Jack Joyce
Pretty Eagle Catholic School
St. Xavier, MT

"I find out as much as I can about my students' beliefs and ideas and then use this knowledge as the groundwork for teaching them science. I incorporate old stories of the Crows that explain how things got the way they are, and then explain the science behind the stories. It is my job to understand my students' cultural framework and then expose them to other perspectives about world they live in."

"What makes Mr. Joyce's class interesting and exciting is the way he can explain what he's talking about in a way that we can understand. One time he helped me with my science fair project. Whenever I didn't know what to do, he would be there for me, and when he teaches us, he makes it fun to learn."

Jack teaches on the Crow Reservation, where 99 percent of the students are members of the Crow Tribe. Most of the students live in homes where Crow is spoken and, while they wouldn't be classified as ESL students, are culturally and linguistically caught in the middle. Jack successfully adjusts his curriculum to fit comfortably into the world views of his students and to relate back to their community and life on the reservation. For example, when Jack teaches a lesson on resources, he teaches about reservation resources such as timber, coal, hydroelectric power, and grasslands. His curriculum on geology of the reservation includes mountains, plains, and Big Horn Canyon, where students take a boat into the canyon and learn about its formation.

Other Highlights:

• In 2001, Jack coached a team of four 8th-grade girls who won the Bayer/National Science Foundation Award. The girls looked at housing problems in their community and used science to investigate the usefulness of straw bale houses to solve their housing problems. In August of 2002, with help from many donors and volunteer organizations, Jack and the four girls built a straw bale study hall, complete with computers, to demonstrate how efficient and practical these buildings can be.
• Jack brings many life and professional experiences to the classroom, such as golf caddy, mushroom farmer, ski instructor, cook, fishing guide, Coast Guard licensed boat captain, marina owner and manager, and professional fencer (the barbed wire kind!).
• Jack is an adopted member of the Crow Tribe.
• Some of Jack's passions include his wife, Molly; their four children, Jerem, Maggie, Jessica, and John; fishing; hiking; boating; skiing; and spending time with his family in the mountains.