Blackfeet Head Start
Teaching and Learning Center:
Enhancing Learning Through Culture
The common, and distinguished, characteristic that binds Indian people together is their culture. And native language is the major vehicle for transmitting and preserving that Native American culture.
The Blackfeet people are making a committed effort to preserve their language and to actively involve community members in a reexamination of traditional Blackfeet values. Within the community, the Blackfeet Head Start program is a major support of traditional values and native language. For example, the Head Start program teaches the Blackfeet language, involves Elders in the classroom, and cooperates with other agencies (such as the Piegan Institute, a non-profit Blackfeet Research Organization, and the local tribal college) to promote language and cultural values.
The Blackfeet Teaching and Learning Center (TLC) is a demonstration project attached to the Blackfeet Head Start program. It is one of 12 teaching and learning centers that were created in 1993 to provide hands-on training at a local model site to staff of other Head Start programs. The Blackfeet TLC serves all Indian programs in the UNited States. Other TLC's serve the 10 Head Start Regions and the Migrant Head Start program.
ALl training is conducted on-site at the Blackfeet main center and its satellite locations. Training may be conducted in either a formal session structured like a workshop, or in informal tutorial sessions geared to meet individual needs. The number of participants varies according to the topic of the session.
The Head Start classrooms carry on their regular day-today activities regardless of observations by the TLC participants, and the number of trainers at any session is influenced by how many can be accommodated in the classrooms. Training sessions focus on incorporating Indian culture into all aspects of the Blackfeet Head Start curriculum, and TLC participants are coached in methods of adapting their own unique cultures into their curriculums when they return to their programs.
Although the Blackfeet TLC is geographically isolated, many tribal Head Start program staff have attended training despite the long distance from their programs and the lack of specific funds to bring participants to the Browning, Montana site. According to a survey, participants cite as their main reason for coming to the center an opportunity to see a well-established and recognized Indian program, as well as an opportunity to strengthen their network with other Indian programs. Surveys and evaluations also indicate that participants, in addition to acquiring new information, leave the training renewed in spirit and determined to support and infuse tradition into their programs.
The training schedule for the 1995-1996 school year for the Blackfeet TLC is as follows:
- Parent Policy Board/Parent
involvement: October 16-20
- Blackfeet History and Language:
November 14
- Education/Disabilities/Blackfeet Children's Week: November 15-17
- Health/Nutrition: March 18-20, 1996
- Social Services: April 10-12, 1996
- To obtain further information on the Blackfeet TLC, or to arrange a visit to the center, contact Leona Skunk Cap or Wiilma Meineke, P.O. Box 518, Browning, MT 59417. (406) 338-7714.