Sitting on the roof at night for internet: Pandemic learning in the Navajo Nation | Navajo-Hopi Observer

Editor’s note: This article is reprinted with permission from Education Week. It highlights the unique challenges of remote learning and life on the Navajo reservation during the coronavirus pandemic.
Denise Jensen teaches New Mexico History and Navajo Culture at Navajo Preparatory School, in the northwest corner of New Mexico. The private, International Baccalaureate college-prep school established for Native American students serves about 265 teenagers from the Navajo Nation and other tribal nations. Most live at the school when it’s in session. When Navajo Prep went all-remote last March, Jensen saw the struggles her students faced to do their schoolwork from home.

This article is written in first person and shared as it was told to Catherine Gewertz, senior contributing writer at Education Week.

I had a student who was a senior last year. When it got to…