
FIS - federal Indian boarding school in the
U.S. (founded 1876)

Serves students in grades 9-12 from 30 different states and 60 different tribes

Works with SDSU in
Flandreau Indian
Success Academy
(FISA)


SDSU, the state’s land grant institution, has a mission to serve the people of the state

Ten percent of our state’s population is
Native American

One percent of our student body is Native
American

Now in its 11 th year of creating
“Communities of Differences”
•
2 Primary Goals:
• “ help more Native American students prepare for and succeed in college”
• “make SDSU into the kind of place where that can happen”
• Lee, 2007

•
Success
Academy now:
•
•
•
Serves 250 students each year in grades 9-12 at FIS
Involves more than 300 SDSU faculty, retired faculty and staff, and a greater number of students
Has grown into “the premier diversity program at SDSU”

•
During 2009 spring semester, Human Relations (HR)
(a required diversity course for pre-service teachers) began hosting an FISA workshop.
•
Workshop goals:
•
• develop relationships between HR and FISA students – diversity experience promote the career of teaching
•
• help FISA students identify their Multiple
Intelligences through an on-line assessment offer FISA students an artistic outlet to showcase their individuality – Multiple Intelligence

•
FISA - Spring Semester only
• 5 workshops led by HR students and SDSU faculty
•
• 60 – 80 HR students serve as hosts
60 - 75 FIS 9 th Graders
• Each workshop consisted of three components: icebreaker, multiple intelligence quiz, and creative development

“Acquire and demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and professional dispositions necessary to help all students learn.”
 NCATE, 2008

At the end of our first
FISA semester, HR students wanted more time with FIS students.


At the end of our first
FISA semester, HR students wanted more than 3 hours
• with FIS students.
Need - to interact longer
• and at a deeper level
Need – to see beyond stereotypes of reservation-poor or casino-rich.

•
Spring 2009 Opportunity to Extend Relationship
•
• $3,430 to fund a social networking site
Service-Learning goals -
• to learn about themselves and opportunities available through higher education, specifically, the career of teaching.
• to learn about the challenges and opportunities of becoming a teacher by viewing video clips of Native
American teachers
• to identify candidates as mentors and role models
• Use of Ning Website was included in the SBB Grant.
• Currently cost is $19.95 / month

* Planning stages
•
SDSU Native American
Club input & advice
•
Culturally appealing
•
•
Wiconi Waste: Education –
Site opens for students in fall of 09

•
•
Social Networking Site
• Virtual Community
• Designed to create mentor/mentee relationships between HR students and FIS Students
•
• Gallery to Display
• Videos
• Photos
• Educational Forums
Similar to Facebook or Myspace

•
1 st and 2 nd semesters
• FIS contact was with the technology teacher
•
•
Gallery
FIS art, photos, and videos
•
HR students visited face-to-face for one-hour in the fall
•
HR students visit on campus for FISA in spring


Added academic content to social networking
•
Tagged onto an
SDSU Common Read initiative
* Model & mentor FIS students in reading as our goal


FIS and HR student shared Three Cups of
Tea by reading:
› “First cup you are a stranger, second cup you are a friend, and third you
are family” -Greg
Mortenson, author
Face-to-face meeting at FIS to kick off book.

•
Shift in staffing at FIS
• New teacher with no background in our project
* Students choose the higher book level
•
Shift in Curriculum
• No longer focusing on Three Cups of Tea
• Other priorities took precedence over this project.
•
Lack of access to computers
•
Shift in administration


Provide Human Relations students with experiences working with diverse student population in both face-to-face and online environments
› Assessed through HR students reflections
› Reactions ranged from frustration and misunderstanding to hopeful and culturally aware
› Quotes ---
› Verle Pipestem’s Letter & Reactions from HR students


Assess teacher candidate understanding of and sensitivity to a diverse student population
›
›
Pre- and Post- course surveys
Cultural Diversity Awareness Inventory (CDAI)

HR students scored lower on Post in two subscales:
›
›
Self Efficacy & School Climate
Felt more ability to change climate & impact students

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Build a position for a website manager into your project:
•
•
• Need for sensitivity –
• Working with underage population
• Working with culturally sensitive issues
Need for time
• Every posting and upload was monitored.
Need for expertise
• Every literary discussion posting was evaluated.
•
Building community partner relationships is an on-going process.
•
• Be prepared to take the project in new directions to meet the needs.
Cultivate relationships extensively so that you have multiple ties to the partner on different levels