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35 Too late for lunch and too early for dinner, few people congregated in the restaurant at this time of day. My next participant, like a number of others, had selected a restaurant for the interview. Initially, I was a bit concerned about the quality of the voice recordings, given the background noise common to diners. However, I was more worried about whether the participants would feel free to openly discuss their thoughts in such public places. I discovered I had little to be concerned about on either account. The establishment was part Western saloon and part eatery, located “downtown ” in the community that served as the reservation’s agency headquarters. The few patrons, all Native people, displayed quite a range of preferences in attire. A couple of men wore cowboy hats and boots, while one had on baggy sweatpants and a hoodie. Another young man sported a T-shirt with cut-off sleeves and a logo of a band I did not recognize. (My kids would not have been surprised at my lack of knowledge on pop culture.) A woman I took to be the owner greeted me with a big smile and asked, “Are you waiting for [the participant’s name]?” A little surprised, I said, “Yeah, I sure am.” She smiled again. “Sit anywhere you want. Take your time and visit as long as you like. If you want coffee, we’ll keep it coming to you!” The participant arrived a little late to our appointment but wasted no time relating her life story and the rich experiences she had gained as an educator on her home reservation. A relatively new teacher, her career had already been very eventful. In a short period, she had experienced wonderful successes chapter 2 Every Reason to Succeed Characteristics of the Educators I feel Indian people can have a larger impact on the reservation, especially if you are from the reservation. So I always figured that some way or another I would come back and do something. So that was kind of my goal to come back and offer whatever I had. . . . I tell kids all the time that I had every reason to fail. Absolutely every reason to fail. But I had every reason to succeed, too. —Montana educator discussing his personal background 36 a m e r i c a n i n d i a n e d u c at o r s i n r e s e r v at i o n s c h o o l s and profound tragedies. A rash of student suicides plagued the school and its community. The people of the reservation, especially this young educator, were at odds to understand the reasons why. She told me about the students she had lost. With loving detail, she described each student’s personality and aspirations, and offered vignettes of each one’s life. With every telling, she cried anew over the heartbreak of losing a student she truly loved. The interview was a powerful experience. the demands of service During the course of this investigation, a number of educators related the pain of losing students to suicide, to auto accidents, even to murder. Given the enormous demands placed upon them, I became more and more curious about how the people I met came to be educators and why they have such an intense desire to serve. In this chapter, I outline the general characteristics of the educators and the paths that led them into the vocation of education. I examine the personal backgrounds of the participants, with particular focus on their early cultural socialization experiences and self-described cultural orientation as adults. I also consider the general character of their academic training, nature of their careers, and professional goals. Throughout this treatment, I compare affinitive educators with facilitative educators in order to understand how their personal and professional backgrounds might have influenced how they described their roles. The analysis of the data led me to the conclusion that the cultural background of the participants significantly influences how they defined their responsibilities as educators. Nevertheless, in many respects homogeneity characterized the educators. They shared a number of important personal and cultural experiences. Generally, the participants reported deep connections to reservations. All of them lived on and frequently raised their own children on the reservation. Perhaps the most noticeable variation among them involves their early socialization and subsequent orientation toward American Indian cultural traditions and language. Some educators clearly articulated a...

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