Dear Editor: On May 15, Blatchley Middle School seventh-grade students got to go out on a boat and practice their navigation skills with great success!
To be honest, this year was really hard because we worked for years to integrate the Native navigation study across all core seventh grade subjects at BMS but two of our navigation team teachers were laid off last year. Teachers were shifted around so that some of the seventh grade team teachers are not only teaching two grade levels in core subjects, but some are also teaching in subjects they have never taught at BMS. This meant that our BMS navigation teaching team went from five to two (Alexander Allison and Kate Mullin). But you have to hand it to all the teachers at BMS. They are tough, and they have stepped up all year to give the BMS students the best instruction that they can every day.
To start off, Alexander Allison’s classes got to hear the old Kiks.adi Kaax’achgóok story about long ago hunters blown out to sea for over a year who made it home. The Kiks.adi oral history told by A.P. Johnson was recorded in the book ‘‘Haa Shuka edited’’ by Richard and Nora Dauenhauer. On a video, the story was read by Kitty Eddy and George Holly, who brought it to life with historical pictures as a part of a teaching team led by Nancy Douglas. In the past, the Daunhauer’s, along with Andy Hope, had a dream of public school teachers bringing Tlingit literature into the classroom and Alexander Allison is making that dream come true. But Alexander Allison takes the idea a step further to meet his state standards for literature. Students not only learn the story, they experience parts of it. After hearing the story, students look at the science in the story like Pribilof fur seal migrations, Gulf of Alaska currents, wind direction, use of celestial navigation, etc.
Next we also look at the parts of a NOAA nautical chart and learn to interpret abbreviations on navigation markers. Then we spent two full days learning how to find latitude and longitude from NOAA chart locations and one day on compass reading. This year we modified our triangulation lessons skill to marking a compass rose with an azimuth taken from the Sitka Harbor and using parallel rulers to generate a latitude and longitude of that spot.
Lastly, Ms. Mullin’s class worked on creating a sailing plan, measuring distance, finding headings and thinking about distance, rate and time. The whole seventh grade class then got to go on one of two Native Navigation Allen Marine boat field trips and practice their navigating skills. The idea was for students to “navigate through the story” recording Native place names from the story as they passed them and go to the place where the lost hunters returned along with key places that are difficult to navigate through.
On the field, trip cultural teachers Jamie Bradley, Erin Rofkar and Roby Littlefield came aboard to point out Native place names as we passed them and to share stories and/or meanings that go with the place names.
To make this happen, it took a lot of people behind the scenes to pull it off. First, gunalcheesh to Jule LeBlanc at Sitka Native Education Program who helped by providing funding for SNEP cultural staff, including STEAM funds for instruction and other expenses, along with lots of encouragement! Next, the BMS administrators and staff worked really hard at supporting the seventh grade team and all the students in so many ways, gunalcheesh! Ben White is the rock that supports grade- level team curriculum integration and played a big role this year in organizing key time-line points and funding to cover classes so teachers could be a part of instruction on the boat.
Add them with the “rock star” office staff, and good things happened for students and teachers! There were so many hurdles to jump over but the BMS teaching staff and administration were all about teamwork. But, when it really comes down to making things happen for kids, it is the wonderful BMS parents that stand up and give their support by sending in donations to cover the reduced school discount that is requested and showing up to be team leaders on the boat! Gunalcheesh to the parents who came aboard to lead a team!
Teachers can dream up engaging activities that motivate students to keep learning until the end of school but there are key components that always make the dream come true. In this event there were two key components. The first one is the Kiks.adi story that brought meaning and purpose to all the hard work that comes with learning navigation in seventh grade in the land of the Tlingit. Gunalcheesh to the Kiks.adi clan for holding onto this remarkable story and sharing it so it can inspire us to never give up, be brave, dig our paddles way down, when things get tough! The second key component is giving the students the opportunity to practice navigating on a boat! A boat trip motivates students’ learning in the classroom like nothing else. Since I wrote the first grant to do this in the 90s, Allen Marine has charged us the same incredible educational discount price all these years (since 1997)! When it comes to supporting Sitka students learning traditional Native place names and how to navigate Sitka waters, Allen Marine shows up for our kids even fitting us in during their busy tour schedule! They provide the best captains and crew for us AND after our Sitka kids grow up, they provide them wonderful training and job opportunities! Gunalcheesh to Allen Marine for all the educational support for so many BMS students for so many years! Allen Marine and their fine crew “walk their talk” every spring to keep our Sitka students safe!!!
I also wanted to thank to the United States Coast Guard Aids to Navigation Team that always send us some folks to go on the boat trips to support the student’s navigation efforts. This year, BM1 Gerke, BM1 Sanchez, BM3 Whitmore, MK3 Tutich and EM3 Wandel came aboard and worked with the student teams. They joined parent and teacher team leaders on the boat and it was fun to see them take on an active role with the students. This year’s crew were especially engaged and supportive, so thank you to officer Isaiah Gerke who recruited them for the trip! These guys actually took some of their free time off to show up for our young BMS navigators and Isaiah told me that they “were impressed with how much knowledge of navigation the students had!”
One of the ‘‘first time ever” memory of this year’s boat trips was watching a USCG helicopter do a low wide turn in a “fly over” on the north side of Halleck Island! Cheers were all over the boat! Where else does that happen? It turns out that the USCG helicopter was working in the area and saw the students on board and flew back for a flyover much to everyone’s delight.
Another great memory was watching Kate Mullin in action on a fast moving boat talking the students step by step through how to calculate the speed of the boat after they had found the distance and time as it raced home! Kate is a masterful teacher who challenges students not by giving them the answers, but by asking them questions. It was so fun to see her work her magic! I also want to thank Kelly Buxton for all the technology help during the weeks of instruction and the use of her classroom to stage the boat materials! Kelly teaches teachers along with her students to help us succeed on many levels.
I feel so grateful to live in a community with such hard-working supportive educators, parents, and community members who step up for our children. A team of wonderful folks managed to do the hard work of bringing navigation skills into and out of the classroom for our children, because they wanted them to be safe on the water this summer and have an opportunity to apply what they have learned this year! This is one of the things that make us “rural.” We teach our children to navigate in public school and take them all out on a boat to practice their new skills! Who does that? We do! Gunalcheesh to everyone!
Patty Dick, Sitka
