The Speel-Ya Club Interview Process

Education has been a topic of controversy for many years now, and will continue to be for years to come. The modern American society is best defined by its education. A good part of the average person’s life is spent at school, going to school, and paying for school. However, even though education is so obviously very important, there are many groups in America that are getting shorted. The Native Americans are a key group that has struggled the most. The largest obstacle they face is lack of proper education. The standard educational practices being used for the instruction of Native American peoples are not effective. There are many pieces to this road-block, and many solutions. This can be rectified by having more culturally

In today’s society, the Native American culture is found only in reservations and is not well known. Portrayed as

For the purpose of this project, our group has decided to focus on Native American culture and their non-verbal communication patterns. We chose to focus on Native American culture due to their unique methods of communication. What makes this culture so distinct is the way in which they encompass their values into their communication methods. Their communication methods are unlike most cultures and are even utilized within Western culture in modern day.

Popular culture has shaped our understanding and perception of Native American culture. From Disney to literature has given the picture of the “blood thirsty savage” of the beginning colonialism in the new world to the “Noble Savage,” a trait painted by non-native the West (Landsman and Lewis 184) and this has influenced many non native perceptions. What many outsiders do not see is the struggle Native American have on day to day bases. Each generation of Native American is on a struggle to keep their traditions alive, but to function in school and ultimately graduate.

The modern American society is best defined by its education. The “American dream” is founded on going to school, getting a good job, and becoming successful. Ironically, the actual native peoples of this country are actually the least likely to attain this dream. The largest obstacle they face is lack of proper education. The standard educational practices being used for the instruction of Native American peoples is not effective. There are many pieces to this road-block, and many solutions. This can be rectified by having more culturally aware teachers and parents, and by teaching the general population more about the Native American cultures.

Native American people have a unique struggle in society. This stems from cultural epidemics like drug addiction, alcoholism, obesity, and rampant suicide, but also systemic racism and a sort of cultural lag. This is not meant to be a critique of culture, simply an observation of the condition of the families I have helped serve over the course of this internship. To be “Native” has become a slew of stereotypical representations. Stereotypes do not represent reality, but they do affect how individuals view themselves, and limit their ability to become anything but what they are expected to be. This is called the self-fulfilling prophecy. If Native American children grow up in a closed network, such as a reservation or a boundary, they are presented

When one typically thinks about a Native American, they picture this ideological representation of a Native American as depicted by popular culture. Native Americans are underrepresented on television, in books, in news, and all other forms of media. We, as a society, have chosen a path of ignorance in which we have chosen not to educate ourselves or our future generations on the true culture of Native Americans. We have ignored the negative impacts of using mascots such as “Redskins” and instead let it serve as a stereotype to fill our heads with unrealistic views and understandings of Native American culture. The resulting misconceptions leave many Native American students with a feeling of inferiority and questioning their self-worth.

In the past couple of weeks we have participated in activities, discussed, and listened to presentations about Indigenous culture and how it is integrated in education, and what that means for our roles as teachers. This is a topic that I was fortunate enough to get the opportunity to teach, and is a subject that I’ve always been interested in and enjoyed learning about.

The first is the shattered relationship between the United States and the Native Americans. The main goal for our trip is to be respectful and understanding that some of the people on the reservation may not like us being there. We have to help foster a better relationship with the Native Americans. Ms. Hardie has stated that it is important that we act appropriately because the university has become close to the school as well as the reservation, and it will be difficult to rebuild the relationship if it is ever

I chose to research the Ponca Indian Tribe because they started out in the midwest, and currently still live in Nebraska. The 4 elements I have elected to write about are the social organizations, their customs and traditions, language, and the forms of government involved with the Ponca Indian Tribe.

The interviews in Anne Fadiman’s The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down and Joshua Reno’s Waste Away both have their fair share of barriers to overcome, even though their research could not be more different. Anne Fadiman conducts interviews in two drastically different topics, Hmong culture and medicine. Joshua Reno favors a landfill in Michigan; interviewing residents living next to Four Corners Landfill. However different these two areas of research may be, both books show that interviewing individuals is a research method incredibly valuable when working to determine a person or group’s feelings and ideas. Both anthropologists use interviewing as a method to gain information, but are careful to align with the culture of each of the

Before reading this book, I honestly knew little about Native American. I knew that many lived on reservations, but I knew nothing about those reservations. By being brutally honest, Sherman Alexie provided incite to how the everyday life of a teenage Native American is like. This book opened my eyes to the problems that Native American’s face, that I was in the dark about before.

As an Indigenous Education Advisor, I’ve witnessed a shift in the commitment to educate non-Indigenous students about First Nation, Métis and Inuit people in post-secondary institutions. My experience in developing an Indigenous Awareness Week and conducting assessments to measure the learning outcomes of non-Indigenous students has led me to want to do research in this area. I would like to further look at long-term effects of Indigenous programming for non-Indigenous students to determine how to develop effective and valuable Indigenous programming in higher education. What attracts me to the Department of Integrated Studies in Education are the positive experiences and interactions I’ve had with students and professors from the department. Both Dr. Claudia Mitchell’s and Dr. Naomi Nichols’s research appeals to me and I believe can give a unique perspective to my work.

For most of my life, the word “Native American” had immediately made me think of feathers, powwows, and a society uncorrupted by civilization. However, in watching the movie Smoke Signals, a movie that depicts the modern Native American culture, I learned many other things. For one, I learned that many of the customs that modern Native Americans have are very similar to my own. I also saw that the family life of the Native Americans in the film had many of the same problems that my family had undergone in the past years. This film was unlike any that I have ever seen; therefore, it reached me on a very personal level.

Native Americans are losing their background and where they come from starting with culture and heritage that has been passed down to each generation. Not losing site of that, there is a chance in seeing the positive of preserving and continuing the culture and heritage of the Native Americans and bringing significance to ceremonies.