Official JAG competency wording: Demonstrate how to work with diverse people
Category: Life Survival
Source themes: diversity, inclusion, teamwork
Source: JAG Competencies Descriptions.docx.
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Reviewed OSEU and Wolakota interview connections
G46 — Demonstrate how to work with diverse people
Explore G46 · We’re Not All the Same - Lowell Amiotte - OSEU #2 · OSEU 2
Reviewed teaching connection (Primary): The interview explicitly rejects a single generic image of Native peoples and asks listeners to respect differences. This closely supports understanding cultural diversity and working respectfully with diverse people.
Updated for Proposed August 9, 2024: Cultural differences and respectful interactions are explicit in the account; revised 2.4 addresses differences among Oceti Sakowin nations and other groups. Original JAG–interview approval retained.
If you travel a lot on Indian reservations, I've worked with the Navajo and the Hopi and the Kiowa, you know, just around the country, different people, Salish, Flatheads, and they're all different. And if you look at some of the artwork they have or the clothes they wear during their ceremonies and so on, you'll see that they're different. Another story, I went to the Smithsonian for the opening of the American Indian Museum, and to sit there and watch the variety of Indians and the way they were dressed and everything, it's just amazing. And I think if the children think that there's only one tribe or one type of Indian, that should be corrected. So I think that that should be kept in the curriculum, and it should be stressed that we're not all the same. We've all got differences, and let's respect all those differences. Respect is the number one virtue, I think, that Indian people, the older ones, try to get across to us.
Learn About: Which examples does Lowell Amiotte use to challenge the idea that Native peoples are all the same?
Learn From: How could you check an assumption about a person or group before acting on it?
05 Wolakota Project Video Transcripts and URLs.docx · WP-0081; video B7B7ur6eFcw; passage containing: let's respect all those differences.. Teaching interpretation is separate from official wording and the interviewee’s account.
G46 — Demonstrate how to work with diverse people
Explore G46 · Working Together - Whitney Rencountre - OSEU #6 · OSEU 6
Reviewed teaching connection (Supporting): The speaker connects learning about sovereignty and history with willingness to converse and work together. This is a dialogue context for collaboration and conflict, not a step-by-step conflict-resolution model.
Updated for Proposed August 9, 2024: Discussion of sovereignty and relations with other governments supports the revised sovereignty standard 6.7. Original JAG–interview approval retained.
We know about the treaties, we know about, you know, what took place and, you know, when I was at Black Hill State University, I remember Dr. John Glover, we talked about it being a domestic dependent nation. Where we had our sovereignty, we have our sovereignty, our power in terms of the government-to-government relationship, but because of absolute power from the government, it overrules all that. So we've become a domestic dependent nation where we do have some sovereignty, but it's kind of, it can be overruled at any time, so to speak, because of the absolute power from the government. You know, but aside from that, I think it's important to learn about that. It's important to learn how our situation is today, because when we do that, and it's done in a way, when you hold information from people and they finally learn about it, there's going to be some anger. I mean, it's just natural. But when you don't withhold that information and you teach and you share that information, you also are showing, you're putting yourself in a vulnerable place, and you're saying, I'm willing to, let's see what we can do kind of to rewrite a little bit of our history. And then you have a willingness from both sides, non-Natives and Natives, to come together and have conversations, have opportunities to teach, and have opportunities to work together to create an environment where there's no information that is hidden. It then becomes public knowledge. It's something the people who have the power to commission the books, so on and so forth, can then create more of an environment where we can do some great things. Because, you know, I watched the movie Selma. You talk about what happened when they tried to cross the bridge. It was all Dr. King and the African Americans trying to cross. They ran into a lot of issues. But when non-Natives came and worked with them, they were able to cross the bridge. And there were still issues there, but I think moving forward, those are some of the experiences that we need to have.
Learn About: What relationship does Whitney Rencountre describe between sharing information and working together?
Learn From: What could make a difficult conversation more informed and more open to participation?
05 Wolakota Project Video Transcripts and URLs.docx · WP-0093; video Qxn2JNbTkzY; passage containing: come together and have conversations. Teaching interpretation is separate from official wording and the interviewee’s account.
G46 — Demonstrate how to work with diverse people
Explore G46 · Appreciating Multiple Versions of Stories - Jace DeCory - OSEU 5 · OSEU 5
Reviewed teaching connection (Supporting): DeCory presents different teachings as adding to knowledge. Students can practice hearing a different account and asking about context; this does not require treating every factual claim as equally accurate.
Updated for Proposed August 9, 2024: The revised standard retains the meaning supported by the cited interview passage. Original JAG–interview approval retained.
It's another way of looking at whatever that is. And so I say, don't be confused, because this is the teachings of this person. This is my teaching. And they're both right.
Learn About: How does DeCory explain different versions of teachings?
Learn From: How could you listen to a different account without immediately dismissing it?
05 Wolakota Project Video Transcripts and URLs.docx · WP-0178 · video ID 8SDk31URrwU · cited transcript passage. Teaching interpretation is separate from official wording and the interviewee’s account.
G46 — Demonstrate how to work with diverse people
Explore G46 · My Role in My Community - Ricky Gray Grass - OSEU #7 · OSEU 7
Reviewed teaching connection (Supporting): Ricky Gray Grass describes counseling, liaison work, and organizing a youth run that brought people from different communities together. This supports G46 by inviting students to work with participants from different communities.
Updated for Proposed August 9, 2024: New connection to the overall current understanding. No specific OSEU standard alignment is claimed. Original JAG–interview approval retained.
You know, I worked in the school systems, I worked as a counselor at treatment centers, but now I'm just more like a consultant, liaison, grandpa for hire, that kind of person. You know, I do a spiritual run every June around the Black Hills based on a creation story, the race around the Black Hills. And so, I get a lot of youth that are part of that. And then we did the prayer run to Standing Rock last year in October, I think it was the end of September and October. And then we did another prayer run with a young Hopi boy from Flagstaff, Arizona to Standing Rock. Some of my boys ran for nine days with the boys straight to Standing Rock. So, you know, we made a lot of connections and made family and friends on that run. And, you know, opened a lot of minds.
Learn About: What details in this passage support the speaker’s account of community leadership? What would you need to hear in the full interview before interpreting it?
Learn From: How could you work with participants from different communities? Use a fictional or classroom example if you prefer, and explain which part of the speaker’s account informed your approach.
05 Wolakota Project Video Transcripts and URLs.docx · WP-0016; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3_itpFdzME; opening passage. Teaching interpretation is separate from official wording and the interviewee’s account.
G46 — Demonstrate how to work with diverse people
Explore G46 · Loss of Identity, Values & Language - David Bald Eagle - OSEU 3 · OSEU 3
Reviewed teaching connection (Supporting): David Bald Eagle recalls welcoming travelers with water and meals and compares generosity with later conflict and prejudice. This supports G46 by inviting students to consider respectful contact with unfamiliar people.
Updated for Proposed August 9, 2024: New connection to the overall current understanding. No specific OSEU standard alignment is claimed. Original JAG–interview approval retained.
Before World War Two, everybody got along real good. We had white people here traveling from village…from our Indian villages…to activities maybe in Rapid City…or way over there they go by wagon trains. And they could stop any place along the way at a ranch or something to water their horses and things like this. And they were always there to welcome them…give them dinner or something…just like we did here. ‘Have dinner with us.” Some of them knew my dad. They’d say, “C’mon Taylor, put your horses away. We’ll feed them. Don’t worry about that. We’ll feed them. Have coffee or something.” And we’d stop there and we’d have lunch with them. Sometimes before we’d leave there, they gave us watermelons or something to take along as lunch. We are on our way. Today, it’s not that way. Any place you go, if you get what you want, you pay for it. Sometimes you pay dearly for it.
Learn About: What details in this passage support the speaker’s account of hospitality and values? What would you need to hear in the full interview before interpreting it?
Learn From: How could you consider respectful contact with unfamiliar people? Use a fictional or classroom example if you prefer, and explain which part of the speaker’s account informed your approach.
05 Wolakota Project Video Transcripts and URLs.docx · WP-0059; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETOjZKS3n4A; opening passage. Teaching interpretation is separate from official wording and the interviewee’s account.
G46 — Demonstrate how to work with diverse people
Explore G46 · Joining the Lakota Community - Josie Bald Eagle - OSEU #2 · OSEU 2
Reviewed teaching connection (Supporting): Josie Bald Eagle describes arriving from abroad and learning about an unfamiliar community, its institutions, and places. This supports G46 by inviting students to approach unfamiliar people with openness.
Updated for Proposed August 9, 2024: New connection to the overall current understanding. No specific OSEU standard alignment is claimed. Original JAG–interview approval retained.
I came here… and I came into the Indian world. And then on the Indian reservation, I had no idea at all of what I was getting myself into. To me it was only the guy. I didn't care about his age. I never even thought about the age…and about America… I had no idea. So when I came here, most of my growing up has been here on the reservation. So, for me, what the people are going through here, is actually what I experienced with them. This is my first new pressure, my first thing… whatever happens on the outside…I had no idea till our kids grew up and I went… started to go and visit them. Then I learned about where to go in the United States… what’s an office… a courthouse. I had no idea. Nothing. Nothing about nothing. So, it's just like being reborn somewhere and…I'm open to that. I'm a good player, so.
Learn About: What details in this passage support the speaker’s account of learning a new community? What would you need to hear in the full interview before interpreting it?
Learn From: How could you approach unfamiliar people with openness? Use a fictional or classroom example if you prefer, and explain which part of the speaker’s account informed your approach.
05 Wolakota Project Video Transcripts and URLs.docx · WP-0062; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6vy98d3yhs; opening passage. Teaching interpretation is separate from official wording and the interviewee’s account.
G46 — Demonstrate how to work with diverse people
Explore G46 · Navigating Two Cultures for Change - Lowell Amiotte - OSEU #6 · OSEU 7
Reviewed teaching connection (Supporting): Lowell Amiotte describes navigating two cultures and working within policies and procedures to improve conditions for future generations. This supports G46 by inviting students to work across cultural differences.
Updated for Proposed August 9, 2024: New connection to the overall current understanding. No specific OSEU standard alignment is claimed. Original JAG–interview approval retained.
I've been in education for a long time and I had to work with a lot of those policies and procedures. And a lot of people fight them. And the reason I was selected to start with at Black Hills was because I could navigate between two cultures. And I kind of knew the policies and procedures to go by. I always thought that aim played a really big role. You know, the radical people thought they were so radical. But they would come in and point out a lot of things that were wrong. And then less radical people like me could look at those things and say, How are we going to improve them? Through the system rather than attacking the system. So policies and procedures are very important too. I think if they're not followed, you can see what happens just right here in the state if people violate the policies and procedures and don't follow them.
Learn About: What details in this passage support the speaker’s account of working for change? What would you need to hear in the full interview before interpreting it?
Learn From: How could you work across cultural differences? Use a fictional or classroom example if you prefer, and explain which part of the speaker’s account informed your approach.
05 Wolakota Project Video Transcripts and URLs.docx · WP-0075; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krWq0E2wIyc; opening passage. Teaching interpretation is separate from official wording and the interviewee’s account.
G46 — Demonstrate how to work with diverse people
Explore G46 · Addressing Misconceptions - Dr. Sherry Johnson & Dr. Nadine Eastman - OSEU #7 · OSEU 2
Reviewed teaching connection (Supporting): Sherry Johnson and Nadine Eastman challenge assumptions about government checks and generalizations from a few tribes to all Native people. This supports G46 by inviting students to avoid stereotypes in working with others.
Updated for Proposed August 9, 2024: New connection to the overall current understanding. No specific OSEU standard alignment is claimed. Original JAG–interview approval retained.
How we ended up all where we are at, how some of our initial tribal members ended up in Canada, how some people ended up in Pearl Creek, and just the push from the federal side, how all of that occurred. So that's our real history and where we ended up migrating and being pushed. And it also, I think if people in, all the students in the state had an understanding, a better understanding, they wouldn't think, first of all, that we get free money, because all of us went to school, and I'm telling you, some nonnative students would say, you get money every month from the government. Well, we all wished we got money every month. We wouldn't have been so poor, had we. But it wasn't true, and you couldn't even argue that away, because so many people believed it then, and so many people believe it now, still today, in this year.
Learn About: What details in this passage support the speaker’s account of challenging stereotypes? What would you need to hear in the full interview before interpreting it?
Learn From: How could you avoid stereotypes in working with others? Use a fictional or classroom example if you prefer, and explain which part of the speaker’s account informed your approach.
05 Wolakota Project Video Transcripts and URLs.docx · WP-0082; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0CaFednqVk; opening passage. Teaching interpretation is separate from official wording and the interviewee’s account.
G46 — Demonstrate how to work with diverse people
Explore G46 · Wolakota - Jesse Taken Alive - OSEU 3 · OSEU 3
Reviewed teaching connection (Supporting): Jesse Taken Alive describes cultural difference, peacefulness, and listening with ears and observing with eyes when others share. This supports G46 by inviting students to approach people with different languages and histories respectfully.
Updated for Proposed August 9, 2024: New connection to the overall current understanding. No specific OSEU standard alignment is claimed. Original JAG–interview approval retained.
A message for our friends…our non-Indian friends…there’s one Creator. There’s one world. Essentially we have the same address. The Creator is like a gardener, a magnificent gardener. He created mankind and he spread the seeds of mankind throughout the world. Different colors…different language…different culture…different history…different everything. But all coming from the same Creator. It’s beautiful. It’s really beautiful to think about it in that way. As Lakota, we have many teachings…as I said earlier…we say “wolakota,” which means peace or to be peaceful. That’s what we want to do. A lot of times that gets misunderstood in this aggressive world, in this capitalistic world, as not knowing or not caring. It’s totally the opposite. When somebody is sharing something with us, we use the two best things that we’ve got: our ears.
Learn About: What details in this passage support the speaker’s account of listening and peaceful dialogue? What would you need to hear in the full interview before interpreting it?
Learn From: How could you approach people with different languages and histories respectfully? Use a fictional or classroom example if you prefer, and explain which part of the speaker’s account informed your approach.
05 Wolakota Project Video Transcripts and URLs.docx · WP-0130; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFo9CsZxf1w; opening passage. Teaching interpretation is separate from official wording and the interviewee’s account.
Human Shaped Learning connection
Chapter 17: Identity and Learning
Reviewed teaching connection: Reviewed connections: G46. Invite an identity or values map using students’ chosen interests, experiences, or fictional examples.
Human Shaped Learning with Front Matter.docx · Ch. 17, actual manuscript pp. 127–133; Strategies for Centering Identity
Chapter 13: Fostering Collaboration and Community in the Classroom
Suggested teaching connection: Suggested teaching connection for collaboration, based on G46 competency. Use a shared task with meaningful roles, turn-taking, paraphrasing, and feedback.
Human Shaped Learning with Front Matter.docx · Ch. 13, actual manuscript pp. 99–105; Practical Strategies for Collaboration
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