February 1, 2007
Spiiydy Tymoo, W 31 th Springs, Oregon
Pgge 2
High school teacher finds way
to connect with Native students
B y L e s lie M itts
Spilyay Tymoo
Dave McMechan/Spilyay
The Fourteenth Annual
Tribal Youth Art Exhibit is
on display at the Museum
at Warm Springs Changing
Exhibits Gallery.
The drum pictured above
is by Damean Frank, and
was chosen by the
museum as the opening
piece of the exhibit. The
drum at right, by Jay den
Sohappy, is among the
many fine items in the
exhibit, which runs
through March.
Leslie Mitts/Spilyay
Project Graduation seeks donations
The parents of the Madras
High School Class of 2007 are
in the process of planning the
annual Drug and Alcohol Free
Graduation Party. This year the
event will be held June 9, gradu
ation day.
Each year efforts are made
to partially finance the party
through various fundraisers,
w hich this year include the
Homecoming barbecue, bottie
drives, car wash and Blazer
raffle tickets. However, for the
party to be fully financed, the
Project Graduation committee
is asking the community for sup
port. If you would like to be a
part of this effort, donations
can be made in the form of
cash, gifts, gift certificates or
food for the party. Any dona
tion will be greatly appreciated.
If vou
would like to mail a
J
donation, please mail checks to
Project Graduation, 762 NW
Glass Dr., Madras, 97741. For
further information, please call
Janelle Pugh at 475-4418, or e-
mail Janelle-e-p@juno.com.
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During his first day teaching
at Madras High School, Mike
B itorff didn’t know what to
think of the students.
A lot of the tribal members,
he said, remained so quiet that
he wasn’t sure why.
“I guess it was a little intimi
dating,” he said.
It wasn’t until cultural liaison
Foster Kalama explained that
students were showing him re
spect by remaining silent that he
started to understand.
“After I started getting over
some of those things I guess I
started to relax as a person and
as a teacher,” he explained.
Now the English teacher is
one of many at Madras High
School making an extra effort
to ensure that students from
Warm Springs are getting the
best education possible.
But while Bitorff has fond
memories of many students, he
can’t necessarily pick out any
favorites. “There’s just so many
students,” he said.
He particularly enjoys help
ing students use words to ex
press things about their culture.
“Anytime a student writes
specifically about traditions or
their culture I’ll keep that piece
of writing,” Bitorff said. “In
the future when I get out of
teaching or retire or change jobs
I’ll have something positive to
look back on.”
Bitorff aims to use the field
of English to teach the students
in various different ways.
According to Bitorff, “Obvi
ously I want them to be better
readers and writers, but also
critical thinkers.”
“I really try to teach them
that words are power,” he ex
plained.
In addition, he said, “I’d like
to show them tljat hard work
will pay off.”
“I also like to teach my Na
tive students that they live in a
very unique situation and a very
unique and beautiful place,” he
added.
That’s something that Bitorff
hopes his students will embrace
as they go through life— and
something he understands is dif
ficult to do after growing up in
a small town in Illinois.
In fact, B itorff ended up
teaching in Madras four years
ago after a chance meeting with
a school official on a sidewalk.
«
After getting married, Bitorff
and his wife traveled from cen
tral Washington to visit his cousin
in Bend.
B itorff had recently com
pleted his teaching certification
and his wife had one semester
left. Before they knew it, they
were on their way to teach in
M adras— som ething B ito rff
said he is grateful for now.
“I feel very blessed to be
here and to be in this unique
situation,” he said.
Bitorff was also recently in
volved in the Cultural Enrich
ment Club for several years.
He said he especially enjoys
interacting with people from the
They taught me how
to be quiet too som e
times. Sometimes you
really have to be
quiet to hear. ”
Mike Bitorff
English teacher
Warm Springs community.
“I like meeting the parents'
and the relatives and the elders
of the tribe,” he said.
He gives a lot of credit to
people like Kalama, his colleague
Clark Jones and former teacher'
George Talman.
“Those guys taught me that'
if you don’t develop a positive
relationship with the kids then a.,
lot of them won’t do work fori
you,” Bitorff said.
But he also credits much of
what he has learned as a teacher,
in recent years to the students
from Warm Springs that he has»
worked with.
>
“If the Native students have-
taught me anything, they have
taught me that you really don’t
know somebody until you’ve»
spent some time with them,” he»
said.
“They had to trust me as a’
person before they could trust
me as a te a c h e r,” B ito rff.
added.
“They taught me how to be
quiet too sometimes,” Bitorff
said. “Som etim es you really
have to be quiet to hear.”