Official JAG competency wording: Demonstrate an understanding of decision making
Category: Decision-Making
Source themes: critical thinking, judgment, evaluation skills
Source: JAG Competencies Descriptions.docx.
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Reviewed OSEU and Wolakota interview connections
N117 — Demonstrate an understanding of decision making
Explore N117 · Productive Use of Reservation Land - Lydia Whirlwind Soldier - OSEU #7 · OSEU 7
Reviewed teaching connection (Supporting): The speaker describes weighing jobs, land impact, and community responsibilities in tribal decisions. That gives a specific decision-making case, with OSEU 7.2 emphasizing community actions; it does not supply a universal decision model.
Updated for Proposed August 9, 2024: The revised standard retains the meaning supported by the cited interview passage. Original JAG–interview approval retained.
On our reservation, our Tribal Council is really struggling to bring jobs to the reservation, but we also have to think about the impact those companies have on our land. And with owning a million acres, we have to start thinking about the use of that land. How are we going to use it so it's productive, and how is it going to benefit our people? And we still have that tribal way of living that we are responsible for one another. And we have to make sure that everyone is taken care of, the children, the elders. And they come first. They always come first in all our decisions that the Tribal Council makes. They talk about the elders, what the elders need and what the children need. And the people in the middle are supposed to take care of business. So our tribe has a casino, and that casino supports the communities. They provide money for medical travel, for any kind of emergencies, funeral expenses, and all that. And they provide for children's or the community children's activities for entertainment and all of that. And so the casino has really helped our people. And also we have Tribal Land Enterprises. We're the only tribe in the whole United States that has Tribal Land Enterprises. And that is a collective ownership of land, and that's that million acres. And the tribe buys land as it becomes available, if they can afford it. And that land goes into TLA, Tribal Land Enterprises, and that benefits the entire tribe. So the lease that comes off of that land goes to the tribe. And also we as tribal members can apply for land to live on. And so the Tribal Land Enterprises, I think, are really beneficial to our people.
Learn About: What priorities does Lydia Whirlwind Soldier describe when the Tribal Council considers jobs and land use?
Learn From: In a fictional community decision, whose needs and what effects would you want to consider?
05 Wolakota Project Video Transcripts and URLs.docx · WP-0023; video iW4KLHeABw8; passage containing: we also have to think about the impact those companies have on our land.. Teaching interpretation is separate from official wording and the interviewee’s account.
N117 — Demonstrate an understanding of decision making
Explore N117 · Pt 1 Input of the Grandmothers - Faith Spotted Eagle - OSEU 6 · OSEU 6
Reviewed teaching connection (Supporting): Faith Spotted Eagle describes consultation and ways women contributed to treaty decisions. This provides a historically situated example of voice, participation, and decision-making. Treaty relations between sovereign nations must not be reduced to an ordinary workplace negotiation.
Updated for Proposed August 9, 2024: The passage supports OSEU 6’s treaty relationships and consultation; it does not fully address land impacts and treaty dates required by 6.2 or the broader sovereignty performance in 6.7. Original JAG–interview approval retained.
The treaties were based on making peace, which was a good thing, but there was an ulterior motive of land taking and so that's when the cultural cut began to change. When the settlers came in on the eastern coast and they asked the men in our tribes, in our camps to make the treaty, they said they needed three-fourths of the adult males. Oftentimes they would say that and some of the tribes would say, uh-uh we need our women here. We need our clan mothers, our clan grandmothers, and we can't make this treaty without them. So some of them asserted it and others didn't. But the point that they were trying to make is that we came from a society that was essentially equal. We all had labor roles, but when it all came out in the wash, the women were not really signatories of the treaties. And I think it was because the men in their mind were respecting that they would always go back and talk to the women. I just came from a treaty meeting this morning and that's what they were saying. They said that when the men would meet and they couldn't come to, and this was all said in our language, that they couldn't come to a decision, they would go back and they would consult the grandmothers and they would say we need to make this decision and we need your help. So it was not ever neglected, but I think the government officials didn't understand that and they just thought that the women didn't have a right. But they did. They had a very important role. There's instances where I remember my grandma telling me that when they would have meetings and that camp circle would be meeting and the men might be in the forefront, but if a woman wanted to say something and it was really important for her to be up there, she would throw a stone out in the circle and that was saying I want the microphone. I need to say something and then that time would come. So there were different ways that evolved to get that input.
Learn About: How does Faith Spotted Eagle describe the grandmothers’ input into treaty decisions?
Learn From: How could a group invite input from people affected by a decision before it decides?
05 Wolakota Project Video Transcripts and URLs.docx · WP-0176; video KIFozzb7LQw; passage containing: we need to make this decision and we need your help.. Teaching interpretation is separate from official wording and the interviewee’s account.
N117 — Demonstrate an understanding of decision making
Explore N117 · What is Your Chapter Going to Say - Duane Hollow Horn Bear - Storytelling · OSEU 5
Reviewed teaching connection (Supporting): Hollow Horn Bear describes learning step by step and his grandmother asking him to understand how the curtains were assembled before taking them down. This supports N117 by inviting students to explain the thinking that precedes a decision.
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.
To encourage. My relatives. Into homeland. After Homeland and even those that perhaps are incarcerated because of the lack of knowledge of their own history. History. That's the starting point. That's the starting point is to go back to the basics first and realize why I was born in this culture? Who am I? Begin with knowing your history first and taking it step by step by step. Learning. I believe you don't want to try to grab everything all at once and say, okay, I got it down. No, you got to begin to live it. You gotta start to practice it. Knowing your history. From the beginning. Where did Native people come from? The creation story. The creation story. The social system. The spiritual system. Slowly take these a little bit at a time. I think that's a starting point.
Learn About: What details in this passage support the speaker’s account of reflective learning? What would you need to hear in the full interview before interpreting it?
Learn From: How could you explain the thinking that precedes a decision? 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-0002; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZzQwShp20A; opening passage. Teaching interpretation is separate from official wording and the interviewee’s account.
N117 — Demonstrate an understanding of decision making
Explore N117 · The Cost of Gambling and Alcohol with Duane Hollow Horn Bear – Storytelling · OSEU 5
Reviewed teaching connection (Supporting): Hollow Horn Bear describes sadness, loneliness, anger, coping, and listeners finding personal meaning in stories. This supports N117 by inviting students to consider the meaning of a choice before acting.
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.
Let's talk about our history, something in our history that we all need to know. Sometimes we are afraid of our history. We don't want to know it. I've come across this time and time again with young people who are afraid of history. Maybe the truth, from our perspective, these stories tell us something about what life has done to us and how we react to it, as all people do with any situation. The process of making decisions, emotions, we all have emotions that we all have to deal with every day. From the moment you wake up feeling sad, lonely, maybe angry, puzzled, or maybe happy, joyful. Throughout our day, these emotions, we deal with them all day long and into our dreams. Life is emotions we have to cope with, coping with life. We need stories such as these to learn from, to guide us. So I'd like to share a couple of stories with you today.
Learn About: What details in this passage support the speaker’s account of emotions and choices? What would you need to hear in the full interview before interpreting it?
Learn From: How could you consider the meaning of a choice before acting? 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-0010; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RK3z2jzH34; opening passage. Teaching interpretation is separate from official wording and the interviewee’s account.
Human Shaped Learning connection
Chapter 15: Incorporating Reflection into Daily Practice
Reviewed teaching connection: Reviewed connections: N117. Offer a brief reflection on evidence, strategies, strengths, and one next step.
Human Shaped Learning with Front Matter.docx · Ch. 15, actual manuscript pp. 113–119; Why Reflection Matters / Types of Reflection in the Classroom
Plan with these recommendations and select more HSL chapters.