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A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to report on the successful past school year that Oshki Ogimaag Charter School on the Grand Portage Reservation had completed. In learning more about their mission, as stated on their school webpage, “to Preserve the Anishinaabe language and culture where Students receive daily Ojibwe language instruction”, I had the privilege of learning about the successful language program in place there. Heading the effort to preserve both the Ojibwe language and cultural education at Oshki Ogimaag Charter School is Anishinaabe Language Director and teacher Dr. Erik M. Redix. Dr. Redix, who will be entering his 3rd year at the school this fall works with students in all grade levels, as well as parents and community members.
Originally from NW Wisconsin, and passionate about his work, Dr. Redix first received a BA in History from UW-Madison, and a Ph.D. in History from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. When asked about his 20+ year chosen career path, he explained, “My teaching interests are Ojibwe language and culture and I’ve found these topics are best engaged by young learners. In general, language acquisition is easier for young learners. In addition, when I taught in higher education, most of the students were non-Indians from middle class suburban backgrounds. It is much more rewarding for me teaching Native students on the reservation.”
Dr. Erik M. Redix
From the Oshki Ogimaag Charter School Webpage, “Ojibwe is part of the Algonquian language family. There are Ojibwe communities in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, North Dakota, and Montana.” Further information states, “It is important to remember as you learn Ojibwe that it is not English. Ojibwe is its own form of communication linguistically unrelated to English. We cannot say everything in Ojibwe exactly how it sounds in English. Likewise, Ojibwe provides ways of describing the world around us that are unique. As a result of Ojibwe people living in our region for hundreds of years, Ojibwe provides a means of describing and understanding the land we live on that is more precise and comprehensive than English.” In addition, “In Minnesota and Wisconsin, Ojibwe is written in a standardized alphabet called the double vowel system.” Redix stated that in this system, certain letters are not present and therefore, there are less consonants as well as more vowels present creating different sounds.
Redix, who is known to his students by his Ojibwe name, Misko-anang, explained his teaching methodologies and stated, “I believe (from my own experience as a language learner) that each student should speak Ojibwe every day. For Grades 2-6, they begin class with an asemaa (tobacco) offering in Ojibwe. All levels (including the adult class) begin every class with an introduction (name, clan, where we are from), discussion of the weather, how we feel, and what we did today. Then we move on to whatever new material we are working on. At all levels, we go around and each student practices speaking the material.” Erik learned Ojibwe, himself, in college and stressed how the acquisition of the language resembles more of a musical ability than a natural ability and is different than other academic skills. He stressed the importance of, “Setting goals for where I want students to be and for fluency to be more of a seamless direction in their curriculum.”
During the school year, Dr. Redix invites parents and other community members to weekly 90-minute Ojibwe language lessons. These lessons are available for all levels of language learners within and beyond the community. During this past year the meetings were held via Zoom and often included 8-10 students.
Enthusiastic about his role at OOCS, Redix says he enjoys, “The mix of teaching and working on other projects. Half of my time is working for Grand Portage on language, which allows me time to work on the adult classes, the radio program, and develop other language programming. It can be a little overwhelming, but it all kind of fits together.” Redix emphasizes the importance of keeping the doors of communication and collaboration open. While students are exposed to a lot of cultural awareness and understandings at school, Redix stresses the importance of guiding students to also learn grammar and the rules of the language as much as possible.
Erik is also excited about a new radio program acquired through a Grand Portage Band learning grant translated as the “Listening Box”- or “Anishinaabe Bizindamoo-makak” which will feature Ojibwe first speakers telling stories in Ojibwe and English. Redix described, “One of the goals of the program is to preserve the dialect of Ojibwe spoken at Grand Portage, which is called by linguists the “Border Lakes” dialect, the Ojibwe spoken in communities along the Ontario and Minnesota border.” The half hour monthly program has its first episode air on July 29th at 5 pm. Episodes are also available for streaming at wtip.org. Redix says, “Interviewing Ojibwe first speakers helps my teaching as well. For example, the school will have programming throughout this upcoming year by the University of Minnesota’s Raptor Center. They want to incorporate Ojibwe culture and relationship to raptors, so one of the things I want to interview our first speakers about on the radio program is traditional teachings about eagles and other raptors.”
Redix takes great pride in his hometown of roughly 500 residents and said, “Grand Portage is a very friendly and welcoming community. I’ve never lived anywhere with as strong a sense of community.” In his free time Erik partakes in Ojibwe activities such as ‘Ricing Time’ in late summer/early fall. The collection of this shelf stable food requires a lot of processing time and he said is, “central to life.” In early spring, Redix likes to collect and pick Fiddlehead ferns as well.
With no shortage of solid educational institutions and instructors in Northeastern Minnesota, Oshki Ogimaag Charter School and Language Director Erik Redix are no exception to the high standard which has been set. Redix has undoubtedly set the bar high for both language acquisition and cultural education and awareness in Cook County.
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