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S moke S ignals
may 1, 2014
Reeves teaching the Grand Ronde story
By Ron Karten
Smoke Signals staff writer
Tribal member Mercedes Reeves
is appropriately one of first to
teach the Grand Ronde Tribe’s
fourth-grade Tribal history cur-
riculum while she is still a student
teacher.
This is the curriculum’s pilot
school year for this project initi-
ated late last spring of 2013. As
far as Trinity Minahan, the Edu-
cation Department’s Curriculum
Specialist, knows, this is the only
Tribe-specific curriculum aligned to
state and common core standards
in lesson plan format and classroom
ready.
The curriculum aims to right lo-
cal and statewide historical errors,
past and present.
Reeves, 25, also was a student
teacher in Springfield and Keizer
elementary schools earlier in the
school year. From the end of March,
however, to the end of school this
year she is teaching the new curric-
ulum at Willamina Elementary.
“When I came in the curriculum
was already in process,” Reeves
said. “I had attended one of the con-
ferences held at the Grand Ronde
gym that introduced the curricu-
lum. I got information about the
program and the standards. I asked
for my full-time student teaching to
be at Willamina.”
Reeves works in the fourth-grade
class of Brian Jones, who said that
the Grand Ronde curriculum is one-
fourth, or nine weeks, of the grade’s
social studies section.
“It gives another perspective (to
the other parts of the social studies
class). There are 15 lessons and we
expected to complete each one in
45 minutes,” Jones said. “But some
lessons spread over into two days,
and it ended up taking 20 to 25 days
to do the whole unit.”
The Grand Ronde section comple-
mented units on geography, govern-
ment and Oregon history.
Jones said he values Reeves’ con-
tribution to the unit “because she
has the background. I only have
what I’ve been told or read. When
the students made canoes, I would
have said to paint them brown. She
Photo by Michelle Alaimo
Mercedes Reeves helps Sceaira Jacobs with multiplication problems in Brian
Jones’ fourth-grade class at Willamina Elementary School on Friday, April 25.
Reeves is a Tribal member and a student teacher in the class.
could tell them about how brightly
the canoes are painted. She can talk
about canoe journeys.”
Likewise with the students, the
handful who are members of the
Tribe “are very eager to share what
they know with the rest of the
class,” Reeves said. “And the class
was very excited to learn how the
Grand Ronde Tribe traveled with
canoes. They were interested and
engaged with our history.”
Reeves worked three years at the
Tribe’s K-5 program overlapping
her first two undergraduate years
at Umpqua Community College.
Until her last year at Umpqua,
she did not know what she wanted
to do with her education. Then, she
took her first education class.
“I had to observe in a classroom,”
she said, “and then I knew it was
exactly what I wanted to do.”
She finished her bachelor’s of
science degree at Western Oregon
University majoring in inter-dis-
ciplinary studies with focus areas
in humanities, social sciences and
education.
She attended the one-year mas-
ter’s degree program in Education
at the University of Oregon. While
there, she joined the Sepsik’wałá
program for Native American stu-
Recreation Department
hosts Walking Club
The Tribal Recreation Department is hosting a Walking Club, which is
a competitive and social activity to track steps and miles walked daily.
The club focuses on low-level impact exercise for beginners with the goal
of transitioning Walking Club participants into other fitness activities
offered by the Recreation Department.
Participation levels vary from individual and team steps, as well as
individual and team miles. Teams consist of three individuals.
The Recreation Department encourages people to sign up since it will
be an ongoing activity. Pedometers are available to new participants one
week after they sign up. At the end of each month, prizes are awarded.
In addition, Weighted Wednesdays set appropriate weight goals for
people to reach a target weight by the end of the month. Participants are
encouraged to stop by the Youth Education Building to track their weight
and body mass index.
Weight is taken privately with only a recreation assistant present and all
information is confidential. Like the Walking Club, prizes will be awarded
each month to those with the most amount of fat percentage lost.
For more information or to sign up, contact Recreation Assistant Kendra
Steele at 503-879-1921 or Kendra.steele@grandronde.org. n
dents. A group of four met monthly
to “check in with how we were do-
ing on our studies, and ask about
any support we needed. Program
Director CHiXapkaid (Dr. Michael
Pavel) was a giant help through
this whole process.”
The class opened up opportunities
to attend conferences and related
Native education programs.
“I would 100 percent recommend
the University of Oregon campus
for that alone,” she said.
With four master’s level classes
still to complete, she expects to
graduate from the U of O at the
beginning of August.
Meanwhile, Reeves is imparting
knowledge to fourth-graders and
importing it from her experiences
in the classroom.
She said of the lessons from
teaching, “What haven’t I learned?
A lot about myself: the amount of
patience I have, and when I con-
sider students’ experiences, I see
how it affects their lives and the
lives of the people around them.”
“She knows how to look at the
lesson,” said Jones, “knows how it’s
going to help the kids and line up
with the common core. She knows
how to connect it so it fits into their
whole learning experience.”
“In class,” Reeves said, “it is super
important to know the students
and the life they have at home,
and how you can best help them be
successful.”
Her challenge as a student teach-
er is “to come into a new classroom
and have the students think of me
as a teacher, not just a helper for
the teacher.”
She said she feels rewarded by
“having the freedom to create your
own lessons, creating those that
kids find interesting, when they
absorb everything you teach them,
when they give it their all whether
it is something they were already
interested in, and even if it’s a sub-
ject they don’t care for.”
The entire school, she says, is
excited about this unit. “There is a
lot of Native American history that
is out on the market, much very in-
accurate,” she says. “The school in
general is excited to have accurate
information to share.”
In addition to her teaching in-
ternship with the K-5 Tribal Edu-
cation program, Reeves, who is
from Roseburg, said that for many
years her family traveled to Grand
Ronde each summer for the Contest
Powwow.
“That was something I really
enjoyed. Now that I’m closer, I’ll
be able to be part of the commu-
nity and learn more about where
I came from and my heritage,” she
said. n