Establishing Indigenous Educational Spaces

According to a 2018 research report by Reclaiming Native Truth, “Nearly half of Americans say that what they were taught in schools about Native Americans was inaccurate; 72 percent say it is necessary to make signifi cant changes to the school curriculum on Native American history and culture.

A portion of the College of Education’s 2020-23 Governor’s Emergency Education Relief (GEER) grant is being used to help recruit and retain Indigenous students in teacher preparation programs at Minnesota State Mankato and Normandale Community College and provide professional development opportunities for professional educators. Chelsea Mead, faculty member in the American Indigenous Studies program, and Rebekah Degener, faculty member in the Elementary and Literacy Education program, serve as the grant’s principal investigators for Minnesota State Mankato.

“We put together a team of similarly passioned colleagues to facilitate this grant,” said Mead. “One of the most unique things about it is that it is multiprogram, multicollege, and multiinstitution.”

Minnesota has one of the worst graduation rates for Native students. “Because many people have preconceived ideas about what Native people look like, teachers don’t always realize they have Native students in their classroom. Th ey may use lesson materials that are really damaging to their Native students,” said Mead. “And then we wonder why we have such a horrifi c K-12 graduation rate of Native students in Minnesota. Th ere is a dramatic need to prepare educators with even a basic understanding of Native history and culture and what it means to provide culturally sustaining education.”

So nearly fi ve years ago, Mead created a course on Indigenous education. She said, “I wanted to create a course specifi cally for educators to train them to be able to identify whether potential lesson materials represent a colonial agenda. I want them to ask, ‘How is my Native student going to see this?’” Th e course uses a two-pronged approach: prepare non-Native educators to eff ectively serve Native students and educate non-Native students on history from an Indigenous perspective. Th e course is open to anyone and serves students in teacher prep programs, social work, parks and recreation, nursing, and more.

When the team wrote the GEER grant application, they earmarked funding for some elements that would be led by Mead with the American Indigenous Studies program and in partnership with Megan Heutmaker with the American Indian Aff airs program. Th e grant includes sections of Mead’s class, support like scholarships and emergency funds for Native students in teacher preparation programs, and fi nancial assistance for people interested in studying Indigenous languages of Ojibwa and Dakota—Minnesota’s two heritage Native languages. In addition, the grants support Native elders in residence and professional development (PD) opportunities for educators.

Courses and PD opportunities off er experiential learning activities like connecting with community elders who share knowledge and experiences and Native humor, and Indian education coordinators from around the state who facilitate discussions about the types of situations Native people encounter with educators. Educators and teacher candidates learn fi rst-hand what Native people wish educators knew to better serve Native students.

For more information about the American Indigenous Studies Program, contact Associate Professor Chelsea Mead at chelsea.mead@mnsu.edu or 507-389-6318.

Ojibwe Language students play a game of Giigoonh (Go Fish)!

Student reading and learning about Ojibwe culture.