Harlem Elementary School Welcomes New Teachers

 

September 22, 2021



When Jessica Cochran applied for and received the position of Assistant Principal at Harlem Elementary School, her promotion created a vacancy in the sixth grade classroom. With Kristin Landre leaving the district, that left two openings for sixth grade teachers. One of those was filled by Ken Bigby and the other by Amber Whiteclay.

Enrolled as a Gros Ventre but raised as an Assiniboine, Bigby was born to Poncho and Mary Bigby and grew up on Fort Belknap. He graduated from Harlem High School in 1989 and married Arlene in 1993. He and his wife have one daughter and three grandchildren: Ashley, Talon, and Pearl.

Bigby attended Montana State University—Northern (MSUN) in Havre and graduated in 2000 with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Elementary Education with an area of concentration in Music and one in Reading. That same year, Bigby began his professional career by teaching sixth grade at Harlem Elementary School. He later earned his Traffic Education Endorsement.

In 2003, he started following his wife to other schools where she would be working as either their principal or superintendent. During that time, Bigby taught in Wolf Point as both a sixth grade and a junior high teacher. He also served for a couple of years in Broadview and taught in Rocky Boy for one year. Later, in an effort to live nearer to his daughter who resided in Western Montana, he taught for three years in a small school at Dixon and then went to work for the Kicking Horse Job Corps. After working there for three years, he accepted a position with a one-room school just north of Bozeman called Springhill Community School. In the summertime, Bigby often taught driver’s education at various schools throughout the state, and at many of these schools he also coached football.

Now Bigby has come full circle and returned to Harlem where his wife is the Harlem School District Superintendent and he is once again teaching sixth grade. Bigby is also the Head Football Coach for the Harlem Wildcats.

Bigby, who expressed pleasure in being back home near his friends and family, reports that everyone has been welcoming. “It is very interesting because the students that I have in my classroom are the children of my students when I first taught here. The same in football. The players that I have are the children of the players that I coached previously. It is great being back home teaching the second generation of students. I have gone full circle; I am back home now.”

The second sixth grade teacher, Amber Whiteclay graduated from Aaniiih Nakoda College where she received her Associate of Arts Degree in American Indian Studies (AIS). She went on to earn a Bachelor of Science Degree in Elementary Education from Montana State University—Northern in May 2021 with a concentration in AIS. This is her first teaching position.

When asked to introduce herself, she began with a Dine greeting: “Ya’ah’teeh (Hello in the Dine language). My name is Amber WhiteClay, and I come from the Dine Nation and Yankton Sioux tribes. I am originally from Table Mesa, New Mexico. My husband and our two children are enrolled members of the Aaniiih Tribe from Fort Belknap, Montana, and that is how I am here in Northern Montana.”

While pursuing her bachelor’s degree, Whiteclay completed three practicum experiences at Harlem, one at the junior high level and two at the elementary. She also completed her student teaching at Harlem Elementary School in the sixth grade classroom where she currently teaches. In fact, her Cooperating Teacher was Cochran, who accepted the Assistant Principal’s position at the school.

“I am so thankful for all of Ms. Cochran’s help, support, guidance, and encouragement throughout my time here,” Whiteclay said. “My goal for my students is to encourage, empower, and push them to succeed. It has been a rough year and a half for students, and I hope that I am able to provide a safe and significant learning environment for them. I connect and relate so much to my students since I am an Indigenous woman and all my students are Indigenous, as well. I hope that they continue to learn and grow within themselves and to never give up.”

Because she believes that every child has the ability to learn, she plans to nurture open-mindedness in her students while she encourages them to try their best, to always challenge themselves, and to overcome any barriers they may face as they learn.

About her position, Whiteclay further stated: “As an Indigenous educator, my goal is to inspire our youth—our future—to always reach for their own goals. In my classroom, teamwork will be a key structure in helping each other out. I hope to guide my students to become better people every day and to learn something new that they can carry within themselves on their educational journeys. Just as I have encountered many instructors who have helped me along the way and made a difference in my educational life, I hope to make a difference in the lives of my students. Ahe’hee” (Thank you in the Dine language).

 
 

Powered by ROAR Online Publication Software from Lions Light Corporation
© Copyright 2024

Rendered 03/23/2024 11:35