Portland State Magazine Winter 2013

22 PORTLAND STATE MAGAZINE WINTER 2013 The Portland metropolitan area has one of the largest indigenous populations in the United States, and 2.1 percent of youngsters in K-12 schools are Native American, but only .06 percent of teachers. In 2005, only 15 teachers in the entire state were Native American. The new program, The American Indian Urban Teacher Program (AIUTP), aims to more than double that. The AIUTP, in the Graduate School of Education, will help 18 students earn teaching certificates and master’s degrees. Support includes fully paid tuition and fees, $1,000 toward a laptop and books, $1,500 monthly as a living allowance and $300 a month for childcare. Just as important, the program provides personal support. Marie Tenorio, project director, says personal support is crucial. Only 35 percent of Native American students who start college graduate within six years, the low number reflects a lack of support networks taken for granted by many non-native students. To help AIUTP students succeed, Tenorio and other pro- gram staff establish close ties with students from the moment they apply for the program. They help each student with whatever is needed, including course counseling, career advice or just a friendly ear. In return, students agree to spend their first year teach- ing in a school district with a significant number of Native American students, which isn’t hard to do in Oregon. Tenorio says 90 percent of Native youngsters attend public schools, not reservation schools. In addition to required education classes, students learn to design culturally responsive curriculum and help children overcome cultural dissonance in school, something Reed had experienced herself, but that didn’t come home to roost until her own son began school. Her son was active, she says, and needed to be able to learn experientially, which she understood from her own childhood. But his school wasn’t able to accommodate his needs, and he struggled. “I saw teachers not teaching with students in mind, but rather the structure,” she says. “I decided I needed to help change things not for myself, but for my community…When I heard about the (AIUTP) program, it was like the angels began singing.” For Reed, the program helped her focus on bringing the educational style of her childhood to her students. “Teaching is a natural part of being Native,” she says. “The whole culture is about teaching.” IN HER CHILDHOOD , Reed’s extended family—parents, 11 aunts and uncles and their families—got together every weekend and holidays at her grandparents’ home in The Dalles to harvest whatever might be in season, to share stories, to cook meals, and to informally teach. “We would lie on our backs looking up at the night sky,” says Reed, “and learn about the stars.” When a child asked a question, adults would turn the question into an investiga- tion. “They tried to broaden your think- ing,” says Reed. “They would ask what you thought about something. Or if you didn’t think broadly enough, they would ask questions to draw you out. “I wish everyone,” she says, “could have that.” Reed’s making a dent at Gause Elementary in the Washougal School District in Washington, where she teaches a class of children labeled emotionally and behaviorally disordered—although she prefers to call them active. While some classrooms might focus on having kids sit qui- etly, Reed is more interested in making sure that her students are respectful of the classroom community and still asking the questions that help them learn and think for themselves. “They’re kids,” she says. “It’s okay to be active, to have opin- ions. If they need to stand at their desk while I teach, that’s okay, so long as they’re respectful. My goal isn’t to stop their behavior, but to make it appropriate and transfer their natural behavior into the classroom. My class is highly structured, but kids are part of the structure.” Each morning, her class of first- through fifth-graders sits in “circle time” to talk about their behavioral goals for the day. In third grade, Terri Reed realized how different she and her family were from her classmates and teacher. Culture shift