Middleton Middle School

Alright…so I was a little hesitant about teaching 8th grade, okay so not a little hesitant but alot! But now EVERYDAY I look forward to going to school! I enjoy it so much. Of course there are some days that are not the best of days, but the good days make up for those very few not so good! Anyway just as I am becoming more and more comfortable I realize I am more then halfway done with the semester and soon I will have to begin anew. I will sincerely miss all the teachers and students I have learned so much and everyone has been so supportive and helpful……… But on the flip side I am only one semseter away from getting paid for working. It’s hard being a volunteer and raising a husband (Jordan) and two dogs (Rico, weiner dog and Calvin, mix)… I don’t know how much more Rico and Calvin can take working late nights…

Resource Compendium

Here is my resource compendium…enjoy!!! Turn up the volume because I have some great music  playing.

How to gut, prepare, and cook fish

Hey y’all look at this

So I wrote to the Idaho Indian Education Coordinator about any suggestions she might have about a topic and this is what she wrote?

I’m super excited!!!!

 

Ta’c meeywi (good morning) Johnna,

I have been out of the office for a training in Lewiston but have been eager to reply to your message.

Your message and topic of study is an area where we do need further study as well as data. There are two tribal schools in Idaho, as well as a few public schools that have really sought to incorporate culturally relevant curriculum into their teaching/lessons, but only one of them has seen a tremendous growth in academics among their students. This would be the Lapwai school district in Lapwai, ID. I have been frustrated with the lack of data, at both the state and national level, that gives an accurate reflection of student progress, especially because Idaho is typically omitted from the NCES oversampled Native student data and reports that they produce. I am including the link to a study done by the US Dept. of Ed, but again Idaho’s Indian children’s testing data was not included.

A resource that I have used in the past for Indian student achievement data report cards is our State Department Site for the Direct Writing, Direct Math and Idaho Reading indicator data to track the growth and progress of Indian students in the state. The State Board Site did have trend data for the ISAT, but during the past month I have noticed that the do not have any of the older test data available.

I agree in part with your professors that the studies you want to pursue are ambitious, but I do believe that the work is attainable.

I am going to be in the office all this week. If you would like to set up a time to review any data or get familiarized with how to access the data to determine if you would still like to pursue the areas, or go get contact info for the schools that I work with, please feel free to give me a call.

Qe’ci’yew’yew’ (thank you)

Mary Jane

Mary Jane Oatman-Wak Wak, Indian Education Coordinator
State Department of Education
650 W. State Street
PO BOX 83720
Boise, ID, 83720-0027
(208)332-6968

DATA LINK:

ED’s IES NCES ANNOUNCES NEW TWO-PART NATIONAL STUDY ON AMERICAN INDIAN AND ALASKA NATIVE EDUCATION–STUDENTS, GRADES FOUR AND EIGHT

The U.S. Department of Education’s (US ED) Institute of Education Sciences’ (IES) National Center for Education Statistics are in the process of announcing a new two-part National Study on American Indian and Alaska Native Education.

Part I of the 2007 NIES provides in-depth information on the academic performance of fourth- and eighth-grade American Indian and Alaska Native students on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in mathematics and reading. Part I was released on May 14. Explore Part I at

 

 

http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/nies/

Part II of NIES was conducted through a survey to explore the educational experiences of these students who participated in the NAEP assessments. The survey focused on the integration of native language and culture into school and classroom activities.The study is sponsored by the Office of Indian Education (OIE) and conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics for the U.S. Department of Education.

NAEP, the National Assessment of Educational Progress, is administered by the National Center for Education Statistics within the Institute of Education Sciences.

To obtain hard copy of many IES products as well as hard copy and electronic versions of hundreds of other U.S. Department of Education products please visit

 

http://www.edpubs.org or call 1-877-433-7827 (877-4-EDPUBS).

The Weekend…

So after my extensive study session in the cascade library, I decided I deserved to go out with my husband and his family to the lake. Well, long story short I got pressured into trying wakeboarding, omg!!!! I got up my first time and then did a face plant into the lake, If anyone knows wakeboarding you’ll probably know that you’re supposed be in between the wakes, directly behind the boat, well… I couldn’t get into the wake. I was stuck out on the side where I had no control and when I would try to go into the wake my board would turn perpendicular with the boat and I would go flying into the water. You’d think crashing into water wouldn’t hurt so bad, but that is so wrong, it hurt like heck! So let’s just say wakeboarding is not my thing! AT ALL!!!!!!

Great BBQ

Hey Don and Vicki thanks for the great BBQ, first I was a little hesitant about cooking my own food, but then I remembered I brought my husband. hehehe Anywho great food, conversation, and scenery! My husband told me now he is even more scared about going back to school because of all the talk around the table about how hard it was, but I told him it’s not so bad because we all have to go through the same thing so it’s nice to know you have a classmate with the same problem or issue. I told him I was lucky with the cohort I am working with because we all get along so well  

Sorry Don!

I feel so bad about school today! I thought Don said it was a work day so after class I went and printed off some articles for my “THESIS” and then went to Wally World. So while all y’all were in class I was walking up and down the isles of Walmart dodging the senior citizens. There were seriously hundreds of old folk and I mean walkers, denturs, depends, and motorized carts! So I would have much rather been in class! Again I am so sorry Don.

Oh and Jamie Woody the Wood Pecker called he wants his house back!!!

Embarrassed!!!

Okay, so I am so embarrassed about my idea “F.A.R.T.” But It works for me and y’all shouldn’t be too surprised that I came up with it!!! anywho hope it will help some of you see you all that BBQ I’ll be sure to wear my stretch pants…mmmm I love BBQs

“Don’t worry you’ll probably marry some rich guy when you grow up!”

So, I am going to take what Josh said and be more positive about statistics, but it’s hard for me I have never been a great math student. What makes me angry is that my dad is like a genius in math he majored in math and engineering and for some unknown reason his math GENES did not make it to the “big party” (conception)! In 5th grade I was multiplication champion, I mean I had like 50 gold stars by my name, not only was I champion of the multiplication table I was also champion of the circle, that is the POG circle. I had this amazing unicorn slammer. I was pretty much (as micheal would say) the badass of the school! And then came middle school… OH MY GOSH! if I had to show my work one more time I was going to judo chop somebody in the back of the head! And secondly how am I supposed to get my work done when my giga pet needs feeding evey 5 minutes!!! I mean come on what’s a girl to do? And then came High school… well, let’s just say it cost me alot of money. Who’d a thought there would be a going rate for algerbra and geometry homework, no ,no, If I would have gotten caught paying someone to do my homework my mom would have taken the belt to my butt real quick… so, I was really careful not to get caught!  Well to end it I thought I would leave you with a quote my geometry teacher said to me… first what I said to him “Mr. ______ I don’t understand how the heck the letter N equals 6, isn’t it the 14th letter in the alphabet?” then he said… Don’t worry about math you’ll probably marry some rich guy when you grow up!” no joke, I am dead serious!

Now Josh would that give you much confidence?

Quick Question

Do our articles count as a part of our literature review?