4 APRIL15,2012
Smoke Signals
Comrfereince'dlDgs deep'tiov Native soDuftiioms
1
Tribal Librarian and Tribal Elder Marion Mercier, second from left, and
Brenda Frank, left, director of Education and Employment for the Klamath
Tribes and a Klamath Tribal member, work together to complete a worksheet
in the Family Literacy Nights for Grades K-5 breakout session during the
Oregon Indian Education Association Conference.
By Ron Karten
Smoke Signals staff writer
"Classroom management is a
must," said Tribal member Shelby
Olson Rogers, who is Indian Educa
tion Program assistant at the Salem
Keizer School District. "With good
class management, you can get a lot
more done."
Rogers was leading a session on
teaching families literacy strate
gies. Showing a group of about 15 people
how to teach family literacy, Rog
ers was one of about a dozen Grand
Ronde Tribal members who partici
pated in this year's Oregon Indian
Education Association Conference,
which was hosted by the Tribe on
Monday and Tuesday, April 2-3, at
the Tribal Education Center and
gymnasium.
The 37th annual conference, "Dig
Deep: Revitalizing American In
dian & Alaska Native Education,"
included 30 breakout sessions and
keynote speaker Ron Pond, a retired
Umatilla educator who said that
initiatives "have to come from the
grassroots (but) it seems like we're
disconnected."
Tribal Elder and Tribal Librarian
Marion Mercier also contributed to
the session on family literacy, hav
ing hosted many such classes in the
Tribal Library in recent years.
Tribal Elders Marta Clifford, her
sister, Dell Dickison, and Tribal
member Kevin Sim mons joined Uni
versity of Oregon Assistant Profes
sor of Theater Arts Theresa May in
performing parts of the play "Salmon
Is Everything," the story of the 2002
Klamath River fish kill from Tribal
and other perspectives.
May was teaching at Humboldt
State College in northern California
at the time of the fish kill. She at
tended a conference in the tragedy's
wake and saw that Native Ameri
cans, who sat in the back, were never
asked their views.
Knowing that "theater has the ca
pacity to touch the human heart," May
worked with Native students and staff
to develop a play based on interviews
with Native peoples in the area "the
community that experienced the fish
kill" and shepherded their com
ments and memories into this play.
"Salmon is something bigger than
ourselves," says one character.
"Salmon is the will to go home and
the wisdom to know the way," says
another.
Some 70,000 fish carcasses lined
i 30 miles of the Klamath River by the
time the kill ended.
"It gave me a huge awareness of
the amount of people who do not
understand that salmon are not just
a fish," said Clifford, who acted in
) one of the two full performances the
j play has had since 2006. "It took me
to another world."
Today, May is turning the play into
"an interdisciplinary tool, weaving
together subject content from society
and culture, environmental stud
i ies, science, Pacific Northwest his
i tory, Native cultural studies and, of
course, drama and literary studies,"
; according to the education conference
; program. It soon will be available for
: classroom use.
Simmons, who is finishing a mas
ter's degree in the University of
Oregon's Special Education Pro
gram, also participated in a group
describing "How to be an Advocate
for Students Served by Special Edu
cation." The education model where "time
is the constant and learning is the
variable is dead," said Mark Siegel,
Delphian School assistant headmas
ter. A long-time education innovator,
Siegel promoted "proficiency-based"
learning where teachers throw out
grades and age-based grade levels
for a system where students demon
strate proficiency in an area before
moving on.
"It's so obvious to me that this
works," Siegel said. "For us to stand
in front of a class and talk for an
hour is the second dumbest thing
we can do." '"
The change is from "the factory
model," which has been in existence
since the Industrial Revolution in the
18th century, that was designed to
prepare students to work in factories,
said Siegel.
"It changes everything to say 'this
is what you know; this is what you
need to learn,'" he said.
And the best news is, the proficiency-based
model "is on its way,"
he said.
Retired Oregon State Ethnic Stud
ies Professor Kurt Peters (Blackfeet
Powhatan), who last year brought Or
egon State football players and other
students to the Grand Ronde Tribe
during spring break to meet with
Tribal members, talked about the
value of establishing creative partner
ships within higher education.
"Over 16 years, we had people
taking spring break, summer break
away from campus to talk to Tribal
people, to learn what makes a Tribe
run. These students became the best
friends of the Tribes," he said. "Some
had lived right next to Tribes, but
had never visited."
Guest presenter Paul Figueroa,
with Peace Village LLC in Seattle,
donated time to present sessions
on "Compassionate Classrooms,"
"Violence Prevention & Self Esteem
Support" and "The Big Picture is
AmazingRekindling the Fire."
Conference sessions also covered
science education for Tribal students;
Indian mascots; the state education
plan; paying for college; preventing
disciplinary exclusions of Native
students; and developing curricula
that honors Tribal legacies.
"The workshops were really help
ful," said Tiffany Stuart (Siletz with
Grand Ronde and Cherokee ances
tors). She is studying special educa
tion in the Sapsikwala program at
the University of Oregon. She was
a teacher for three years on the Nez
Perce Reservation before going back
to school.
"The workshops spark ideas," she
said. "You can take parts of what
you learn here and apply just those
parts that fit."
More than 60 people attended the
event in addition to some 30 present
ers, many of whom also participated
in other sessions. It was slightly
more than half of previous confer
ences, but, said Tribal member and
Photos by Michelle Alaimo
Tribal member Shelby Olson Rogers,
Indian Education program assistant
at the Salem-Keizer Public School
District, reads "Grandmother
Spider Brings the Sun" in the Family
Literacy Nights for Grades K-5
breakout session during the Oregon
Indian Education Association
Conference at the Tribe's Education
facility on Monday, April 2.
Tribal Education manager April
Campbell; the timing competed with
teachers returning to the classroom
the first week after spring break and
another conference.
Campbell thanked the Planning
Committee for all their work in or
ganizing the event. The committee
included Tribal members Kathy Cole,
Lisa Archuleta, Frank Simmons and
Kristy DeLoe, along with Tribal em
ployees Debbie Bachman, Sandy Bobb,
Jilene Mercier, Luhui Whitebear,
Siobhan Taylor and George Valdez.
The April 2 evening meal provided
by Spirit Mountain Casino was spon
sored by Grand Ronde's Public Affairs
Department. The Grand Ronde Canoe
Family provided cultural entertain
ment with drumming and songs.
At lunch on April 3, Native story
teller Ed Edmo (Shoshone-Bannook-Nez
Perce) spoke.
Also on the final day of the confer
ence, awards were presented and
awardees, as follows, received framed
artwork of a Chinook salmon.
Outstanding Indian Elder of the
Year: Marion Mercier (Grand
Ronde);
Outstanding Indian Educator of
the Year: April Campbell (Grand
Ronde);
Outstanding Indian Parent of the
Year: Toni Driver (AssiniboineLa
kota); Outstanding Teacher of the Year:
Trinity Minahan (Siletz);
Outstanding Student of the Year:
Alyssa Bahe (Burns Pauite);
Outstanding Volunteer of the Year:
Shilo George (Southern-Cheyenne,
Arapaho);
Outstanding Higher Education
Student of the Year: Sky Hopinka
(Ho-Chunk);
Che Butler (Siletz) and Luhui
Whitebear (Coastal Band Chu
mash) were honored with Chinook
salmon prints as well for their
leadership with the state Depart
ment of Education Native Ameri
can mascot project.