On Water: Journey of an Indigenous Researcher Guiding Professional Development as Teachers Navigate Native American Curriculum

Abstract

Because only 0.4% of teachers in Minnesota are Native American, nonNative educators must also learn how to teach this content in ways that increase the engagement and achievement of all our state’s students. Yet most teachers are not equipped to teach these standards effectively and confidently. This study offers an emerging Native American female researcher’s analysis of ways to conduct Professional Development (PD) for non-Native K-12 teachers. This study asked: What are nonNative teachers’ experience in PD regarding MN Native American curricular content of history, language, and culture? And: What supports and structures in (PD) add to non-Native American teachers’ experiences as they create culturally relevant curriculum on Minnesota Native American history, language, and culture? I used a theoretical framework of indigenous epistemologies by creating a bridge between the story of the empirical literature reviewed and my own stories as an emerging researcher. Indigenous Methodologies (IM) were employed in this study including a connection or relationship between knowledge and nature theoretical stance on identity seen through water and story as method. The case study focused on three K-12 teachers who participated in PD focused on Native American history, language and culture. Data were analyzed using my new data analyzing technique of *Indigenous Storalyzing* which synthesizes IM and uses understanding through embodiment and conceptual thought; story as an indigenous research method used to work through, interpret, and make sense of the data; and analyzing the data and scholarship sources in storytelling. I also place myself in the analysis as the PD facilitator as I conceptualize myself as a guide in the teachers’ PD journey. I tell the stories on water of the three teachers and how I, as an emerging indigenous researcher, navigated ways to see the difference between creating professional relationships versus personal ones; how to protect my Native identity and personal stories from the “gaze” of some nonNative PD participants; along with disrupting assumptions of how transformational learning.