Into the Southwest

The education profession is often defined by the things that we don't plan. The student that unexpectedly needs us, the change in standards, the problem child that we find out has home problems. Everyday, education is defined by the unplanned or rather the "teachable" moments that occur everyday.

Currently, I am sitting in a hotel in Kansas city. Through this, I have been able to reflect on one thing at the beginning of this trip: that which we don't plan requires more care to pull off. Recently we: Maurice and Samantha McDavid ('10), Danielle Daly ('11), Daniel Gonshorek ('11), and Alix DeWald ('11), have been in contact with Professors Diana Beck and Stephen Schroth, as well as the representatives of the Navajo Evangelical Lutheran School. Through these e-mails, what began as a trip to the southwest to present lesson plans and work with teachers of the school to increase cultural education has turned into a renaissance of sorts. Core Knowledge, meets curriculum development, meets the essential air that is the Knox College Educational Studies department.

The work will be, from what I was told of last year: difficult and confusing, but also one of the most influential and life changing experiences that one could undertake. Both for the service that is offered to the Navajo people and to the understanding of our history as a nation and to the inter- and intra-personal relationships that are formed.

The Knox/Navajo Teaching and Learning Project rides again...

J.L.