History of Native American Boarding Schools: While this website provided an in-depth but brief description of the history of the education of Native Americans, it is recommended that educators explore the topic further. The resources mentioned below are a few of many available.
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Resources for Educating Native American Students:
These resources are helpful in understanding the different ways that Native Americans best learn in the school setting. They provided insight into teaching methods that will help an educator reach all of his or her students, taking into consideration the role that culture plays in the educational process.
These resources are helpful in understanding the different ways that Native Americans best learn in the school setting. They provided insight into teaching methods that will help an educator reach all of his or her students, taking into consideration the role that culture plays in the educational process.
- Native American Education: A Reference Handbook by Lorraine Hale (2002). This book provides extensive information regarding issues and strategies within the education of Native American students. It examines the causes for academic failure and teaching methods, as well as a discussion about teaching basic content - language arts, math, and science.
- Voices of Native American Educators: Integrating History, Culture, and Language to Improve Learning Outcomes for Native American Students by Sheila T. Gregory (2012). This resources is written by Native American educators who have a deep understanding of the culture and how students learn. They provided expertise knowledge on how to effectively present information to Native students in a way that is meaningful to them.
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Teaching About Native American Culture:
The responses to the survey questions described in "The Importance" section of this website show that the education students are receiving regarding Native American culture is in many ways superficial and does not delve any deeper than pointing out artifacts and understanding the group of people from their connection to the white population. This way of describing a culture can lead to stereotypical thinking and close-mindedness. Teachers must begin to teach in ways that show respect for the culture and show the importance of studying and understanding the multiple sides of an individual and a people.
The Zinn Education Project provides educational materials to guide teachers away from teaching Native American culture in the past tense and away from the over-used Thanksgiving story. The project has compiled a list of lesson and further resources that can be utilized in classrooms, titled Native American Activism 1960s to Today.
Click the button below to access The Zinn Education Project website.
The responses to the survey questions described in "The Importance" section of this website show that the education students are receiving regarding Native American culture is in many ways superficial and does not delve any deeper than pointing out artifacts and understanding the group of people from their connection to the white population. This way of describing a culture can lead to stereotypical thinking and close-mindedness. Teachers must begin to teach in ways that show respect for the culture and show the importance of studying and understanding the multiple sides of an individual and a people.
The Zinn Education Project provides educational materials to guide teachers away from teaching Native American culture in the past tense and away from the over-used Thanksgiving story. The project has compiled a list of lesson and further resources that can be utilized in classrooms, titled Native American Activism 1960s to Today.
Click the button below to access The Zinn Education Project website.
Modern Native American Writers to Read:
Native American writers can help to illuminate the real experiences of their people through story telling, an action that is deeply rooted in their culture.
Native American writers can help to illuminate the real experiences of their people through story telling, an action that is deeply rooted in their culture.
- Sherman Alexie (author of Flight, Reservation Blues, The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fist Fight in Heaven, and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian)
- Leslie Marmon Silko (author of Ceremony, Almanac of the Dead, and Storyteller)
- Paula Gunn Allen (author of The Sacred Hoop, Grandmothers of the Light, and Off the Reservation)
- Louise Erdrich (author of The Round House, Tracks, and The Plague of Doves)
- Joy Harjo (author of Crazy Brave: A Memoir, She had some horses, and How we became human)
- Harjo also keeps a blog that can be found at http://joyharjo.blogspot.com/
Surviving Disappearance, Re-Imagining & Humanizing Native Peoples: Matika Wilbur
Please watch this informative video on the representation of American Indians in society. Matika Wilbur, the speaker, talks about the value of identifying as Native American in the present day.