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##  Preparing Teachers To Support American Indian and Alaska Native                 Student Success and Cultural Heritage. ERIC Digest.                          

This Digest briefly summarizes literature related to preparing                  educators to bring about American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN)              student success and discusses what "success" in life means for                  Indian students of all ages and their extended families. We draw our            information from both Native and non-Native sources, with the idea              that educators need to prepare AI/AN students to live in and give               back to both local and global communities. 
Nearly 30 years after              Fuchs and Havighurst concluded that schools "should follow the                  Indian voice" (1973, p. 306), Deloria and Wildcat echo the idea that            Indian education must become a process "that moves within the Indian            context and does not try to avoid or escape this context" (2001, p.             85). This is the expressed, yet unmet, goal of the federal                      government's policy of Indian self-determination, one that shapes               the content of this Digest, which is in two parts. The first part               points to the goals of Indian education, and the second part focuses            on how to reach them. VALUING INTERCONNECTEDNESSHigh                      expectations. Too often student success is defined in terms of test             scores. While not discounting academic achievement, traditional                 expectations for AI/AN learning involve the whole child. Although               the Indian voice differs some from one community to the next,                   Brendtro, Brokenleg, and Van Bockern, in "Reclaiming Youth at Risk:             Our Hope for the Future" (1990), describe a model for expectancy                patterned after accumulated American Indian wisdom that, although               intended for "at-risk" learners, seems especially applicable to                 AI/AN children. They challenge traditional Western expectations                 relating to learning theories, discipline, youth empowerment, and               school structure. Like Jacobs and Jacobs-Spencer's "Teaching                    Virtues" (2000), it brings virtues such as courage and generosity               back into the education equation, not as behavioral tools, but as a             way to give meaning to academic mastery and enhance social                      responsibility. These two books offer an American Indian and Alaska             Native perspective that supports a "democratic consequences" model              of classroom management as described by McEwan (2000). 
Values and             reciprocal contributions. Many publications address the fact that               spirituality and reciprocity (giving back to others) are vital to               Indian learning, and more and more educators believe, in the words              of Slattery (1995, p. 79), that "curriculum must include the wisdom             embedded in Native American spirituality." New books such                       as "Ecology, Spirituality, and Education: Curriculum for Relational             Knowing" (Riley-Taylor, in press) are evidence that Slattery's call             is being heard. American Indian voices speaking on AI/AN                        spirituality are found in Deloria and Wildcat's "Power and Place:               Indian Education in America" (2001). In examining the issues facing             Native students, they write how teachers must be prepared so                    Western (European American) paradigms can coexist with Native                   worldviews about life's complex interconnections among peoples and              with nature. They focus especially on the need to relate to one's               local community and geography, an approach to learning referred to              as "place-based education," a relatively new term for how American              Indians traditionally viewed teaching and learning. 
Since most                teachers of AI/AN students are non-Indian (Pavel, 1999), it would be            helpful if teacher candidates planning to teach AI/AN students                  learned at least some of the spiritual traditions of the local                  population. Teachers can support parent and community teachings,                realizing that "book knowledge," while having its place, should not             thoughtlessly supplant the "collective wisdom" learned through the              ages and passed on to each new generation by elders. Teachers cannot            be expected to carry the major responsibility for facilitating the              development of Native identity, but they can honor the important                contributions of families and elders. To the degree that                        spirituality represents the sense that all things are related,                  educators must also work carefully to address racism issues in the              classroom, a subject addressed well by Cleary and                               Peacock (1998). 
Family support and role models to provide student             motivation. It is critical that teachers of AI/AN children work with            students' extended families to enlist their support for literacy and            academic achievement; reinforce their efforts to pass on their                  culture; and help their children develop a strong, resilient, and               caring identity. American Indian and Alaska Native families,                    reacting to assimilationist pressures in schools, can hurt their                children by creating in them ambivalent attitudes toward                        schooling (Peshkin, 1997) or even antischool "oppositional"                     identities (Ogbu, 1995). Teachers should realize that however                   culturally sensitive they might be, students can react to them as               members of a group that often has proven to be insensitive. While               educators must work on changing schools to be more welcoming of                 AI/AN students' languages and cultures, they also need to work with             American Indian and Alaska Native communities. Through community                partnerships AI/AN students can, as a group, succeed academically               and overcome obstacles that may be placed in their way. Prospective             teachers also can learn how to utilize organizations such as the                American Indian Science and Engineering Society, which can provide              support programs and AI/AN role models who prove educational success            can be achieved without cultural loss. EFFECTIVE PEDAGOGY AND                 CURRICULUMLanguages, cultures, and bicultural adaptation.                   Currently, many AI/AN groups are becoming more aware that, if they              do not do something immediately to stem the loss of their languages             and cultures, they will be lost forever. Non-Indian teachers will               not be able to do much about language loss but can contribute much              by learning a few key phrases and otherwise giving respect to the               importance of culture and language. Schools, such as Rock Point                 Community School in the Navajo Nation, that nurture bilingual and               bicultural perspectives have shown improvements in learning                     environments and academic success (McLaughlin, 1992). Also by                   learning how to provide place- and community-based curriculum and               instruction, teachers can provide students with a relevant,                     practical, and motivating education where, in the words of                      Corson (1998), Indigenous learners can actively participate in                  shaping their own education. 
Pedagogy and curriculum. Cleary and              Peacock (1998) found that teaching styles common in American schools            often fail to meet the needs of AI/AN students. Many studies have               found that classrooms across the United States are characterized by             teacher-centered direct instruction where students are expected to              sit quietly and listen to their teacher or do seat work, except when            called upon by their teacher to answer questions (Lipka & Mohatt,               1998). While highly motivated students can do relatively well in                such classrooms, students who may question why they are even sitting            in a classroom can rebel. 
Generally, books on Indian                          education (e.g., Reyhner, 1992) call for teacher preparation that               leads to a constructivist and experiential approach that is both                community- and environment-centered. This allows students a more                active role in their own education. In "Look to the Mountain: An                Ecology of Indigenous Education" (1994), Gregory Cajete concludes               that "a primary orientation of Indigenous education is that each                person is their own teacher and learning is connected to each                   individual's life process." However, this does not mean that                    teachers do not also need strong preparation in the subject matter              they plan to teach (Deloria & Wildcat, 2001). 
Native teacher                  education programs. The vision statement for Oglala Lakota College's            teacher preparation program reads, 
To graduate highly qualified,              professional, motivated, committed teachers who possess and who will            teach Wolakota in a multicultural, changing world. (Wolakota refers             to the whole person in balance and in harmony spiritually,                      physically, mentally and socially.)(1) 
Similarly, the University              of Alaska's Cross-Cultural Education Development (X-CED) Program,               founded a quarter century ago, is a field-based teacher training                program that believes "traditional cultures face a series of modern             choices" and Yup'ik teachers act as cultural brokers "negotiating a             curriculum with the help of both village elders and outside                     facilitators such as the professors in the X-CED program" (Lipka &              Mohatt, 1998, pp.26-27). Both of these programs also provide                    critical follow-up support to their graduates once they start                   teaching. CONCLUSIONDiscussing the views of one of the many               teachers they interviewed, Cleary and Peacock sum up their                      research: 
The key to producing successful American Indian students            in our modern educational system ...is to first ground these                    students in their American Indian belief and value systems. (1998,              p. 101) 
Reyhner, Lee, and Gabbard (1993) describe research-based              content for specialized American Indian and Alaska Native teacher               training programs that includes 
* anthropological, sociological,              and historical foundations of American Indian and Alaska Native                 education 
* culturally responsive, bilingual, and ESL                         instructional methodologies 
* guidance on how to "Nativize"                   curriculum to reflect the American Indian and Alaska Native                     experience 
* learning through internships in American Indian and              Alaska Native communities 
While that content is a start, the goal             of teacher education is to produce teachers who do not disempower               AI/AN students and who prepare them to move comfortably among                   different cultures while valuing the unique cultural assumptions of             their home, community, and heritage. REFERENCESBrendtro, L.               K., Brokenleg, M., & Van Bockern, S. (1990). Reclaiming youth at                risk: Our hope for the future. Bloomington, IN: National Education              Service. 
Cajete, G. (1994). Look to the mountain: An ecology of               Indigenous education. (1st ed.). Durango, CO: Kivaki. 
Cleary, L.              M., & Peacock, T. D. (1998). Collected wisdom: American Indian                  education. Boston: Allyn & Bacon. 
Corson, D. (1998).                          Community-based education for Indigenous cultures. Language,                    Culture, and Curriculum, 11(3), 238-249. 
Deloria, V., Jr., &                  Wildcat, D. R. (2001). Power and place: Indian education in America.            Golden, CO: Fulcrum. 
Fuchs, E., & Havighurst, R. J. (1973). To                live on this earth: American Indian education. Garden City, NY:                 Doubleday. 
Jacobs, D., & Jacobs-Spencer, J. (2001). Teaching                  virtues: Building character across the curriculum. Lanham, MD:                  Scarecrow. 
Lipka, J., & Mohatt, G. V. (1998). Transforming the                culture of schools: Yup'ik Eskimo examples. Sociocultural,                      political, and historical studies in education. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence            Erlbaum. (ED 431 565) 
McEwan, B. (2000). The art of classroom                 management: Effective practices for building equitable learning                 communities. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson                                    Education. 
McLaughlin, D. (1992). When literacy empowers: Navajo              language in print. Albuquerque, NM: University of New                           Mexico. 
Ogbu, J. U. (1995). Understanding cultural diversity and              learning. In J. A. Banks & C. A. M. Banks (Eds.), Handbook of                   research on multicultural education (pp. 582-593). New York:                    Macmillan. 
Pavel, D. M. (1999). Schools, principals, and teachers             serving American Indian and Alaska Native students (ERIC Digest).               Charleston, WV: ERIC Clearinghouse on Rural Education and Small                 Schools. (ED 425 895) 
Peshkin, A. (1997). Places of memory:                   Whiteman's schools and Native American communities. Sociocultural,              political, and historical studies in education. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence            Erlbaum. (ED 431 565) 
Reyhner, J. (Ed.). (1992). Teaching American            Indian students. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma. 
Reyhner, J.,             Lee, H., & Gabbard, D. (1993). A specialized knowledge base for                 teaching American Indian and Alaska Native students. Tribal College,            4(4), 26-32. Retrieved January 25, 2002, from                                   http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~jar/TCarticle.html 
Slattery, P. (1995).               Curriculum development in the post-modern era. New York:                        Garland. 
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Don Trent Jacobs (Creek/Cherokee) was formerly               Dean of Education at Oglala Lakota College on the Pine Ridge Indian             Reservation and is currently an associate professor at the Center               for Excellence in Education at Northern Arizona University. He is               the author of 10 books on learning and consciousness. 
Jon Reyhner             is an associate professor of education at Northern Arizona                      University, where he teaches bilingual multicultural education                  courses. 
This publication was prepared with funding from the                  Office of Educational Research and Improvement, U.S. Department of              Education, under contract no. ED-99-CO-0027. The opinions expressed             herein do not necessarily reflect the positions or policies of OERI,            the Department, or AEL.                                                      **Title:** Preparing Teachers To Support American Indian and Alaska Native                 Student Success and Cultural Heritage. ERIC Digest.                          **Note:** Online version contains an annotated reference list with links to               full-text documents.                                                         **Document Type:** Information Analyses---ERIC Information Analysis Products (IAPs) (071); Information Analyses---ERIC Digests (Selected) in Full Text (073); **Available From:** ERIC/CRESS, P.O. Box 1348, Charleston, WV 25325-1348. Tel:                      800-624-9120 (Toll Free). For full text:                                        http://www.indianeduresearch.net/edorc01-13.htm                              **Descriptors:**  American Indian Education,  Cultural Maintenance,  Educational                 Needs, Elementary Secondary Education, Family School Relationship,              Higher Education, School Community Relationship, Student Needs,                  Teacher Education,  Teacher Role, Values                                    **Identifiers:** American Indian Students, ERIC Digests                                       
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