How to Digest a Book

Have you ever heard of "close reading?" It is a reading technique that allows for "a thoughtful, critical analysis of a text that focuses on significant details or patterns in order to develop a deep, precise understanding of the text's form, craft, meanings, etc."

It is a rather advanced strategy for learning from books and other written materials. It is designed so you can get a lot out of writing that leaves you considering thought-provoking messages that go beyond the text. It's excellent for "talking with" the written word.

Earlier in the year, we watched some videos by Nick Vujicic. We even tried to invite him to come to our school (Sigh...he's not available.) Sister Patrice was telling her friend Lee Ann about this, and Lee Ann explained that she, herself, really liked Nick Vujicic's insights and ideas. Lee Ann and her husband sent our class a surprise. She sent each of us our very own copy of Nick Vujicic's book, Life without Limits: Inspiration for a Ridiculously Good Life. 

We were really excited to receive them. We are using them for close reading. But, instead of calling it "close reading," we're learning "how to digest a book." Here's a bookmark with the steps.

Close Reading Challenge: We were also invited to consider being in a "Close Reading Challenge." Between the day we got our books and January 2, when we come back from Winter Break, we can read the book and "digest" it with a pencil or pen in hand. If we complete Sections 1-6 of the Personal Action Plan in the back of the book by January 2, we can get extra credit that will raise our grade in Communications for Life Success by one letter grade! It will be hard work, but we will also learn a lot.

Our (very first!) Video Production is Complete!

Take a look and email us at collettitz@gmail.com to let us know if you liked it! 

Student Exhibits at Family Literacy Night

Our class's display table December 7, 2016

At this evening's "Family Literacy Night" event, the students of the Technology for Life Success class had the honor of offering the only student-created display.

As a culminating activity for our First Semester unit on Money Management, students selected a project that involved pulling together what they'd been learning and presenting it for those attending the Literacy Night event. 

Exhibit by Ian Wynde

Ian Wynde did a survey of adults over age 21 and young adults age 16-20. He asked them about the types of bank accounts (savings or checking) they had. He compiled the raw data in data tables. Then he learned how to use the "chart" feature of Google Sheets to automatically create colorful circle graphs to illustrate his findings.

Game by Raycee Brown

Raycee Brown created an extremely popular "Memory" card game to  help younger attendees at the event practice reading numerals (1-20) and number words (one-twenty). The kids loved earning (plastic) gold coins for each match!

"College and Money" Exhibit by Treyton Neilan (College budget) and Shelby Neilan (Income Potential when you go to college)

Shelby Neilan researched how the amount of education you complete impacts the types of jobs you get and the annual salary you can earn. She identified typical jobs you can get if you don't finish high school, if you have a high school diploma, and if you have a bachelor's degree. She also identified specific jobs you could do at each level if you have a specific skill set. It was clear there are significant financial advantages to getting a four-year degree!

Treyton Neilan's exhibit featured a fictitious college student, "Jeff," and identified his income and expenses for a typical college year. Although "Jeff" worked part time while attending undergraduate studies full time, he also relied on grants, a scholarship and loans to make ends meet. Because he worked hard at his job and in his studies, and because he was very thrifty, "Jeff" was able to put some money away each semester, too. His savings would allow him to pay back loans or perhaps even buy a used car after riding his bike to and from class and work for four years.

Exhibit by Tyrone Lawrence (credit cards) and Lorelei Barse (debit cards)

When you buy something and offer "plastic" to pay, the cashier often asks you, "Debit or credit?" This exhibit analyzed the advantages and disadvantages of credit cards (Tyrone Lawrence's research) and the advantages and disadvantages of debit cards (Lorelei Tervino-Barse's research). Both types of "plastic" can help adults to manage their money, but smart adults understand the risks and the benefits.

Exhibit by Maggie Yankton

When you get your checking account, you can often select the design you want to have on your checks. Artist Maggie Yankton used color pencil and ink to create an original design featuring images reflecting Dakota culture. She carefully measured sample checks to ensure that all details (such as the lines to put signature, etc.) were exactly placed. She even invented a bank, "Indigenous National Bank."

We got a letter from Mr. Archambault, Chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe!

He wrote to tell us the good news about the DAPL. Here is the letter:

Dear Patrice,

Yesterday we were notified that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will not grant the easement to cross Lake Oahe for the Dakota Access pipeline. Instead, they will prepare an Environmental Impact Statement regarding alternative routes for the pipeline. This action strongly vindicates what the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe has been saying all along – that we all have a responsibility to protect our waters for future generations.

This is an historic moment. For centuries, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, and tribes across the country, have faced fundamental injustice at the hands of the federal government - which time and again took our lands and tried to destroy our way of life. Our Treaties and our human rights were ignored, our interests in protecting lands and waters were considered unimportant, and our voices were not heard.

It was this shared history that led Tribes to come together as never before to seek the protection of our waters against the threat of the Dakota Access pipeline. With peace and prayer, indigenous people from hundreds of Tribes said: our future is too important. We can no longer be ignored. The goal was to protect these sacred waters, and to do so in the name of our children.

And, with yesterday’s decision, it is clear that our voices have at long last been heard.

Yesterday’s decision demonstrates that, despite all the challenges that Tribes face and all of the terrible wrongs the federal government has committed in dealing with us over the years, justice for Indian people still remains possible. My thanks to the Obama Administration, and particularly to Assistant Secretary Darcy, for upholding the law and doing the right thing.

Yesterday’s decision belongs in large measure to the thousands of courageous people who put their lives on hold to stand with Standing Rock in support of a basic principle -- that water is life. At Standing Rock, our youth played an important role in spreading our message and I am so proud of what they have been able to accomplish.

But Standing Rock could not have come this far alone. Hundreds of tribes came together in a display of tribal unity not seen in hundreds of years. And many thousands of indigenous people from around the world have prayed with us and made us stronger. I am grateful to each of you. And, as we turn a page with yesterday’s decision, I look forward to working with many of you as you return to your home communities to protect your lands and waters, and the sovereignty of your tribes.

My thanks to all of our allies, here and around the world, each of whom contributed to this effort. I want to give a special mention to the veterans who have come to Standing Rock in recent days. I am sure that the strength of your message in support of Standing Rock, and the rights of the Water Protectors, had a powerful impact as the Army made its decision. I appreciate all you have done.

While today is a great day, there is still much that needs to be done to protect Tribal rights and ensure justice for indigenous people everywhere. Using peace and prayer as our guideposts, and with the teachings of our elders and with inspiration from our youth, I believe there is much we can accomplish for the future.

Sincerely,
Dave Archambault, II, Chairman
Standing Rock Sioux Tribe

Do you know who made these signs?

Our solidarity with those at Standing Rock continues to have a big impact.

We made some great signs during first quarter and shared them with our school during our petition drive. We also shared them with our community during our Homecoming Parade.

In October, Mari took our signs with her to the camps. When Maggie went, she saw our signs, too.

And, the professional photographer who took the pictures for this organization's website saw them also. Now they are seen around the world.Look closely at the "masthead" or very top image on the website for Auburn.

Do you recognize those signs?
https://auburnseminary.org/thanksgiving-tell-family-friends-standing-rock/

Camera work produces a "rough cut" of our video

Today, we produced the rough draft of our video. But, in videography, it is called a "rough cut."

Maggie was in charge of the storyboard. She made sure our shots were in the correct order. 

Ian and Lorelei volunteered to be our camera techs. 

We used two iPad cameras to get two angles of shots. 

We tried to do both over-the-shoulder and close up shots.

We did two "takes" of each shot so we can pick the better one.


Raycee volunteered to do the graphics. She made the title page for the video. 

The storyboard helped us keep on track.

Shelby volunteered to be our talent for the video. When you see the video, it will be her hands!

Tonight Sister Patrice offered to edit our rough cuts into the final cut.

Tyrone offered to be our audio engineer, so he and Tre will work on the voice-over narration tomorrow.

Our class agreed that Tre's voice is perfect for the narration!

We will be adding the audio track to the video track using Window's editing software.

Stay tuned for our video!

Producing our First Video

We're glad Ian is tall!! He is putting
the storyboard up on the wall.

Before Fall Break, the class began planning for a video. It is our first video production. We are producing a video about "How to write a check."

So far, we learned industry-specific vocabulary such as:

• storyboard
• scene
• plot
• talent
• setting
• props
• voice- over narration
• close up
• wide-shot
• over-the-shoulder shot
• tracking shot

This is the storyboard. Each card is one scene. The cards tell if it is a close-up or a tracking shot.
A storyboard is like an outline for a video.

Before Fall Break, we made our storyboards. A storyboard is a way that producers plan the scenes for videos and movies. We decided what scenes we needed for our message. We figured out what type of shot we needed for each scene. We also drafted the narration for each scene on the storyboard cards.

After Fall Break, we will shoot our scenes and edit them.

If the video turns out good, we might upload it to YouTube. Stay tuned for more!

Expeditions to Hawaii and the Himalayas!

We are finishing our "Money Management" unit with several projects.

 Tyrone and Tre prepared for their expedition to Shangri La, a lost city in the Himalayas.

They got a small grant from the Expedition Fund for $1,000.00. They deposited it in their checking account, using a deposit slip, and updating their check register. Then, they worked together to decide what type of gear they needed for their expedition. They then "purchased" the gear online, sending a correctly written check for "payment" and, of course, updating their check register.

Their team did an excellent job on the poster about their expedition.

So did the second expedition team. This team went to the Hawaiian island of Maui, to visit Volcano National Park. Their expedition's goal was to set up a basecamp, then take a day hike up the volcano.

 This team was able to buy all its "Needs" and also all of its "Wants" from their wish list. They got $1,500 as their grant because there were more people on this team.

Shelby, Lorelei, Raycee and Ian completed the expedition's poster and all the financial record keeping.

They received two incoming checks, deposited them, entered them in their check register, and then wrote checks to purchase their gear.

Their colorful poster shows a map of the island they are exploring, and also shows a brochure with some facts about Hawaii. The goal of this expedition was to explore a volcano and collect samples of lava rocks. Their research helped them learn that they'd need sturdy hiking boots to hike across the rough hard lava.

Each team earned points for various tasks they completed.

The team that planned the expedition to Hawaii earned the most points for this game.

So, the people on that team won a "10-minute free time" coupon.

They can redeem (use) it any time before the Winter Break as long as their Free Time does not distract from other students' learning.

Stay tuned for two more big projects!

1. We're producing our first video.

2. We're creating a display for December 7, Family Literacy Night. It will be about "Financial Literacy."

Why are people wearing safety pins?

Some of us paid a lot of attention to the presidential elections. We voted in school. We thought about the TV ads we saw. We asked good questions in class and sometimes at home. Now we know who will be our next president.

Some of us are worried about racism, sexism, and hate speech and violence. We do not want it to get worse. We want to show solidarity, not hatred and racism.

Some of us in our class decided to take action. It is a symbol. It is an act of non-violent resistance to hate and prejudice.

Will you wear a safety pin so people will know, without anyone even saying it, that you are a friendly face and they are safe with you?

Will you wear a safety pin to show that anybody who is afraid because there is hatred or prejudice can know that you do care?

Will you wear a safety pin to symbolize that you are a safe person and you will stand up for other people?

Will you stand in solidarity with the people in our world today who need to feel safer? 

We will.

Will your safety pin tell our world you do not want fear, anger, prejudice, racism, sexism, and prejudice against people with disabilities?

Join in. Spread the word on YOUR social media.

#safetypin   #safespace

[We got this idea from http://www.elle.com/culture/news/a40706/safety-pins-election-trump/]

Congratulations!

Today we had an awards assembly. The whole high school attended. 


Four students from our Life Success classes got awards. 










CONGRATULATIONS to:
(l to r)

Maggie Yankton: "A" Honor Roll
Lorelei Barse: Completing College Applications
Raycee Brown: "B" Honor Roll
Shelby Neilan (front): Completing College Applications

You've made our tiwahe proud!!

College applications, anyone?

Our Word Wall grows daily!

Treyton showed good leadership on this project.

This week in the high school was “college application week.” Staff wore college branded clothes. Teachers put up signs about their colleges. Seniors filled out applications. Our class did too. We also learned a lot of college application Word Wall words.

• ACT= the hard test you take before college
• Transcript= official list of your courses and grades
• Enroll= join or become part of
• Selective Service= men age 18 and older must fill out a form so the federal government can maybe draft them if the US needs soldiers
• Primary residence= where you live most of the year
• Tuition= money you pay for a class or a course
• Associate degree= a two-year college degree
• Bachelor degree = a four-year college degree
• Marital status = are you single, married, divorced or widowed?
• Dependent children = children under 18 that are your legal responsibility because you’re a parent or guardian

A "spider map" is not an arachnid. It's a visual outline used before writing an essay.

Doing the Sisseton Wahpeton College application helped us learn new skills that help prepare us for life beyond college. Learning to fill out college applications also teaches us how to do job applications. When we do applications now we will know how to do them in the future. It also helps us learn how to remember our social security number and personal information. This also helped us find out how well we do applications and what we need to work on to improve our application skills in the future.

Collaborative writing is challenging.
Tyrone is good with typing.

Doing this practice also helped us to not fear “applications.” It helped us feel confident about doing them. For example, the practice will help when Ian Wynde fills out his Military application to join the military after graduation.

Most of us are going to college after high school. Tyrone plans to go to United Tribes College to study diesel mechanics. United Tribes has free tuition for Native American students.

We use Google Apps. A projector lets us put our draft up on the white board
so we can more easily see how to improve it. We also use a Google "extension" that
will read our work out loud to us.

Ian also helped to type our article.

Tre plans to go into paleontology as a major. Maggie wants to join the Air Force and be a pilot after graduation or college. Shelby and Lorelei want to go into law enforcement. Raycee wants to study dentistry or nursing. Jameson wants to study technology.

That’s the end of this blog article. This is the class of Sister Patrice signing off and we’ll see you on our next blog.  

AUTHORS: Treyton Neilan, Tyrone Lawrence, Ian Wynde

Editorial Support: Sister Patrice Colletti

Photography: Mostly Sister Patrice because we were busy writing

Hands On Learning

One of our "Word Wall" vocabulary words is "kinesthetic."

If you are a kinesthetic learner, you learn best by doing, acting, trying something, or moving around.

In our class, we learned about kinesthetic when we learned about "VARK." Understanding VARK means we know how we each learn best. We try to have learning activities that use all the different ways of learning:

• Visual (watching or seeing)
• Auditory (listening)
• Reading/writing (reading or writing)
• Kinesthetic (moving)

Here are some examples:

We did a map reading activity. We got clues as to where we were going on an imaginary trip. We had to use an atlas, a South Dakota highway map, a ruler, scrap paper, Google Maps, and the internet to figure out all the clues and get our team to the secret destination.

We "traveled" to a place near Rapid City, SD and visited the Hotrod Institute. This is a real place! http://www.hotrod.edu/ where you can get training in several specialty areas.

Once we figured out where we were going, we had to use the web to research some things about the Hot Rod Institute: costs, classes offered, and more. A few of us even added this link to our browser's "bookmarks" so we can visit it again. 

Who knows? Maybe one of us might attend the actual Hotrod Institute after we graduate from high school! They accept a limited number of students each semester.

Here is another example. 

We explored the insides of several laptop computers that no longer work. We discovered that working on a laptop was a little like fixing a small car's engine- you have to practically take the entire thing apart to get to one specific  piece!

We identified the hard drive, heat sink, RAM, camera, audio, CPU, circuit boards, and other parts. We also had to deal with about a hundred tiny screws. 

We also disassembled a keyboard to salvage the parts. We had to deal with scissors switches that seemed to have a life of their own as they flipped around the room!

We agreed- this is a type of activity we'd like to do again.

First Quarter Retrospective

 Friday, October 21, was the final day of First Quarter.

We took time out from doing the graphic design for our Conference Portfolios to think about First Quarter.

 

Graphic Design by Lorelei Barse

As we reviewed our earned grades for these two classes this first quarter, we were asked to consider the following:

• What is one thing you plan to improve?
• What is your personal goal for your grade for Communications for iIfe Success and Technology for Life Success for Second Quarter? _____________    ______________
• Name two things you will commit to doing to work toward your goal.

We had to be very concrete and specific on how we planned to work towards our goal. It was not enough to say "improve my attendance." We had to explain HOW. For example, "Buy an alarm clock and set it so I do not miss the bus anymore."

Retrospective = to look back (Gosh, we were busy!!)

For part of our retrospective (we learned that the term means "to look back") we had to list things we learned this first quarter. We filled the board!

We agreed: although these two courses can be challenging, we are learning a LOT. We like that it applies to adult life. We like that it is calm in here. And, we like that we do a lot of different things, not just writing worksheets.

Students take the lead

In a typical school, "Parent Conferences" are when parents come to school to talk to teachers about the student's progress.

At Tiospa Zina Tribal School, we are doing it differently.

Working on slide shows.

Parents will come to school on Friday, October 28, between 2 pm and 6 pm and will meet with their student. The student, not the teacher, will lead the conference.

The student will share his/her most recent test scores. He/She will explain the grades earned in all subjects and will explain why those grades were earned. Then, the student will talk about their attendance during the first quarter of this school year. The student will also tell their parent their goals for improvement next quarter. 


Each student in this class will also share work examples in his/her personalized portfolio, and will also share the "About Me" slide presentation created using Google Slides.

Designing dividers for our portfolios

All of these are ways for students to show what they are learning and to think about the meaning of school.

We are practicing for this. There are many parts to remember and do. We need to correctly introduce our parent to Sister Patrice. We can welcome them in English or Dakota. If we do it in Dakota, we get extra credit. 

Then, we have to lead our own meeting, explaining all of the things and answering any questions. Leading a meeting is one of the things we will have to do a lot when we are out of high school, so this is very good practice.

Although it will be hard to do, it is important. If a member of our family can't come, we can talk to Sister Patrice about who else to invite. If no one comes, then our family member can reschedule until November 9. After that, Sister Patrice will do a home visit and we will do the presenting at home.

On October 28, there is also a Tiospa Zina Halloween Feast and Wacipi. It will start at 4:30 (meal) and there are prizes and games as well.

Hopefully, some of us will have good costumes! The rumor is that Sister Patrice will dye her hair blue for Halloween. Come and see if the rumor is true!

Learning about Learning

Authors: Shelby Neilan, Mr.Kittycat. =^-^=, Raycee Brown, Treyton Neilan, Lorelei Barse, Tyrone Lawrence Editor: Sister Patrice Colletti, SDS

 

Our class has been learning about learning disabilities. Adults with disabilities need to understand them so they can self-advocate in work or college. 

The video that we watched, “Embracing Dyslexia,” was about students with dyslexia, and told how dyslexia works. The video explained how to deal with dyslexia and how to get help.

This is how you can tell if someone has dyslexia. Do they have a hard time reading? Can they decode their words? Is language and writing hard for them? Are they not reading at their grade level?
People with dyslexia or other learning disabilities have much more of a hard time with math/ English/ or even reading simple words. Some other signs of having dyslexia are: behavioral problems, frustration, stuttering, having fits because of frustration, and not doing homework because it’s too hard.
What happens if no one figures out that a learning disability is causing all these problems? Behavioral problems are really common because of all the frustration. Teachers or parents or other kids think that the student is lazy, stupid, or slacking. But, really, their learning disability is making learning impossible.
Usually, if you keep on failing, your self-confidence goes down. Some students act out and behave badly. But, maybe you become the quiet one in the back, being invisible to other people, never drawing attention to yourself. A lot of times, students with learning disabilities will find something to do besides what they are assigned to do, like drawing, or something else that finds them joy.

Nobody wants to be totally frustrated every single day. That makes you hate school and learning. Learning disabilities like dyslexia can even cause family problems, and the student ends up angry, crying, and dealing with depression. Behavior issues can be at home, too.

Understanding the bad things that can happen is helpful. The video also pointed out that understanding your learning disability can give you power. Having dyslexia or a learning disability can be a challenge. Learning to work around it (accommodations like listening to audiobooks, using software that reads out loud to you, using a spell checker, and learning to organize things) is hard work. But, people with learning disabilities can succeed.

People usually make a lot of assumptions when they find out someone is dyslexic or has a learning disability. They’ll automatically think, “Oh they’re stupid because they’re dyslexic,” but in reality they’re not, they are very smart! It’s just a struggle for them when they’re learning.

It’s not all bad to be dyslexic. There are good things, too. For example, people who have it can be very social. They might have really strong abilities for art, athletics, or doing things with their hands like being a mechanic, a beautician, a soldier, a musician, a sculptor, or a painter. 

People with dyslexia and learning disabilities can be super successful when they get the right help and accommodations. They can learn, they just learn differently. People who have dyslexia are not stupid. Their brain is wired differently, so they just need more the help to succeed with school learning.

"Team Slayin" lives up to its name

Three Teams competed well.

In a close competition on Friday, Team Slayin' (Lorelei and Raycee) beat both Mato Sapa (Tyrone and Tre) and Jen's Team (Dr. Jen Heath, joined halfway through by Shelby).

The competition used a Jeopardy-styled game-board to quiz teams on words and meanings from the Word Wall.

Capable Technology Assistant served as EmCee and scorekeeper

Jameson ran the technology while also serving as the score keeper. He was a great "EmCee."

Final Scores:
Team Slayin' = 3,200
Mato Sapa = 3,100
Jen's Team= 2,600



The Teams hope for a rematch, with new Word Wall words, in the near future.

Surveys help with planning

It all started with M&Ms.

Yes, we were starving.
But, before we could munch, we had some work to do!

We learned these vocabulary words: horizontal axis, vertical axis, data table, units, bar graph.

We created two bar graphs by collecting the data (counting the colors) and creating a data table. Then, we plotted the data onto bar graphs. Each of us had different data and graphs. Then, we created a bar graph showing data from the entire class. We had to have a new data table. 

Sample bar graph

To the left is a sample of our work product. The top shows the individual student's bar graph, with some of the new terms added. The bottom shows our class's group bar graph.

Using colors allowed easier viewing. We had to change the labels on the vertical axis when we did the group bar graph.

Below, you can see the bar graphs displayed on the wall. (Above them is an activity we did earlier in the week on job hunting.)

Display of our work

On Thursday, we continued this activity by looking at the data table and graphs from our class survey last week. We were asked to show our preferences for topics for second quarter. Below, you can view the summary slide show that graphs our responses. Our recommendations will be used for planning learning activities. We also plan to create our own surveys on the computer later in the year.