Voices of Montana’s American Indian Early Childhood Educators

Jen Gilliard is the executive producer of Voices of Montana’s American Indian Early Childhood Educators. Twenty-seven American Indian Educators were interviewed; interviewees from all of Montana’s reservations were interviewed in person in the schools, childcare, and Head Start/Early Head Start programs where they work. Included are interviews with two teachers who are members of the Little Shell Tribe, one interview was conducted in Great Falls. Ms. Julie Cajune served as the cultural consultant, Frank Tyro served as the videographer or video producer, and Jen Gilliard served as the project or executive producer.

The purpose of this project is twofold: a) we want our preservice teachers to hear the voices of American Indian educators in Montana and learn from these voices how to provide culturally-responsive curriculum and instruction to American Indian children, ultimately helping to narrow the academic achievement gap between American Indian youth and European American youth in Montana. b) In addition, we hope that our American Indian preservice teachers at UMW will see and hear reflections of themselves and their culture throughout our early childhood education degree curriculum, providing more culturally-relevant ECE curriculum for American Indian preservice teachers in UMW ECE degree programs.

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