Reclaiming Educational Sovereignty with The Indigenous Montessori Institute

In this blog we are excited to highlight the work of one of our longtime partners, the Indigenous Montessori Institute (IMI). IMI was established in 2017 and launched its first Montessori Primary cohort in August 2018. It was created by the incredible team at Keres Children’s Learning Center (KCLC) in response to their need for trained teachers who were educated in programs that center Indigenous Education. Keres Children’s Learning Center is an Indigenous Language revitalization school serving infants through adolescents in Cochiti Pueblo. IMI seeks to supprot Indigenous educators and Tribal Nations in exercising educational sovereignty by serving the whole Indigenous child. The whole child includes honoring Indigenous children’s languages, the values of their communities, their unique spirits, and providing rigorous academic support.

In addition to training teachers, school leaders, and others who support children and teachers, IMI also guides the Indigenous Montessori network, which seeks to provide resources and advocacy support related to Indigenous education issues. It also provides technical support to Indigenous education programs around the country. 

IMI is the first Montessori training center of its kind that centers Indigenous children in every aspect of its curriculum. IMI provides Montessori teacher training as well as three different Philosophy of Indigenous Education courses. These include: Reclaiming Indigenous Education, Indigenous School Leadership Development, and Indigenous Language Immersion Approaches. 

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Why Educational Sovereignty?

In the United States, education has been used as a weapon of assimilation against Native peoples. This legacy began with the establishment of boarding schools, and has continued with white centric schooling environments that ignore or erase Native children’s language, culture, communities, and histories. Educational institutions in the United States have intentionally miseducated non-Native children about the history and present reality of colonization as they continue to perpetuate harm against Native children. This miseducation and harm run deep, and require a relentless commitment to uprooting. 

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Educational sovereignty is the reclamation of Native children’s education. It includes centering children’s Native languages and cultures, and prioritizing the worldviews, values, and skills deemed essential to their respective Tribal Nations. To learn more, read this blog post coauthored by KCLC’s co-founder, Trisha Moquino and Embracing Equity’s Lead Program Facilitator Katie Kitchens. 

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How Can You Get Involved? 

We are so glad you asked! We believe deeply in the Indigenous Montessori Institute’s work and are grateful for their partnership. We recognize how much work we still have to do as a team to continue unlearning settler-colonial ideology. We are grateful for our partners at IMI for calling us in and encouraging us to further our own learning. For this reason, you’ll see many of us joining IMI’s Fall cohort! We are excited to learn alongside you. Keep an eye out for those Fall dates! 

For those of you looking to join a course this summer, we highly encourage you to consider enrolling in IMI’s Indigenous Language Immersion Approaches course. While IMI is focused on Indigenous education and recruiting Indigenous people for training, training at IMI is open to all, regardless of race or ethnicity. If you cannot join a course now, please consider donating to support KCLC and IMI’s important work. 

Please see the flyer below and check out their website for more information:

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