Some districts are confident that they are succeeding. Some know they are not. Many feel like the system is broken. – Some experience 40% dropout rates. Some higher. – The University of Alaska system often has to spend a whole academic year preparing rural and urban students for 100 level courses. – Dropout rates do not indicate the success with those who remain in school and feel like their experience was not worthwhile.

Engaged or not? TEACHERS. In many locations teachers spend large amounts of time on motivation and classroom management. STUDENTS. – Many do not see the relevance of education. – Many do not experience parental support. – Either they are self-motivated or they are not motivated at all. “How do we engage students?” Key question. Do we use “carrots,” “sticks,” some combination, or something else.

Relevance is not a silver bullet… but is at least a bullet with a silver alloy. Native and nonNative Alaskans are practical. – They are also independent. – They respond much better to cooperation than coercion. – Text and materials from the Lower 48, with illustrations and examples that aren’t relevant pose a double challenge for students. If students can see the relevance of what is taught: – To their community. – To their perceived future. They will buy in.

Demonstrate the connection to community and future goals. Align State Standards to careers as well as higher education. Utilize theme based instruction & align themes to real life interests. Embed current standards in those themes.

Beaver Trapping Checklist We take what is USEFUL. We do NOT take anything that can be left behind. If we don’t show students the relevance of academic concepts, they figure it is a bobble-head. “What do I need this for?” is a question worthy of a respectful answer! They are just asking that we make sense.

Motivation Connecting the material to a future goal. Assist learning Using familiar examples to learn new concepts.

We make a huge assumption: Students will someday be able to put the academic disciplines together and apply them to their lives. Our instruction is almost void of models. Academic tracks

Why Math Video

But there’s still good news. We can use and meet standards in other ways.

Theme based teaching that evolves from community interests… Embed the standards in the themes. Fishing Internet businesses

Embed the standards into themes that relate to students’ interests. This teaches students how to relate the disciplines to each other

Organize the themes in a way that meet and teach current standards while… Modeling lifetime learning by teaching to interesting themes. Think about it… The only entity that organizes information in the way schools do is… schools. State government, business, sports, etc all organize differently.

Another way to say the same thing

Align State Standards with career destinations. – What academic skills are requested by industry? – What personal skills and attributes are desired? (WorkKeys) Involve target industries in the alignment process. Educators alone are not able to do this. We are preparing students for the future, but there were no people “from the future” in the standards development meetings. Include an entrepreneurship component in developing standards. STOP. If no real life examples and applications exist for the content we are teaching, we should STOP teaching it. There’s enough information that needs to be taught. Much of our curriculum is anachronistic. Our mission is to prepare students for the future, not the past!!!!!!!! Align our curriculum with the students perception of their future. It doesn’t matter as much what we see as what they see.

Alaskapedia & … A website, like Wikipedia, where Alaskans from all professions and careers can contribute by showing the connection between their careers and the academic concepts we teach. Example: Give real life applications for: – ratio and proportion – a persuasive letter – trigonometry – applications of history to today’s issues – use of the arts in science or science in the arts – Etc. E books- a great possibility for replacing textbooks with locally relevant examples, illustrations and content.

It’s not like you have to massively change curriculum to be relevant. The more you do it, the better it gets. For years, “culture” has been an add-on. It needs to be a living component embedded in every lesson in every community.

Problem. Many positive role models have left small communities in pursuit of careers and adventure elsewhere. Solution. Make positive role models age available by digital media. This will reconnect students to successful role models just ahead of them. If every day teachers could click on a 2-5 minute video interview with a “successful” person from the local area, student hopes and performance would soar.

Problems. The biggest educational problems exist because students do not see the connection between what is taught and their perceived future. Answer. Make curriculum relevant by: – Aligning curriculum with students’ view of their future. – Aligning State Standards with: Community references (local level) We will NOT tell Districts how to teach. Meaningful themes (state and local level) Careers (state and local level) Answer. Reconnect role models with home communities by digital interviews. Relevance and role models are a HUGE component of correcting ills in remote communities. When education is a ladder to a visible hope, young people will climb it. Dropout rates will drop, and suicide rates will follow. Districts who are now “succeeding” will experience greater success.