928-523-8218
aiitec@nau.eduAmerican Indian Indigenous Teacher Education Conference
Returning to Our Languages and Ways of Knowing
June 21–22, 2024
Northern Arizona University’s College of Education will host the 14th American Indian/Indigenous Teacher Education Conference (AIITEC) on June 21–22, 2024. This conference for preschool, K–12, Tribal, college, and university educators, as well as concerned community members, includes panels, workshops, and papers to share ideas for improving the lives and education of American Indian children, especially regarding the revitalization of their Indigenous languages and cultures.
Join your colleagues for two and a half days of career-empowering knowledge, practices, networking, and practical teaching solutions. The conference is designed with your specific needs in mind and will provide strategies you can use immediately across all grade levels and subjects. NAU’s College of Education has worked with Tribal Nations to improve the education of American Indian students for decades. It has hosted a variety of American Indian teacher and administrator preparation programs.
Conference goals
- Bring together American Indian and other Indigenous language educators and activists to share ideas and experiences on how to teach and revitalize American Indian and other Indigenous languages in homes, communities, and schools.
- Share resources for early childhood educators in Tribal schools and communities.
- Disseminate recent research and thinking on best practices to promote, preserve, and protect American Indian and other Indigenous languages in the spirit of the 1990 Native American Languages Act and the United Nations 2007 Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Conference schedule
2024 NAU Stabilizing American Indian Languages/AIITEC
All times are Pacific Daylight Time.
4:00-6:00 Welcome Reception – NACC Gathering Room – Emcee Jon Reyhner
Friday June 21
8:00-8:40 Welcome and Opening General Session – Cline Library Assembly Hall – Emcee Joseph Martin Blessing: Evelyn Begay
8:40-9:30 Keynote Presentation: Jason Cummins (Apsáalooke Nation)
Leading in a Resiliency Centered School: working to provide a relevant, respectful and authentic educational experience for students in a public school setting
9:30-9:45 Break
9:45-10:45 Breakout Sessions
- Jennie de Groat (Dine) Culturally Relevant Pedagogy and Language
- Jason Cummins (Apsáalooke Nation) School Leadership experiences and lessons learned
- Shawn Secatero (Dine) The Corn Pollen Model Honoring our Indigenous Epistemology
11:00-12:00 Breakout Sessions
- Sig Boloz Writing in the K-3 Classroom
- Glenabah Martinez (Taos and Dine) Perspectives from Indigenous Educator Preparation
- Kamil Ozert (Sami) Language Revitalization in Sameland, Norway
12:00-1:00 Lunch on your own
1:15-2:15 Keynote Presentation Debbie Bordeaux (Lakota) – Cline
The Great Plains Tribal Education Directors from all nine tribes in South Dakota work together to design, develop and implement Commission for Oceti Sakowin Accreditation (COSA). Our journey has been inclusive of all stakeholders who were interested in making sure our schools are of the highest quality.
2:30-3:30
- Debbie Bordeaux Continue the conversation
- Sandra Gover (Pawnee/Choctaw) Challenges of Leading an Indian-Serving School
- JoLynn Begay-Lewis Setting High Expectations: Integrating Tohono O’odham language and culture in the curriculum
3:45-5:00 Breakout
- Sig Boloz Raising the Standardized Reading Test Scores of Native Children
- Jon Reyhner Revitalizing Indigenous Languages Challenges and Opportunities
- Glenebah Martinez The Yazzie Case Proclaiming the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
Saturday June 22
8:00-8:40 Welcome and General Session – Cline – Emcee Dr. Darold Joseph (Hopi)
8:40-9:30 Keynote Presentation: Lance Twitchell Cline
9:30-9:45 Break
9:45-10:45 Breakout Sessions
- Lance Twitchell (Tlingit) Conversations
- Noekeonaona Kirby (Native Hawaiian) Land and Cultural Values in Teacher Education
- Vangee Nez (Dine) DineTeachers Gain Confidence and Efficacy
- Cheyenne Cunningham (v) (Katzie First Nation) Language Learning through Family Traditions
11:00-12:00 Breakout Sessions
- Rosa King (Oneida) How language acquisition contributes to academic success
- Martha Austin (Dine) Advice for Expectant Parents from the Ethno-Medical Encyclopedia
- Augustine Romero (Yaqui) Our Heritage Tree Yaqui Thinkers
12:00-1:00 Lunch on your own
1:15-2:15 Keynote Presentation Cline Mansel Nelson student language panel
2:30-3:30 Breakout Sessions
- Allyson Brinston Digital Landscapes of Language Revitalization through AR/VR
- Stephanie Jackson (Dine) Co-Designing the PLANETS Curriculum
- Royd Lee (Dine) Student Naat’aani Leadership System
- Tom Tomas Teaching Dine Language through STREAM
3:45-5:00 Breakout Sessions
- Poki Seto (Native Hawaiian) Impacts of Literacy on Indigenous Knowledge
- Lucinda Begay (Dine) Culturally Responsive Principles for Academic Success
- Pedro Cuevas (Chicano Azteca) Cultural Storytelling and Art for Social Justice
Conference co-chairs
Keynote speakers
Deborah Bordeaux
Deborah Bordeaux Is the Executive Director, for The Commission for Oceti Sakowin Accreditation, the only Tribally approved accrediting agency. She works to develop and promote Native Education with a focus on Native language and culture to be included and the primary curriculum for Native children. Deborah is a graduate of Oglala Lakota College, she received her Master’s Degree in Education Leadership from South Dakota State University/ Sinte Gleska University. Deborah has 35 plus years of experience working in Tribally Controlled Grant Schools as a teacher aide, Special Education Teacher and Elementary Principal. Deborah worked with a local parent group to enact a federal law creating Tribal Education Departments. She has developed, and delivered testimony to congressional leaders and staff on Indian Education, she developed and Implemented a Tribal Accrediting process. Deborah has been married for 51 years, has 4 children and 4 grandchildren. Deb and Chris have their Master’s Degrees, all 4 children have their Bachelor degrees, 2 have their PHDs, 1 grandchild has a Bachelor Degree, becoming the fourth generation in Deborah’s lineage to have a college degree. Deborah’s Great Grandfather Pute always encouraged education.
Dr. Jason Cummins
(Apsáalooke Tribal Member)
Jason D. Cummins is an enrolled member of the Apsáalooke Nation and is currently an Assistant Professor at Montana State University, former Deputy Director of the White House Initiative American Indian and Alaska Native Education. He has innovatively worked to lead schools toward authentically serving students and communities by implementing culturally sustaining, trauma-informed, and restorative approaches. With the view of education as a means of perpetuating the story, identity, and language of Native American communities and empowering them toward a better future. He is a recognized leader in shifting how schools think about Indigenous culture and language and has served in numerous leadership capacities from board membership, consultancy, advocacy, and public speaking all with the integrated purpose of advancing educational equity among Native American communities. He and his wife, Velvett, have been married for 30 years and enjoy all things outdoors in their spare time.
Dr. Lance Twitchell
(Tlingit and Haida Nations)
Dr. Lance Twitchell carries the Tlingit names X̱’unei, Du Aaní Kawdinook, and Yoo Kaawajígi Yéil, and the Haida name Ḵ’eijáakw. He lives in Juneau with his wife Mariah and their three beautiful bilingual children, and is from the Tlingit, Haida, and Yup’ik Native nations. He speaks and studies the Tlingit language, advocates for Indigenous language revitalization, and is an Assistant Professor of Alaska Native Languages at the University of Alaska Southeast, as well as a multimedia Northwest Coast Artist and musician. In addition to his impressive scholarly contributions, including Lingit knowledge and language within the Academy, X̱’unei is also an active language healer and warrior, and a staunch advocate for the decolonization of law and policy. His advocacy was instrumental in ensuring the State of Alaska officially recognized Alaska Native languages, and declared a state of linguistic emergency to call attention to the suppression of our languages and reconciliation efforts that must be put in place. He earned his PhD in Hawaiian and Indigenous Language and Culture Revitalization through Ka Haka ʻUla O Keʻelikōlani College of Hawaiian Language, University of Hawaii Hilo. He also holds a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from the University of Alaska Fairbanks and earned his Bachelor of Arts in English with a minor in American Indian Studies from the University of Minnesota.
Past AIITEC conferences
Additional information
Conference hotel information
Embassy Suites by Hilton Flagstaff
706 S. Milton Rd. 86001
(928) 774-4333
Certificate of Participation
Certificates of Participation will be accessible after the conference.
Conference recorded sessions
Recorded sessions will be posted here following the conference.
Call for presentations
Due April 15, 2024
The AIITEC conference extends an invitation for presentation proposals, emphasizing the importance of diverse Indigenous voices and perspectives.