Native American Series | Introduction to the Native American Curriculum Initiative (NACI) | Cally Flox & Brenda Beyal

11/01/21 • 48 min

Cally Flox, the Director of the BYU ARTS Partnership, seeks to build teacher leaders and administrative capacity in people to serve the needs of public education. She loves working with people, finding creative and innovative solutions, and making an immediate difference in people’s lives. Directing the BYU ARTS Partnership has given her concrete evidence that change happens one person and conversation at a time.

Brenda Beyal, a Navajo Diné educator, formally introduces herself in Navajo by establishing her relationships with those who are listening and letting them know that her roots run deep in history and ancestry. Brenda grew up on the Navajo reservation, graduated from high school in a small town, and received a Bachelor's degree from Brigham Young University. She taught at Reese Elementary school for 34 years and now works with the BYU ARTS Partnership.

What is the Native American Curriculum Initiative?

At Reese Elementary, she worked with a team that created a multi-age section of the school, which they called mahopa: a Lakota word meaning interconnectedness. Early on, she and her team realized that it is essential for children to learn using all of their senses. Being outdoors and making art are primary ways to learn through sensory input. After her retirement, Brenda connected with Cally Flox and the BYU ARTS Partnership, and she currently serves as the program director for the Native American Curriculum Initiative, helping connect all children with authentic Native content through the arts.

Amplifying the Native Voice to Help Teachers Create Culturally-Responsive Classrooms

Brenda’s passion is “looking for ways to help teachers understand the importance of an equitable education” by building relationships, having conversations, and laying the groundwork for changing attitudes and deepening perspectives. She has "a great interest—if not a deep sense of urgency—that we bring the native voice into the classroom; that we allow for reclamation; and that we make the ground fertile, for kids to feel confident and be able to express themselves honestly and authentically because of the honest and authentic curriculum that reaches them, their inner person.”

One goal of the BYU ARTS Partnership is to amplify teacher voices. When Brenda found bias in some of the ARTS Partnership’s lesson plans, Cally gave her a platform to build her leadership skills, let her voice be heard, and help amplify her message. Brenda’s mission to create culturally-responsive classrooms resonated with many teachers who were concerned and scared of using culturally-sensitive material in their classrooms. Understanding how important this topic is to educators across the state, Cally Flox and Jean Tokuda Irwin funded a project to uncover and research the questions many teachers were asking.

Brenda proposed questions that teachers could ask themselves to develop a more culturally-responsive pedagogy, including “Am I reinforcing stereotypes?” Or, “Am I homogenizing culture?. These relevant and timeless questions created a foundation for the Native American Curriculum Initiative.

Differences in tribal norms, reactions, and preferences prevented Cally and Brenda from offering specific or standard answers about what could or could not be taught in classrooms: various tribes responded very differently to the same question. The formative questions for initiating conversations became: “What do you want the children to know about you and about your tribe?” and “What do you want me to know about you to help me be your teacher?”

Native American Themed Arts-integrated Lesson Plans

Chris Roberts helped Brenda and her team develop a plan to support culturally-responsive classrooms by recognizing a lack of appropriate lesson plans available to teachers. Creating a tribal seal of approval for lesson plans officially certifies that the lesson material is approved by the original source. Team members Emiliy Soderborg and Rachel Gonthier collaborate with state-wide partners and tribal representatives to continue answering the question, “What do you want Utah children to know about your tribe?” Brenda was always shocked at Cally’s willingness to invest so much time and money on this project. Brenda was hesitant to spend many hours on culturally appropriate Native curriculum materials and wondered if this was an important enough issue to justify spending BYU’s money and “white people’s” time.

To this, Cally responds: “Each one of us, as we find our voice, will continue to question: do I have something of value? Or do I not? Brenda had her personal journey of when or does her personal voice matter or not...Her question, ‘Is this voice worthy of white people's money?’ The simple answer is: our entire society will be blessed and will benefit from increasing our understanding of each other, and from creating a society where the...

What is the Native American Curriculum Initiative?

Amplifying the Native Voice to Help Teachers Create Culturally-Responsive Classrooms

Native American Themed Arts-integrated Lesson Plans

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Music provided by Connor Chee, Navajo Dine composer and performer.

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Native American Series | 7 Guiding Principles when Partnering with Native Tribes | Cally Flox, Brenda Beyal, Heather Sundahl

Partnering with Native Tribes
Over the past three years, Brenda Beyal and her Native American Curriculum Initiative team have worked to create a culture of respect and inclusivity, building relationships of collaboration and creating lesson plans that include the native voice. The inception of this work began when the NACI team asked representatives from native tribes, “What do you want the children of Utah to know about your tribe?” Teaching artists collaborated with tribal representatives to create lesson plans with relevant and appropriate content, as well as a tribal seal of approval.

As the NACI team worked with tribal representatives and other partners across the state, seven principles emerged as a code of conduct and philosophy for how the team and partners engage in the NACI initiative.

1. Embrace Partnership & Reciprocity
The first principle is to embrace partnership and reciprocity. Cally, Brenda, and Heather reflect on an experience with the Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation. Patty Timbimboo Madsen contacted the NACI team, looking for someone that could film the nations annual commemoration ceremony of the Bear River Massacre—the largest single slaughter of Native American lives in American history. Heather reflects on the sacredness of the event and the privilege of helping this tribe reclaim their story. Reciprocity—the act of offering something without expectation of receiving anything back—always leads to receiving more than you give.

2. Know Your Own Culture
Knowing your own culture is the second principle: everyone participates in a multifaceted culture with many layers. Taking time to learn and embody our own culture enables confidence and deep listening when learning about other cultures. Developing awareness around the traditions and values of your family’s culture makes it easier to be curious about other groups and how they explore and live those same aspects in different ways.

3. Ask with Genuine Intent, Listen Attentively

Asking with genuine intent and listening attentively is the third guiding principle. At the onset of the initiative, the NACI team asked native people, “What would you like the children of Utah to know about your tribe?” Listening with genuine intent and letting go of preconceived answers enabled the team to receive their authentic answer.

4. Accepting ‘No’ Gracefully
The fourth principle is accepting the ‘no’ gracefully. Often the NACI team asked questions, hoping for a certain answer but quickly learned that they were in the wrong. Disingenuous conversations or manipulating a ‘yes’ out of someone are not really consent: it’s not a true offering and it’s not a real partnership. Accepting the ‘no’ completely and gracefully empowers both the giver and receiver, opening the door for more meaningful opportunities and conversations.

5. Allow the Time Needed for Authentic Growth

The fifth guiding principle is to allow the time needed for authentic growth. At the outset of her work, Brenda assumed meeting all the tribes in a conference room and asking questions would provide all the content they needed. Three years later, the team still works to build authentic relationships. Trust, understanding, and a willingness to share takes time— there can be no deadlines.

6. Importance of Original Sources

Principle number six is the importance of original sources. Using multiple voices and broad perspectives helps the NACI team make sure they are bringing forward accurate and authentic sources in history into the present moment. Seeking authentic voices actively helps establish relationships, balance perspectives, and enrich lesson plans.

7. Assume Goodwill, Learn from Mistakes

The last principle is to assume goodwill and learn from mistakes. NACI team members gently inform each other of new information so they can learn to do better. Mistake-making is an inevitable aspect of learning for everyone involved: partners, tribal members, and other collaborators are all experiencing a process of trial and error: growing together requires respect and grace from all sides.

Weaving a Tapestry of Understanding and Collaboration

Bringing the seven guiding principles together into a coherent whole, Brenda shares a memory of her mother, a Diné, Navajo weaver, setting up her loom. The part of the loom holding the vertical threads is called the warp. The warp provides foundational support to the intricate designs created by the weft threads, just as the guiding principles of the Native American Curriculum Initiative act as the warp of the tapestry that their team is weaving. Every part of the NACI, whether it’s working with artists, tribal nations, or part...