Native American School Melds Tradition and Technology

I ran across this article that I found very interesting. Using technology to promote cultural awareness within this tribal school. I also find it interesting that they are also still going to public school part of the time. I am not sure how they are locking down the ipods. To be honest I didn't know you could lock them down by content.


"Native American School Melds Tradition and Technology

The state-of-the-art Pemayetv Emahakv Charter School on the Seminole Tribe's Brighton Reservation in Florida, puts some of the tribe's casino earning to work providing students with a 21st century education.

The school, which opened in August and cost $10 million to build, sports laptop computers, iPods, highly-qualified teachers and a marked respect for the students' culture. While students in one classroom use podcasts to learn language arts, others are busy learning Creek, the Seminole language.

Tribal elders know they are educating children who will take over the tribe's extensive business holdings, but they want these future leaders to be rooted in Seminole tradition. Central to maintaining tradition is the effort to keep the Creek language alive. Not only are the children learning , but so are parents, many of whom do not speak Creek and have to turn grandparents and other tribal elders for help. Pemayetv Emahakv is operating as a charter school, building on an earlier "pull-out" program the tribe operated that allowed Seminole students attending nearby public schools to remain on the reservation once a week for cultural classes.

Like all Florida schools, Pemayetv Emahakv students will take the FCAT, but operating as a charter allows teachers more freedom to tailor instruction to students' needs. And technology is a big part of individualizing instruction at Pemayetv Emahakv.

Teachers say that students are much more focused when using technology tools and seem to take in more information. To prevent problems, the school's iPods are programmed to work with only school approved material, like a hip- hop multiplication tables program and maps that display on the iPod screen."