Incoming Ninth Graders Committed to Excellence
The Native Academy’s Hi-prep Summer Program is designed to provide American Indian students with the skills they need to effectively transition from middle school to high school. The program ran for six hours a day and was conducted primarily at three sites and in partnership with two other programs; Base Camp, an algebra foundation skills program - and Project Success, which is a program designed to familiarize students with the school they were scheduled to enter the following fall. Activities were also held at various off-campus locations.
Foundational skills were delivered in thematic units and were based primarily in three areas: math skills, science skills, and personal & cultural development. For example, in one week the theme was “relationships to your environment”. The math segment dealt with points on a line and measurements, and performed a model of the big dipper using students as points on the line. They also did line drawings, making various shapes and characters using only straight lines. The science segment concentrated on the big bang and galactic nebular formation theory, giving a point of origin for everything in our worlds.
Wrapping it all up was the personal and cultural development unit, which consisted of relationship mapping and relaying indigenous knowledge that was similar to that presented in the math, astronomy, and physical science that was discussed in the classroom.Utilizing this method, students came to realize that science and math come from more than one single perspective and model.
Students also used blocks to visualize algebraic equations, made non-toxic slime from common household chemicals, collected and identified macro-invertebrates, toured local historical sites that are important elements in indigenous history, and learned how to perform the hoop dance indigenous to the area.