Mission Possible

Our sixteen-day journey to the Navajo Lutheran Mission School (NMLS) has ended, at least for now. Six Knox College students—Ashley, Carly, Derek, Eileen, Michael, and Sarah—went with Diana and me to work with the NMLS teachers, students, and staff for two weeks. This partnership was highly appropriate because in many ways Knox teacher candidates are missionaries as well, missionaries for the liberal arts. As researchers such as Arthur Levine and Linda Darling-Hammond have noted, many teacher preparation programs are polarized in one of two camps. On the one hand, the normal schools stress endless methods courses, where teacher candidates are kept in a teacher preparation ghetto where they focus almost exclusively on pedagogy. On the other hand, programs such as Teach for America believe that young college graduates can be dumped into classrooms with nothing more than a BA and a box of chalk and then be successful. At Knox, we take a different path. We believe that our teacher candidates should be advocates for children, experts in subject matter and instruction, and missionaries for the liberal arts. Much as we endeavor to do with them, we hope our teacher candidates will provide their students with the skills, information and ability to function independently that they will need to flourish in any endeavor. Diana and I are extremely proud of Ashley, Carly, Derek, Eileen, Michael, and Sarah because they not only understood this, but ably taught this to the teachers with whom we worked.

Our visit was more rewarding because of the warm welcome we received from the outstanding teachers at NMLS, Sharon, Lark, Jolene, Pauline, and Eileen, and by the principal, Felicita. Not only did they open their classrooms to us, but they showed us how to make Navajo fry bread and tortillas and shared several meals with us. This better than anything else demonstrated their deep understanding of how a learning community works, focusing as it must on the development of a learning environment where all are accepted, respected, and comfortable with each other. Dr. Lynn Hubbard and Deborah Hubbard, respectively the executive director and pastor of the Navajo Lutheran Mission, supply vision and leadership for NMLS was contagious. Since NMLS serves Navajo students exclusively, Lynn and Deborah have made it a priority to provide students with an education that respects their Navajo heritage and that will allow them to flourish in the world at large. As with most endeavors, the trip was successful because of the quality, work ethic, and enthusiasm of the individuals involved. All involved made the great progress we all made possible.

S. T. S.