Culturally Affirming Teaching and Learning: Meaningful Integration of Indigenous Epistemologies and Pedagogies

At the Institute of Teaching and Learning, the team acknowledges the rapidly evolving field of education and understands that educators from diverse backgrounds can benefit from assistance in acquiring new tools and strategies that enable culturally relevant teaching.

Recently, the Institute worked with a group of tribal college faculty to help them create more culturally responsive courses for their students.

Karen Colbert, who has been teaching math at Keweenaw Bay Ojibwa Community College for 10 years, led the workshop. Colbert’s teaching style has been recognized for being "decolonized." She introduced the educators to two tools she uses to seamlessly integrate Indigenous language and culture into her lessons. The first tool helps to create culturally relevant content, while the second aligns learning outcomes with tribal college mission statements. Educators appreciated Colbert's approach as it demonstrated how to create courses that are both rigorous and culturally affirming.