Stop Talking: Indigenous Ways of Teaching and Learning and Difficult Dialogues in Higher Education PDF
Preview Stop Talking: Indigenous Ways of Teaching and Learning and Difficult Dialogues in Higher Education
s t o p t a l k i n g Indigenous Ways of Teaching and Learning and Difficult Dialogues in Higher Education Ilarion (Larry) Merculieff and Libby Roderick UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA ANCHORAGE B Ground Rules s t o p t a l k i n g Indigenous Ways of Teaching and Learning and Difficult Dialogues in Higher Education Ilarion (Larry) Merculieff and Libby Roderick Copyright ©2013 by the University of Alaska Anchorage Published by: University of Alaska Anchorage Thomas Case, Chancellor 3211 Providence Drive Anchorage, AK 99508 Quotes used by permission. Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: The editors and publisher have made their best efforts in preparing this handbook; however, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or inclusiveness of the contents. The contributors speak as individuals, not as representatives of a nation or a people. Readers are encouraged to use the contents as a source of ideas and fresh thinking, not as a prescription for a particular outcome, and to consult with other texts and professionals where appropriate. ISBN: 978-0-9702845-0-1 Produced by the University of Alaska Anchorage, 2013 Dedicated to the memory of Angayuqaq Oscar Kawagley whose wisdom, dedication, and courage inspired him to forge some of the first and most important connections between indigenous ways of teaching and learning and western higher education E Edited by Kay Landis Contributing Writers Jack Dalton Martha Gould-Lehe Diane Hirshberg Claudia Lampman Paul Ongtooguk Oliver Petraitis Don Rearden With special thanks to Jeane Breinig Renee Carter-Chapman Jack Curtiss John Dede Trish Jenkins Susan LaBelle Jack Roderick Book design and original art David Freeman Published by University of Alaska Anchorage Sponsored by Center for Advancing Faculty Excellence University of Alaska Anchorage Difficult Dialogues Initiative Ford Foundation Table of Contents Introduction Foreword Who we are 1 Ground Rules ................................................1 2 Indigenizing Education ...........................39 3 Difficult Dialogues....................................63. 4 One Day with Elders on the Land ........93 5 Into Our Classrooms ...............................119 6 Assessment ...............................................141 7 Pausing for Reflection ............................157 References and Recommended Reading................174 G In.the.Beginning It was the end of spring semester here in Anchorage, Alaska. The snow was gone in all but the shadiest of places, but the trees were not yet in leaf, and a brown dust blew lightly over the still winter-flattened earth. It was a season of endings and beginnings. Finals were over, grades turned in, robes donned, commencement hats flung. Summer was on its way. Just before the faculty went off contract and scattered to the mid-May winds, we held the last meeting of our Ford Foundation-sponsored Difficult Dialogues project. We’d been working together for the past two years on strategies for engaging controversial topics in the classroom, including those especially difficult ones involving race, culture, and ethnicity. Everyone was exhausted: the sixteen faculty members around the table, the organizers and facilitators, the Ford Foundation representatives who had flown through the night to get here. Even the coffee pot was only half awake. We had this one last thing to do, and then we could all go home. We went around the room, each faculty member making a final report on what he or she had tried in the classroom and how it had gone. Some of the stories were exciting; others less so. But still the voices continued. Around two in the afternoon, we took a break, and the Ford Foundation evaluators asked to see our leadership team alone for a few final comments and questions. They told us they had seen enough. It was clear we had done what we said we’d done, had the effects on faculty that we had claimed. They were satisfied. Our project was one of the successful ones. We passed. It would have made a nice ending. But then, as everyone was just starting to relax, the Ford Foundation’s assessment expert leaned forward and said, “OK, off the record, what do you think you really accomplished here?” There was a moment of silence. The Vice Provost looked at the Psychology professor, the faculty development leader exchanged glances with both of them. Who would say what they all were thinking? It was Libby who broke the silence. Taking a deep breath, she said “I think, for the first time ever, we’re ready to begin.” i ii
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