Interview · South Dakota · Cheryl Medearis · OSEU 2
Themes: Kinship & family, Identity & belonging, Storytelling & oral tradition, Education & learning, Values & generosity, Community & responsibility, Listening & observation, Children & young people, Intergenerational learning
Learn About questions
How does OSEU 2 help students to know it’s okay for them to “be who they are?”
How many students feel that school “isn’t important” or that they “don’t fit it” in school? What’s being done to address these problems in our state? In our nation?
Is teaching more difficult today than ever before, and if it is, what makes it so?
How is educational “rigor” defined in our state? In our nation?
What are the stories from the Elders that fit with this understanding?
Learn From questions
Do you have a story of “walking away from school” or of not do doing so well in school? Have you ever shared it with your students?
Have you ever, or do you now feel like you “don’t fit” in some way? How does that impact the work you do?
Is there a specific “somebody” who impacted your life and decision to be a teacher? Who is that person and how did they impact you?
What might it mean to “meet students where they are at?” Do you have any stories about this fro your work as a teacher or educator?
Transcripts
Addressing OSEU Two with Cheryl Medearis
Watch this interview on YouTubeTo me, that's one of the strongest of the essential understandings. To be able to give people and our children, our students, our students at the college, university level, the understanding that they are okay who they are and that they can learn and be whatever they want to be. And sometimes I sell them, but sometimes I do. I share my story of walking away from school because it wasn't important. My family moved from one area to the other in South Dakota, from one ranch community to another where I grew up.
I was accepted for who I was, although they sometimes thought I was strange because I lived with my grandparents because the rural school wasn't open at that time. It was like, don't you have a mom or dad? And to just go back and to share how school wasn't important to me. And I missed a lot of opportunities or was given a lot of opportunities, depending on how you look at it, walking away from school because I did not fit and I did not belong.
And then moving into the area of teacher education to really say it's somebody who made a difference in your life. And I really think that's why you've chosen the track to be a teacher, which is a tough job these days. Harder than it ever was when I was in a
K-12 classroom. So for them to try really diligently every day from when they greet students, when they walk in, until they leave that day to say, you are okay who you are and I'll meet you where you need to be met.
And still meet the rigor of all the standards and all the things that they have to do in the day of a school. So it's a huge balancing act that they have to do. But that's a very strong understanding and the stories from the elders that go with that one is powerful.
Resource text
OSEU 2: INTERVIEW WITH CHERYL MEDARIS
e Stay, WoLakota Project
From the current WoLakota source page:
Addressing OSEU 2
Cheryl Medearis
Transcript
(deep listening, information)
(deep listening, information)
Some indexed text was extracted from scanned material. Check the original source for exact wording and spelling.
Source materials
Supplied transcript document. Text preserved as supplied; spellings and transcription uncertainties have not been corrected.
Additional source transcripts
Addressing OSEU 2
Addressing OSEU Two with Cheryl Medearis
To me, that's one of the strongest of the essential understandings. To be able to give
people and our children, our students, our students at the college, university level, the
understanding that they are okay who they are and that they can learn and be whatever
they want to be. And sometimes I sell them, but sometimes I do. I share my story of
walking away from school because it wasn't important. My family moved from one area
to the other in South Dakota, from one ranch community to another where I grew up.
I was accepted for who I was, although they sometimes thought I was strange because I
lived with my grandparents because the rural school wasn't open at that time. It was
like, don't you have a mom or dad? And to just go back and to share how school wasn't
important to me. And I missed a lot of opportunities or was given a lot of opportunities,
depending on how you look at it, walking away from school because I did not fit and I
did not belong.
And then moving into the area of teacher education to really say it's somebody who
made a difference in your life. And I really think that's why you've chosen the track to be
a teacher, which is a tough job these days. Harder than it ever was when I was in a
K-12 classroom. So for them to try really diligently every day from when they greet
students, when they walk in, until they leave that day to say, you are okay who you are
and I'll meet you where you need to be met.
And still meet the rigor of all the standards and all the things that they have to do in the
day of a school. So it's a huge balancing act that they have to do. But that's a very
strong understanding and the stories from the elders that go with that one is powerful.