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About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 1, 2006)
Smoke Signals 5 DECEMBER 1,2006 Tribe Donates To Glockenspiel By Toby McClary The small town of Mount Angel is making a lot of noise with its newly built glockenspiel located in the middle of town. At 53 feet tall, the Mount Angel Glocken spiel is the tallest of the 13 glockenspiels in the United States. Animated figures and a clock mounted on a tower like structure make up the glockenspiel which trans lates to "playing bells" in German. According to the infor mation given by Director of the Glockenspiel Project Jerry Lauzon, the Mount Angel Glockenspiel cel ebrates the German-Swiss-Bavarian heritage of the village and the 42-year-old Oktoberfest tradition. "The Glockenspiel Project, from dream to completion, took about two years," said Lauzon. "The concept took root in the community and lots of folks came on board quickly to make it a reality." The first level of the glockenspiel, lo cated above street level, displays seven hand-carved figures that rotate to their own music. Because the Kalapuya Indians were the first known people to occupy the Mount Angel area, the first figure displayed in the rotation is a Kalapuyan Brave in a praying posi- fim q, Y tj "v - r I-'; .'7 - , i The Mount Angel Glockenspiel (r) displays this figure of a Kalapuyan Brave in prayer. The Spirit Mountain Community Fund donated $4,500 to the project and Grand Ronde's Canoe Family can be heard singing an honor song during the rotation. tion. It is rumored that a butte east of Mount Angel is where the Kalapuyans went to pray. The butte is now known as "Prayer Mountain." The Spirit Mountain Community Fund donated $4,500 to the project after a letter of request from Lauzon explaining the representation of the Native American communities. Grand Ronde's Canoe Family is also represented in the rotation of the glockenspiel as one of their honor songs is the music that is played dur ing the Indian display. The Mount Angel Glockenspiel dis play can be viewed daily at 10 a.m., 1 p.m., 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. IS fill . Htej Hit Indians In Oregon Today Curriculum Gets Airing at Tribe's Education Center Tribal Elders, educators and a state Education Representative aim to improve mainstream education by educating teachers. By Ron Karten When Grand Ronde Tribal Elder June Olson, long time manager of the Tribe's Cultural Resources Division, talked about Indian history here in the Northwest, you got a sense of a common wisdom among Indians. It always matched and often surpassed the understanding that marched across the country with Europeans, pursuing land because they felt it was their manifest destiny. Olson's ancestors, going all the way back to Joseph Sangretti, who died in 1835, "probably of TB," saw Jason Lee's mission school as "a place to acquire knowjedge that they didn't have before," she said. "The chiefs saw it as an advantage." Lewis and Clark told the Indians here that "the U.S. had purchased the territory and were coming to sign treaties, so chiefs placed their children in these schools to learn all they could," Olson said. In order to correct so many facts that have been ignored or distorted in state education for more than a century, Tribal educators have been working with the state since the early 1990s to develop an ac curate curriculum for teaching Indian history. On Tuesday, November 14 at the Tribal Education center, the Tribal Education Division along with its counterpart at the Confederated Tribes of the Siletz sponsored a five-hour program to teach local educators about the Indians In Or egon Today middle and high school curriculum, updated and reissued by the state in October. Education Manager & Tribal Member April Campbell The update aligned the Indian curriculum with Oregon Social Sci ences standards for middle and high schools, said Brad Victor, a Health Specialist for Indian Education with the state's Department of Educa tion, who represented the state at the program. Oregon has approximately 13,000 Native American students in public school. The new curriculum is not only for the Native students, but to help all students come to understand the Indian experience as it happened. In addition to the new curriculum, Oregon has created 27 Title VII (federal) programs that "directly or indirectly serve approximately 90 of these students," said Victor. "These services vary from program to program, but essentially provide academic support to Native students who choose to access the programs. Participation is volun tary for the students." But many of the folks involved with Indian education participate in related projects, like the development of the new curriculum, as well. Along with Tribal Educa tion specialists and the state Department of Edu cation, Title VII program coordinators also were involved in updating of the Indians In Oregon Today curriculum and, said Victor, "they can be very instrumental in im plementing the curriculum within their respective school districts." For some of the 20 in attendance, like June Reynolds, a Sherwood High School teacher with a special interest in Indian history as the Sherwood Historical Society's past president, the class and the cur riculum presented an opportunity to build community. "I see this as a community just like my community," she said. "It's so hard to grow a community." Likewise for Siletz Tribal Elder Darrell (Dino) Butler, a member of the Lincoln County Title VII program parent committee. "The important part (of sessions like this) is the network," he said. Meanwhile, his wife, Siletz Elder Juanita Whitebear, who has been with the Lincoln County Title VII program for 11 years, said that though the curriculum is out there, it hasn't filtered down to Indian students. "The state plan was passed," she said, "but not implemented. We're trying to figure out a way to bridge that gap between educators and our people." "Often Indian training is aimed at elementary students," said Albany eighth grade Social Studies teacher Sue McGrary. Tribal Education Manager April Campbell described other barriers faced by Indian students, barriers that appear when teachers bring cultural misconceptions to the class room. She said it was important to have tools to identify Native student needs and find the resources to fill those needs. Mike and Patricia Darcy, retired educators, described the different ways that Indians have of learning and the cultural values that shape them. They described the role that ex tended families play in Indian com munities, the different lifestyles and needs of urban and reservation Indians and the emphasis on group rather than individual success. And understanding Native culture is as valuable for Natives as non Natives. "My favorite teacher," said Dino Butler, "taught me about my culture." But not all teachers know about Native culture, and that's where the new curriculum comes in. "Our kids (still) have to walk in two worlds," said Siletz Education Specialist and meeting co-host So nya Moody-Jurado.
