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When Kristin Monts leaves Terre Haute next January to student teach in Arizona, she will be leaving more than just her comfort zone.
"Where I'm going there might not be paved roads," said Monts, a senior English teaching and English literature major who will be teaching at the Many Farms High School, a part of the Navajo Nation. "It's scary to leave your comfort zone."
Monts has the opportunity to student teach in the Navajo Nation through a program at Indiana University-Bloomington, even though she is an ISU student.
"ISU has developed a partnership with IU-Bloomington's Cultural Immersions Project," said Judy Sheese, the director of education student services. "This is our first year of the program. Kristin is enrolled in credit hours at IU to prepare her for her experience in her new culture, but her student teaching hours will be through ISU."
Tim Taylor, an associate instructor of the American Indian Reservation Project at IU, said the program is voluntary and has no certain set of requirements. However, he said students do a lot of extra work for this program.
"Before going, the students participate in a year-long preparatory stage," Taylor said. "It's a graduate program that they do on top of their undergraduate work. This is above and beyond normal coursework."
Traditionally student teaching is eight weeks in a middle school and eight weeks in a high school, Monts said.
"I'll be doing 18 weeks in just a high school in the Navajo Nation," she said.
Monts received a scholarship from ISU for being the first student in this program. This scholarship will pay the tuition for the graduate level classes she must take for the program.
While at the school Monts' room and board will be paid, as long as she teaches full-time, serves breakfast, lunch and dinner to the students and tutors every day after school.
"I do have to live in the dorms with the students," Monts said.
The reservation she is assigned to may not even have running water or electricity, she said.
Monts was placed at the Many Farms High School because it's the only school with a creative writing department.
"A lot of times the schools try to Americanize the students," she said. "I want to introduce them to a lot of different cultures through different types of literature, including Native American literature."
Monts studied abroad in Ireland and said she loved immersing herself in another culture.
"I feel very comfortable in cultures not my own," she said.
As part of her responsibilities, Monts will help out the Navajo community in any way possible.
"I did this for personal reasons, but if I do decide to teach, this will open up so many doors," Monts said. "It's unconventional and such a great opportunity that no one knows about."
Without stepping foot on the reservation, Monts said she has already changed a lot.
"I've already grown so much, not only as a person but as a teacher," she said. "I wanted to do something life-changing."
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