Native Intelligence : Middle School Students Delve Into Lives of American Indian Tribes

Crystal Reinwald, 12, doesn’t remember much about American Indians. That’s not surprising, considering that the last time she studied the topic was in fourth grade.

But in eighth-grade history class this year at Oak Avenue Middle School, Crystal is going to learn a lot about American Indians.

By next June, the Temple City Unified student should be able to rattle off names like Susquehanna, Chickasaw and Shoshone and discuss the cultures of various tribes. She will also learn how American settlers interacted with the indigenous people they found and eventually brought about the demise of many tribes.

“We’re going to try to focus on conflicts and interaction between Indians and settlers instead of generic Indian hodgepodge,” says Crystal’s history teacher, John Lopez.

Like most school districts throughout California, Temple City has adopted a new state-approved social studies curriculum that emphasizes multicultural themes and uses literature, creation myths, diaries, speeches and political cartoons to teach history.

As the school year starts, Lopez is introducing the themes with the help of fat new textbooks by Holt Rinehart Winston and a slew of supplementary materials including maps, paintings and photos of museum artifacts.

This will be a learning process for teachers as well as students, Lopez says. He was handed the books with little training or instruction about how to teach the new curriculum and admits he is feeling his way gingerly through the first year.

Lopez hopes to get a publisher’s representative out to Temple City soon to explain the books to him and the district’s only other eighth-grade social studies teacher.

But Lopez, a mentor teacher with 14 years of experience, says many ideas in the new social studies framework fit right in to what he has been teaching all along.

Like a number of teachers in the San Gabriel Valley, Lopez has always complemented whatever text he used with excerpts from books, diaries and poems that illustrate the historical eras and concepts he was teaching.

Many teachers did this to enhance history texts that were boring, out-of-date or told from a Eurocentric perspective that they felt did not adequately address the contributions of women and minority groups.

Now, teachers such as Lopez say they are gratified that the state Department of Education is validating the ideas they implemented in their classrooms years ago.

And although some of the eighth-graders may still be dreaming of summer during these first few weeks of class, Lopez has no problem holding their interest.

This is in part because Lopez, 44, tall and animated, has a rapid way of talking that is impossible to ignore. His energy is contagious, and he is constantly shooting out questions and calling on students to answer, even if their hands aren’t raised.

Each day, he puts up three goals on the board, so students know what they will be learning and by what means. Lopez also sends home a homework policy that parents must sign and return so they know what their children are learning.

Some students say the book is a big improvement over previous texts.

“Last year’s book was kind of out-of-date and boring,” says Kiyomi Onogi, 12, an avid reader who says she already likes this year’s text, called “The Story of America.”

“It’s sort of like telling a story,” she says. “When you tell a good story, it just goes on and on and keeps your interest.”

In addition, Lopez knows some tricks to hold student interest and get them actively involved.

Like what Lopez calls the “Native American Challenge” game.

To prepare, the eighth-graders scrutinized a map from about 1500 that divides the United States and Canada into various geographical areas and lists the major Indian tribes according to where they lived.

Lopez is quick to point out tribal names that remain in use today: Illinois, Delaware, Ottawa. Then he has the class prepare a list of questions about the map.

The following day, they will split into two teams and quiz each other.

“Look into your mind’s eye,” Lopez says. “Remember what we did yesterday. Think map.”

The eighth-graders have six seconds to come up with the right answer. They must also spell the name correctly.

“The Powhatan are found in what region?” Alfred Padilla asks David Hseih.

“Eastern wilderness,” comes the response.

“Will we take that, class?” Lopez asks his students. The class agrees the answer is correct.

The teacher likes these interactive games because they force students to think and use the data they are learning instead of just making lists. The following day, after his students are familiar with the various tribes across America, Lopez can introduce settlers.

He begins by launching a discussion on why people move today, which he will then relate to why settlers moved 400 years ago. Some of the answers he gets from his students: starting over, buying a bigger house, getting married, getting divorced, finding a higher-paying job, escaping crime, natural disaster or pollution.

With a student body that is 51% Anglo, 26% Asian, 20% Latino and 3% black, Filipino, American Indian and Pacific Islander, a number of the children are immigrants themselves, and Lopez tries to relate their personal experiences to those of the early settlers.

He also keeps close tabs on two Asian boys who are recent immigrants still struggling with English. Before the “Native American Challenge” begins, Lopez asks discreetly whether they feel comfortable participating. They are game.

Once students see that their reasons for moving aren’t so dissimilar from that of the early settlers, Lopez is ready to introduce a historical account.

Recently, for instance, students read from the diary of William Calk, a colonist who moved West in 1775. The object: to get students thinking critically about why people move from one place to another and to experience one person’s account.

“Sat. 8th,” the diary said. “We all packed up and started across Cumberland Gap about one o’clock this day. Met a good many people. Turned back for fear of the Indians, but our company goes on still with good courage.”