American Indian educators in reservation schools / Terry Huffman.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

The role of Native American teachers and administrators working in reservation schools has received little attention from scholars. Utilizing numerous interviews and extensive fieldwork, Terry Huffman shows how they define their roles and judge their achievements. He examines the ways they address the complex issues of cultural identity that affect their students and themselves and how they cope with the pressures of teaching disadvantaged students while meeting the requirements for reservation schools. Personal accounts from the educators enrich the discussion. Their candid comments about their choice of profession; their position as teachers, role models, and social service agents; and the sometimes harsh realities of reservation life offer unique insight into the challenges and rewards of providing an education to Native American students. Huffman also considers the changing role of Native educators as reservation schools prepare their students for the increasing complexities of modern life and society while still transmitting traditional culture. He shows that Native American educators meet daunting challenges with enduring optimism and persistence. The insights these educators offer can serve those in other communities where students navigate a difficult path out of discrimination and poverty.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

Huffman (George Fox Univ.) provides an interesting but limited study based on interviews in 2010 with 21 experienced American Indian educators (14 teachers and seven principals) on five reservations in South Dakota and Montana. He divides them into affinitive, most interested with personal relations with students, and facilitative, most interested in effective instruction; both types support the teaching of tribal cultures. Huffman's interviews and comprehensive review of the literature on Indian education highlight the effects of pervasive poverty on Indian students. In addition, the historical use "of formal education ... as a weapon in the assault on indigenous cultures" has led to a "general disregard for education" and "persisten[t] indifference on reservations toward education." The federal government sought through the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 to improve the education of ethnic minorities in the US, however, it emphasized only math and reading to the detriment of teaching about tribal cultures and everything else. Huffman found that "educators who participated in this research generally regard a strong cultural identity reinforced by culturally relevant pedagogy and curriculum as important to the success of students." Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduate, graduate, and research collections. J. A. Reyhner Northern Arizona University