When such a profound and meaningful experience reveals itself to me, its a difficult bus to not jump aboard. Change and children are my values. Whenever I spend time in Northern Nevada at Natchez Elementary School on the Pyramid Lake Paiute Reservation, I feel so at peace.
Working with the team of Serving Our Communities has been tremendously inspiring and motivating as we have rolled hard over the past 6 months to provide the support these children need to succeed in/outside of school.
This chasm of collaboration and think-tank approach has evolved so organically by putting together people who just care. It often leaves me speechless. I certainly feel our approach to solving the issues that face many children of the Northern Paiute tribe are so innovative, yet basic. Our attitude is just "what do they need?" Ok, then let's do THAT!
Imagine if the solutions to helping children be successful in life were as simple as "what do they need?" Funny part...when you ask people that work with children, it's often the simplest thing that changes children's lives forever.
For example: a high percentage of the children we assessed for learning style (like 90%) rated Nature and Art as their intelligence/superhero strength. What do these children need to develop agency and autonomy over their learning in this situation? AN OUTDOOR CLASSROOM! Again, what if educational institutions designed learning environments based on the strengths of its learners? That is the game changer.
Our team looks forward to presenting this experience in November in Washington D.C. so that hopefully other native communities look at this and say, YES, we want to do that, too.
If there is anything the Acton family of schools has taught me it is that there is a genius that lives inside of every child. I will do the work every opportunity that I get, to helping ALL children find it.
Early Childhood Inclusion Coordinator
1moWe love your teachers!!!!