A Culture of Connection: A Tribal Relational Framework for Whole Child Engagement
Participants will learn how Montana is supporting educators to engage students through a framework of relationship, purpose, and identity using strategies built through the Indigenous Whole Learner Relational Framework and The Whole Child Skill Competencies. Attendees will understand how Montana’s American Indian Student Achievement and Relations unit works to enkindle education and achievement through a balanced and contextualized approach to supporting student learning outcomes by creating the conditions for academic achievement and whole human wellness.
Dr. Brooke Beaverheart Gondara
Dr. Brooke Beaverheart Gondara is a citizen of the Tsitsistas/Suhtaio Nation of southeastern Montana and an Oglala Dakota descendent. Dr. Gondara recently left a 25+ year career in higher education administration, primarily in community and tribal colleges in the roles of dean, associate dean, and president in the states of Montana, Oregon, Alaska, and New Mexico. She currently resides on the traditional lands of the Apsáalooke Nation in Huntley MT with her husband. She is the mother of three adult daughters and the geh’et (grandmother) of five amazing grandchildren. Brooke is a crazy dog lady who is passionately involved in Rez dog rescue and working with her own pack of rescue Catahoula leopard hounds and pittbulls. She enjoys precious time with family, traveling, cooking, ethnobotany and traditional foods, berry picking, indigenous research and data, and is an avid trivia player.