What’s Hot and What’s Not in IEFA
Levels of Implementation
James Banks has developed a widely recognized model in which multicultural education typically takes place at one of four levels (Sadker & Sadker, 2002).
He has identified the first of these levels as Contributions. At this superficial level, a school focuses on heroes, holidays, food, and other discrete cultural elements. During special days, such as Cinco de Mayo, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Birthday, and Chinese New Year, the curriculum includes lessons and activities focusing on food, festivals, and ethnic heroes (NEA Today, 2000; Sadker & Sadker, 2002).
At the Additive, or second level of Banks’ model, special units and topics about various groups are added to, but do not fundamentally change, the curriculum (Sadker & Sadker, 2002). A school adds a unit or course on a particular ethnic group without any changes to the basic content of the curriculum. Although times is set aside as a shift from the typical curriculum, no substantial change is made to it as a whole. An example might be the addition of a unit on Native Americans or Haitians to the traditional social studies course (NEA Today, 2000).
Banks has identified the third level in his model of approaches to multicultural education as that of Transformation. At this level, the Eurocentric nature of the curriculum is actually changed, so that the students can see events and issues from the perspectives of various groups (Sadker & Sadker, 2002). The school infuses different frames of reference and content material from various groups in order to extend the students’ understanding of the nature, development, and complexity of American society (NEA Today, 2000).
The fourth level is that of Social Action. A school includes all of the elements from the third level, but also encourages students to make decisions and take action related to the concepts, issues, or problems they have studied (NEA Today, 2000). This approach encourages decision making and social action in order to achieve multicultural goals, a more vibrant democracy, and constructive social change (NEA Today, 2000; Sadker & Sadker, 2002).Retrieved from: http://csmstu01.csm.edu/st03/dwagner/multicultural_education.htm
Implementation Levels / Essential Understandings-Big Ideas / Montana Content Standards4 / Social Justice / 1: Diversity between tribes. / 5. History is told from subjective experience and perspective / Communication Arts / Social Studies
3 / Transformative / 2: Diversity between individuals within any tribe. / 6. Federal Indian policy shifted through seven major periods. / Mathematics / Library Media
2 / Additive / 3. Ideologies, traditions, beliefs, and spirituality continue through a system of oral traditions. / 7. Three forms of sovereignty exist in the US-Federal, State, and Tribal / Science / Technology
1 / Contributions / 4. Tribes reserved a portion of their land-base through treaties. / Summary: Diversity, Culture, History, and Sovereignty / Other / Fine Arts
Chart modified from work by Tammy Elser
A Common Question
Q. Which is correct, “Native American” or “Indian”?
Generally, the term "Native American" is used in a formal way (usually written), and the term "Indian" is used informally by community members. People generally introduce themselves first by their name, clan, family, sometimes nation. So someone might introduce herself as "Sally Yazzie" or "Sally Yazzie, Redhouse clan, born for Bitter Water, my family lives up the hill near the big rock." Or she might say to someone who doesn't know that Yazzie is a Diné name, "Sally Yazzie, Diné." Or she might say to an outsider, "Sally Yazzie, Navajo" or "Sally Yazzie, Navajo Indian." In our writing, we use the terms "Native" and "Indian" interchangeably, depending on which word sounds better in the context. In Canada, people refer to themselves as First Nations Peoples. That hasn't caught on here yet. We don't use the term "Native American" very often. Some people do not like the word "Indian," because it refers to Columbus's mistake. Others do not like the term "Native American" because anyone born here is a "native American." And still others do not like the term "American Indian" because it's an oxymoron.
Retrieved from: http://www.oyate.org/faqs.html
When Teaching Native Students in Your Class:
•Do present Native peoples as appropriate role models with whom a Native child can identify. •Don’t single out Native children, ask them to describe their families’ traditions, or their people’s cultures. •Don’t assume that you have no Native children in your class. •Don’t do or say anything that would embarrass a Native child.
•Do look for books and materials written and illustrated by Native people. •Don’t use ABC books that have “I is for Indian” or “E is for Eskimo.” •Don’t use counting books that count “Indians.” •Don’t use story books that show non-Native children “playing Indian.” •Don’t use picture books by non-Native authors that show animals dressed as “Indians.” •Don’t use story books with characters like “Indian Two Feet” or “Little Chief.”
•Do avoid arts and crafts and activities that trivialize Native dress, dance, or ceremony. •Don’t use books that show Native people as savages, primitive craftspeople, or simple tribal people, now extinct.
•Don’t have children dress up as “Indians,” with paper-bag “costumes” or paper-feather “headdresses.” •Don’t sing “Ten Little Indians.” •Don’t let children do “war whoops.” •Don’t let children play with artifacts borrowed from a library or museum. •Don’t have them make “Indian crafts” unless you know authentic methods and have authentic materials.
•Do make sure you know the history of Native peoples, past and present, before you attempt to teach it. •Do present Native peoples as separate from each other, with unique cultures, languages, spiritual beliefs, and dress. •Don’t teach “Indians” only at Thanksgiving. •Do teach Native history as a regular part of American history.
•Do use materials which put history in perspective. •Don’t use materials which manipulate words like “victory,” “conquest,” or “massacre” to distort history. •Don’t use materials which present as heroes only those Native people who aided Europeans. •Do use materials which present Native heroes who fought to defend their own people.
•Do discuss the relationship between Native peoples and the colonists and what went wrong with it. •Don’t speak as though “the Indians” were here only for the benefit of the colonists. •Don’t make charts about “gifts the Indians gave us.”
•Don’t use materials that stress the superiority of European ways, and the inevitability of European conquest. •Do use materials which show respect for, and understanding of, the sophistication and complexities of Native societies.
•Do use materials which show the continuity of Native societies, with traditional values and spiritual beliefs connected to the present. •Don’t refer to Native spirituality as “superstition.” •Don’t make up Indian “legends” or “ceremonies.” •Don’t encourage children to do “Indian” dances.
•Do use respectful language in teaching about Native peoples. •Don’t use insulting terms such as “brave,” “squaw,” “papoose,” “Indian givers,” “wild Indians,” “blanket Indians,” or “wagon burners.”
•Do portray Native societies as coexisting with nature in a delicate balance. •Don’t portray Native peoples as “the first ecologists.”
•Do use primary source material—speeches, songs, poems, writings—that show the linguistic skill of peoples who come from an oral tradition. •Don’t use books in which “Indian”characters speak in either “early jawbreaker” or in the oratorical style of the “noble savage.”
•Do use materials which show Native women, elders, and children as integral and important to Native societies. •Don’t use books which portray Native women and Elders as subservient to warriors.
•Do talk about the lives of Native peoples in the present. •Do read and discuss good poetry, suitable for young people, by contemporary Native writers. •Do invite Native community members to the classroom. •Do offer them an honorarium. Treat them as teachers, not as entertainers. •Don’t assume that every Native person knows everything there is to know about every Native nation.
Retrieved from: http://www.oyate.org/catalog/poster_to_do_not.html
Teacher Cautions List (as modified from Tammy Elser)
ü When guiding text studies where you will discuss cultures, traditions, beliefs and ideologies, a good rule of thumb is to “never say never, and never say always.” Avoid both negative and positive stereotypes that place limiting expectations on individuals based on group identity.
ü Remind your students that all texts, even ones presented as neutral or factual, have and present a point-of-view. See if your students can identify the point-of-view or perspective presented through “neutral” textbooks and other sources.
ü Interacting meaningfully with text often involves “marking it up” with highlighters and such. Think about how adults write in college textbooks in order to enhance comprehension and interaction with the information. If you are using books and novels that must last and be used again and again, invest in highlighter tape, overhead transparencies, vis-à-vis markers, and sticky notes.
ü If a text you have selected is a traditional story (coyote story or part of a sacred oral tradition of a tribe you are studying) be careful to follow the cultural norms for telling and using the story.
ü Keep your garbage detector on for “Fakelore.” These are contemporary and commercially produced “as told by” rewrites of traditional stories. They have often been altered from traditional stories beyond recognition and some perpetuate stereotypes via beautiful illustrations. A good resource for locating reviews of materials is www.Oyate.com and great article on the topic of “Fakelore” can be found at http://www.msu.edu/user/singere/fakelore.html.
ü Be aware that Western genre labels for stories coming from oral tradition have connotations that can be interpreted as negative. For example, it would be inaccurate and demeaning to refer to traditional stories as “fables, myths, or tall tales.” They are often termed legends, but even that term does not capture the essence of these stories coming out of an oral tradition. A rule of thumb is to use language that is respectful of the potentially sacred nature of these stories to American Indian people.
ü When developing your own “cautions” you may want to indicate whether a text has any material or content that may be objectionable to some parents. It goes without saying, always read the text in full before using it with students to determine its authenticity, merit, and developmental appropriateness.
ü Lean toward texts and resources that are being developed currently by each tribe, as these have been vetted for accuracy by the tribe and their cultural committees. Once you have selected your own “good works,” follow the policies of your school district to get them adopted and/or approved.
ESSENTIAL UNDERSTANDINGS ABOUT MONTANA INDIANSConcepts every Montana educator should know about American Indians
(EU denotes the OPI Essential Understanding number)
DIVERSITY / 1. There is great diversity among the twelve tribal nations of Montana in their languages, cultures, histories, and governments. Each nation has a distinct and unique cultural heritage that contributes to Montana. (EU1)
2. There is great diversity among individual American Indians as identity is developed, defined, and redefined by many entities, organizations, and people. There is a continuum of Indian identity, ranging from assimilated to traditional, that is unique to each individual. There is no generic American Indian. (EU2)
CULTURE / 1. Each tribe has their own oral history, beginning with their genesis that is as valid as written histories. These histories pre-date the “discovery” of North America. (EU3)
2. The ideologies of American Indian traditional believes and spirituality persist in modern day life as tribal cultures, traditions, and languages are still practiced by many American Indian people and are incorporated into how tribes govern and manage their affairs. (EU3)
HISTORY / 1. History is a story and most often related through the subjective experience of the teller. Histories are being rediscovered and revised. History told from an Indian perspective conflicts with most of what mainstream history tells us. (EU6)
2. There were many federal policies put into place throughout American history that have impacted Indian people and shaped who they are today. Much of Indian history can be related through several major federal policy periods (EU5):
a. Colonization
b. Treaty Making
c. Allotment
d. Boarding Schools
e. Tribal Reorganization
f. Termination
g. Self-Determination
SOVEREIGNTY / 1. Reservations are lands that have been reserved by the tribes for their own use through treaties and were not “given” to tribes. The principle that land should be acquired from Indian Nations only through their consent with treaties was based on three assumptions (EU4):
a. that both parties to treaties were sovereign powers;
b. that Indian tribes had some form of transferable title to the land; and
c. that acquisition of Indian lands was solely a government matter not to be left to individual colonists.
2. Under the American legal system, Indian tribes have sovereign powers separate and independent from federal and state governments. The extent and breadth of tribal sovereignty is not the same for each tribe (EU7).