Ask the typical Native American student what they learned in school today and they will inevitably say, "nothing." Ask the student how they feel about school and again and again, the word they will use is "boring." Parents might look at their children with disbelief at these words but their performance on the nationally ranked tests seem to bear these truths out. They are really learning "nothing" and school is "boring." The blame for this is not on the millions of hardworking and dedicated teachers who really try hard to teach students, but on the lack of true educational leadership on the part of school administrators. Even so, we do not have to accept this state of affairs any longer. We can change things, and we will. We will not be stopped. Here's how.

The Greatest Show on Earth

Teachers need to put on the greatest show on earth for Native American students. They are only with the students a very short period of time and it should be a thrilling, intense, exciting, and mentally stimulating experience. Teachers should use hands-on, real world related and school to work related ideas so that our children can make the connections between the world of the classroom and the real world in which they live.Our students hunger to see dynamic and exciting teaching, teaching that stimulates their minds and their imaginations, teaching that makes them want to return day after day, not with a sense of dread, but with a sense of adventure and excitement and enthusiasm, and with a thirst for knowledge. All teachers need to teach so that they receive that ultimate compliment from their students, "You are in my dreams."Research shows that timeworn techniques such as the lecture method result in a ten percent retention of information for the average student. Yet a walk down the hallway in many of our schools will show teacher after teacher relying on this old standby. On the other hand, research shows that students who are involved in their own learning, students who have hands-on learning experiences, students exposed to multisensory educational practices, students who peer tutor or teach others- these students retain up to ninety percent of that class instruction. The answer to our educational dilemma is here: Stop wasting time on techniques that result in low retention of information and start concentrating on practices that results in high retention of information.

Teaching the Way Students Learn

Recently, at the Swim Center in Gallup, New Mexico, an eight year old Navajo boy, Leroy, asked the instructor to teach him the flip turn in freestyle swimming. A flip turn takes time and practice, is one of the more difficult aquatic skills in swimming to learn. The instructor demonstrated the flip turn and Leroy completed it perfectly on his first try.A short while later, Leroy asked for diving instruction. The instructor demonstrated the dive, and again, Leroy performed perfectly. This young Navajo boy was truly gifted. Eight year olds with limited swim skills simply do not execute perfect flip turns and dives the first time. Inquiries were made about how this boy was doing in school. He was considered a troublemaker and was failing. Leroy learns by being shown things. In fact, the word teach in Navajo means "to show." Teachers must teach the way students learn or our educational system is simply wasting their time and their lives- so that to these students they really are learning "nothing" and school really is "boring."Teachers are truly dedicated to their students but most teachers teach in the way they were taught. Most teachers today were educated in an America which had far less diversity and was far more homogeneous than it is today. Most teachers today come from cultures and backgrounds that are much different than that of their students. Teachers have a tendency to teach in only one way, while their students learn in thirty different ways. Native American students need to be taught in the way they learn best, whatever this is. Teachers need to pass that critical information on to the next teacher so that vital information about the student's learning is not lost and that no time is lost as each teacher tries to figure out how each student learns. Doing less violates our professional responsibilities and creates a continuing holocaust of the mind and genocide of the human spirit that keeps so many of our children down and which will destroy our Native American culture and people before the closing days of the 21st Century.

Using a Variety of Instructional Techniques in Each Class

Effective schools are schools in which teachers are constantly dissatisfied with their classroom instructional techniques and are always looking for better ways to impart information to their students. Research supports the notion that some instructional strategies result in a high level of retention of information, while other techniques result in less retention. The answer to effective instruction and improvement of our entire educational system is to use those techniques in which students will retain the highest degree of information for the amount of time on task, and disregarding those techniques which result in low retention of information per time on task.High retention instructional strategies include: Hands-on learning, use of manipulatives, active learning, computer-assisted instruction, outdoor education instructional techniques, project method, real world applications, use of newspapers, read alouds, cooperative learning, peer tutoring, teaching others, games that teach while students play and learn, some video films, listening to the tape of the story while reading, model building, community learning, service learning projects, discussions, lessons that cover practical skills, lessons that directly impact students, lessons in which student’s entire body is involved in learning, diaries, multisensory learning experiences, lessons that follow learning principals such as concrete learning for ages 6-12 and abstract learning for ages 13 and up(Piaget) and learning that provides immediate rewards and feedback (Skinner).Teachers should teach each student the way he/she learns best, while at the same time, offering different strategies in each class period to hold student interest and provide a variety of interesting and dynamic learning experiences. The widespread use of the lecture method in secondary schools is inexcusable when this is the one method in which only ten percent of the information is retained. Other low retention methods include: Ditto sheets, lessons not grounded in the student’s real world, lessons which violate basic learning principals, passive lessons in which the student is not involved, and poorly planned or organized lessons.

Utilizing the Local Community

In 1915, John Dewey noted that the school was separated from the community and the community was separated from the school. This is still true today.To change our educational system requires the utilization of every person in the community to participate in improving our schools. Parents and community members, interns, student teachers, aides, Foster Grandparents, Elders, Americorps Volunteers, business and community leaders- all must participate as tutors, mentors, 1:1 reading assistants, club advisors, speakers, business partners, and other voluntary roles. Our classrooms need to be open to positive and constructive volunteers who can assist teachers in carrying out specialized assistance and in giving personal attention to students. The strong need is to provide 1:1 assistance with as many students as possible so that they can read, write, and do math at grade level. It is particularly important that these volunteers concentrate on grades K-3.Teachers and students must utilize the local community in student learning, assisting students to make the connections between the world of the classroom to the real world. Students need to be involved in service learning projects, in building community parks or recreation areas, in planting flowers or gardens, in water and soil conservation, in using and conserving natural resources, in internships, in working with younger students, in assisting the elderly or disabled, and in improving the schools. Students can build housing for the homeless, provide clothing for the naked, food for the hungry, visits to the sick and elderly, and provide support to the widow and the orphan. Native American students can learn about their Native Arts, including painting, sand painting, medicine wheels, drums, leathercrafts, crafts, tracking, herbs and remedies, edible and nonedible plants and other important cultural information.Students should not be in school just to take from it, but students should feel the responsibility to give something back to the school and the community from an early age.To paraphrase President Kennedy, “Ask not what your school and community can do for you, but what you can do for your school and community.” This engagement with the local community will stimulate positive relationships between the community and the school, stimulate student interest and initiative, result in a mutual interchange of ideas and skills, increase parent participation and community ownership of the schools, increase community support by enhancing volunteerism, and create a tidal wave of enthusiasm as the community feels their valuable skills and knowledge is being utilized by their children to make the world a better place to live, to grow, to develop, and to enhance the local condition of the community.Community utilization also includes the use of outdoor education to enhance student learning. Outdoor education is hands-on learning, which is exactly what our Native American children need to learn. Outdoor education utilizes the natural environment to teach basic curriculum studies. History lessons may involve visiting a historic site, studying housing and hunting patterns, or listening to the Elders tell stories. Mathematics would utilize map and compass, building a walkway over a creek, or estimating the size of the tree you are cutting down so it does not land on your house. In science, students will learn about animals, tracks, geology, and finding their way with the stars to navigate.Crafts may be traditional or nontraditional. In outdoor education activities, students are active participants in their learning. The difference is that students are learning in a way that is useful and practical, an essential element in the success of Native Americans to learn.The geological framework of the many Reservations has a deep spiritual meaning for The People and it enhances the student’s entire life and cultural tradition to learn about these features. Children who fail in regular education often readily succeed in the hands-on outdoor education learning program. It suits well the cultural traditions of Native Americans, enhances self-esteem and self-worth, and produces useful and practical skills for children.

End Segregation by Age: One Campus, Many Interactive Activities

Nearly 50 years after the Brown Decision that declared “separate but equal” illegal, our schools are segregated again. Our schools are segregated by an age factor into elementary, middle or junior high schools, and high schools. This segregation of students by age is harmful to our communities and to the development and growth of our children.This segregation by age is for the benefit, not of the students we serve, but for administrators and teachers. It allows school districts to break down the age groups into areas of specialization for staff and allows poor administrative practices to thrive out of view of older siblings. This segregation by age is wrong. Our children need their bigger brothers and sisters. The little red school house offered limitless opportunities for leadership development for older students, provided a safety cushion for improper administrative and teacher behavior, allowed siblings to support each other in the daily life of the school, and made the schools more accountable to the community. We can and we must end this segregation of the schools.The 9th grader who is thinking of dropping out can be assigned to help with a first or second grader having trouble reading, receiving an opportunity to make the difference in a child’s life, moving away from the self-centeredness of one world and into the caring and compassion of another world, making a critical difference in two lives. Junior high and high school students can enhance their own reading, increase their self-esteem and improve their self-worth by acting as tutors or leaders for younger children. High school students can act as positive role models to elementary and junior high school students. We can alter the way we operate and segregate our schools in many communities by simply viewing the separate schools as one campus with many planned activities between all of the schools throughout the day and week. Older students can act as tutors, aides, and role models for younger students, giving both groups that one essential element so vital in pursuit of educational excellence: The knowledge that someone cares about them, that they are appreciated, that life has meaning outside of the self, that they have self-worth and creating that vital sense of mission: That we are all in this together.