CHANGE AGENT. Native Ways of Knowing secondary science student Nicole Azure (Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa) explains the basics of the digestive system to third grade students at TMCC Health Fair.

What describes a perfect situation when you think of K-12 education across Indian Country? Perhaps you are thinking a modern facility, or more instructional supplies, possibly updated technology. You’re right, of course. We need all of those things in our schools.

Here at Turtle Mountain Community College (TMCC, Belcourt, ND), however, we have a passion for the most important item on the education wish list: an exemplary teacher, someone who is knowledgeable, caring, and willing to make each student feel important and integral to the learning process each and every day of the school year. A model teacher values the cultural heritage of all Indian people and draws upon Native traditions and teachings to enrich and contextualize lessons.

Teacher education at TMCC is founded upon the tribal college mission of service to the community and to the people of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa. More than 10 years ago, a coalition of forward-thinking individuals at TMCC decided to further Indian self-determination in education by developing an elementary education program that would train and mentor students from the Turtle Mountain Reservation to become educators in the area school systems that serve Native American children.

Four years ago, secondary science was added to the elementary program, and soon, we will offer early childhood education along with middle school and kindergarten endorsements. Since the inception of the first teacher education program, more than 80 students have graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Elementary and Secondary Science Education.

In spring 2010, 14 students graduated from TMCC with Bachelor’s Degrees in Teacher Education. Of those, five graduated with degrees in composite secondary science, which qualifies them to teach in chemistry, biology, physics, and Earth science. The remaining nine students graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Elementary Education.

Two of the elementary education graduates are members of the Spirit Lake Band of North Dakota from Cankdeska Cikana Community College (CCCC in Fort Totten). We recruited these exceptional students— the first from Spirit Lake to graduate from TMCC—through a Co-op Title III program, which facilitated a partnership between TMCC and CCCC. A previous agreement between TMCC and Fort Berthold Community College (Native Ways of Knowing secondary science teacher education program) resulted in the support, training, and supervision of four secondary science teacher education students—three of whom now teach science on the Fort Berthold Reservation.

For the class of 2010, bringing those 14 students to this point in their academic careers involved the collaborative effort of five independent school districts across four counties. Student teachers were supervised by Les LaFountain, Kristie Dionne, and me.

From mid-January until early May, the three of us traveled bi-weekly to the schools to supervise, film, and assess student performance in the field. Prior to being placed in the school system, each student must have presented an abbreviated portfolio, interviewed with a team of faculty members, passed the Praxis I exam, and attempted the Praxis II exam. (Students must pass Praxis exams by a state-mandated cut score in order to apply for a license.)

Students were then placed in schools under the mentorship of licensed North Dakota teachers. Over 80% of the classrooms in which these teacher candidates were placed had predominately Native American student enrollments. Four of the five secondary science student teachers and three of the nine elementary student teachers were placed in Bureau of Indian Education school systems on the Turtle Mountain Reservation.

Following the 12-week student teaching experience, each student presented an exit portfolio to a team of TMCC faculty members. This portfolio was based upon the Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (INTASC) Standards. Within these 10 standards, state education agencies nationwide have integrated content knowledge and student strengths and needs to ensure that all students learn. Students also presented their teaching philosophies as related to the mission of teacher education at TMCC.

All of us in the TMCC Teacher Education Department recognize the urgency of placing the best Native teachers possible in the classrooms with our Native children. As an educator in teacher education from Haskell Indian Nations University told me: “I believe that all children, not just Native American children, can benefit from the culturally responsive perspective of a teacher trained in a tribal college teacher education program.”

Being a culturally responsive teacher means valuing each child in the class by acknowledging that each individual has something to contribute to the lesson; that all children have their own stories connecting their lives to the lesson being presented; that every child should be heard; and most importantly, that every child can learn. We are not satisfied with teaching the teachable students but want to reach all students.

We ask our pre-service teachers to nurture the innate curiosity of a child’s mind and to challenge students to reach beyond the rote memory and paper-pencil dogma of mainstream education that has hindered and rejected Native children since the first “encounter.”

This is not an easy task, for our teacher education students are the products of the pedagogical mistakes that resonate in Native American school systems today. For this reason we insist that our teacher education students take on the role of change agents. By becoming change agents in the very school systems in which they were educated, the cycle of academic dysfunction can finally be broken.

All of our faculty members—those in teacher education (Jason Dahl, Kristie Dionne, Kathy Henry, Les LaFountain, Janelle Wiedrich), the administrative staff (Cathie Gladue), and the support staff (Anthea Jeannotte and Robert Old Rock)—support the realization of our mission in personal ways. The tribal college operates as a family in which all members work toward a common goal that benefits the entire community.

As with any family there are moments of strife. Yet with thoughtful perseverance and forthright leadership, good things prevail. We understand this paradigm, embrace the challenge, and welcome any individual who is willing to join our efforts at transforming the K-12 education system throughout Indian Country.

Dr. Carmelita Lamb (Hispanic/Lipan Band of Apache) has worked at Turtle Mountain Community College since 2005. A Mellon Fellow through the American Indian College Fund, she is currently the teacher education department chair at TMCC. Her research interests include institutional constructs that foster student success in a tribal college. For more information regarding the teacher education programs at TMCC, contact Dr. Carmelita Lamb, clamb@tm.edu.