Running head: KNOWING DIFFERENTLY
Knowing Differently:
Toward a Culturally Responsive
American Indian Urban Learner Framework
Vance Holmes
Metropolitan State University
Urban Teacher Program
EDU 630
Paul Spies, Ph. D.
February 9, 2011
Contact: Vance Holmes, 1500 LaSalle Avenue #320 Minneapolis, MN 55403
Email: vance@vanceholmes.com
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KNOWING DIFFERENTLY
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Knowing Differently
This digest details inquiry into the American Indian experience as related to the
historical, cultural and philosophical foundations of public education policy and pedagogic
practice. As a pre-service urban educator seeking strategies to maximize the learning
opportunities of diverse students, this document and its title should first and foremost reflect my
intention to respect and dignify a culture other than my own. To be clear: it is strictly in an
educational context that I use the words, urban learner. My use of the term, American Indian, is
based on personal research and guidance from various sources, including this section of Allen
Aslan Heart’s website, which aptly serves as introduction to this investigative report:
The most common terms used today are American Indian, Alaskan Native, Native
Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander. Although it is a matter of individual preference, the
Minnesota Chippewa Tribe prefers the term American Indian. More than 560 tribes
remain in the United States and many have different words in their own languages for the
original inhabitants of this land which they called "Turtle Island." However, the Ojibwe
call all Indians "Anishinabeg" which means "original man" or "first peoples" (Heart,
2007).
Toward a Culturally Responsive American Indian Urban Learner Framework
Without question, it is a good teaching practice to recognize the cultural diversity in a
classroom and read up on the basic customs, beliefs, contributions and core concerns of
represented communities. However, familiarity with facts and historic figures is not sufficient
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preparation for commanding a multicultural classroom. Culturally responsive teaching requires
a reflective educator with a solid knowledge base regarding the historical, political and
socioeconomic factors impacting schools as institutions.
To be truly effective, an urban teacher must also become a culturally reflective practitioner –
on the professional path toward cultural competence. Cultural competence means different things
to different people, but is here defined as the ability to connect and respect values, attitudes and
beliefs that differ across cultures, and the skill to respond appropriately to those diversities
(National Center for Cultural Competence, 2011). Key to moving toward becoming a culturally
competent educator is comprehending the historical and cultural perspectives of the American
Indian experience – in order to manifest those understandings into culturally responsive teaching
strategies for the classroom.
This report has been divided into sections on American Indian culture and history, Indian
education history, and practical implications for the classroom -- directed by three focus
questions: What are the broad historical outlines of the American Indian experience? What has
been the general history of American Indian communities and the public schools? What teaching
accommodations have proven most effective in helping American Indian urban learners succeed?
In seeking to formulate my own framework, each section includes a related set of
strategies drawn from multicultural education components, the principles of culturally responsive
teaching, and educational research on American Indian learners. Together, the strategies become
the beginning of a framework for maximizing the individual learning opportunities of American
Indian students in the urban classroom.
What are the broad historical outlines of the American Indian experience?
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Since the time when Europeans first established settlements on this continent they have
tended to view the original inhabitants of North America as enemies to be removed by force,
coercion, trickery and treaties. American Indian educator, Karen Gayton Swisher articulated the
American Indian community's current understanding of the U.S. government's responsibility:
In exchange for nearly one billion acres of land certain services, protection against
invasion, and self- government were to be provided in perpetuity . . . More than 400
treaties solemnized the transactions -- land in exchange for promises -- between
sovereigns . . . thus creating a special relationship between Indian people and the federal
government (American Indian Education Foundation, 2011).
American Indian tribes were repeatedly forced to sign treaties and relinquish large
portions of their land in exchange for securing their right to continue living according to their
long-held customs. Throughout the succession of broken government treaties and brazen land
grabs, tribes retained their sovereignty. Sovereignty refers to the right of American Indian tribes
to operate as self-governing nations. The treaties also included guarantees of the right to gather
resources and rights to government services in areas such as health and education. The U.S.
government acquired most of the land in Minnesota through treaty agreements with American
Indian nations which included the Dakota (Sioux) and Anishinabe (Chippewa, Ojibwe). Where
land could not be taken from tribes by trading or trickery, American Indians were pushed off the
land and relocated through laws such as the Indian Removal Act of 1830.
Following these policies of extermination and removal came the policies of forced
cultural assimilation. The Minnesota Positive Indian Parenting program advises:
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For over three hundred years since the massive appearance of the Europeans on the
American continent, Indian people have been struggling for their right to freedom, their
lands, their traditions and their way of life, in short, for their Indian values.
American Indians share a culture and set of values that are one of the most subtle and
indefinable of all the various ethnic groups likely to be represented in a metropolitan school
district (National Congress for American Indians, 2000).
While American Indian communities are by no means monolithic, a broad examination of
history reveals some consistent cultural elements. In very general terms, spiritual beliefs of the
American Indian -- as well as the values of reverence, harmony with nature, and deep concern
for extended family and tribe -- are distinct from the competitive individualism characterizing
much of the dominant American cultural orientation (Van Hamme, 1995).
Spiritual beliefs and values are embedded in all aspects of Indian life, although specific
beliefs vary widely among tribes (Benally, 1992). Dakota spirituality involves beliefs and
traditions such as the naming ceremony, the ceremonial pow wow, the medicine man or woman,
dream articles and traditional stories regarding the Great Spirit. The terms Dakota, Nakota, and
Lakota refer to dialects of the Siouxan language and also to groups of people. Dakota is
generally spoken in Minnesota -- the original homeland for the Dakota people (Callahan, 1998).
Ojibwe spirituality similarly encompasses of a set of beliefs, concepts and customs, such as
sweatlodges, the pipe, drums, vision questing and the Pow Wow (Callahan, 1998). The Ojibwe
language is part of a larger language group called the Algonquian Language Family. It is spoken
in the southern portions of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Ontario, and northern areas of
Minnesota, Michigan and Wisconsin. The Ojibwe language is very descriptive and highly
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complex. There are certain concepts in the Ojibwe language that do not directly translate into
English, so learning Ojibwe is critical to keeping Ojibwe history and traditions alive.
Cultural Diversity Components
1. Know there can be deep differences in the world views of European thinkers and the
thought processes, mind sets, methods, concepts, values and experiences by which
American Indian groups understand and view the world (Reyhner, Lee & Gabbard,1993)
2. Use explicit learning strategies that build on the cultural knowledge students bring to
school, and tie the learning directly to the real lives of students (Ladson-Billings, 1994)
3. Share the value of the broad and varied sets of experiences that native students bring to
class, not as liabilities, but rather as valued resources (Keller, 2005)
4. Consistently incorporate culturally relevant materials into the content learning
Be aware that “place” itself may present a difficult situation for learners from American
Indian tribes. Knowing local history is important since certain places may hold
significance (Keller, 2005)
5. Expand students' capacity to appreciate and deal with diversity and perceive self in a
multicultural perspective
What has been the general history of American Indian communities and the public
schools?
Throughout the nation’s history, schooling has been used as a tool of acculturation to
force assimilation on American Indian children. Mission schools, government programs, and
industrial boarding schools were all used at various times to isolate children from their cultural
heritage and force them into America's mainstream (National Indian Education Association,
2009). Widespread attention was brought to the issue by a 1928 study from the Brookings
Institution and Bureau of Indian Affairs known as the Meriam Report. The report found that,
"Indians were receiving a poor quality of services (especially health and education) from public
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officials who were supposed to be serving their needs." It flatly rejected the nation’s tradition of
coercive assimilation exemplified by the boarding schools: "The Indian family and social
structure must be strengthened, not destroyed" (National Indian Education Association, 2009).
The Meriam Report ushered in an era of improvements in American Indian education. Funding
was provided to community education programs and reservation day schools. This brief period
has been referred to as the “Indian New Deal.”
Twenty years after the short-lived “Indian New Deal” came the so-called period of
termination which resulted in a termination of the federal relationship with many tribes.
Termination legislation was enhanced by a program of physical relocation of Indian peoples
from reservations to urban areas (Shattuck, 1991). Efforts at improving American Indian
education opportunities stalled during this period. Termination was the nation’s official policy
from the mid-1940s to the mid-1960s. Then, prompted by reports from the 1961 and 1966
Presidential Task Force on Indian Affairs, the Bureau of Indian Affairs began to shift policy and
move toward programs of cultural preservation, economic support and community development.
Also propelling significant changes in policy was a series of high profile congressional hearings
on Indian education. The 1969 Kennedy Report called for Indian control over Indian schooling
affairs and the creation of a National Indian Board of Education (U.S. Senate Committee on
Labor and Public Welfare, 1969).
In 2000, the American Indian content standards were developed by the Bureau of Indian
Affairs. They were devised to “help schools in the development of local standards with an
emphasis on American Indian/Alaska Native learners” (CETIA, 2003). The standards are
periodically reviewed and revised, but are guided by central principles -- including the
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philosophy that “language and culture are the central organizing themes of Indian Education and
must be the foundation of any school reform movement of Indian America” (CETIA, 2003).
Culturally Responsive Components
6. Avoid bias in curriculum, environment, instruction and assessment (Keller, 2005)
Do not assess capability by a student's proficiency with the cultural mainstream
7. Employ instructional strategies that account for and support linguistic diversity
8. Recognize and discuss with American-Indian students potential conflicts between schoolbased expectations and their cultural background
It is important to understand how the backgrounds of native students can affect their
relationships with both teachers and their classmates (Hammond, Dupoux & Ingalls,
2004)
9. Help learners eliminate prejudice by discussing with them stereotypes of Native
Americans, other minorities, and students with disabilities portrayed on TV and in books
10. Expect excellence (Hammond, Dupoux & Ingalls, 2004)
What teaching accommodations have proven most effective in helping American Indian
urban learners succeed?
An effective urban educator must be culturally competent to maintain a culturally
responsive classroom. Cultural competence has very little to do with information found in history
texts or articles on ethnic studies. It is skill in the art of reading people in their own context -without translating their words and behaviors through a personal filter.
It has been said that many American Indian students avert their eyes (Keller, 2005). This
is useful information, not because it instructs teachers on how to interpret eye contact, but
because it prompts a consideration of the issue of eye contact in relationship to culture. American
Indians have a general, historical reliance on respect and dignity. It is a theme that runs through
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their culture and is reflected in language and behavior. Averting the eyes then, is not about eye
contact – but rather, it has to do with respect. None of this information means teachers shouldn’t
look directly at American Indian students. It means when looking at any child of any cultural
background, teachers must remain aware that looking, in and of itself, holds significance. Eye
contact is one of the dynamics inherent when cultures interact (National Center for Cultural
Competence, 2011). With American Indian learners, eye contact may be especially significant in
the day to day delivery of culturally responsive instruction.
Teachers must get a grasp of how American Indian children "learn to learn" at home so
that school instruction, activities and social interactions are "made compatible with work
contexts and social relationships in the culture" (Reyhner, Lee & Gabbard, 1993). Culturally
responsive pedagogy is premised on the conception that culture is central to cognition. It is an
approach that, according to Gloria Ladson-Billings, "empowers students intellectually, socially,
emotionally, and politically by using cultural referents to impart knowledge, skills and attitudes"
(Ladson-Billings, 1994). For this reason, it is necessary to outline the cultural perspectives of the
American Indian experience as they are reflected in the broad curricular guidelines for American
Indian education.
The curriculum framework from the Minnesota Department of Education's Office of
Indian Education provides a thorough overview of Minnesota-based American Indian tribal
government, history, language, and culture (Minnesota Department of Education, 2010).
Learning objectives of the curriculum's ten main areas of concentration are here summarized.
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Tribal Government
American Indians have systems of tribal government with powers, rights and
responsibilities based on tribal constitutions. Knowing this information is equally as important as
the study of federal, state and local governments, and will enable students to function as
responsible citizens of their communities. Therefore . . . learners will be able to identify the
complex structure and recognize the validity and authority of sovereign tribal government.
Sovereignty
American Indian nations possess an inherent and unique political status based on
sovereignty. This legal political status conveys dual citizenship, along with specific rights and
responsibilities. All students need knowledge of this concept in order to understand American
Indian cultures, so . . . learners will be able to define tribal sovereignty and document the
application of this concept in studying history and contemporary issues.
U.S. Policies
Many current issues important to American Indian communities are directly or indirectly
related to federal Indian policies. These issues include tribal sovereignty, treaty rights, native
language rights, repatriation of human remains and sacred religious objects, religious freedom,
education rights of American Indian children, and the right of American Indians to determine
their own future. All students must have knowledge of the impact of U.S. policies on American
Indians in order to understand American history and contemporary American Indian tribal issues,
so . . . learners will be able to assess the impact of ever-changing U.S. Policies on American
Indians.
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Contributions
American Indian cultures have profoundly influenced cultures of all immigrants and
world civilization in general. When students know that all cultures contribute, they may be more
likely to respect members of each cultural group and learn from them. Therefore . . . learners will
discover and categorize the many contributions that American Indians have made to all aspects
of modern society.
Oral Traditions
It is largely through oral tradition, which includes storytelling, teaching, history and
contemporary Indian literature, that American Indian cultures have been preserved and
transmitted through the generations. This is the heart of tribal culture, therefore . . . learners will
be able to summarize and explain the significance of American Indian oral tradition in the
perpetuation of culture and history.
Harmony and Balance
Woven throughout American Indian oral tradition, ceremonies, and spiritual beliefs is the
theme of harmony and balance. It is necessary for students to study the practices of American
Indians who have traditionally understood the balance of nature and who believe all life must be
treated with reverence and respect. Therefore . . . learners will be able to illustrate how the
process to achieve harmony and balance plays a vital role in American Indian philosophy and in
daily lives of American Indians.
Family Life
The customs surrounding family life and the spiritual dimension of family are central to
American Indian culture. Being that increased understanding of these strong family traditions
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will promote more effective cross-cultural communication . . . learners will be able to define the
unique features of American Indian family structures and relationships.
Art
Creating beauty and harmony through artistic expression is an integral part of daily life in
many American Indian cultures. There is no separate word for "artist" in Ojibwe and Dakota
languages, for example, because all tribal members were traditionally viewed as artists -- gifted
to one degree or another. Since it is vital for students to know American Indian art and its
history . . . learners should be able to demonstrate an understanding and appreciation of the
purposes, history and forms of American Indian art.
Music and Dance
Through music and dance, American Indians celebrate life, tribal identity, and the
survival of tribal culture. Students must know of these traditions that have existed through the
centuries and that are still practiced today, so . . . learners will be able to demonstrate an
understanding and appreciation of the purposes, history and features of American Indian music
and dance.
Values
American Indians had, and continue to have, a distinct value system. The center of this
system is respect for the Creator, elders, family, community and the land. Respect is manifested
through such behaviors as practicing traditions, learning language, listening, cooperating,
honoring elders, non-interference, showing patience and tolerance, acceptance, humor, humility,
gratitude and respect for all living things. Since study of the American Indian value system will
assist students in examining their own values and related behaviors . . . learners will be able to
demonstrate an understanding of the American Indian values system.
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Along with focusing on the stated curriculum as it pertains to learners’ cultural
backgrounds, urban educators should remain equally aware of content in the hidden curriculum.
The hidden curriculum directs what students implicitly learn from the school’s culture – the
institution’s implied values as communicated by rules, rituals and routines. Since learning is our
goal, urban educators must create an environment of equity, caring and unconditional acceptance
in every aspect of schooling. If we are working to build a caring community of diverse learners,
then we are obligated to fully confront ethnocentrism, stereotyping and intolerance. Instructors in
the multicultural classroom must work diligently to eliminate prejudice and discrimination
because they are barriers that prevent learning.
Cultural Competence Components
11. In personal interactions, be very sensitive to non-verbal cues
Do not persistently look directly at Native American students when speaking to them, or
expect them to look directly at you. This is seen as a sign of defiance and hostility in
many native cultures (Keller, 2005)
12. Allow time for thought
Avoid tempo-centricity, and do not put too much pressure on time
13. Promote a relaxed environment of open communication
Some American Indian learners have been taught that they should not express an opinion
or make a statement unless they are sure that they are correct (Keller, 2005)
14. Emphasize cooperation and sharing
Share social control and use group problem solving. In many American Indian cultures,
status is gained by generosity and cooperation, not thrift and competition (Hammond,
Dupoux & Ingalls, 2004)
15. Know that humor has great value in American Indian cultures (MN Dept. of ED, 2010)
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American Indian Urban Learner Framework
Proposed areas of additional study include examination of the intracultural differences in
Minnesota’s American Indian communities, and identification of local resources for cultural
information specific to American Indian students in metropolitan area schools. Also, further
research is needed to discover how instructional techniques found to be beneficial for English
learners can be incorporated into effective lesson plan designs for American Indian urban
students.
As I continue on my journey toward cultural competence, I take along a set of principles
that form a frame for responding to American Indian learners in the urban classroom. This
investigation has ended with a fifteen-point model that is only the start of my exploration of the
American Indian experience and the historical, cultural and philosophical foundations of
education. Summarized for this report, the framework is reduced to a practical directive for
instruction in the diverse, urban classroom: identify positive American Indian values, traditions,
beliefs and concepts -- and emphasize that there are different ways of knowing, and ways of
knowing differently.
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References
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http://www.nrcprograms.org/site/PageServer?pagename=aief_hist_newmillenium
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Callahan, K.L. (1998). An introduction to Ojibway culture and history. Retrieved from
http://www.tc.umn.edu/~call0031/ojibwa.html
Center for Educational Technology in Indian America (2003). American Indian Content
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National Center for Cultural Competence (2011). Definitions of cultural competence. Retrieved
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National Congress for American Indians (2000). American Indian and Alaska Native education,
Issue Memorandum, November 2000. Washington, DC.
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