Breakout Sessions

Active Shooter Protocol: Measures to Take to Prevent an Active Shooter
J. Cooper Dixon, Dixon's Safety Consulting, LLCfor all audiences, 60 minutes

Unfortunately, safety has become a billion-dollar industry as the powers-to-be are sold on purchasing expensive and unnecessary hardware that takes a REACTIVE approach to safety. In most cases, when an active shooter event occurs there were missed warning signs. This block of instruction focuses on the PROACTIVE and PREVENTIVE measures to take to prevent such events. Additionally, I will present to the participant tactics to survive an active shooter.

American Indian Elementary Books and Resources
Marilyn Mendenhall, District Elementary Librarian, Brookings School District
for all audiences, 30 minutes

This presentation will give you a list of excellent books for elementary school aged children along with other fun information and sites. Resources

Beyond Standard & Assessment Based Teaching
Derek A. Stewart, PhD, Instructor, Sitting Bull College Education Department
for all audiences, 30 minutes

How teachers new to teaching at schools that serve Native American populations can integrate culture and what that means to a non-native teacher. This presentation takes a look at how new teachers can navigate the education system that serves Native American students. It is based on the experiences of a non-native teacher.

Growing Our Own Teachers via Place-Based Education
Jamalee (Jami) Stone, Associate Professor, Black Hills State University
for all audiences, 60 minutes

This session will highlight "Grow Your Own" indigenous teachers who are making a difference in the SD reservation communities they serve. A call to "grow" indigenous 5-12 math and science will be addressed along with resources from the Midwest and Plains Equity Assistance Center. Resources

Hands-on Learning: Suitcase Education Kits
Ronette Rumpca, South Dakota State Historical Society Museum

The South Dakota State Historical Society Museum offers suitcase education kits to classrooms, after school groups and summer school groups. Fourteen kits are currently available: Buffalo & the Plains Indians, Indians and the Environment, Homesteading, Fur Trade, Cowboys & Ranch Life, Mining in South Dakota, Archaeology in South Dakota, Lewis and Clark in South Dakota, South Dakota Immigrants, Dakota, Nakota, Lakota Life, South Dakota Places, One-Room Schoolhouse Learning, Trading Posts & General Stores and South Dakota Transportation. All kits include hands-on objects, worksheets and activities. In this session participants will learn how the kits are developed and see a teacher’s guide with lesson plan write-ups and objects from the kits. Resources

Hidden in Plain Sight: State Library's Resources for Everyone
Daria Bossman, State Librarian, South Dakota State Library, South Dakota DOE
for all audiences, 30 minutes

Learn how to aid teaching and learning using the SD State Library's free databases and digital resources! With our 24/7 accessible, professionally vetted databases, you can enrich instruction, creatively support reading, and help students master the research process. You’ll also receive go-to resources to build classroom libraries that support indigenous learners. Resources

Implementing Culturally Responsive Feedback to Student Leadership
Ray Taken Alive (Standing Rock), K-12 Lakȟóta Language and Culture Community Coordinator & Olivia Olson, HS English Teacher, McLaughlin Schools
for teachers, 60 minutes

This presentation describes the process used to craft a rubric for student behavior based in models of Lakota leadership and identity in order to improve student self-efficacy, autonomy, and class culture in a participation-based service learning course. Presenters share the models used in the course, the student-created rubrics for behavior, and observations about how student leadership improved after its implementation .

Indigenize Education with Everyday Native
Alina Graves, Ronan School District #30, MT
for all audiences, 60 minutes

Based on primary sources, this free online educators’ resource offers culturally responsive, multi-subject curriculum enhancements for grades 4-12. Through Indian youths’ and families’ everyday experiences and stories, it fosters respect and understanding of tribal specifics and helps create a sense of belonging among Native students, helping decrease racial bullying while boosting Native academic achievement. Participants view comprehensive content – photographs, poems, video, historical context and more – learning how to creatively use components to meet the Oceti Sakowin Essential Understandings and Standards.

Learning Express Library
Kim Bonen, Digital Resources Coordinator, South Dakota State Library
for teachers & administrators, 45 minutes

Viewers will learn about The South Dakota State Library’s database “Learning Express”. This presentation will cover setting up your Learning Express account. Practice tests such as the ACT/SAT, ASVAB, GED, CDL drivers license, nursing, and cosmetology will be explored. These tests help students improve their scores which directly impacts financial aid scholarships. Unlimited access and technical support is available from the State library staff.

Level Up: Engaging Students Using Video Games and Game Design Principles
Maria Burns Ortiz, CEO/Co-Founder, 7 Generation Games
for teachers, 45 minutes

This session will explore why educational video games are a powerful learning tool, what educators should look for when assessing educational video games and how the design principles that make video games so appealing can be applied to your day-to-day curriculum. Drawing from real world examples from tribal schools and Indigenous youth serving programs, the workshop will share ideas, activities, user-friendly tools and educational games that are easy to implement - whether or not you're tech savvy. Resources

Motivating and Educating with Software - in the New Normal
AnnMaria DeMars, President, 7 Generation Games / National University
for all audiences, 45 minutes

Even the best teachers in the best situations struggle to maximize student participation, individualize learning, integrate culture and prepare standards aligned lessons. Well-designed educational software can help. Examples are presented using games developed with funding from USDA.

My Students Just Don't Get It!
Jennifer Sammons, Mentor and Reading Interventionist, SFSD
for all audiences, 60 minutes

We’ve said or heard it a 100 times, “They should know better!” But should they? It can be a bit frustrating. A student can’t find their homework- you’ve rocked a lesson and tell the students to begin their assignment and some students look at you like a “deer in headlights”- or you give a student feedback and the paper flies across the room. What’s happening in our classrooms? Executive functioning deficits can and do impact a student’s ability to finish an assignment from start to finish. During our time we will discuss the changes we’re seeing in the classroom such as poor working memory, struggles with impulse and emotional control, or lack of organization. You will leave the session with game-changing ideas on how to enhance your lesson planning to assist with students retaining and transferring what you taught them. Resources: EdPuzzle, Executive Functioning Skills

Putting Our Minds Together: A Focused Collaboration at the Department of Education and Department of Tribal Relations
Deb Thorstenson, Region 11 Comprehensive Center; Joe Moran, Director of Policy and Strategic Initiatives, SD Dept of Education; Susan Shebby, Deputy Director, Region 11 Comprehensive Center; Juliana White Bull-Taken Alive, Director, Office of Indian Education, Department of Tribal Relations
for all audiences, 30 minutes

The South Dakota Department of Education and the South Dakota Department of Tribal Relations–Office of Indian Education are collaborating to improve the educational experiences of Native American students. Together with the Region 11 Comprehensive Center, a partner in this work, they will share a logic model depicting these efforts. Presenters will also discuss key shared initiatives: the Wo ́okiye Teacher Project, a state-level needs assessment, tribal consultation, statewide communication, Indigenous language revitalization, and the Bright Spots project.

Research, Social Network Health, and Stories - Part 1 - 45 minutes
Social Network Health, Storytelling, and Positive Change - Part 2 - 60 minutes
Tim McGowan & Kansas Middletent, Networks of Support
for all audiences

Part 1: Network Health? What is it and more importantly, how do we achieve it? For over a decade, Tim has worked with schools to develop prevention strategies that proactively strengthen healthy social bonds. And for the past two years, Tim has been the trainer on a research project with the Air Force addressing military suicides. Group cohesion and help-seeking behaviors are positive benefits of a healthy social network that can reduce depression, suicide risk factors and other workplace issues. Tim will share results from this current research project, how the power of stories can develop social network health and positive cultures and how to build cohesion in any setting.

Part 2: Two things are needed for positive sustainable change: personal initiative and a supportive network. Our success of making that positive change greatly increases when we have a support person who can guide us through our transition. But how do we put the correct people in our lives at the correct time and place to support us? As equally important, how do we become the correct people to support others? Based on research and anecdotal stories from hundreds of interviews, it is not only clear we need someone to walk with us to positive change, but there are specific characteristics of the support people that increases our success.

Kansas Middletent and Tim McGowan will walk you through the trainings they conduct for school staff. They focus on building cohesion and support through discussions and storytelling. They will introduce you to the research on social networks on how to develop the skills to support each other in difficult times.

Resources: Research Results | WC Summary

Support Your Learners with Free Resources from the SD State Library
Alissa Adams, School Library Technology Coordinator, South Dakota State Library and
Laura Kelly, Children & Youth Services Coordinator, South Dakota DOE
for all audiences, 60 minutes

Transitioning to Higher Education: Best Practices and the 7^th Gen Summer Program
Megan Red Shirt-Shaw (Oglala Sioux Tribe), Associate Director of Enrollment Management, The Indian University of North America & John Little (Standing Rock Sioux Tribe), Director, The Indian University of North America
for all audiences, 30 minutes

We will present best practices for how to teach and discuss Native student’s transitions from high school into higher education across four-year, two year, tribal, and technical colleges and universities. Providing a brief overview on the college application process, we will transition into sharing our lesson plan from the College Success Strategies course at the 7th Gen Summer Program. Our session hopes to provide educators with a toolkit to support their students into post-secondary education. Resources

Wokini. SDSU's Collaborative Framework to Support American Indian Students
Shana Harming (Lower Brule Sioux- Kul Wicasa Oyate), Wokini and Tribal Relations Director, South Dakota State University
for all audiences, 45 minutes

The Wokini Initiative is South Dakota State University’s (SDSU) collaborative and holistic framework to support American Indian student success and Indigenous Nation-building. The Initiative builds upon SDSU’s current tribal partnerships and American Indian Student Center services to enhance cultural programming and support for American Indian students, offer scholarships and enhance research and outreach partnerships with tribes, tribal colleges and other tribal organizations. Ongoing collaboration between key campus and tribal stakeholders is central to the Wokini framework. Resources

Wookiye Teacher Project Introductions
Juliana White Bull-Taken Alive, M.Ed., Director, Office of Indian Education & Joe Moran
for all audiences, 30 minutes

The Lakota term Wóokiye means to help, aid, assist. The goal of the Wookiye Teacher Project is to create and implement a network of support that will help, aid, and assist teachers as they become proficient in using the Oceti Sakowin Essential Understandings (OSEU). The project will promote the OSEU and support culturally responsive teaching practices. This presentation includes 16 of the 20 teachers that have been selected by the Office of Indian Education to be in the first cohort.