Next Steps
Stakeholders |
Native and nonnative students, Native communities, teachers of Native children, and future teachers of Native children.
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Findings |
I found that students were motivated by the holistic approach of Retelling Elder’s Stories Digitally. Student engagement and the quality of their work increased through this project. Students were drawn into the experience by the personal connection with an elder in the classroom and the student’s identification and association with the culture the elder and their story represented. Student participation in higher-level problem solving and reasoning increased as they engaged with a peer to retell the story. Students were motivated to create the story using technology since they got to display their artwork and record their voice in the story. The fact that others would see their story inspired students to do their best.
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Recommended Actions |
I would like to share my online project with other teachers in Kotlik and other sites in the Lower Yukon School District. Teachers from other rural school districts could benefit from having access to my project as well. I believe that it will inspire teachers to incorporate theory-based culturally relevant practices in their classrooms. Included in the many benefits of this project are teaching in the context of the culture and accessing higher level thinking skills and higher levels of engagement through peer learning.
In the process of presenting this project, peer learning among teachers could be advocated as a way of providing a way to meet the needs of students in their unique classrooms and individual sites. By working together, teachers could adapt my project to best meet the needs of students in their setting. This is especially important in remote locations where teachers can feel isolated from other teachers who teach the same grade. I could also present my project in an Intro to Education class at UAF as a way of preparing future teachers to the possibilities in unique teaching experiences in rural Alaska. |
Taking Action |
To bring about this next step I would need to make my online project known to teachers in Kotlik, and other interested teachers in the Lower Yukon School District and other rural districts. I could share my link with the curriculum director to have him post it in the All Staff email folder at Lower Yukon School District. I could even present the project at the yearly district-wide staff meetings in September or October. “Retelling Elder’s Stories Digitally” could be a session that interested teachers could sign up to hear a presentation of the project and have any questions answered.
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