" Susie-Q. Who the hell is the "Boy Named Sue?"
My Dad likes to call me "Susie Baby Doll".
Someone else calls me "Lady Suzana".
Susan Margaret White. Maybe not such a plain name after all.
Lots of Questions--Do you have answers?Melanie_Saunders - 10:42pm Oct 9, 1998 pst
Hi! Are other people feeling as 'in the dark' about these anti-bias workgroups as I am? Have people begun forming into groups yet? Are the
anti-bias groups going to be active for Fall '98, all year, or all two years? I see some assignments given on the hand-out but no specific due
dates.If there are others like myself who are still undecided about which grade level band they want to teach, I would like to talk to you about forming
into a group. I am undecided between elementary (intermediate grades) and middle school. Hopefully, the field observations will help me make that
decision. Thanks! Later...-------------------------
Cara Francis - 12:53pm Oct 12, 1998 pst (#1 of 4)I admit it! I am also in the dark regarding these groups.I am even so nerdly as to need an explanation as to the expected goals of such a group. I think
someone should bite the proverbial bullet (hey, maybe me) and ask for clarification. I would love to get into a group with people in the class I
haven't worked with yet. I am being certified in elementary ed. K-8.
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teresa - 07:44pm Oct 13, 1998 pst (#2 of 4)Yep, also feeling like the proverbial "chicken with his head cut off". Feeling that way bout a lot of things. But...as is with all Evergreen
courses, a bright light will be shining down upon us soon. I think we need to rely on some Evergreen Alumni (BA's in our class) for assurance that we havent lost our way.
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Sandy Arrowood - 10:18pm Oct 18, 1998 pst (#3 of 4)I'm hoping that I'm just expecting too much too soon. If indeed these groups/this project is to last for 2 yrs then hopefully more information
will come as time goes by. I just have to keep reminding myself that we are only 3-4 weeks into the quarter. What do you think?
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Tim Koontz - 03:43pm Oct 21, 1998 pst (#4 of 4)
MIT 1998-2000Hey as we form groups maybe I can make discussions for each anti-bias group. If people could name their group something, like a Northwest animal then I could start discussions for them. Actually, you have the power to make your
own discussions. Go For it!
Back to top
Being A Strong White Ally
Adam Boesel - 11:53am Oct 20, 1998 pst (#1 of 4)
I found this in Uprooting Racism by Paul Kivel (page 102) and was intereste in getting people's comments about it:
What Kind of active support does a strong white ally provide? People of color that I have talked with over the years have been remarkably consistent in describing the kinds of support they need from white allies. The following list is compiled from their statements at workshops I have facilitated. The focus here is on personal qualities and interpersonal relationships. More active interventions are discussed in the next part of the book.
What people of color want from white allies: "respect" "listen" "find out about us" "don't make assumptions" "don't take
over" "stand by my side" "provide information" "don't assume you know what's best for me" "resources" "money" "your body on the line" "take risks" "make mistakes" "don't take it personally" "honesty" "understanding" "talk to other white people" "teach your children about racism" "interrupt jokes and comments" "speak up" "don't ask me to speak for my people" "don't be scared by my anger" "support"
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brian moreland - 04:32pm Oct 20, 1998 pst (#2 of 4)Adam Boesel - 11:53am Oct 20, 1998 pst (#1 of 1)
>"don't take over"
As one friend said, "White people can walk beside me. They can even walk behind me, but they must not walk in front of me."
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brian moreland - 04:51pm Oct 20, 1998 pst (#3 of 4)THEN said a teacher, Speak to us of Teaching.
And he said:
No man can reveal to you aught but that
which already lies half asleep in the dawning
of your knowledge.The teacher who walks in the shadow of the
temple, among his followers, gives not of his
wisdom but rather of his faith and his lovingness.If he is indeed wise he does not bid you enter
the house of his wisdom, but rather leads you to
the threshold of your own mind.The astronomer may speak to you of his under-
standing of space,
but he cannot give you his understanding.The musician may sing to you of the rhythm
which is in all space,
but he cannot give you the ear
which arrests the rhythm nor the voice that echoes it.And he who is versed in the science of numbers
can tell of the regions of weight and measure,
but he cannot conduct you thither.For the vision of one man lends not its wings to another man.
And even as each one of you stands alone in God's knowledge,
so must each one of you be alone
in his knowledge of God and his understanding of the earth.-excerpt from The Prophet, by Kahlil Gibran
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RaulH Nakasone - 09:46am Oct 21, 1998 pst (#4 of 4)
MIT facultyIt is in Adam's list: "teach your children about racism" I always think that to do is much easier than to have to re-do. I think it
would be much better if society as a whole stopped teaching children to be racists. A good review of the children's books you have used, when you were a child, will help you see my view. What about the cartoons? Movies? Music? Pictures? Commercials?
Adam's question What Kind of active support does a strong white ally provide? will hopefully generate answers that will shape our learning community.
This area is for our discussion on the concept of learning.-------------------------
clayton majors - 02:23pm Oct 8, 1998 pst (#1 of 10)This question of "what is learning?" is a really difficult concept to put into a concise answer. In fact, I can't do it. I mean, what isn't learning.
When was the last time you remember experiencing something, anything, and not learning something from it. At the very least you might learn that you didn't learn anything you did not already know. And even that is learning. So I guess there are a couple of different kinds of learning. (And this
isn't a research paper or my thesis, so maybe by next Wednesday or even Monday I will change my mind on this. I'm just trying to formulate some
ideas.) There is what I will call active learning. This is where you, or a student, or anyone wants to know more about a topic (maybe not even a
specific topic, maybe just general information, or self-reflection, or simply some fact) and actively seeks ways to find this information. This
might include such learning techniques as making the choice to attend school, a college, or program; traveling to meet people and see new things
(even if this means walking down the block and saying hello to a neighbor you've never met); or self-directed (and teacher generated) reading and
writing. This list certainly isn't complete, it is just a beginning. Then there is a more passive style of learning. This is a diffrent type of
learning, where learning isn't necessarily made aware to the individual, or where learning is even sought out, but takes place nonetheless. I would also say that this learning is as important if not in many ways more important than active learning. This learning is a fundemental part of living. Family, friends, effects of our society and culture on us, staring at the wall, all of these things and a multitude of other (in)activities all help develop us and the way we think and feel. At some point, often subconsciously, we were learning. For instance, think about one of the worst classes you've ever taken, a pitiful class where the instructor taught you absolutely nothing! I would argue that the information they set out to teach may not have been learned, but if you think about it you may have learned several things. You hate the format of the class, you aren't really interested in the content of the class, you learn what it is to be a bad teacher. You learned that too many things were going on in your life for you to be an effective student, etc, etc...Every situation has the potential to be a learning situation, and I would argue that with a bit of reflection we learn something in all the things we do. After a hard day when all you want to do is turn your mind off and plop into a big, warm, relaxing, comfortable chair you learn that, "Wow, I really needed to sit down and take a break." This may seem trivial, but it is a process that we go though in order to know and understand ourselves. I know this was a long answer, and I apologize for making it this way, but I had to do this to learn what learning is. Oh, and one last thing. I don't think that learning in and of itself necessitates (sp?) actively using the learned information. How many times have we made a mistake, recognized that we made a mistake (thus learning), and gone on to make the same mistake again. I know I have. Please feel free to comment on this. Agree or disagree. And again, this is my first stab at it so I'm open to redefining what learning is. Thanks, Clayton
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Ashley Rupp - 04:08pm Oct 9, 1998 pst (#2 of 10)I think about learning in so many different ways. My first instinct is to question it. What is learning? What is anything human and basic? What is
love? What is knowledge? What is happiness? This questioning could go on and on. Learning is basic. Learning is innate to humanness. Learning is a helping process for the self. List all the different kinds of learning, starting with the most important ones of discovering the self. Think then
about all of the learning involved in actualizing the self. From there to learning how to listen and hear other people. Learning how to be receptive,
learning how to adjust and adapt, value, question. Learning how to be human. Learning can be seen from a biological perspective or it can be viewed from a behavioral/social point of view. Learning can be done anywhere from in the classroom to inside the heart of human emotion. Learning can force change. Learning can be change. Change can force learning. Change can be learning.
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Adam Boesel - 03:19pm Oct 11, 1998 pst (#3 of 10)Ok.
Clayton, I think you're right. I think that learning is always happening, and it always causes something else to happen. Ashley, I think you are
right, learning is basic. It's one of those rights that no one can take away. I once read a quote from Jesus or Buddha that said, "it's not what
goes in that defiles, it's what comes out." As something basic that is hapening all the time, I think its important to know that we as individuals
and groups have the power to act on what we have learned how we want to. This thought is taking me back to undergraduate discussions on free will. Do we have it? Are we making choices about what we learn? Sometimes we resist learning, because we expect to learn something else. Is there such thing as bad leaning, or is all learning good?
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Marziah Kiehn-Sanford - 03:38pm Oct 11, 1998 pst (#4 of 10)What isn't learning and when aren't we learning? Apart from those painful times we'd just as soon forget and have to dig deep to bring the lesson to
the surface, it's pretty much a constant activity.This reminds me of a commencement speech I read not too long ago where the dean mentioned an old southern adage: "When you are green you grow, but when you become ripe, you begin to rot." His wish was that the students would never become ripe and feel like they'd have learned everything that there is to know because that would be the mark of an uneducated person. (My definition of the truly rotten teachers were the ones who never deviated from the book and their old smeary dittos--okay today they're just bad photocopies.. Film strips and dittos have gone the way of the buttonhook and buggy whip, replaced by interactive multimedia CD-roms, web pages and power point. But somewhere there are still the hold outs who make their district keep that film strip projector because they have a favorite--and excruiatingly boring--film strip on the fjiords of Norway, the same 4th grade unit taught for the past 30 years.)
Personally, I'm big on the the metaphor of journies (the name poem was a journey experience, for example). Learning is a never ending journey, not a destination as so many people might think. "Oh, I'll have it made when I get that BA, BS, MS (more of the same), MA, JD, MBA, PhD, MD etc." We're never going to learn all there is and if you ever think you'll get close, there'll always be technology and new evolving information to add another twist.
One of the good things about the cooperative learning experience we've embarked upon is the concept of co-learners. The faculty is in the midst of
it with us. I'm starting to see more possibilities for the concept of a democratic classroom (although I remain skeptical because the classroom
management possibilities have yet to reveal themselves to me). We've all arrived at different intermediate points in our journies to this program and
we'll all have to meet students at different places in their own journies.But first of all, we have to know ourselves. Before we can help students achieve status as responsible, informed and fair-minded citizens, we have to
master cooperative learning experiences, shed our own ethnic confines and prejudices, learn to listen..listen..listen, improve interpersonal
relationships, practice promoting positive group dynamics, embrace chaos, address issues of power and dominance, observe and witness. All that more.
MIT 1998-2000--not for wimps.
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Kris Green - 03:47pm Oct 11, 1998 pst (#5 of 10)
Guest UserI realized a few years ago that the only thing that I know is my own experience. That's all I truly know- and sometimes I have a hard time with
that being clear. I cannot speak for another human being on how that person has lived, what they see, how they feel. I can only speak for myself. I
learn through making mistakes, watching other people make mistakes, and trying to break out of patterns, habits that are bad for me. I am currently
in a new state of mind. A new place that is much more peaceful than where I have been in years. It's all new territory and I am really scared. But it is
a process that I must go through to feel the happiness that I really want to feel. I learn everyday. My friend told me once that if you don't like
someone- I mean really don't like them- then you can learn the most from them. From my perspective:Whether it be a thing where I learn what I don't like about the person is something I don't like in myself and never looked at---- then I, if I want to change, need to learn how to change, how to be different. Be patient with that person and accepting of where that person is in their life. Also, it could be a thing that I don't have inside, but see
that I will need to avoid in the future- refrain from acting that way. An example would be: when I was working in Birmingham, I worked at an after
school site where the director and the assistant director were really bad at communicating and weren't really nice. My friend had tried to quit there and they begged her to stay. She didn't like how they were, but she decided to stay and help anyway, for she felt God (she is really into God and that is her perspective and her way of life and I learned from her differing point of view) Anyway, she felt that God wanted her to stay around for a lesson. So, she stayed. A few months later, she got a job as a director for a preschool and she realized she needed to learn how to treat the employees
correctly and with respect. I learn a lot spiritually. I let Creator guide me. I learn a lot intellectually as well. You will see me write I a lot.
Please keep in mind that I write from my experience. Pain can be a teacher, and innocence. I believe you are all on the right track as far as what you
believe learning to be. It is from your experiences. Yes, change does cause one to change their mind. That is a process. As a human being, I have begun to realize that I will always continue to learn and grow each day. If I don't do that, then I will feel not alive- not full of life. I feel good
when I learn something new. When I learn that if I put my mind to something I can do it.
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jen jirsa - 02:42pm Oct 12, 1998 pst (#6 of 10)One perspective of learning that I've encountered was through studies in NLP (Neural Linguistic Pro gramming). In this view, once something has truly been learned it remains in the unconscious mind, at which time it is no longer necessary to consciously think about in order to act from. For instance, I have learned to drive a car and no longer have to consciously move my foot from accelerator to brake when approaching a stop sign. In fact (as scary as it is), I can drive all the way to school without realizing what I'm doing.
I also consider learning as a pattern. We live our lives through complex, and not so complex, patterns that guide our thought and activity. Sometimes
we remain in a pattern of negativity because there is something to be learned from the situation we continually get ourselves into. The decisions
we make take us to the same place over and over until we change the unwanted behavior and move on to the next lesson. I guess this aspect of learning comes down to cause and effect. Boy, this thing lets me babble! I'll be going now...
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andy darring - 04:35pm Oct 12, 1998 pst (#7 of 10)I remember my dad telling me that it did not matter what I studied in college. He felt I was going to school to learn how to learn. I would forget
many of the details and much of what I memorized, he promised, but I would never forget how to learn. He was right, as usual. Yes, sometimes learning is about specific skills or details, and yes, skills are important - i would love to be a better typer right now. But I believe learning is much more than that. Ideally, it is being able to access information and reflect on it critically. Just as instinctively as Jen drives to school. Unfortunately, i
think we pay way too much attention to the former, and not enough to the latter.
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Michael Hammond-Todd - 10:49pm Oct 12, 1998 pst (#8 of 10)Here is Michael's bio-social-hoomhoff-def of learning.
Learning is process of self exploration within an environmental and social context where success is based on an ability to survive (and possibly
thrive)within natural and built communities.
Brr...this one is cold.
Okay, now an explanation. Life and learning are inseparably connected as Clayton so eloquently described in his posting earlier. While some people
may view the process of learning as an individual one, I see it within a social and environmental context. Social, because we as humans are social
animals capable of constructing elaborate worldviews, and beliefs (within countless thousands of distinctive cultures)about life, the universe, and
everything (where does Don Adams fit in?). Environmental, because we are smack dab in the middle of the most amazing universe (the big environment). To put it bluntly, to deny the power of solar flares, the howl of a wolf, or the impact cancer has in the process of learning is naive. These two forces, social and environmental, dance hand in hand with the mind and body of each individual representing the focus of this tremendous (albeit inconsequential in universal terms)process we simply call learning.Now success and the cold part.
Skills are quantifiable, learning is not. Accomplishments are quantifiable,success is not. Learning and success are sloppy terms heavy with vague
assumptions.
While learning was addressed above, success will be discussed here (the temperature is dropping as I write). If learning pins on social and
environmental elements, then success is also based on them. To be successful from a biological point of view, one must be able to survive and possibly reproduce in the natural environment. In the grand-geologic-billion-year-enviro-genetic-thing-a-ma-bob scheme of things it boils down to this. Are you a fossil or not? Fossils represent grand and often times beautiful attempts at survival. But ultimately the entity failed. However, life survives in unique ways. Within each one of us (specifically in our ribosomes) is the genetic fingerprint of some ancient bacteria. That little bacteria not only survived, it thrived. In just a little over 3.5 billion years, it integrated itself completely within every living (and fossilized) entity breathing air and drinking water today.Success for us as newcomers to this world (even most mythic and religious beliefs peg the animals here before us), is defined as more species
centered. Like animals, humans could just survive. But mere survival doesnÕt always paint a pretty picture (i.e. famine or some traumatic catastrophe). We want to thrive (hence the thousands of distinct cultures). However, some people thrive (above and often times over) better than others. This sets the stage for inequities and the challenges posed by them within the span of human history. It also illustrate the vigorous process of learning and the challenges that to much success may bring.(The room is warming up now).
The above definition is cold. How about this one. Learning is the process of living (sometimes well).Michael Hammond-Todd
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robin morisette - 09:28pm Oct 13, 1998 pst (#9 of 10)Just a few ideas for us to kick around on the Olympic-sized soccer fields of our minds...
I think of learning in a few different ways. First of all, there is the constant process of perception, as we absorb information via our senses
continually for all the time that we are conscious. Even though this kind of learning goes on constantly without us even knowing or thinking about it,
the infomation is often there for us when we need it. This happens often enough to make me suspect that we all have something like the equivalent of
200 mega-giga-bytes of RAM in our brains (hey-I think I need a better file manager!).But can we really call the simple process of perception "learning"? Using the above computer-memory metaphor leads me to the idea that learning isn't about getting the information in, but more about being able to access and organize information when it's needed. So that's another way to think about learning.
Just for confusion's sake, here's a third way to think about learning: maybe it's not really learning until the information actually influences, affects,
initiates or changes the student's *behavior*, whether by doing a task correctly the first time, not repeating a mistake, or remembering a similar
situation and applying that knowledge to the task at hand. In other words, if we were to use this concept for the word, "learning", we might not want
to apply it to activities such as memorizing historical dates or multiplication tables, or any activity that did not involve critical thinking or higher-order decision-making. This idea sort of reminds me of the lesson Raoul taught the other day about Knowledge, Comprehension, Analysis, Synthethesis, and Evaluation, and how they don't add up to much without Application. (Another morsel for thought: where does Reflection come into that picture?)Note: this message was retyped from the memory of my old one, which was lost by accident due to my ineptitude with WebCrossing (I'll NEVER make that mistake again!). I just want everyone to know: the original one was much, much better. Much. Oh well, there goes my 200 mega-giga-bytes theory! See yaall tomorrow...
Robin Morisette
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Marziah Kiehn-Sanford - 11:18pm Oct 13, 1998 pst (#10 of 10)This idea sort of reminds me of the lesson Raoul taught the other
day about Knowledge, Comprehension, Analysis, Synthethesis, and
Evaluation, and how they don't add up to much without Application.
(Another morsel for thought: where does Reflection come into that
picture?) <Think of it as a circle, like a planning process: reflection comes after implementation/application, leading into revisions to the approaches to
transmit additional, advanced or higher level of knowledge.