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 Thoughts on Native Americans 
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Going through school I felt that Native Americans were rarely ever discussed. In elementary school “Indiansâ€

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Jennifer Lawson


Tue Feb 28, 2006 3:14 pm
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I would love to see more education as well as more accurate education about Native Americans. I have seen that even when children are taught about Native Americans, they are given a false representation of the culture. For example in the video, A Class Divided, the teacher mentions studying Indians and building a tepee. What is wrong about doing this with students is that it is a misrepresentation of the culture. Most Native Americans (Indians) did not live in tepees; they instead lived in wigwams, longhouses, or wooden lodges. It is important that we convey accurate messages about cultures in the classroom as not to perpetuate stereotypes. I think that in cases of Native Americans and African Americans, we often see part of the truth taught. Possibly those mandating the curriculum believe that students can't handle the whole truth or that it would reflect badly on the U.S. It seems every year as I get older, things I used to believe are challenged. This is because each year I am given more/ new information on topics such as this that I should have been told about originally. I think I am just rambling now, so any other thoughts?

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Hayley Wieber

"That's what a class is, a swarm. And you're a warrior teacher...ready to face the swarm"
- Frank McCourt


Wed Mar 01, 2006 10:22 am
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The only time we talked about Native Americans in elementary school and middle school was around Thanksgiving. I can remember making pilgrim and Indian hats to wear for the day. In eigth grade, we met with our kindergarten buddies to have a Thanksgiving meal. We had to dress up like "Indians" and they had to dress up like Pilgrims.

In high school, we studied the Trail of Tears. At the end of the lesson, we had to do a project about what we learned. My group made up a "rain dance" and we dressed up like Indians and made paper feathers and painted our faces. I realize now how wrong it was for our teacher to allow us to do this because if anything, it showed how much we DIDN'T know.

It wasn't until I came to college that I really learned about Native American cultures. I now know how wrong it is to color pictures of tee pees and make dream catchers as part of any Native American lesson. I want my students to understand that each Native American tribe is different and Native American peoples cannot be put into one single category.

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Kourtney Huffman


Mon Mar 06, 2006 1:32 am
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I learned very little about Native Americans growing up. We usually only discussed them during Thanksgiving time and left it at that.

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ANGELA OVERFIELD


Tue Mar 07, 2006 9:52 am
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