Tracing a selfie

This teaching report focuses on effectiveness of teaching pedagogies of the word formation process to Navajo students at a two-year college in the American Southwest. The activities used to teach the concepts of word formation are illustrated/described. The purpose of using authentic examples including songs from popular culture is to make students aware that these linguistic concepts are related to their everyday lives and in the hope that they can utilize these concepts and integrate real-life examples in their future teaching career. A feedback form was administered to collect the students’ views toward the pedagogies including activities in an introductory Linguistics class.

Adapting Summer Education Programs for Navajo Students: Resilient Teamwork

In May 2020, the Navajo Native American Research Center for Health Partnership (Navajo NARCH) was scheduled to launch two summer programs: a 10 weeks-long Summer Research Enhancement Program (SREP) for undergraduate students to learn and practice health research methods and participate in a practicum experience, and a week-long Indigenous Summer Enhancement Program (ISEP) for high school students that introduces a range of health professions and develops leadership qualities. Students accepted into the programs are predominantly Navajo and live within Navajo Nation (NN) during the summer. Due to NN restrictions and CDC guidelines for physically distancing in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the Navajo NARCH team organized to offer both programs entirely online via Zoom™. This paper explores the instructional teams’ adaptation process to maintain a commitment to preserve the programs’ supportive environment for exploring and developing strong multicultural approaches in public health and health research. In preparation for online instruction, the team developed and offered workshops for staff and instructors to address anticipated challenges. The team identified the following challenges: technological difficulties, social disconnectedness, consistent student engagement, and facilitation of a practicum research experience. Results showed that program adaptations were successful as the team applied collaborative and holistic approaches, and established social connections remotely with students to offer meaningful research and practicum experiences.

Testing the Limits of Colonial Parenting: Navajo Domestic Workers, the Intermountain Indian School, and the Urban Relocation Program, 1950–1962

Closely examining the experiences of mostly female Navajo students, this article demonstrates that the Intermountain Indian School played a pivotal role in carrying out postwar Indian Policy. Like Progressive Era Indian boarding schools, its gendered curriculum prepared students to assimilate as low-status workers into American society and move away from their reservation communities. However, beginning with the first graduating class, Navajo students took advantage of the training but did not necessarily conform to policy makers’ expectations.

Juxtaposition: The Coexistence of Traditional Navajo and Standards Based Curricula

Northridge Elementary, a small public school serving almost entirely Navajo students, was recently labeled with a failing grade from the New Mexico Department of Education. This study explores what this label reveals and what it conceals. Using educational connoisseurship and criticism as the method of inquiry, this study considers how the label interacts with the structural, intentional, curricular, pedagogical, and evaluative dimensions within the school. As offered in the thematic aspect of the analysis, the label overgeneralizes realities of Northridge Elementary and is hindering rather the benefiting students.

Challenges Associated with Developing Discursive Classrooms in High-Poverty, Rural Schools

That teacher was discussing the challenges associated with initiating mathematical discourse with his Navajo students. Although he is interested in developing a classroom in which students regularly share their mathematical thinking with one another, such a discursive classroom may in fact be incongruent with the students' culture. This example demonstrates one of many issues that impede secondary-level mathematics teachers in their efforts to negotiate toward a classroom in which students' ideas are valued and frequently solicited.