Native American VS Indian

Growing up as a Native American child, I have attended pow-wows since infancy where I have learned about my tribe's culture and traditions. I am proud to say that I am an enrolled member of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi.

However, I can recall being very confused in elementary school when my teachers would talk about "Indians" when actually referring to Native Americans. I remember asking my father why my teachers called us "Indians". He explained to me that when settlers came to America, they thought they were in India. So then when settlers encountered the people that lived there, they referred to them as Indians, thinking this was the correct term.

As an adult, I still do not understand why my people are often still referred to as Indians. In all actuality, I am not INDIAN, I am NATIVE AMERICAN. Native American is a more correct term for the people that were native to America before the settlers arrived here, so that is the label I identify myself with.

I thought that this point was an important one for education majors to discuss because Native Americans are a subject that will be studied in schools. It was very confusing for myself as a child to enter schools, knowing I was Native American, when other people were referring to me as Indian. I knew that Indians were people that originated from India, and that I looked nothing like them. However, my teachers could have avoided this confusion if they had been more aware that "Indian" is not a term that is openly accepted by the Native American community.

Booksale

Over the weekend, I attended a booksale in Elkhart. The booksale was sponsored by the Elkhart Public Library, and offered books, cds, and movies at a very cheap price. I found out about this sale from Melissa, who posted the link on Oncourse for our entire Block to see.

At the booksale, I ended up buying 50 books for $8. The sale prices were amazing, each item only costing me 16 cents! There was a big variety of items there, which allowed me to find informational books for my future students, movies for both home and school use, travel books which target my personal interests, fictional books for my own enjoyment, and a cookbook for my new apartment.

Throughout my schooling at IUSB, my professors have repeatedly told me the importance of collaboration with my peers. This is why I was so grateful for Melissa's tip about the booksale this weekend. It's great to be able to work together as we move towards our teaching careers.

Tradefair

Entering the tradefair activity, I was a little skeptical. I had prepared a book of quotes for five of my classmates, and had ended up spending more time on the activity than I had wanted to. However, after class that day, I definitely felt like the time I had spent was worth it. I came into the tradefair with five quote books that were fairly inexpensive, and left with a Harry Potter book, a feather hair clip, a cloth hairclip, a photograph, and a pair of earrings. All of the items I walked away with were things that I very much enjoyed, and were worth way more to me than my books were. These were things that I wanted, but was not willing to go out and buy in stores because they would be too expensive.

By completing this tradefair activity, I was able to learn a little more about my classmates. Before this, I had no clue that Ashley could make hair clips out of fabric, or that Courtney enjoyed taking photos in her freetime. I was also able to see some basic economic principles put into action. In order for each of us to get what we wanted, we had to trade our own items, and decide what an equal trade was. Needless to say, after this activity, I felt a lot better about the tradefair activity. This activity was useful and very fun!

Integrating Social Studies and Language Arts Lessons

As a child, I loved learning about historical events through fictional stories. I enjoyed reading as a very young child, and was never without a book. I enjoyed learning about places I had never been, experiencing things that were foreign to me, and in times that no longer existed. I found that I was able to relate to characters easily, which allowed me to better understand what was going on in past times. Some books I really enjoyed were Rifles for Watie, The Night, Number the Stars, The Diary of Anne Frank, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, Little House on the Prairie, and many more. By reading through the perspective of these characters, I was able to feel as they had felt, even when reading sad or scary stories. These are the types of books that most stick out in my memory as a young reader. The strong feelings that were created by these stories help me to remember past events in history.

Learning from Others

Watching the film "Paperclips" in class not only opened up my eyes to the events of the Holocaust in a more personal way, but the movie also showed me how to better involve my students in learning History. The thing that most struck me from this film was hearing the survivors' personal stories. It was amazing, and very sad, to imagine living through Hitler's reign, and struggling to keep living every day without knowing if the pain would ever stop. Having those speakers come into the school certainly had an affect on the students; the entire audience (both children and adults) were crying and were visibly moved. Allowing the students to experience the pain the speakers described allowed them to FEEL, making them better understand what the Holocaust was really like.

This film showed a great example of students and teachers working together to learn more about the a history subject. I really liked that the teachers allowed the students to be in control of their own learning in such a way. This film was a great eye opener for my entire class, showing us how to better involve our students in the lessons presented in the classroom. Not only were the students able to learn from their textbooks and other resources available to them, but they were also able to learn from other people, all around the world.

Past to Present

The Studebaker block then and now

  In class, we looked at maps over the course of time, comparing the past to the present. Looking at different intersections in South Bend, we were able to discuss things that remained the same over time, but were also able to see many advancements that were made.
    
     This in-class activity reminded me of a time that I had gone through old photographs with my grandmother. It was amazing to be able to see the old-fashioned clothes, hairstyles, and so on. It makes me wonder what things will look like when I'm the grandmother showing my granddaughter photographs. I'm sure that in the future, children will think that what we thought were "cool" fads seem ridiculous the way that I feel when I look at bee hive hair dos.

     I think that showing photographs of differences in time periods is beneficial in the classroom because it allows students to make valuable connections with the images presented. Looking through the standards for 3rd through 6th grade, I can see many examples of ways I could use this type of activity in my future classroom. For example, students can compare photographs of old phones to new ones, computers, letter writing to emails, and horse and buggies to the cars we now have. Dicussing things like these with children allows them to realize that although they see a car as a necessity, people in the past have had to walk, or ride a horse, in order to get from one location to another. As time goes on, many things change, and social studies is an important subject that helps children better understand these concepts.

Who Enjoys Learning About History?

      On our first day of E-325 (the class I'm writing this blog for), we were asked the question, "Who enjoys learning about history?". I was surprised to see that I was one of the only students in my class that raised their hand! I can recall learning about history in school, and I very much enjoyed the subject. However, as I talked to my peers some more, I came to find out that many of them did not have as enjoyable of an experience as I did.

     Honestly, I'm not sure why I enjoy history more than most people. I know that my father loves history (the history channel, nonfiction books, documentaries, etc) but my mother openly hates the subject. And it's not that I'm extraordinarily smart when it comes to memorizing facts, or anything like that. I just know that learning history was fun for me.

     Looking back on my experiences in the social studies classroom, I remember the learning of
 history being an active process. The students were encouraged to get up and act things out, allowing ourselves to become engaged in what we were talking about. We also had some speakers come in and talk about their personal experiences, we read books about children who had lived in important eras, we visited museums, and we did a lot of research on finding things that related to what we were learning in class. Of course, my teachers did lecture at times, but the information that was being presented was always done so in a way that was appealing to the students.

     Obviously, whatever tricks or techniques my teachers used in teaching me history worked. I may not still remember all the facts I was taught, but I have a basic understanding of the key concepts. I hope to be able to teach my students in the same way that my teachers taught me. Since I now know so many of my peers that disliked learning history, I know that I will have to find many strategies to ensure that my students enjoy history more than they did. And you better believe that I am definitely looking forward to the challenge.