Saturday, May 5, 2012

"Hidden Gems: Nurturing the gifts of Native American children & youth"

 
Guest Blogger: Jerry Lassos- Indian Educator from Denver, Colorado

I first met Jerry Lassos at the National Association for Gifted Children convention in 2010, when he attended our Diversity & Equity Committee meeting. I found Jerry to be very committed and passionate about meeting the needs of all culturally diverse gifted learners, especially Indian students who are so often overlooked. His passion and expertise are revealed in this ‘blog’…enjoy~
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This school year was amazing for me, a teacher with over 30 years experience.  That experience includes time in the regular classroom, in gifted and talented classrooms, as well as time as a gifted and talented resource consultant.   Most recently I have taught middle school Indian Education classes in Denver Public Schools.  I feel as if I learned so much about what is important and how schools and school districts need to change in order for more students to be successful.    From my own school experience, which is not that different from many of the students I interact with everyday, working successfully with culturally and/or linguistically diverse (CLD) students boils down to four key elements to discover ‘hidden gems’ among them.  
The first essential element is cultural competence/sensitivity training for all teachers who work with CLD students.   The teachers who form relationships with these students understand their unique needs and experiences and judge them less harshly than many of their colleagues. Without first building trust and relationships, many teachers never see the real student, the real person they are working with.  Many of these students will never feel safe enough to reveal their true identities and thus, their true potential.  Establishing relationships and trust is essential and far too many teachers are quick to judge culturally and linguistically diverse students through their own ‘middle-class lenses’.  By not realizing they are actually judging the “Mask” and not seeing the real person, the end result is a failure to connect on a meaningful level.   This is damaging to students’ self-esteem.   By punishing behaviors based on values that conflict with the student’s very struggle for survival in their own socio-economic environments, the relationship gap widens and students feel nudged closer toward exiting systems that don’t value or understand them. 
The second key element is strength-based programming.  Engaging students in their strength areas is essential.  Students need and deserve to be seen and encouraged for their strengths.  Too often culturally and linguistically diverse students find themselves in remedial “catch up” model classes with little opportunity to demonstrate their academic and creative strengths.   “We are Gifted 2” captures the essence of the issue at hand.   The students I work with in Indian Education surprise me daily with their talents and their creativity.  They were understandably mistrustful in the beginning, and to be sure we have our ups and downs, but they have revealed themselves to me and I am grateful for it and appreciate it very much.  They have taught me by helping me understand their realities and what their lives entail…often chaotic events and situations that expose them to hard life lessons at way too young an age. 
The third key element is differentiation.   All students deserve opportunities to have content delivered in a variety of ways and to demonstrate their understanding in a multiple ways.  Recent research shows that up to 80% of American Indian students are visual-spatial learners.  I’m confident that the majority of culturally or linguistically diverse learners also have visual-spatial strengths.  As teachers, most of whom are linear-sequential learners, we need to understand learning styles so that success in school is inclusive in nature and not limited to those whose learning styles match the system.  The mismatch between the linear-sequential learning style of teachers and the visual-spatial learning style of students leads to lack of understanding and frustration at both ends, and again, damage to self-esteem. 
The fourth key element is accessing appropriate resources, including technology to engage students.  For example, in Indian Ed, my students work with video technology.  They are given voice through creating video projects such as “live” school news broadcasts, interviews, and digital storytelling.  Digital storytelling is very powerful in that it connects generations, passes on important lessons, and gives a family a lasting record of their elders.  Our students’ video projects have been shared at the school, locally at the art museum, on the internet, as well as in professional development settings.  The feedback the students receive enhances self-esteem, allows them gain confidence in their abilities, and exposes them to potential career opportunities.
Providing educational equity is a national issue of social justice.  It moves us closer to the goal of true educational equity will address the achievement gap.  As educators, it should be among the highest of our priorities.  Culturally and linguistically diverse learners are an untapped resource in the United States.  Instead of looking abroad for future leaders to fulfill our academic and technological needs, we should be committed to mining the ‘hidden gems’ that are right before our eyes. 
I am a member of the Tongva tribal nation , the original people of Los Angeles.  The Spanish took our people to the San Gabriel Mission, so we are often referred to as Gabrielino.  I much prefer Tongva.  The 1960 award winning book ‘Island of the Blue Dolphins ‘ is about San Nicolas Island, one of the Channel Islands that was Tongva. - Jerry Lassos

7 comments:

  1. I MUST say that Jerry 'hit the ball out of the park' with this post!! I am so proud to have his expertise and support as a part of this initiative to bring attention to the needs of ALL CLD gifted learners. My best to you, Jerry you continue to serve your people!!

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  2. Thank you for reminding us that teachers need to meet students based on where they are and who they are. It is a fundamental construct that is often overlooked.

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  3. I think the point about responding to the "mask" rather than the real person is very useful when applied to working across cultural boundaries. I agree very much with the other points made here as well. A very useful post, that I will be sharing widely.

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  4. Jerry and Joy, thank you for this important post. I found the visual-spatial discussion especially interesting--it was something I definitely saw in my classmates.

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  5. "The teachers who form relationships with these students understand their unique needs and experiences and judge them less harshly than many of their colleagues. Without first building trust and relationships, many teachers never see the real student, the real person they are working with. Many of these students will never feel safe enough to reveal their true identities and thus, their true potential. Establishing relationships and trust is essential and far too many teachers are quick to judge culturally and linguistically diverse students through their own ‘middle-class lenses’. By not realizing they are actually judging the “Mask” and not seeing the real person, the end result is a failure to connect on a meaningful level. This is damaging to students’ self-esteem. By punishing behaviors based on values that conflict with the student’s very struggle for survival in their own socio-economic environments, the relationship gap widens and students feel nudged closer toward exiting systems that don’t value or understand them."

    This is exactly what I am saying in my book!

    Thank you Dr. Joy and Mr. Lassos!

    ~Karen E. Dabney

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  6. Jerry, I just love "Island of the Blue Dolphins". My son recently read it too, and also enjoyed it. Thank you so much for sharing your perspective. One point of importance I often make about diverse learners is sometimes it is useful to look beyond appearances and give the child the benefit of the doubt that he/she is smart, does understand complex concepts and that his/her opinion is important and that I value it highly! This simple precept has helped me cut through differences so I may focus in quickly to enable and empower the child.

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  7. On behalf of Dr. Jaime Castellano, Principal & Gifted Education Coordinator Ganado Unified School District (Ganado Indian Reservation) Ganado, Arizona

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    Thank you, Jerry, for your continued commitment to serving our gifted and high ability Native American students. They are out there-they exist in every school they attend. Your blog contribution is inciteful and accurate. I would like to share a point that I have been contemplating over the past few days. As a building principal and district coordinator for gifted education serving a student population that is 99% Native American (Navajo) I have attempted to institutionalize practices and procedures across the district. I figure that once I leave or were to transition to another position within the district the gifted program would perpetuate itself based on those institutionalized practices and procedures previously established. I am beginning to realize that despite these efforts quality programs serving gifted and high ability Native American students often rests on the shoulders of one or two advocates who have a keen interest and are passionate about this sub-group of students. How do we change the minds of colleagues to help them understand that transforming a school's academic culture, building capacity, and promoting talent equity includes identifying, assessing, recruiting, and retaining their best students in advanced academic programs? I would love reading your thoughts on the matter.

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