Wóokiye Orientation Course Part 1

Part 1: Oceti Sakowin Essential Understandings Overview

Course Description:

This course is designed as an orientation to South Dakota’s Oceti Sakowin Essential Understandings (OSEU) for newly selected members of the Wóokiye Project for South Dakota teachers. Participants will engage in three weekly overview sessions around the seven OSEU that will include viewing Elder interviews from the Wolakota Project site and discussing the content shared by those Elders, how it connects with classroom content and why it is important for these essential understandings to be integrated into South Dakota classroom instruction. Following the final session, participants will produce a written reflective plan of action concerning their own specific teaching assignment and its connections with the OSEU. They will also include their own plan for sharing the OSEU with other teaching colleagues and assisting them in implementation within their own classrooms and instruction.

Course Objectives:

  • Participants will gain an understanding of each of the seven OSEU
  • Participants will engage with no less than 21 Elder interview clips aligned with the OSEU
  • Participants will attend and participate in all 3 ZOOM gatherings, and contribute substantively to the online discussions
  • Participants will develop their own plan for implementing the OSEU into their classroom practice
  • Participants will develop their own plan for assisting their colleagues in implementation of the OSEU

Evaluation Criteria: 

  • Observation of full participation in each of the 3 zoom calls
  • Completion of the 2-page reflective paper outlining their plan of action for implementing the OSEU and for assisting colleagues in implementing the OSEU

Meeting One:

15 min Opening Introduction
15 min Tour of the WoLakota Project web resources
30 min Who Gets to Tell the Story? Joseph Marshall III
10 min Break
30 min Whole Group Overview of OSEU 1 Sacred Relatives
1 hour Overview of OSEUs (small group discussions)

30 min Final Discussion of Understandings (whole group, Q&A)

Meeting Two:

30 min Opening Introduction 
1 hour Overview of OSEUs (small group discussions)

10 min Break
1 hour Final Discussion of Understandings (whole group, Q&A)

Meeting Three:

30 min Opening Introduction 
1 hour Overview of OSEUs (small group discussions)

10 min Break
30 min Final Discussion of Understandings (whole group, Q&A)
30 min Discussion of final reflective paper