Culture Is The Central Lesson

See a seventh-grade teacher bang a drum as he explains circle geometry.

Sit in a circle of kindergartners and hear how Raven controlled the tides.

Watch those children count off for lunch in an American Indian language that’s nearly extinct.

American Indian ceremonies, myths, art and crafts are central to Chief Leschi Schools. They’ve been essential since long before the striking new campus opened last fall.

For several years, the school’s youngest students have been taught Twulshootseed, a Salish dialect, once spoken by the Puyallup Tribe.

A revised curriculum gives the cultural angle a bigger push. It asks teachers to weave an American Indian perspective into subjects such as English and history.

Within the last three years, that’s happened more and more, said schools Superintendent Linda Rudolph.

Middle school teacher Harvey Whitford does it with math. A Blackfeet Indian, Whitford wears his hair in a short braid. He’s also a traditional dancer at powwows. When it came time to talk about circles in his seventh-grade math class, he spoke of culture, along with geometric formulas.

He wore an American Indian ribbon shirt, because the circle lesson was a special occasion.

“The circle is especially important to the Indian people,” he explained to the nine students present. “Life begins and ends in a circle. The circle is sacred.”

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