Transcript Document

Best Practices For
Working With Native
American Students
Anna EagleBear
Idella King
Spokane Public Schools Indian
Education
What is Historical Trauma?
Historical trauma is cumulative emotional and
psychological wounding over the lifespan and across
generations, emanating from massive group trauma.
Historical unresolved grief is the grief that accompanies
the trauma.
The historical trauma response is a constellation of
features in reaction to massive group trauma.
This response is observed among Lakota and other
Native populations, Jewish Holocaust survivors and
descendants, Japanese American internment camp
survivors and descendants.
(Brave Heart, 1998, 1999, 2000)
Education: The Past
“Kill the Indian, and Save the Child”:
Capt. Richard C. Pratt 1892
Boarding School
University of Washington Photo
Children are Torn in Half
Traditional Education
•Formal –Sacred
Knowledge
•Informal – Life skills
•Ability & Strength-based
•Economic-SeasonalSurvival
•Incentive Based
•Multi-Generational
•Allowed to Succeed & Fail
•Travel with the seasons
•Non-Verbal –
Listen/Observe
•Visual – Oral Stories/Legends
Boarding School
Education
•All Education Formal
•Age-based
•Economic-$$ Material
Accumulation
•Self Survival-Individualistic
•Told
•Fear-based: Failure
•Farming- One Place
•Adult to Child
•Not Allowed to Fail:
Shame
•Auditory-Verbal-Abstract
University of Washington Photo
Educational Paradigms:
Values in Conflict
Indigenous Educational Goals
Current Educational Goals
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•
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A global workforce that is more
competitive in an international global
market
•
“…to provide students with the
opportunity to become responsible
citizens, to contribute to their own
economic well-being and to that of
their families and communities, and to
enjoy productive and satisfying lives.”
•
•
•
Self-knowledge
Seeking life through the process of
living
Sensitivity to the natural environment
Knowledge of one’s individual role and
role within the community
Learn to be a “good relative”
Goal of Washington State Basic Education
•
The bridge between both goals may be
to encourage culturally relevant social
emotional support.
•
Good grades = good jobs = good things
John Taylor Gatto, Dumbing Down
Language Acquisition
• Destroy Native Tongue
• Learning of a new language presented with
limitations
• Coded Messages-Language within a language
• Code Switching
• Modern Literacy struggles
Internalized Cultural Oppression
Cultural self-hate can be defined as the feeling that,
“No matter what I do, I cannot change the reality that who I am
in the core of my being is unacceptable in my world.”
This feeling of intense shame and unworthiness is
carried by thousands of indigenous populations in
our world.
The effects of oppression on communities is
expressed through apathy, learned helplessness,
depression, substance abuse, repetitive trauma,
despise of own culture, and lateral violence.
Four Generations
• Traditionalists: Those born before 1940
• Bi-Cultural Boomers: Those born between the years of 19401960.
• Transitional Generation: Those born between the years of
1960-1980.
• Millennial: Those born between the years of 1980-2009.
Some belong distinctly to one generation, some on the cusp, and
some to more than two generations. There is a notion that
the healing process is different for each generation. One
generation might inadvertently impose their view and process
of healing on the other generations.
Theda New Breast, M.P.H.
“Four Generations Healing, Four Generations of Solutions”
Traditionalists
• Did not grow up eating
sugar, white bread or
potatoes
• Normal rites of passage
• Spoke the language
• Braided hair, clans, socieites
still intact
• Government policies,
organized religion, boarding
schools, residential schools
(shame began)
• Seasons were based on
hunting and gathering
Bi-Cultural Boomers
• Bridge between Native and
Non-Native cultures
• Built resiliency in both
cultures
• Different foods were
consumed in gov. rations.
• First to experience
Urban/City living
• Witnessed the era of
alcoholism out of control to
sobriety movement
• Identity Crisis
• Vietnam
• American Indian Movement
Transitional Generation
• First G not speaking the language
• First G to “go to treatment”
• Education became very important
• Tribal Colleges and Scholarships
more accessible
• Seasons became based on PowWow circuit & sports
• Sense of Pride being Indian &
“Wannabees”
• They need a book or movie to
visualize “ceremony”
• Gangs
• Cell phones
Millennials
• Drink water from a bottle
• Enjoy Fast Food and
Microwave cooking
• TV time is important
• Computer is important
• Electronic Games
• Recognition of traditional
ways.
• Begins to ask more of “what
was”
• Indian names are requested
• Rarely looks at the stars.
There are some characteristics that many tribal groups seem to
share. These characteristics include:
• a disdain for being stared at;
• a “soft” handshake;
• an avoidance of direct (stare) eye contact;
• a quiet reserved expression of feelings;
• non-assertiveness;
• and a soft manner of speaking
However, Herring (1985) cautioned that, as there are so many
tribes in the United States, any generalizations that we make
regarding American Indian non-verbal communication have to
be accepted with qualification.
Elizabeth A. Wynia
“Teach the Way the Student Learns….”
Traditional Practices continue today…
Holistic Processing
The Native learner tends to process from whole to parts, holistically.
• They learn best by starting with the answer.
• They see the big picture first, not the details.
• Native students may have difficulty following a lecture
unless they are given the big picture first.
• If an instructor doesn't consistently give an overview
before he or she begins a lecture, the student may need
to ask at the end of class what the next lecture will be
and how s/he can prepare for it.
• Native learners may also have trouble outlining (they’ve
probably written many papers first then outlined).
• Native learners need to know why they are doing
something.
Non-Verbal Processing
• Most non –Native students have little trouble
expressing themselves in words.
• Native students need to back up everything
visually. If it's not written down, they probably
won't remember it. And it would be even better
for Native students to illustrate it.
• The habit of making a mental video of things as
they hear or read them is helpful.
• Native students need to know that it may take
them longer to write a paper and the paper may
need more revision before it says what they want
it to say. This means allowing extra time when a
writing assignment is due.
European American Values
Native American Values
Acquire, save possessions, bring status, Wealth and
security sought after.
Share. Honor in giving. Suspicious of those with too
much.
Compete. Excel. Be the best.
Cooperate. Help each other. Work together.
Assertive, do-er. Dominate
Passive. Let others dominate.
Time is extremely important. Get things done. Watch
the clock, schedules, priorities.
Time is here. Be patient. Enjoy life.
Prepare. Live for future.
Enjoy today; it is all we have. Live now.
Keep busy. Idleness is undesirable. Produce to acquire
and build reserves.
Enjoy leisure. Depend on nature and use what is
available.
Give instant answers.
Allow time for thought.
Emphasis on youth.
Respect for wisdom of elderly.
Work is virtue.
Work for survival.
Light humor. Jokes.
Deep sense of humor. See humor in life.
Few strong ties beyond the single family unit.
Close ties to entire extended family including many
relatives.
Analyze and control nature.
Live in harmony with nature.
Group Activity
Get into groups of five
Everyone participates
Read the slide “What would you do?”
As a group come up with an detailed Action Plan
to resolve the situation
Be prepared to share out your groups Action
Plan
What would you do?
Danny is new to Big City High School. He is sent to the
counselor’s office because of his tendency to be tardy to
first period and his lack of being prepared for math. The
teacher reports that he does not bring a required
calculator, note book, or something to write with. Danny
sits quietly and listens to the Counselor and only
responds when asked questions.
After a few days the counselor and teacher notice no
difference in Danny and he is assigned a week of lunch
detentions.
Mom comes to the school asking where she might go get
information about the next community powwow so she
might sell some beadwork. She says the school on her
reservation served as a community hub point and being
new to the city, the school was the first place she looked.
Where to start…
• Many tribes or Urban Indian communities have an
operating TANF organization. (Temporary Assistance to
Needy Families)
• Indian Health Service Clinics
• American Indian Community Centers that help with
adult education, food banks, job training, some
counseling and other services.
• Title VII or Johnson O’Malley programs in some school
districts.
• Some school districts are located close to Indian
Reservations and services are often made available.
• Keep in mind that often times they do not have to be a
member of the tribe offering services to get benefits.