E-Portfolio Introduction

Welcome to my blog, I’m Sierra Alexander and i’m finishing up my freshman year of college. Spring semester 2011 I was enrolled in English 1200 Service Learning with Mrs. Stephanie West-Puckett. This blog isn’t just about online research and writing normal papers like every other English class, this blog is about combing online sources and information from going out and exploring fields in order to write better papers. This semester i’ve been working hard by making sure I put plenty thought and effort into every single entry in my blog.

In order for my readers to easily maneuver through my blog, all my posts are categorized into tags. The three main tags are: DW Boxes, MP # 1 (Black schools project), and MP # 2 (Ethnography project). There are also sub-tags such as Ground Working Activity and Annotated Bibliographies. Each of these writings have a different purpose. MP # 1 and MP # 2 are two seperate projects and don’t relate in any way, but the DW Boxes, Annotated Bibliographies, and Ground Working Assignments all build up to the two major projects. All of my blog entries are revised and polished to the best of my ability. Since i’m just a freshman in college I still have many years to improve on my writing, with that being said not all of my entries in this blog are perfect because there’s always room for improvement with any writer. Readers should read my blog according to projects. For MP # 1 readers should start off by reading my proposal, then the DW boxes relating to this project, and then my actual project which includes 2 digital timelines, an essay, and an interview video. For MP # 2 readers should start off by reading my proposal, my fieldnotes, DW boxes relating to this projects, and then read my actual ethnography. If readers go in this order they will be able to get background information before starting to read the actual projects and it will help everything flow better.

Over the course of this semester i’ve learned a great deal of things. With the Ethnography I learned about a whole new culture and it’s history, and with the Black Schools Project I learned about integration right here in North Carolina. The thing i’m still wondering about is how integration was really handled back when Ayden and Grifton merged, because when working on this interview we got two different biased stories, but I guess i’ll never really know since I wasn’t actually there. From reading my Ethnography I hope readers will understand that Native American culture and people aren’t just the stereotypes of what we have learned growing up as kids.  Native people are traditional, and follow specific roles, rules, beliefs, and values. When reading my Black Schools Project I hope that readers can get a better idea of how times were like back in the time of integration. As a result of reading my work I want readers to understand as much as I do about the Native American culture and Integration in Pitt County. I want my blog entries to give readers enough information to fully educate them on these two topics.

This blog focuses on mainly two topics: Integration and Native American Culture, both which are interesting. I invite you to read this blog and better educate yourself on these two topics. You will easily be able to find topics on my blog, so it’s not too much of hassle to just sit down and read. I hope all who are reading this continue on to read my blog.

Enjoy,

Sierra Alexander

Cover Letter E-Portfolio

3 May 2011

Mrs. Stephanie West-Puckett

English 1200 Professor

East Carolina University

Greenville, NC 27858

Dear Mrs. West-Puckett,

I’m Sierra Alexander and I’m currently in your English 1200 Service Learning class. Throughout this semester in your class my main goal was to work hard and to complete all assignments to the best of my ability, which I think you will be able to see in my E-Portfolio. One of the projects this semester allowed me to become engaged in East Carolina’s Native American Organization. I observed meetings and their annual Pow-Wow for a total of five hours this semester. In this part of my portfolio you will find my five hours of fieldnotes from observing the organization, my annotated bibliographies from my online sources relating to Native American students attending traditional American Universities, a picture of my artifact and information describing it, and my ethnography which is an essay that combines all the information I have consumed from working with East Carolina’s Native American Organization. Another project we completed this semester was a group project relating to Pitt County Black Schools. My group picked the schools Ayden and Grifton, which later combined to Ayden-Grifton High School. In this part of my portfolio you will find two digital timelines; one of Ayden and one of Grifton, an essay that explains the merging of the two schools to form Ayden-Grifton High School, a video interview with a former teacher of Ayden High School, and annotated bibliography entries, which will cover the online research we did in the library. Also in this portfolio you will find all class work activities and all workbook activities that we completed throughout this semester in your class.

Since the beginning of the semester I have attended every single class and I’m always on time, which helped me stay on track with my assignments. I have participated in all in-class and out of-class writing activities, which helped the progression of my two projects come along. I also attended my teacher conference and had my materials completed that we were required to have by the date of our conference. During major project # 1 I was able to work with Josh and Corressa to complete the Black Schools Project. We all worked very well together and we all attended every group meeting that we had set up. The in-class assignment where we role-played as interviewers and interviewees seemed to have the most value to me because not only did it help me in my two projects but in life itself. The assignment taught us different ways to overcome certain personalities as being and interviewer. I feel like all the assignments had value to our work but the assignment least valued to me were some of the DW Boxes. Some of the DW Boxes were related to our assignments like the artifact but some weren’t and those were the ones that didn’t have much value to me as a writer.

I have completed every assignment on time since the beginning of the semester. I also think that I’ve met the writing criteria for almost all of my assignments. My annotated bibliographies are the only assignment where I’ve had trouble meeting all the criteria. Some of my sources for the Ethnography weren’t very good so it was hard to make a good annotated bibliography for some of those sources. Two annotated bibliographies had great online sources and those were the two sources that I used in my ethnography. For the Black Schools project, my group and I met all the criteria. We made two digital timelines of Ayden and Grifton with dates, information, and pictures relating to the two towns, we wrote a short essay on the merging of the two schools, and we have a video interview with a former teacher of Ayden High School, which meets all the criteria of MP # 1. Throughout these two major projects I’ve had to think differently than I did in my other English classes since our papers weren’t just about online sources. These two projects required me to think outside of the box, we had to go out and observe and find information and then use that to write our paper. I’ve put a lot of thought and effort into both of these projects and since the assignments were different from what we were used to last semester I feel like my writing had to mature and become more creative.

Both of my projects have been revised since when I first started working on them. MP # 1 had a rough start to it at first. We knew we were doing Ayden-Grifton High School but we weren’t sure what type of product we were going to come up with. We started out doing research in ECU’s library, which didn’t go well at all. We spent about three or four days together in the library trying to find newspaper clippings, books, and any information on Ayden and Grifton but we couldn’t find any. So we then took a trip to Ayden’s library, which is where we found all of our information on Ayden and Grifton. Since we found so many dates we decided we would do make two timelines, one of Ayden and one of Grifton. We each searched through books and wrote down dates and information, which would go on our timelines. After that I organized all the dates and information we found so that they would be in chronological order. I then gave the Grifton timeline to Corressa and the Ayden timeline to Josh and they put them onto the internet and found pictures for each date. When meeting with you we were told that some of the pictures on the timelines didn’t match the dates so we had to go back through and find pictures that were more relevant to the dates that were on the timeline. After the timelines were completed we realized that there wasn’t that much information on the actual merging of the two schools so I wrote a short essay on the merging of Ayden and Grifton High Schools. Also for MP # 1 I made an interview video. We took a trip to Ayden and interviewed a former teacher of Ayden High School. The class activity about interview personalities helped with this part of the project, because the activity taught us how to deal with certain types of people and how to make the interview flow the best. Also in class we shared some of our interview questions and you and the class suggested different questions, which also helped in our interview. I recorded the interview on my camera and to us the man seemed to be talking loud, but when I uploaded it to my computer you couldn’t hear a word he was saying. So I had to go on iMovie and turn the volume up on the video as much as it would go so that we could hear what was happening in the interview. When completing MP # 2 at first I was very overwhelmed. At first I had trouble finding online sources, but after we took the trip to the library and talked about key terms to type into the database I found more sources. At first I started at with four sources and four annotated bibliographies, but as I started writing my paper I found that only two of my sources really helped me out with my ethnography so I eliminated the other two sources. Corressa was my interview partner so after my first ethnography draft she suggested that I make my thesis clearer and add more details to the ethnography which I did. After meeting with you I had a lot more things to fix in my ethnography. I fixed the title to say University instead of School, I cited my sources in the text, and mainly I used my fieldnotes more to create a scene of the organization. The DW box relating to our artifact helped me with the artifact part of my ethnography. Since I already completed the box on my artifact I didn’t have to do anymore research on the drum when it was time to write my ethnography.

I feel like my finished drafts address their respective audiences well. Both of my projects are addressed to the public and anyone who wants to read them, but I feel like a specific group of people would want to read each of my projects. For the black schools project I feel like the audience would be more of the citizens of Ayden and Grifton and possibly members of the Pitt County School System. I feel like they would be interested on the information and history my group found relating to their schools and their towns. For my ethnography I feel like the main audience would be someone from the Native American Organization or someone who is thinking about being involved in a multicultural organization. I feel like they would be interested in the organizations goals, activities, and the way they interact with each other. I feel like another audience for my ethnography could be a teacher that teaches students from different cultural backgrounds, because in my ethnography I talk about way to help students from different cultures.

I have evaluated my annotated bibliographies to the best of my ability. Throughout this whole semester I feel like writing annotated bibliographies has been my weakest spot, but I’ve been trying to improve. When evaluating my annotated bibliographies for the black schools project I felt like they were good sources and entries, but I had a harder time with my annotated bibliographies for my ethnography. With my ethnography I had to find four online sources which I had a hard time finding, two of the sources weren’t very good so I had a struggle writing my annotated bibliographies for those sources, my other two source I used in my ethnography and when evaluating them I feel like they were good sources and entries. I have used a variety of source in my two projects; newspaper clippings, books, interviews, and observing are all sources that have contributed to my research.

I have given thoughtful feedback this semester. At the beginning of the year I gave feed back in-class to Indi and later this semester I gave online feedback to Corressa. In Corressa’s ethnography I gave plenty of thoughtful feedback. I suggested that she use more detail in describing the organization, she also didn’t have any information regarding an interview, so I suggested that she uses her interview information in her ethnography to get her point across better, and I also suggested that she have a better flow to her ethnography. I felt that the feedback I gave her could really help her ethnography, and the feedback she gave me helped me in revising my ethnography.

Throughout this semester I feel like I’ve improved as a writer. In my previous English classes we would just write about a topic that we were given, but this semester you pushed us even harder. We had to go out in the world and observe and relate that into our writings. Not only did you push me to become a better writer, but also I feel like I pushed myself to become a better writer. At the beginning of the semester when we were learning about these two major projects I became overwhelmed and I had no confidence that I could get the assignments done the right way, but by the end of the semester I’m proud of the work I’ve done on the two major projects. The grade I feel like I’ve earned this semester is an ‘A.’ I’m not saying my writing is perfect and all my assignments deserve an ‘A’ because I know I still need to work on my writing, but I know that I’ve tried my hardest by showing up to every class, participating in all activities, completing every assignment on time, and taking criticism to revise my projects. I feel like I’ve accomplished a lot in this English class because it was set up very different from my previous English classes and I feel like I’ve grown as a writer. If I end up with a ‘B’ in this course I’ll still be satisfied because I know I tried my hardest but I also know my writing isn’t perfect and could still improve. I enjoyed having you as my English 1200 teacher. Thank you for pushing us to become better writers, and for giving us the opportunity to go out in the world and observe to write our papers. I hope you enjoy looking over my E-Portfolio.

Thank you for your time,

Sierra Alexander (English 1200 student)

Ethnography Reflection -MP # 2

a) Briefly discuss your writing process for the ethnography; what interesting things have happened? Unexpected turns? Discoveries? Frustrations? Urgent needs for resources? Satisfactions? Use of Discovery Writings?

-At first I was having a really hard time with this ethnography. Finding online sources was hard at first but it got easier. I only used two sources out of the four that I found because those seemed to help me the most in what related to my ethnography topic. The interesting parts to the process of writing this ethnography was actually getting to go out and observe instead of just having to write a paper based solely on online sources. The Pow-Wow was a very interesting event to attend and it was a fun way for me to gather information for my ethnography. Throughout this process I discovered that Native students even though they seem just like me have a difficulty adjusting to school because they have such specific cultural norms. This project definitely had it’s frustrating points. Going to meetings over and over again when the enviornment and people were the same was annoying because my fieldnotes weren’t changing, but luckily there was the Pow-Wow which fixed that problem. It was also very frusturating putting everything together in a paper, because I had so much information that I had learned it was hard to organize it and make it flow especially since I had never written an ethnography before. The discovery writing boxes didn’t seem to help much with my paper except for the part about my artifact. I felt like I chose a good organization to do my ethnography on because everyone was friendly and their meetings and events fit into my schedule so i’m satisfied about that.

b) What do you like best about your ethnography and why?

-The best thing I like about my ethnography is that not only do I tell about the difficulties the Native American students have in school, I explain why they have these difficulties and ways that can help them succeed with school.

c) During this semester-long ethnography project, what have you learned about communicating both primary (fieldworking) and secondary (libraryworking) research to an audience?

– I learned that you really have to stay organized. You have to use your fieldnotes as a guide to help you work in your online research into your ethnography. I learned that in an ethnography you really want to use your fieldnotes as much as you can to paint a picture of the enviornment, people, and setting for your audience.

Ethnography Final Draft -MP # 2

Native American Students Attending Traditional American Universities

Native American students learning in traditional American schools is like a French student trying to learn in a traditional German school, the culture and traditional customs are very different therefore it’s harder for the students to learn growing up in a school that’s different from their native background. Growing up as a child we’ve learned the stereotypes of Native Americans. In movies and stories the Natives were the people who dressed up in costumes, lived in tents without electricity, and were the people who always ended up getting chased by the cowboys. But throughout this project I’ve learned that Native American people are so much more than that. They have a whole different culture, outlook on life, and are truly great people.

For the past few months I’ve been working on field-site with East Carolina’s Native American Organization.  ECNAO is an on campus, multicultural organization, established in 1970. The main goal of this organization is to serve as a cultural resource for all and to provide the community with programs that will expose them to the riches of the Native American contribution to American’s history and culture. When attending the group meetings the students in the organization weren’t all that different from myself. Most of them had a dark complexion, had dark hair, and had very strong southern accents. Everyone was friendly and the meetings were very informal and laid back. The meetings were always in a classroom, and only about 10 people would show up. The meetings were small and were female dominated. Everyone acted friendly and joked around with each other throughout the meetings. The girls sat in little groups according to whom they were good friends with. The organization had a president like most organizations but with ECNAO the decisions made were more of a group effort. The president of ECNAO was a petite girl, dark complexion, dark hair, and had the strongest southern accent I had ever heard. She was a very laid back leader but she made sure things got done. Everyone came up with ideas and everyone contributed; it was like a big family atmosphere.

Luckily I was able to attend the big Pow-Wow that the Native American Organization puts on every year.  The Pow-Wow is a large Native American gathering open up to anyone who wants to come. The Pow-Wow was located in Minges Coliseum on ECU’s campus. There were people of all ages and all ethnicities at this event. Many of the Native Americans were wearing bright, colorful costumes that had bells attached and made noises when they danced. The men were gathered in a circle around the drums and they were beating and chanting throughout the whole event. Also at the Pow-Wow there were booths set up with different cultural, hand-made items on display and for sale. They had jewelry, weapons, purses, blankets, etc. The dancers at the Pow-Wow were of all ages. When it was time for them to perform they would go up in groups depending on gender and age. They would dance to the beat of the drums and to me it seemed like a lot of hopping around from one foot to another. When attending the Pow-Wow I was able to get more of a feel for the native culture.

At the Pow-Wow the drums played a very dominant role. The drum was also the item I chose for my artifact. I learned that it is the most important Native American instrument and it’s the center of the Native lifestyle. The drum is made of a wooden frame or log with buckskin or elksin stretched across the opening by sinew thongs. The drums are played by men who are gathered in a circle. Beating and chanting on the drums was a way to talk to the dead, and the Greatest Spirits (American). The drums are very powerful and loud. They are sacred to the Native American culture, which is why they were the center of attention at the Pow-Wow.

When working on field-site it seemed like the Native American students were just like me and so I thought that they would have just as easy as a time in school as I did, but when doing online research and completing my interview with Aleshia Hunt I found that to be completely false. Aleshia Hunt is the Co-Advisor of ECNAO, and is a Lumbee Native American. She has a dark complexion, short dark hair, and she also somewhat of a southern accent. At the organizations meetings she was always the one that everyone looked to when making final decisions, especially when something financial came about. My interview with her was very informal, I just asked a few questions and she answered them to the best of her ability. In the interview Aleshia told me that tradition and family was a big part of the Native American lifestyle. She started traditional dancing at the age of three, she learned from her ancestors how to bead and make necklaces and she was taught how to make traditional Native food, because in her Native lifestyle a lot of their gatherings are centered around food. To lean more about the difficulties of being a Native American student in a traditional American school I asked Aleshia to tell me about her hardships with school and some of her encounters. When Aleshia was a freshman in the dorms many people thought she was just mixed with another race, but when she told them that she was Native American she would get crazy questions such as; Do you live on a reservation? Do you have electricity at home and running water? When she got asked questions like that she said it was bothersome because like I said earlier those aren’t true at all, they’re just stereotypes that us American students have grown up learning from movies and books. Aleshia said that sometimes it was harder to adjust to school because Native Americans don’t have the representation of staff and students on campus like most populations do. She felt like the teachers didn’t understand much about her as a Native student and how she needs to learn being in a different environment.

When doing online research about Native Americans in traditional classrooms, I learned a great deal of information I would have never thought would help contribute to someone’s learning process. Native American students are becoming an academic concern across the world. Research suggests the Native American students have a low self-image and the highest drop out rate of all ethnic groups (Sutliff). Native students view the world based on their cultural values. In the Native community they value humility and harmony; therefore Native students will underachieve to avoid appearing superior so that they don’t violate their cultures traditional norms. Parents of Native students strongly emphasize on performing an activity correctly; therefore that student may not attempt to answer a question if they don’t know the exact answer because they’re scared of not performing well (Morgan). Teacher’s who don’t understand these values will just think that the student is lazy and doesn’t care which in reality the student is just following their cultural norms. Native American students are very visual and learn best from observing and demonstrating (Morgan). They do well in classes that are visual like math class because it offers a variety of visual learning opportunities. They also prefer to work in groups rather than alone and they always look to authority for guidance because that’s their cultural norm.

Teachers play a big role in helping Native American students adjust in traditional American schools. Teachers should talk to their students and understand their preferred ways of learning so that each student can reach their fullest potential. When teaching a new task teachers should teach slowly to give students time to familiarize themselves with what is being taught. One aspect in the school curriculum that allows for all students regardless of cultural customs to achieve in is physical education (Sutliff). For hundreds of years as part of the Native American culture they have participated in a variety of athletic games, physical activities, and outdoor challenges. In their culture theses types of activities were very important for daily living. The activities were designed to improve endurance, strength, speed, fitness, and courage (Sutliff). P.E. teachers should educate themselves about the cultural similarities relating to their Native American students. They should also incorporate multicultural themes relating to the Native background. Physical Education plays a great deal in the development of multicultural education. The students who participate in P.E. class will have a rewarding experience, which will open up their learning environment.

Positionality:

I’m Sierra Alexander a freshman student at ECU finishing up my second semester. I’m 18 years old and from a middle class family. I have Indian and Hawaiian in my family background. When going to Hawaii for family reunions I’ve experienced the same culture experiences that I noticed with the Native American Culture. Both cultures focus solely on family and tradition. Also in both Native and Hawaiian cultures dancing and food is the center of many gatherings. So having a Hawaiian background I’ve had experience with Native cultures. My position on the topic of Native American students learning in traditional American classrooms has changed since I started this project. At first I didn’t think Native American students should be taught any differently. I thought that since they spoke the same language, and they were from America that they shouldn’t have any difficultly learning. After learning Aleshia’s point of view, and after reading my secondary sources I found out just how hard it is for someone with a different cultural background to adjust to a traditional American school like ECU regardless if they’re from America and speak english. Schools and instructors need to become leaders in educating themselves, and students about multiculturalism. By educating themselves and others about Native American lifestyles and culture the Native students will better adjust when learning in a traditional American school.

Works Cited

American Indian Drums (2011). In Native Languages of the Americas . Retrieved April 29, 2011, from http://www.native-languages.org/drums.htm

Sutliff, M. (1996). Multicultural education for native American students in physical education. Physical Educator, 53(3), 157. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Morgan, H. (2010). Teaching Native American Students: WHAT EVERY TEACHER SHOULD KNOW.Education Digest, 75(6), 44-47. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Ethnography Draft – MP # 2

Native American Students Surviving in Traditional American Schools

Have you ever wondered if school is harder for someone of a different ethnic group? Well this project proved to me that it is. For this ethnography I gathered information from online sources, interviews, and fieldsite notes to support that it is harder for someone of a different ethnic group to attend a traditional American school.

Native American students learning in traditional American schools is like an French student trying to learn in a German school, the culture and traditional customs are very different therefore it’s harder for the students to learn growing up in a school that’s different from their native background. Studies have shown that many Native American students are having trouble learning in an American classroom because there’s such a cultural difference. Teachers should become educated about these multicultural differences and use a range of different learning methods to increase the graduating rate of Native American students. Growing up as a child we’ve learned the stereotypes of Native Americans. In movies and stories the Natives were the people who dressed up in costumes, lived in tents without electricity, and were the people who always ended up getting chased by the cowboys. But throughout this project I’ve learned that the Native American people are so much more than that. They have a whole different culture, outlook on life, and are truly great people.

For the past few months I’ve been working on field-site with East Carolina’s Native American Organization.  ECNAO is an on campus, multicultural organization, established in 1970. The main goal of this organization is to serve as a cultural resource for all and to provide the community with programs that will expose them to the riches of the Native American contribution to American’s history and culture. When attending the group meetings the students in the organization weren’t all that different from myself. Most of them were tan, had dark hair, and had very strong southern accents. Everyone was friendly and the meetings were very informal and laid back. They had a president like most organizations but with ECNAO the decisions made were more of a group effort. Everyone came up with ideas and everyone contributed; it was like a big family atmosphere. Luckily I was able to attend the big Pow-Wow that the Native American Organization puts on every year.  The Pow-Wow is a large Native American gathering open up to anyone who wants to come. Many Native Americans were wearing bright, colorful costumes that had bells attached and made noises when they danced. When attending the Pow-Wow the drums played a very dominant role, the drum was also the item I chose for my artifact. I learned that it was the center of the Native lifestyle; it was a way to talk to the dead, and the Greatest Spirits. The drums were very powerful and loud making them the center of the Pow-Wow. Also at the Pow-Wow there were booths set up with different cultural items on display and for sale. There were dancers at the Pow-wow of all ages, and the whole event was very family oriented.

When working on field-site it seemed like the Native American students were just like me and so I thought that they would have just as easy as a time in school as I did, but when doing online research and completing my interview with Aleshia Hunt I found that to be completely false. Aleshia Hunt is the Co-Advisor of ECNAO, and is a Lumbee Native American. She is tan female, with dark short hair, and has a very strong southern accent. In my interview Aleshia told me that tradition and family was a big part of the Native American lifestyle. She started traditional dancing at the age of three, she learned from her ancestors how to bead and make necklaces and she was taught how to make traditional Native food, because in her Native lifestyle a lot of their gatherings are centered around food. To lean more about the difficulties of being a Native American student in a traditional American school I asked Aleshia to tell me about her hardships with school and some of her encounters. When Aleshia was a freshman in the dorms many people thought she was just mixed with another race, but when she told them that she was Native American she would get crazy questions such as; Do you live on a reservation? Do you have electricity at home and running water? When she got asked questions like that she said it was bothersome because like I said earlier those aren’t true at all, they’re just stereotypes that us American students have grown up learning from movies and books. Aleshia said that sometimes it was harder to adjust to school because Native Americans don’t have the representation of staff and students on campus like most populations do. She felt like the teachers didn’t understand much about her as a Native student and how she needs to learn being in a different environment.

When doing online research about Native Americans in traditional classrooms, I learned a great deal of information I would have never thought would help contribute to someone’s learning process. Native American students are becoming an academic concern across the world. Research suggests the Native American students have a low self-image and the highest drop out rate of all ethnic groups. Native students view the world based on their cultural values. In the Native community they value humility and harmony; therefore Native students will underachieve to avoid appearing superior so that they don’t violate their cultures traditional norms. Parents of Native students strongly emphasize on performing an activity correctly; therefore that student may not attempt to answer a question if they don’t know the exact answer because they’re scared of not performing well. Teacher’s who don’t understand these values will just think that the student is lazy and doesn’t care which in reality the student is just following their cultural norms. Native American students are very visual and learn best from observing and demonstrating. They do well in classes that are visual like math class because it offers a variety of visual learning opportunities. They also prefer to work in groups rather than alone and they always look to authority for guidance because that’s their cultural norm.

Teachers play a big role in helping Native American students adjust in traditional American schools. Teachers should talk to their students and understand their preferred ways of learning so that each student can reach their fullest potential. When teaching a new task teachers should teach slowly to give students time to familiarize themselves with what is being taught. One aspect in the school curriculum that allows for all students regardless of cultural customs to achieve in is physical education. For hundreds of years as part of the Native American culture they have participated in a variety of athletic games, physical activities, and outdoor challenges. In their culture theses types of activities were very important for daily living. The activities were designed to improve endurance, strength, speed, fitness, and courage. P.E. teachers should educate themselves about the cultural similarities relating to their Native American students. They should also incorporate multicultural themes relating to the Native background. Physical Education plays a great deal in the development of multicultural education. The students who participate in P.E. class will have a rewarding experience, which will open up their learning environment.

My positionality on the topic of Native American students learning in traditional American classrooms has changed since I started this project. At first I didn’t think Native American students should be taught any differently. I thought that since they spoke the same language, and they were from America that they shouldn’t have any difficultly learning. After learning Aleshia’s point of view, and after reading my secondary sources I found out just how hard it is for someone with a different cultural background to adjust to a traditional American school like ECU regardless if they’re from America and speak english. Schools and instructors need to become leaders in educating themselves, and students about multiculturalism. By educating themselves and others about Native American lifestyles and culture the Native students will better adjust when learning in a traditional American school.

Works Cited

 Sutliff, M. (1996). Multicultural education for native American students in physical education. Physical Educator, 53(3), 157. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

 Morgan, H. (2010). Teaching Native American Students: WHAT EVERY TEACHER SHOULD KNOW.Education Digest, 75(6), 44-47. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Interview Transcripts- MP # 2

Interview questions with Aleshia Hunt :

1. What position do you hold in the ECNAO ?

•  I am the Co-Advisor of East Carolina Native American Organization. Randy Gilland also serves as the Co-Advisor.

2. Are you Native American ? -If so what % are you ?

• Yes I am Native American. I am Lumbee. Both my parents are Lumbee.  From Robeson County, NC

 3. Could you shortly explain any family/Native American traditions that you participate in ?

• I started dancing traditional at the age of 3.
• Learned to bead simple things like necklaces and bracelets. Then as I got older, my aunt taught me to bead using more traditional techniques and various stitches.   My grandmother taught me to sew.  With the combination of what my grandmother and my aunt taught me – they are useful in the aid in regalia making.  (Regalias are what we were at powwows and ceremonies.)  As they would teach me things, they would tell me stories of when they were little, or tell legends (traditional Native American stories).  These stories have reasoning in how things are, have a moral behind it.   With all these things – they are essential in what I will pass along to the next generation.
• Another important thing in our culture is food. A lot of our gathering is centered around food. Food in many cultures brings people together, so learning to cook was and is very essential.  Learning to cook fried bread, stews, traditional dishes, etc.    

 

4. Do you feel like being a Native American student it’s harder to adjust in a traditional American school?

• Sometimes it is harder to adjust to school because we do not have the representation of faculty, staff, and students on campus like most populations.  Most people on campus do not sound like you (accent wise) and when people approach us, they typically think or ask us are we mixed or some other race. So you go to inform that you are Native American/American Indian – and you get the question, you still exist, follow by other random questions.  Even as a professional I get those questions and it is bothersome.
• As a freshman in the dorm, I was approached and did receive many crazy questions, like to all Native American live on reservations? do you all have electricity, running water, etc?  etc.
• The reason for ECNAO is for us to network and be a home away from home, so that way we have others that look like us.   ECNAO has been a family for me, when I was in undergrad and even now as a staff member at ECU.

 

5. Could you briefly describe a little about the Native American Culture ? What’s most important ? What’s valued the most ?

• The Native American culture is family orientated. We have close family ties, and community ties. In growing up, our cousins, are as close to us as our siblings. Our grandparents take part in our rearing process.  Taught to treat individual with respect, honesty, etc – as well as the earth. Why the earth? The Earth – because we are to leave it for the next generation (our children, our grandchildren, our great grandchildren, etc)

 

Mp # 1- Proposal,AB’s,Essay,Interview,Timlines

Proposal

The working title for our project is “Ayden & Grifton; Coming Together in the Time of Integration.” Our group has looked up the history of the town of Ayden. We’re using that information about the histroy to create a digital timeline. For Grifton we have also researched the history of the town and school of Grifton so we’re creating a digital timeline on that informatin. We are then writing a short essay on how the school Ayden-Grifton came about. We have had two interviews already. One interview was an informal 10 minute conversation with Ivory who was the first black quaterback at Ayden High School, we weren’t able to record this interview because it was so short notice but we were able to get information from him to use in our timeline of Ayden. Our second interview was with Chuck Dunn who was a white teacher at Ayden. We were able to get a video recording of this 15 minute interview with Mr. Dunn which helped us clarify certain dates and information on integration in Ayden. We’ve found yearbooks from the schools which visually showed us integration in the schools overtime, we’ve found newspaper clippings which showed us forming of the schools and the addition to the buildings. The library of Ayden is where we acquired most of our information for our timeline of Ayden. We have specific dates and informaton in an orderly manner. After everything is completed our final product will consist of : a digital timeline of the town of Ayden and the town of Grifton, an essay of the merger of Ayden-Grifton High School and an interview video with Chuck Dunn. Our finish product for major project # 1 will show everyone the history of Ayden and Grifton during the time of integration and the merging of the two towns to form the school that still stands today; Ayden-Grifton High School.

Annotated Bibliography

Sources :

Ayden Timeline: Power, S. (Ed.). (n.d.). The Historic Architecture of Pitt County, North Carolina.

Grifton Timeline: Hunsuckes, S. E., Moore, P. M., & Sparrow, E. H. (2005). Chronicles of Pitt County (Vol. 2). , NC: Pitt County Historical Society.

Ayden Timeline: Sugg, F. (1962, August). History of Ayden. Ayden News-Leader.

Essay: Peace Met by Schools of Grifton. (1966, February 28). The Daily Reflector.

Grifton Timeline: Grifton History. (n.d.). In The Town of Grifton North Carolina. Retrieved April 5, 2011, from http://www.grifton.com/community/grifton-history/

Essay: Opportunities offered by New School Lauded in Sunday Education. (1972, May 1). The Daily Reflector.

Annotated Bibliography Sources

• Power, S. (Ed.). (n.d.). The Historic Architecture of Pitt County, North Carolina.

The main idea of this source is to inform the readers on the architecture of towns in Pitt County. This book showed the town of Ayden and Grifton and the uprisings of buildings and stores. When evaluating this source I come to find that it is all facts and information on the history of these towns and all the information is accurate. This source was very useful because it helped with the timelines of Ayden and Grifton. This information helped me create a timeline of the history from the beginning to the time of integration. The intended audience for this source is anyone interested in the architecture and the uprisings of buildings in the towns of Pitt County. The author of this source is qualified to write on this topic, he has affiliations with Pitt County and the communities. The author doesn’t present a bias, because the books is all facts, it shows the uprisings of buildings and the town so there is no way he could present a bias. This source has plenty evidence. The book was very large and from the beginning to the end it offered plenty of facts that are reliable that I used for my timeline on both Ayden and Grifton.

• Hunsuckes, S. E., Moore, P. M., & Sparrow, E. H. (2005). Chronicles of Pitt County (Vol. 2). , NC: Pitt County Historical Society.

This source informs readers on the history of the towns in Pitt County. You can go through this book and look up any town in Pitt County and find the history of it. When evaluating this source I find it very helpful, especially since I was doing a timeline on the history of the towns and Grifton. This source is very useful because it was where I got most of my information for my timeline of the history of Grifton. The intended audience for this source is anyone interested in the history of towns in Pitt County. Anyone in the general public is able to look at this book to find out history of Pitt County towns. The author of this book is qualified and reliable because he’s writing for the Pitt County Historical Society which makes him very credible. Since this source is all facts it doesn’t show a bias. The source is strictly facts on the history of these towns. This source gives plenty evidence of the history on Grifton. This source helped me create my timeline for my online project.

• Sugg, F. (1962, August). History of Ayden. Ayden News-Leader.Pace Met by Schools of Grifton. (1966, February 28). The Daily Reflector.

This source was taken from the Ayden News- Leader, it’s a document from a newspaper that talks about the history of Ayden. When evaluating this source I find that it does have information that helped me with my timeline of Ayden but it didn’t have as much information as some of my other sources. This source was somewhat useful because I did find dates that were helpful for my Ayden timeline, but since the article wasn’t too long, it didn’t have as much information that could be put on my timeline as I would have hoped. The intended audience for this source is anyone interested in the history of Ayden. We found this source at the Ayden Library so it’s accessible to all. The author of this source is very credible and also doesn’t show a bias. This article is pure facts and not opinions therefore a bias doesn’t exist.

• Peace Met by Schools of Grifton. (1966, February 28). The Daily Reflector.

The author of this source is informing the citizens of Grifton of the development of Grifton School.  This article talks the first steps in expanding the school, adding on new parts to the school, and the present site of the school. This source is useful because it gives me exact dates on the developing of the school building. The audience of this article is directed towards anyone that is interested in the developing of Grifton School. The author of this article does not show a bias, because they are just giving direct information about the building and development of the school.  There is plenty evidence offered in this source because it gives direct dates  to when certain parts of the the buildings were built and it talks about the progress of Grifton School.

• Grifton History. (n.d.). In The Town of Grifton North Carolina. Retrieved April 5, 2011, from http://www.grifton.com/community/grifton-history/

This source informs the readers on significant events that have happened in the town of Grifton. It actually gives a specific timeline on key events in Grifton from the beginning to 2006. When evaluating this source at first I was not sure if it’d be reliable because it is an internet source, but because it’s the town of Grifton’s actual website I found it to be reliable. This source was very useful because it gave dates and events, where in some of my other sources I had trouble finding dates relating to the events that it gave. The intended audience for this source is the general public, anyone interested in the town of Grifton. I couldn’t find the exact author of this source but it was published by Evans Press. There is no bias on this website because the history of Grifton gives specific dates and events, which are facts not opinions. There is enough evidence offered, the evidence is a timeline of dates and events from the beginning of Grifton to today.

• Opportunities offered by New School Lauded in Sunday Education. (1972, May 1). The Daily Reflector.

The author of this source is informing the readers of the new school Ayden-Grifton High School. It talks about the the size of the school, and the successful integration of blacks and whites into one school. This source is useful because it gives me the information I need on the new school. The intended audience of this source is anyone interested in the forming of Ayden-Grifton High School. Since this was a school that integrated many people were interested in this article. The author of this source does not create a bias because he’s just giving the facts. But in the article he states that the integration was successful, but yet he doesn’t state that it might have taken a while for the integration to be successful. This source gives plenty of evidence relating to the new Ayden-Grifton High School. The evidence is ethical and gives lots of facts.

Essay

Ayden and Grifton Coming Together in the Time of Integration

Ayden-Grifton High School has not always been one school, in fact Ayden-Grifton High Schools is made up of three schools from two different towns. There’s the town of Ayden and the town of Grifton, both located in North Carolina about 18 minutes away from each other. Before the time of integration the town of Ayden had to high schools; one for black kids and one for white kids. The schools for black students was called South Ayden High, and the school for white students was called Ayden High. As far as we know for the town of Grifton there was only one school which was for white students called Grifton High.

Before the merging of the three schools to form Ayden-Grifton High, there was somewhat of a merger of students attending school in the town of Ayden. The town of Ayden issued a Freedom of Choice. All parents in the town were given applications in which they would mark what school they would like to attend; either Ayden High or South Ayden High. If your parents didn’t turn in your application you were just assigned to the school that was closest to where you lived.

When doing our two interviews with a former black student who was one of the few blacks to attend Ayden and doing our other interview with a former white teacher who taught at Ayden we got two different sides to how the integration process went during the mergers of Ayden and South Ayden High. Ivory, the former black student told us many stories about how white students were mean and showed hatred toward him and the other black students who attended Ayden, and he told us that most of the teachers showed prejudice and treated the black students unfairly. When we interviewed Ivory he told us that the only teacher who was fair and didn’t show prejudice was Mr. Chuck Dunn, and that’s who we did our second interview with. When talking to Mr. Dunn he made it seem like there weren’t many problems with the black and white students together, which was a completely different story from what Ivory had said. The reason Mr. Dunn may have thought that is because he treated all students the same regardless of their color, and when asked in the interview why he did what he did in treating all students fairly Mr. Dunn stated that “Kids are kids, and I never thought of it any different.”

The Pitt County School system seemed to think the same thing, because in 1970 they issued the integration of all schools in the Pitt County District, which is when the merger of Ayden-Grifton came about. In 1971 Ayden-Grifton High School was opened, and all students from the town of Ayden and Grifton regardless of color were to attend this school. This school was located on a 30-84 acre site between the towns of Ayden and Grifton. The school was 121,859 square feet and could hold a capactiy of 1,056 people. The cost of this new school was $1,919,189 and the community helped with the paying for some of the school. T.G. Worthington who was the Chairman of Pitt County Board of Education said, “When the project was initiated it was a dream come true.” Stated in the Daily Reflector (May 1, 1972) “The aim of this project is to give every boy and girl in this county as good an opportunity for a good high school education as could be gotten anywhere.” The merger of Ayden and Grifton High Schools to form Ayden-Grifton High was a successful consolidation of black and white children truly integrated. After 40 years of true integration Ayden-Grifton High School is still up and running teaching the students of the future.

Sources:

Peace Met by Schools of Grifton. (1966, February 28). The Daily Reflector.

Opportunities offered by New School Lauded in Sunday Education. (1972, May 1). The Daily Reflector.

Interview

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=na9CFhpnjrs

Transcript:

J = Josh (Interviewer) & C= Chuck (Interviewee)

J: What school did you teach at ?

C: Now at what point in time are you talking about ?

J: Right around the time of integration.

C: Ayden High School.

J: Ayden High School ?

C: Yes, Ayden High School.

J: Now what did you teach there ?

C: I was a math teacher, I taught everything from Algebra 1 to Pre-Calculus, I taught there for 67 to 71 which was the last year for Ayden High School.

J: Back then what was the distribution as far as precentages of black to white students ?

C: When I started teaching there the schools were pretty much segregated, i’d say totally segregated actually. I started teachin in Virginia before I started teachin here, but anyways. Uhm there was a black high school in Ayden called South Ayden High School, which is no longer there, but there is a monument to it’s existence and it was about a quarter mile from Ayden High School. But Ayden High School at that time was pretty much along the diving line between the segregated communities. Now this is where i’m havin trouble with the years, but I would say probably 68 or 69 I can’t remember which, possibly 68 Pitt County instituted a policy of Freedom of Choice, which meant the students could apply to go to whichever school they wanted to, and if they didn’t submit an application they were assigned to the school nearest to where they lived. But even though the majority of black students lived on this part of town there was a section on the north side of town, and some families didn’t turn in their applications so that being closer to Ayden High School they were assigned to Ayden High School. I can tell you the first ones name, I can tell you what he looked like, he was a great kid in an awkward position.

J: Mhmm.

C: But his name was Devro Blunt, I remember him very well cause I was the JV football coach at the time and he played football, great kid. I don’t remember any difficulty with anything at all. And the second one was a kid named Fletcher Hardis who was killed in tractor accident not terribly to long after he got out of school. Uh okay.

J: Alright uh.

C: I can ramble forever. I don’t wanna waste your time.

J: Oh no, it’s fine with us. During your time teaching what did you enjoy the most around the time of integration ?

C: Getting to know the kids. I taught for 37 years, and everything to me was about the kids. I  had an administration degree so thats not where it was, I wanted to work with kids, and a lot of them that I taught back in those days still stop in to see me, which I think is a very positive thing.

J: Mhmm. Since you did teach around here in the right time period, what was your opinion on how integration was handled ?

C: Well, from that they went to pretty much i think this happened in 70, 70 71 school year maybe 69, 71 was the last year there was an Ayden High School which it then became Ayden Grifton, which they put a bomb in the bathroom but I wasn’t there at the time. Uhm, the last year there was an Ayden High School they consolidated South Ayden with Ayden High School until the integration of Ayden was complete at that time. Uhm, you know I don’t remember there being any real violence, the kids that came from South Ayden some of them had already known eachother. Cause I remember it must have been 70 cause the year before I remember Ayden High School had scheduled games against South Ayden and also the black school in Farmville, H.B. Suggs, and the only difficulty really to ever remember was Ayden High School scoring at the buzzard to beat H.B. Suggs at an undefeated season and they had a riot in the gym, but that was more between schools than anything else. Uhm, I don’t remember around here there was alot of violence, but of course there were people that were gonna exhibit some prejudice. But I don’t recall there being in major issues in terms of having uprisings.

J: Alright, last friday we talked to Mr. Ivory he was one of your former students, and he apparently things very highly of you because he told us that your were one of the most fair teachers around here, and we were wondering what did you do to be so fair to all of your students ?

C : You know I thought about that a lot particularly with Ivory cause me and him still maintain contact, as a matter a fact he was here the other day, he will just stop by just to chat. He has taken on a lot of leadership in trying to get things better, you know I really don’t know i’ve thought about it a great deal. And i just, kids are kids and i’ve never saw it any other way, and for a while i dont remember any consious decision, like okay these people are new here and their different and whatever i just dont remember ever having a thought, i think to myself i just dont know kids are kids. I was a scout leader at the time, and the scout troop was sponsered by the Ayden Motor Club, and Ivory and some of his buddies wanted to join the boy scouts and the club wouln’t let them and that kinda ticked me off a little, and that’s when i quit the scouts, but anyways.

J: Do you have any stories that you can share that deals with integration, that just sticks out in your mind ?

C: One of a time Ivory and one of his buddies, he might of told you this story idk, one of his buddies was sittin in the back of the classroom and they were tlaking when i was talkin, and thats kinda rude. So i told ivory and his buddy, and i might have this backwards but  I told them to stop talking, and one of them made some comment, so I told him alright I want you to write a 500 word paper on sunshine, and the other one started laughing so I told him to write one on potato chips, and they still remember that. That was funny. I remember some stories. And there were some times where we had a kid here in the classroom and i’m sure you’ve never heard of him, but his name was Demetrius Higgons we called him Dee cause bless his heart he couldn’t spell Demetrius. He became a world kickboxing champion, we don’t see him much anymore as a matter of fact I haven’t seen him in years, but probably about 6 years ago I saw him down the street and he saw me and he came up and gave me a big hug and that was all good.  I remember Dee he was one of those kids, like i said i coached football and tell him to be the quarterback he’d be the quarterback, Ivory was on the JV team and he wanted to play quarterback and and I would let him play 15 20 seconds, and that was just the greatest thing to him, he wasn’t very good. Just little things like that, I have things that’ll come back, but on demand it doesn’t work too well, but just little things like that . I remember one kid after a basketball game the basketball team and cheerleaders were coming back and one kid a black kid was harassing one of the cheerleaders and Dee took care of him, he might have erased his face, but just little things like that. Nothing really stands out in class besides the sunshine and potato chip incident.

J: Lets see, you mentioned the bombing earlier, do you know anything about that ?

C: Yah, actually i’ve been trying to go throughout the internet to figure out the actual years this happened, but I know it was either 69 or 70 but I cant remember. But I had left teaching after Ayden High School was closed, i was in NJ when i read the newspaper about Ayden Grifton High School being bombed. Which I remember was the first bombing of a school in American history. Now because there hadn’t been a lot of problems at the school doesn’t mean there hadn’t been difficulties in the community. Now I don’t remember all of the details it had somethin to do with a black person, according to what i  read on Wikapedia which we know how gospel truth that is, this person died in Ayden jail, which I remember it different, but bottom line is someone died. And some of the different groups, and some of the other groups and outside groups, which like I said I wasn’t here I was in NJ, but my parents lived right there, and they came together and they were marching and stuff, and needless to say a bomb went off in the bathroom of the school, and from what I’ve been told they had an assembly that day, and the bathroom is adjacent to the auditorium which the auditorium wasn’t big enough to hold the whole student body so they held it somewhere else. But they did have a few students in the study hall, but no one got hurt, and they caught the people who did it, and they weren’t from here, and thats what I remember from the bombing, like I said I wasn’t here but I heard about it later.

J: Well looking back now, from the time you were teaching would you go back and change anything ?

C: I hope not.

J: You hope not ?

C: I hope not. From what i said before, for whatever reason it went pretty well as far as me and my relationship with the kids. I’ve always been thankful for that for whatever reason maybe my parents did something right I don’t know. It could be that when I was growing up I was around black kids, I had a grandbrother that lived on this side of town and and i lived over there and us kids would walk up and down the street. My grandparents had a lady from down there Daisy Garder just as fine as a woman ever lived and she was their house keeper and she loved me to death, all of us kids, and we all loved her. And maybe in a sense it just wasn’t all that strange, I dont know. Whatever it is I’m thankful.

J: Well do you know of anything else that you’ve been through or seen that would be useful as far as us putting a presentation together ?

C: Let me see, well, when I left I didn’t stay out of teaching but for 1 year, but i wasn’t going to Ayden Grifton for whatever reason. But I spent 30 D.H. Conley, at that it was only 4 months old. Large school, and even out in Conley I don’t remember anything, if there was a fight between a black and a white guy it’s just two people having a disagreement not necessarily because he’s white or black. A lot of black students were student body president and stuff. So i’ve been fortunate that i don’t really have a lot of stories about this in general and violence and that kind of stuff.

J: Well that’s about all the questions I have.

Timelines

Ayden: http://www.dipity.com/andrewsj10/The-History-of-Ayden/

Grifton: http://www.dipity.com/chinadoll/The-Town-Of-Grifton/

FieldNotes # 5 – MP # 2

East Carolina Native American Organization

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Bate Building Room 1010

630pm-730pm

Record

• Not a lot of people showed up on time
• All girls were tan, dark hair
• 1 little boy who belonged to Alisha, he was also tan
• 1 black male member
• Very southern accents
• Laughing and joking around
• 2 main girls are sharing lots of ideas with the groups
• Alisha although not the president seems to be in overall charge
• Electing for officers by nominating

Interpretation

• Informal meeting
• Open to suggestions
• Everyone would put in their own inputs
• Nominating was casual
• Everyone seemed to like each other
• Even though it was the last meeting of the year, there was hardly any members there which makes me think that people don’t take the organization very serious

Time Lines of Ayden and Grifton – MP #1

Ayden : http://www.dipity.com/andrewsj10/The-History-of-Ayden/
Grifton: http://www.dipity.com/chinadoll/The-Town-Of-Grifton/

MindMeister Map – MP # 2

My Link :

http://www.mindmeister.com/maps/show/91932746