Madeleine Cummings

Recent Posts

Reservation schools striving to attract Indian teachers

Pryor

HAYS-LODGE POLE —When Aloha Shortman asked her sixth-graders to find Italy on a world map during a social studies lesson last August, they couldn’t do it. One student’s finger landed on Brazil. Others grew bored and restless. Shortman quickly shifted gears, searching for a way to make a lesson on the Roman Republic relevant to a group of American Indian students in a remote Montana community. (more…) Continue Reading →

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Like other rural towns, Pryor struggles to attract teachers

Wiest

Last spring, Sam Bruner, the principal of two small schools on the Crow Indian Reservation in Pryor, knew he needed to hire two teachers for the upcoming school year. So he drove more than two hours west to a job fair in Bozeman, where he set up his table and then watched as a stampede of job-hunting teachers passed him by. (more…) Continue Reading →

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In Pryor, climbing wall takes students to new heights

Beaumont

PRYOR—Armed with about $8,000 in grant money and a box of donated climbing harnesses and shoes, Pryor teacher Loren Rausch set out last year to share one of his life’s passions with his students at Plenty Coups High School. Rausch, a second-year science teacher at the school, has long been a rock-climbing aficionado, climbing in Alaska and Nepal between finishing his undergraduate degree and starting his job in Pryor. So, during his first year at Plenty Coups, which is located on the Crow Reservation, Rausch started ordering parts to build a 22-foot climbing wall in the school’s gymnasium. (more…) Continue Reading →

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