American Indian Teachers' Perspectives: Effective Teaching Practices and Influences on American Indian Education

Abstract

With increasing numbers of children of color in public schools and predictions that these students may comprise up to 46% of our country's overall student population by the year 2020 (Howard, 1999), teachers need to reflect upon what it means to be the teacher of children of color. The U.S. educational system is not producing large percentages of American Indian teachers, and so there continues to be many non-Indian teachers of American Indian students. American Indian students, as a group, continue to lag significantly behind their non-Indian peers in school. While there are many reasons for this occurrence, this study chooses to focus on what does work. After a review of the literature, I analyze in-depth interviews with three American Indian teachers of an urban school district. The purpose is to examine what Indian teachers have to say about their experiences as Indian teachers, how to make education more meaningful to American Indian students, and to also provide insightful recommendations on what motivates American Indian students to become successful academically.