Conversation #8 with RoseMary Clairmont contains powerful lessons in process around embedding identities, home culture, and local values into professional learning for educators. RoseMary has built a sticky and sustainable process for engaging diverse sets of schools and educators in professional learning experiences that build more culturally relevant and engaging learning experiences for students and families.

RoseMary will always be a teacher at heart. She has spent the last five years building a Sicangu education framework that centers Lakota values and asks the critical question, “What does it mean to be Rosebud?”

"We brought principals, teachers, and community members to the table and built a team to help design and refine our Sicangu framework. This is the one thing that is built collaboratively by educators across the community, no matter where they teach.

This work is about centering Native students. It’s easy to say people of color or BIPOC, but inevitably Native people get left out of that conversation because there are some very unique aspects of the ways in which Native populations work. If you’re really focused on Native students and what’s good for them, then you will be doing good things that work for every student. This may feel at times like a controversial statement, but our Elders are excited to see Native children’s identities centered in the classroom and how we’ve incorporated community in so many ways.

Our professional learning process is rooted in asking schools, 'What’s the best way to implement this with your teams?' One school gave us a full PD day at the beginning of the school year and provided time for teachers to read more and explore. We’ve also developed a working group to help interested educators continue to explore the framework and carry momentum forward.

We use a teacher reflection tool to help all teachers reflect on how their practice is aligning to the principles. We want to make sure that non-Native teachers understand that they too can teach like Native teachers. We’ve been able to tackle some really hard stuff through these framework conversations; race and class issues came up a lot. We are always looking for feedback and inviting people into the work group so they can be a part of driving and building the change."

Sending a huge thank you to Dr. Donna Vallese for making the connection!