Week three:  This week the focus was on Treaty Law and Sovereignty. These are difficult concepts for me to wrap my head around. I appreciated the video "Treaty Law and Tribal Sovereignty" narrated by Dan Decker. Even though he is just "lecturing", I found his explanations easy to understand. He has a way of explaining these very complicated topics in a simpler way. His way of speaking definitely helped me to better understand.

Saying reservations are a "nation within a nation" is a great way to define it. I had never really thought about it that way before. This is something the kids can understand for sure. I also understood better after he explained that treaties are as good today as before. I did not realize that they are the Supreme Law of the Land, but it only makes sense. I did not realize that so many treaties were not ratified or that Congress passed an Act that did not allow more treaties after 1872.

While I understand the concepts better, I am amazed at how complicated things get, especially when some courts will abide by the treaty while others choose Congress. I can understand the constant fight over water rights, mineral rights, and easements. What a muddy area!

I now have a very basic understanding of Abrogation. I would like to learn a bit more about this, but I feel that this is where things really get messy.

We were introduced to two lessons from Mike Schmoker and modified by Tammy Elser. I loved them both and can honestly seeing myself use them in the classroom. I love the structure of the lesson on teaching with film. I often do entry/exit tickets to check for background/understanding and to help hold students accountable. I really like how the video is broken up with thinking breaks because I always have a hard time sustaining attention to videos, especially ones that introduce new content to me. I even let my mind drift during movies I enjoy. I know so many students are just like me, so this format will be extremely helpful in all areas of my teaching.

I also really appreciate the way Tammy adapted the lesson for Literacy Based Learning. I like the way she broke it up (time wise) and the visual she gave of the sandwich. I'm so visual that it really helped a lot. I am not seeing a copy of this lesson and wonder if there is any way we can get one. Both of the adobe files I opened were for the video lesson.

This week introduced a challenging topic. I am pleased to say that I now have some good background knowledge that I did not have before.