Vision Page

What will you will know or be able to do that you didn't before? What major question/s will this project help you answer?  

The history and culture of Chevak and the Cup'ik people,  the impact of the U.S. government, missionaries, etc.

What will your activities be? How will your time be spent?  

I shall visit the Alaskan village of Chevak, hear stories from elders, camp in the tundra, help out at a fish camp, participate in UAA's Partnership for Teacher Enhancement summer institute taught by John Pingayaq, a Cup'ik teacher, and Bill McDiarmid, who established the rural summer institutes for teachers.

Why do you want to do this? What's the value in it for you or for society?

I want to do this because this is the life of the true, first Alaskans,  they have a great history and stories to tell.

  Objective Activities Materials Assessment
Lesson #1: Plants I will be able to identify plants and know they are used for. Tea, remedies, attempt at a grass basket.
  • Walk
  • Making and testing remedies
  • Grass basket weaving
  • Plants, jars, pots
  • Medicinal Flora of the Alaska Natives
 A list of native plants and their uses.
Lesson #2: History I will have an understanding of the history of the people and places of Chevak.
  • Listen to stories from the elders
  • Visit ancient places (like old village sites, and graveyards)
  • Help develop timeline and listen to the lecture/stories about it.
  • Elders
 A timeline of Chevak history created with the stories from the elders.
Lesson #3: Culture To learn about Cup'ik culture, including dance, masks, crafts, values, philosophy, social roles, subsistence, festivals, etc. 
  • Read "The Cup'ik People of the Western tundra: A curriculum" by John Pingayaq
  • Watch dancing
  • Learn and perform a dance
  • Grass basket weaving
  • Make a manuq (a fish gig)
  • See masks and kayaks
  • Paper on Cup'ik life
  • Manuq: wood, wire, string, file
  • Grass

 

 A picture gallery of Cup'ik crafts, the Cup'ik values, a manuq (a fish gig), an attempt at a grass basket, dance.

 
Lesson #4: Federal and State Acts To learn about the ways the federal government has affected the lives and ways of Native people.
  • Research the main federal acts that affect Chevak
  • Use knowledge form experience to make connections
 Description of a few subsistence laws and their affect on Cup'ik life that I have seen.
Lesson #5: Experience To experience the tundra and life around Chevak
  • Keep a journal
  • Take photographs
   Photo gallery, summary of my experience
Lesson #6: Occupational Ed. To learn occupational skills
  • Working
   Summary of what I did

 

chevak