Ndakinna Cultural Center in East Calais

From Charlene McManis at the Ndakinna Cultural Center:

Sitting Bull once said, "Let us put our minds together and see what life will make for our children." For many generations, his words served our native community.

Here at NDAKINNA CULTURAL CENTER, we endeavor to continue his goal of offering Native American Heritage for Vermont’s children. Programs like the drumming circle and beadwork classes merge artistic training with native teachings. Our web site (http://www.ndakinna.org/) provides a Wabanaki directory with valuable resources for education, research, and so much more.

For more information, you may phone 802-456-8884 or visit us at 34 Moscow Woods Road in East Calais. Gici oliwni (Many thanks)

21st Century Skills and Social Studies

I received the following email from a social studies teacher here in Vermont. I'm interested in your reactions, comments, and feedback:

Hi Sigrid,

I just read over the DOE Transformation document and the 21st Century Skills document again and here's my thought. I'd like social studies to take the lead in creating and implementing plans for these goals to be obtained. The integrated nature of the content with emphasis on packaged skills is right up our alley.

The last time DOE began an initiative, (Standards), we were dragged kicking, screaming and late to the meeting. The fallout has been that we have been marginalized and made adjunct English teachers. We can do better.

Let's embrace this stuff and move forward with it. Form a committee of people around the state that can look at these documents through the lense of classroom teachers who consistently synthesize relevant topics, pursue inquiry and cause students to create meaningful, integrated presentations.

On our best days that's what social studies does.

• Your thoughts?
• Click on the link to the VT DOE Transformation document for more info: http://education.vermont.gov/new/html/dept/transformation.html

Obama Inspired by, Compared to Lincoln

By Philip Rucker, Washington Post Staff Writer

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

He was a boy with a distant father, raised in a family of modest means. He had a curious intellect, devouring history and memorizing passages from Shakespeare. He became a lawyer and settled in Illinois, where he was elected to the state legislature. With relatively little political experience, he decided to run for president. Few believed he stood a chance of winning a primary campaign against the party's heir apparent, a senator from New York.

But the gangly, bookish Illinoisan galvanized millions across a country in crisis with his soaring rhetoric, speaking in big strokes about transcending partisan politics and creating America as it ought to be. He rose from obscurity to clinch his party's nomination and the presidency. The New York senator returned home deeply disappointed and bitter, having fallen to a shrewd political tactician.

Sound familiar?
Read the rest at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/18/AR2008111803854.html

Watch Doris Kearns Goodwin talk about these connections at http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/doris_kearns_goodwin_on_learning_from_past_presidents.html

• What do you think about this premise (the connections between Obama and Lincoln)?
• How can you use this information in your classroom?