Latest / The Recess-An Inside Look at the Auburn School District / Episode #56 Robin Pratt, Assistant Director of Native American Education

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Episode #56 Robin Pratt, Assistant Director of Native American Education · The Recess-An Inside Look at the Auburn School District

• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: Hello and welcome to the Recess Podcast.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host, Dr.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: Alan Spicciati, the proud superintendent of the Auburn School District.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: The recess gives me the opportunity to share more about our district with community members, family members, even sometimes students and staff tune in because we want to get the stories out.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: We have incredible things happening across the district that I have the privilege of seeing every day when I'm out in schools or I'm working with our staff or students.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: And I want to bring them to you, and this has been a great format to do so.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: Today, my guest is Robin Pratt, and she's our assistant director of Native American Education.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: She plays a huge role in our district and is going to be able to tell you about our native education supports and programs, some of our work with our neighboring Muckle Shoot tribe, and much, much more.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: Plus, she's a fun person with uh amazing kids of her own who are graduates of the Auburn School District.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: I think we're gonna have a really great episode.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so at this time, I'd like to welcome in my guest, Robin Pratt.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: Robin, welcome to the Recess Podcast.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_01: I'm happy to be here.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna start with the question that I love to ask each and every guest: who's your favorite teacher and why?
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_01: My favorite teacher was Mrs.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_01: Booth, and that was in third grade at Donnelly Elementary in Anchorage, Alaska.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_01: And um, she was my favorite teacher because she was kind and patient and empathetic.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_01: I had a lot going on in my life at that time outside of school, and just every day she um did what she you're supposed to do as a teacher.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_01: She helped me make sure I learned.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um and which wasn't always the case in the year before and the year after.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_01: So I appreciate her for that.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_01: And um, fun note on that, I didn't know it before, but her daughter um is from my graduating class, and I got to I found out that was her daughter, and so this summer at our class reunion, um, I asked her if she was related to her, and and it is, it's her daughter, and so I was able to tell her that she was my favorite teacher.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's exciting! That's that's really terrific.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: And some of those qualities I I jotted down in my notes kind, patient, empathetic sounds a lot like my guest today, Robin.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so it's it always uh interests me just what people take with them from their favorite teacher, and I recognize that in you.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um you grew up in Alaska, and uh why don't you just tell us a little bit uh, you know, not your whole life story, but uh what's your journey into this role?
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: Uh you started as a teacher, how did you get to that?
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: How did you become our native uh assistant director?
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, sure.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um so my first position in education was as a para over at the Yakima Um Tribal School while I was at Heritage College working on my certificate.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_01: So I did one year out there, and then for my student teaching assignment, I wanted to come back to Western Washington.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um so I found my own placement, just cold calling, um different places, and Mucklechute Tribal School picked up and was happy to have me.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_01: So I did my student teaching at Muckle Shute Tribal School, and then I um worked there a year, and uh after that, the position of teacher on special assignment for um high school came open in Auburn, and so I applied for that and um did that job for seven years.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_01: That was at Riverside and the Virginia Cross Center, and then I transferred to Auburn High School, and I think I did that one for four years, so seven years total.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_01: Then I went to Chinook and was a specialist there, uh Native American history and reading, and then um from there the coordinator position came open and and then here I am now.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, that's that's a great journey.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: You mentioned some specific schools, so um why don't we just pop into that right now?
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: We we have Native students all throughout our 24 schools, but we have m larger numbers in certain schools.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: You want to just speak to that and a couple of them you just named.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_01: In Auburn School District, in all 24 schools, we have Native American students.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_01: We have about 700 or so total, and then um about 270 on average are Mucklechute students in Auburn.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_01: Most of those students do attend Chinook Elementary, Olympic, Middle School, and Auburn High School, and a large number going to our West programs, but we also have students from close to 70 different nations, depending how you count it.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: Wow, that's powerful.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: That is really powerful.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you mentioned West, so we'll just flesh that out a little bit.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: West Auburn, which is a high school in our district that is a bit of an umbrella for a number of different programs for students to generally to find a way to successfully finish high school.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, some might be partly remote learning or in person, but we also have a very special program that is actually up on the hill.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: Do you want to just say a word about uh Virginia Cross Center?
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not sure when it started.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_01: It originally was called Re-entry, and the idea was to get students who had been out of school back into school.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_01: And somewhere in time, it um we wanted to honor all the great work that Virginia Cross, who's a tribal council person and has been for decades now, and such a great educational leader.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_01: So we named the center after her.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_01: The center is a partnership between the district and the tribe.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_01: So the tribe um offers the schoolhouse and all that is all that comes with it, the classroom, the a lot of the technology and you know, just the roof over their heads, all of that.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um the school bus, I believe.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_01: The school bus, yes.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_01: So and then Auburn, um, we provide the teacher, which is Miss Brassard, and she's been there for close to 20 years, and in Auburn even longer than that.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's a a great institution, and uh it's very special that it bears Virginia Cross's name.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um so if you don't know, Virginia has just been a leader in education in this area for you know, long, long, long time, many, many uh into the generations.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: She worked for the Auburn School District at one point uh in a position similar to Robin's.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um she has been the chair of the Mackle Shoot tribe, she's still on the tribal council.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I think it's fair to say she's an inspiration to many.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: And we work closely with our Mokleshoot partners on a number of education issues.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I like to say that their commitment to education is as strong as anything you'll see in our community.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_00: They they invest in, you know, uh paying for college, uh, other supports.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: Their muckleshoot tribal school has really blossomed and become a great resource as well.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: So we uh appreciate that team and we appreciate uh Virginia and some of the folks uh that we get to meet with.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: So that's a little bit about our native program and uh our our partnership with the Muckleshoot.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: Let's talk more about Robin and what you do.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: So define your role for the audience and and then maybe illustrate it with what a typical day might look like.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_01: Primarily, it's um helping to make sure or ensure that our Native American students will succeed in school.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_01: And there's so many different things that need to take place for that to happen, right?
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_01: So everything from our youngest learners to um maybe even our fifth-year high school student, you know, just connecting them to the right resources, uh, listening, helping, helping make sure that um they don't give up and that they not only finish high school but have a plan for after high school.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_01: A typical day is there is no typical day, and I'm sure you hear that, you know, in some of your interviews, but I think that's what has allowed me to be able to do this work for so long.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_01: There's so there's such a variation in um what work looks like.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_01: So there's definitely cycles though.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_01: So right now we're in the back to school time, and so that means connecting with families, and um we have people new to their level, so maybe first-time middle school parent and they're nervous, or first-time high school parent, or maybe a kindergarten parent and they're worried about the bus, you know, there's things like that.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_01: And um, in my role, I when I have the opportunity to connect with a family member who shares that information, you know, just help them understand that their their child's gonna be okay and we have great systems in place.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_01: There's also in my job, there's grants.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_01: I manage a couple federal grants, and so there's the grant cycles and requirements with that.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um, also in my position, I work closely with the tribe.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_01: So, with that, there is tribal consultation.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um, there's things that come up sometimes.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um, let's see, in the new year, they'll want to know how many graduates we're gonna have, and so that they can prepare for what they need to.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so there's a lot of things that take place as part of our partnership.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_01: Another big portion of my job is just helping make sure that our students have experiences that will make a difference in helping them achieve and do well in school.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_01: So some of those experiences might be providing a guest speaker.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_01: Last year we had Miss Indian World come out to a few of our schools, and it was such a fantastic day when that happened.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_01: We've had um guest speakers from within the community, and students appreciate that as well.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes there's a field trip and we combine schools, so I might do something at Mountain View and then have Rainier and Olympic students come on up to hear that speaker.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we also have a few field trips, not too many, but a few, and that keeps us real busy.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_00: You could go on and on.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, one thing that I have learned is how important cultural education is in this partnership and in supporting our native students.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so you know, as a as a school district, our focus is on academics and helping students gradually prepare for their future as it should be.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um, there's so much more to it, and Robin attends to a lot of that.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_00: So could you give just a little example of cultural uh programs that that either you're directly involved in or are schools put on as you're going?
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, there's so many.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um just even talking about Mountain View, for example, when that when we had that field trip, so we had a guest speaker and he spoke for about a close to an hour on history.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_01: He started from the beginning of um Muckle Chute history, and he used examples of his life and his parents' life and the tribe.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_01: And um you would almost think that students would tune out over it, but they were so engaged listening and seeing examples of how history has affected their community, so that when it was over, uh students crowded around him at the stage and wanted a picture with him, and we had to tell them, We gotta, we gotta catch a bus, you gotta get back to school, you gotta get lunch.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_01: And um, that really just speaks to how important relevance is for students.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_01: And I have so many examples of that over time, where when students are finally hearing something about themselves, their culture, their community, um, they're so engaged and um it makes a it makes such a big difference.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_01: Um there's another one from last year where we had US Representative Sharice Davids came to the tribe to Muckle shoot, and we were only able to bring five students, so it's very, very hard to select just a few.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um but in that process, um a community member had talked to me just the the following week and said, You took my niece to that and changed her life.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_01: That changed her life.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_01: She's been um not as engaged in school and didn't really have uh after school plans.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_01: And he shared with me that she was just fired up, she wrote an essay, she started thinking about where to go to college and just set some things in motion at that time.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_01: And um, I have probably close to a million of those kinds of stories.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_01: It's all about experiences and bringing in different voices that students can connect to.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, and we have an after-school program at Chinook Elementary.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_01: We partner with Muckle Shoot Culture and Muckle Chute Language.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_01: They come in and provide activities and lessons for students, and um so that's for we have a large number of Native American students at Chinook, about 125 on average, and we were able to bring um students from Pioneer if they wanted to to attend as well.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, those are some powerful examples, and I I've seen some of them in action.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_00: Uh it's amazing.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, we're actually recording this still in the summer before school started, although it's airing into the school year, and we're not that far removed from the canoe journey that happens every summer.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, could you just share a little bit about that?
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_00: Because I think that's something that um the various tribal communities have done a good job of sharing about, but I don't think a lot of people who may be listening really understand about.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: And can you just talk about what the significance is uh to our native students?
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_01: So canoe journey, um there's a a destination every year.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_01: So this year it was Nisqually, so down by Olympia, and uh canoe nations from as far north as Alaska and south as I I actually don't know Oregon or maybe even California, I'm not sure.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_01: So they travel from all over and end up at this final destination.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_01: And we were with traveling with Black River Canoe Family, which um is largely muckle shoot, but also intertribal, and started off at Birch Bay and um and then worked south.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_01: And what happens is every day you have, you know, you're going from Birch Bay to Lummy or Lummy to the next stop, you know.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_01: And so they travel by canoe and um they they do a protocol when they arrive at their landing place for that day and ask permission to come ashore.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_01: And then um when everyone is on shore, there will be shared meals and shared songs and dances and things like that.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_01: And it really the experience is you lose track of time and the rest of the world when you're on it, and i it's like going back into the old days and you're running into people that you haven't seen maybe since last summer, or um and things like that, or you're discovering cousins that you didn't really realize you were related to.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_01: There's so many things that happen um on journeys, and um it's just I just wanna like share one thing.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_01: When my daughter was in, I think middle school, I remember her lamenting when it was over and getting ready for the school year, and she was saying it really should be opposite.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_01: Most of the learning that matters in life, and sorry, Dr.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_01: Spacetti.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_00: That's okay.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_01: But she said, you know, most of the important learning takes place during that.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_01: And why couldn't we just do school in the summer and then live that other life the rest of the year?
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_01: And that always stuck with me.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_01: And I think there's so much, there's an element of truth to that.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_00: One thing I've really learned about native culture is that so much of it is an antidote to current society and the things that I I think uh, you know, there's a lot of positives, obviously, but there are a lot of drawbacks.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_00: So being in touch with nature is a huge theme.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, you have arranged for students to have experiences in the Timanimus forests and you know, and the canoe journey and other um activities in nature.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_00: One thing that we really appreciate, the tribe puts on a culture presentation for our new teachers to help them understand uh the culture and history and our partnership uh with the muckle chute.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um and anyway, I've just learned so much.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_00: So I don't know if I added to your comments, but I uh it just had to had to chime in there.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um we've talked a lot about Muckle Chute, and you know we have great relationships.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_00: Uh we work with their their education lead, Joseph Martin, and Donnie Stevens, and the current tribal chair, and and so many um great relationships with the tribe, but you mentioned that we have approximately 70 tribes represented among our students.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_00: That's that's amazing.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um, could you just speak to that for a minute and just educate our audience?
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_00: What are a few of the more prominent uh tribes that we see among our students?
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, okay, so that's a fun question.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_01: I wish I would have looked at the roster before coming in.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_01: So we have a large number of the Washington state tribes.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_01: There are 29 federally recognized tribes in Washington, by the way.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um so we have uh a fair number of Pialla, Talela, Yakima, um, in addition to Mukleshute.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_01: And then um we have a large number of Alaska Native um groups in the district.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then we have Lakota tribes, we have Navajo.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_01: I'm trying to think of who might be the furthest, because we do get we do get some tribes from all the way over uh to the other coast.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_00: I mean it's it's fascinating.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_00: I learned so much from you, Robin, and just uh from from so many of our activities.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um one thing you mentioned that it'd be great if all of our students uh had an education in tribal history and culture and uh just the you know the the relationships in our community and part of how we do that is through this since time immemorial curriculum.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um and it's something that I'm very proud of.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_00: Our like our social studies teachers, our elementary school teachers um have worked really well with native educators and historians and uh folks who can help us deliver that.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_00: Can you just share a little bit of like what does the STI curriculum look like?
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_00: How do kids get it and so forth?
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um so we are just getting ready to launch some new things uh for elementary this fall, and that's very, very exciting.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_01: So, first of all, it's since time immemorial is the curriculum, and it the curriculum name did change, and I hope I say it correctly.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_01: It's John McCoy Lou Lilish since Time Immemorial.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_01: So that's to honor the senator who did the work to help make sure this um came to be.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_01: Let's see, so each level has um I think they call it big five, like there's five essential um things they want students to come away knowing.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_01: And so, for example, they want them to know that there's 574 different nations across the United States.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_01: So that's one example, but there's five five questions like that.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_01: In our elementary work that we just did, uh we have units for every grade level starting at ECE to fifth grade, and those um uh go from storytelling, water, salmon, cedar, and just really great topics.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_01: It's aligned perfectly with the what's already in place at OSPI, and um, but we were able to integrate materials that are publicly available from Muckle Shoot, so some of their stories and language videos, things like that.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_00: That's powerful.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_00: Let's do some of the fun parts of this.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_00: You've given us a lot of great information.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um I always enjoy learning about somebody's role by asking my guests to share.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Favorite success story.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_00: So what's the favorite success story you've had with a student?
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_01: I have so many stories with students.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um it's hard to it's hard to just pick pick one.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_01: And I think part of that connects to just even our the nature of our culture is collective, right?
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_01: But I will say one thing that highlights the importance of a program like this.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_01: I want to talk about a student, I won't say his name, but um he graduated a couple years ago and was at one of the other high schools.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_01: My office is at Auburn High School, um, but we had a program at Auburn High School, so he came over, it was a financial aid night.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_01: So he came over to do some of that work and was just so impressed with the space that we had and was a senior and was talking about wow, these students are so lucky that they have this space and that they have this program.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_01: And he looked really reflective and said, Do you remember my family story?
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_01: And so I was thinking about it because I worked with him since he was in second grade, and I said, A little bit, and he goes, I'm adopted, and I'm native, but I'm adopted and live with a non-native family.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_01: And he goes, Everything I know about being native, I learned through this program.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_01: And it really hit me the importance of what this work is, and I think a lot of my colleagues in it in different districts have similar stories.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um culture and our practices were taken away from us for many years, decades.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_01: And so even practicing on culture, and that's you know, going back to talking about the canoe journey, that's why that is so important because we weren't allowed to do those things for a long time.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_01: So there's generations that don't have that.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_01: And so when the student shared that with me, it was just really kind of rejuvenating and really put a spark, you know, been doing this for a while, so it's important to get that, and just you know, realizing why those student experiences are important, and you know, and now he's graduated and out there in the world, and you know, and I just know, like I just hope that he keeps finding ways to connect with the culture.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_00: Wow, that is deeply meaningful, Robin.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for sharing.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_00: What is your favorite part of your job?
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_01: I think my favorite part is okay, so this is just the nature of the work we do.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_01: We have departments and um we have content areas, and everything has a lane or boxes, and it's just the nature of of of what we do.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_01: It has it has to be that way.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_01: Like I'm native ed, and that's my lane, right?
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_01: And um, but also I like to kind of pull things together holistically, and those are my favorite times.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_01: So, an example is um, I think you I've I think you've interviewed Elizabeth Ronley, painting teacher at Auburn High School before.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, I have a believe it was season one, maybe season two.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_00: It was a great podcast.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're listening, go look that one up.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, she's amazing, and I just love partnering with her.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_01: We did a mural maybe in our second year at Auburn High School, um, and then she um was working on a plant mural this last year.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_01: And as part of that experience for her students, she wanted to do a field trip to Tamanimus Forest with Muckle Shute.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_01: So she she's amazing.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_01: She did most of the work.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we and then my program, we helped fund um some of the sub um the teachers so they can have substitutes for that day.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_01: And those teachers, partner teachers that I have had attended the Western Washington Native American Education Consortium educators conference in February, and they all found each other and sat together for those two days.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_01: And um Elizabeth was sharing with them this field trip that would be coming up, I think, in May.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_01: And then she came and asked me, can they come as um chaperones and can you help, or can we find a way to get the subs paid for?
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_01: So we did that, and it's so phenomenal the way this happened.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_01: So those are different content areas.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_01: We had ethnic study teacher, we had CTE, we had ELA, and that was three different schools represented Auburn High, Mountain View, and Riverside.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so seven teachers, I believe, and then maybe about 35 to 40 students went to Tamanimus.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_01: And I just want to put a plug-in for getting outdoors and nature.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I got to see them before they went on the field trip.
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_01: I had a different engagement that day, so I wasn't able to go with them.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but I saw them as they were leaving.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_01: Everything looked normal, you know, just the normal excitement of going somewhere, but you don't know exactly what it's gonna be.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_01: And I got to see them when they came back, and it's a visible difference when you spend a day in nature like that.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_01: Every single the students were beaming, the teachers, um it's like going through a car wash.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_01: Literally, they looked at a great analogy, yeah.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it was so different, like just tension erased from them.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_01: We were supposed to, the one thing I was gonna get to do was be part of their debriefing meeting afterwards, and they didn't even want to meet in the classroom.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_01: They were they wanted to meet outside so they can continue to stay outside.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_01: And um they were hoping that we can all meet quarterly and continue working across content areas like that.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_01: And so those are my favorite kinds of things when we kind of break down the walls a little bit and work together and provide a great experience.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_00: I tell you, uh, as Susie said, Elizabeth Ronley, thinking about the murals at Auburn High and and ones that specifically were designed with native students, uh, they're beautiful and it's just a very meaningful uh experience.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_00: If you want to hear more about those, uh episode eight of the recess podcast with Elizabeth Ronleigh, you'll hear all about that.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um I teased something in the open that you have a great family and uh specifically three Auburn School District graduates.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_00: You want to just uh give a shout out to your kids?
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, I'd love to always.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_01: So I have Justice Spill, he's uh CTE coordinator at the Muckle Shoot Tribal College.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um he all my kids went to Chinook, Olympic, Auburn High.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_01: He's just great, and it's fun because he's part of the college, and many of our colleagues attend the Effective Teaching Institute at the end of June, and um they get to see him in action as part of that group.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_01: I have Freedom Bill, who um younger, he's the middle, and he just got a degree in forestry last year from Oregon State and is um still looking for his forestry job.
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but he's great, and the colleges also pulled him in to sh to also share at some of those engagements like the Effective Teaching Institute.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_01: And then we have Miss Sovereign, Sovereign Bill, um my daughter, who um she's the I think most of us know, many of us know, um, but she's a voice of Molly of Denali, the PBS show.
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_01: And um, so that's been really great.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_01: And she is currently in Juneau, Alaska, and she just caught a coho yesterday and um is just having a great time up there.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um well, it's been really a joy and a lot of learning to hear about our native program and your role.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um so thank you for all of that, Robin.
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna end on a lighter note.
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_00: Uh maybe think back to when you were at Denali Elementary.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_00: What was your favorite thing to do at Recess?
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_01: Foursquare.
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_01: I wonder how many people might say that, but that was my favorite thing.
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_00: There's definitely been a a handful uh who think back in like Foursquare, and that's fun because that's one that you see today.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and it's a great memory.
• 30:35
  SPEAKER_00: When's the last time you did it?
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_01: It's been way too long.
• 30:38
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_01: I think maybe when I was at the tribal school.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_01: Because we used to have to do recess with the students.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_00: Well, maybe you'll uh get out there and and give it a whirl again.
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Robin, you've been a great guest.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for joining me.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_00: Uh my guest has been Robin Pratt, the assistant director of Native Ed American Education for Auburn School District.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I just want to thank you sincerely for for sharing your experience and and bringing us into uh Native Ed and ASD.
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_00: And this has been the Recess Podcast.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I love it when you spread the word about this because we're trying to get stories out uh like our amazing Native American community and the programs we have and Robin's leadership.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so if you know somebody who'd be interested in this episode, please pass it along.
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and we have many great stories to come.
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_00: So I will see you next time on the recess podcast.