ABSTRACT
Ray Hartwig is an Anglo teacher at Zuni High School. As a result of his participation in Zuni: Engaging Teachers and Community (ZETAC), Ray learned about project-based learning (PBL). In his chapter, he explains his personal motivations for changing his science curriculum to use PBL strategies, his successful partnerships with local Zuni community and religious leaders, and his passion for this type of inquiry-based teaching. He tells his story beginning with his decision to move to an Indigenous community, becoming a teacher, and then how ZETAC totally changed his approach to education. Hartwig explains how in five years he has gone from being a Pre-Level I, first-year instructor (unsure if he wanted to be a second-year instructor) to a highly effective, Level II, Science Department chair, one year away from a Master’s Degree in Educational Leadership from the University of New Mexico. He explains that his willingness to undergo a reboot of his perspective on education had to come from within, and the framework that enabled this willingness to blossom into a new life in education is due to his friends, his mentors, and his participation in ZETAC.
