Vignette #1
I went to South Junior High over the fall break and I was trying to figure out what I wanted to say about the experience. Upon meeting my content teacher, I realised that us English/Literature or CAL teachers are all the same. My supervisor at my job, our ELL content teacher, and our principal are all English teachers, and when I walked into the classroom, it felt like home. I have a similar set up in my classroom, with christmas lights for softer lighting, cute bits of colour, and encouraging messages. We are also more mellow, set up for organisation, and a bit strange; I knew then it wasn't just me.
The way my schedule worked out, I spent seven full days with the students and teacher. I ended up falling into a routine. The content teacher commanded respect based on structure and expectations; I made sure to mirror the students and the teachers, as a gap between them. This is the main way that native mentors usually operate translated best to the non-white students which was being a presence first with me mirroring the students and as they grow used to me, I then become more of a mentor. Since I was there for so long, I established a routine and repertoire after the first day.
The content teacher seemed glad to have me and we established a lot of communication, most of it non-verbal, so my presence was the most helpful and enriching in my time there. (I would have been so very bored if I were restricted to just watching, so I'm glad for that.) I don't think I would have had the same experience had I only been one or two hours a day.
My schedule: 8:30-11am classroom time plus being involved with advisory, then lunch until 11:30am. We'd have AVID 6 for an hour, which is probably my favourite AVID class out of the bunch to just hang out with since they're so spirited and friendly. Then I'd have prep/homework time until 1:30pm. In the staff room, I found the ONE other native staff member, and he's Cree and probably my cousin, but speaks Dakota.
What bothered me wasn't what happened in the classroom, but in the hallway. There are so many teachers that talk down to students that it hurts me inside. The experience the first week and a half was wonderful.
Vignette #2
So, for starters, I'm native, and within our culture we like to joke. One refreshing similarity I've found with English Teachers and CAL majors is that the joking is a way to bond with students. For the most part, the classroom environment is fun and relaxed, with my content teacher expressing extreme patience and a mostly agreeable but firm mentor role with the students.
Two examples that I've noticed for students not quite meeting eye to eye with the instructor. There is a protocol with some relaxed management in one of the classes. My content teacher is one to use to break up tension and get students back on task. There was one student in one of the table pods that regularly disparages the teacher's authority by turning the joke on them. I was not aware of this dynamic and did not react to the student's comment, the other students laugh. The teacher had another staff member step in while I'm helping students finish their classwork, and then took the student out of the classroom to talk about expectations.
The teacher debriefed me afterwards and I admit that I felt guilty about being able to intervene, especially since this student I have a more positive repertoire with. The teacher assured me it wasn't my responsibility but it goes before I got there; I had to have more humility in that moment since I am not used to being in an observant role. I also realised, even the teacher that I had a lot of admiration in their classroom management style, that there are some that don't 'buy in', the same as my students in my classroom, but to have the same understanding and patience and respect to deal with the situation privately. According to the teacher, they were being fair in communicating expectations and the consequences about disrupting class. For the rest of the time there, the student was being more respectful toward the content teacher. (A not so flattering hallway interaction that I came across while walking to my break, a student was cornered in a hallway and another teacher was berating a student in front of their classmates and they were cutting them down.)
Another instance that happened is a student (MCR) that used their anxiety to get out of doing work. My content teacher put the student on the spot for an outstanding late presentation. The student started the presentation with some filler and said that they were too overwhelmed to do it and sat down. I noticed that they were shaking and the teacher continued with the lesson and instructions. I started talking to MCR and got them to open up briefly about some things that they liked doing, and then turned it into the task they were doing in class that day. The teacher thanked me afterwards and admitted that they have trouble trying to connect with students who use (whether consciously or unconsciously) their mental health as reasons for not doing work, but they often forget to connect with their students on a personable level and appreciated that I stepped in to get them back on track.
Vignette #3
One of the hardest things that I've had to do is know that I have to work with a set of students that I will likely never see again past this year. When I came to South Junior High right before MEA, I didn't expect to accepted so readily. After the end of the first day, a student, that I'll call Firefly, in AVID, told me that I wasn't allowed to ever leave. Toward the end of my third week, one of the quietest students in my content class, Ever is their alias, gave the quietest protest for my departure. Both shy nerdy kids, they liked talking to me and working with me while I was in the classroom. Another student from AVID, I'll call this one Bangtan, kept defending my gender identity to the other students on one of my last returning days, saying that 'Jei is "they" because it's part of their culture!' and smiled proudly at me. Later, Bangtan and Firefly found a few minutes after their classwork was completely to talk to me to vent about their end of trimester troubles.
I okayed candies for the students by the CT's assessment of allergies and told the significance of wearing a ribbon skirt for my field experience time. I also told them that in Dakota culture, whenever I am in a learning experience, that is considered ceremony, and traditionally you have to wear a ribbon skirt when in ceremony (if you have the ability to have children.) I thanked them in Ojibwe and they mimicked my 'Miigwetch' that I gave them. A few of them came up and shared the Dakhota and Ojibwemowin that they knew. I made frybread for the content class, which included Ever, for my very last day. They were very polite and gracious, despite my subpar skills at frybread.
When talking with the CT, debriefing for the whole experience, they echoed what the school board director for my job has said, that I have a gift for middle schoolers. I didn't expect to know that and I didn't expect to be attached. I will miss the class and promised that I will visit as the school year goes on. I feel that I have a lot more to learn from them; they're a great group of kids. What is strikingly different from working outside of my community and demographic, is that I'll see old students in the store or at powwows or language tables, or I know their parents and siblings, and they keep in contact with the school to let us know they're okay.
Once I'm completely gone from South Junior High, I will have no idea how they turn out, or if they remember the awkward nerdy queer native that helped out in their class a few times. Since youth/mentor ties is an important, and sacred part of my culture, to have that disconnect is disconcerting and difficult to come to terms with. I used to not worry about these things, but after teaching and mentoring in NDN country for five years now, I don't know how other teachers do it. Just in case I end up in a 'regular' school, despite the unlikelihood, once you're a part of the Native Community, you're kind of stuck there, for better or worse, I should definitely figure out how I'm going to process all these emotions. Oh, boy.