Reports from the Indian Nations At Risk Task Force and the White House Conference on Indian Education identify as a national priority the need to retain American Indian and Alaska Native languages both as central elements in Native cultures and as national resources. A personal narrative of an Alaska Native man who grew up in the 1930s shows the…

Literature is a powerful vehicle for the transmission and interpretation of culture. Reading a variety of literature helps students to understand the principles underpinning values and traditions of their own culture and the cultures of others. Studying the myths, legends, and songs of traditional Native literature helps readers understand…

Assertiveness training, a current preferred method of training appropriate communication skills, strives to teach a behavior which enables a person to act in his/her own interests, to express honest feelings comfortably, or to exercise one's own rights without denying the rights of others. Assertion training could be envisioned as an intervention…

Historical trauma may be a significant cause of the well-documented disparities between the health of American Indians and the general population. The inability to resolve past injustices against American Indians may continue to have health consequences as long as this history continues to repeat itself. Schools can play a role in healing American…

An annotated, selective list of reading materials for children and instructional aids for parents, teachers, and librarians is presented in this digest. The 24 entries, many written by American Indians, are drawn from a variety of sources and deal with tribes from several regions. Many of the materials are intended to help American Indian children…

Explains why political power has eluded American Indians and what chance they have of becoming a policy-making force in mainstream American society. Cites proponents of society as a "melting pot" and of cultural pluralism. Argues that a pluralistic society is in the best interests of cultural groups and the nation. (JHZ)

American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) students strive to maintain their heritage while learning to be successful in the dominant culture. Although academic and career success are worthy goals, AI/AN students can pay a heavy price to achieve them. To provide effective and responsive career and academic guidance for AI/AN youth, teachers and…

Noting that the terms "Native American" and "American Indian" are both legitimately used to refer to the indigenous people of North America, this digest identifies stereotypes about Native Americans that children gain from media portrayals and classroom role playing, and suggests strategies for teachers to use to counter…

The reemergence in the 1960's of the traditional Indian philosophy of education as preparation for societal productivity coincided with a movement within Indian communities toward more active participation in and self-control of the education of their people. By recognizing the historical right of American Indians to control their own education,…

Overwhelmingly, the cultures of schools reflect the norms of middle-class European-Americans. Many young Native Americans fail to adapt to this culture and are perceived as unacceptable and uneducable. Deprivation of a sound educational system and concomitant social relegation lead to dismal educational outcomes and subsequent effects on health,…

Culturally responsive teaching cannot be approached as a recipe or series of steps that teachers can follow to become effective with American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) students. Instead, it relies on the development of certain dispositions toward learners and a holistic approach to curriculum and instruction. This digest draws on a…

Approximately 200 resources which appeared in "Resources in Education" and "Current Index to Journals in Education" from January 1981 to June 1983 have been compiled into an annotated bibliography covering aspects of American Indian education including curriculum development, culture, counseling, student development, testing,…

Case studies are used to illustrate issues in the identification of gifted and talented American Indian children and the development of appropriate programs that respond to individual needs and cultural values. Emphasis is placed on the identification of students who do not manifest their high intellectual and creative abilities in ways accepted…

Written for American Indian parents, this fact sheet offers basic suggestions for building good parent-school relationships and helping children succeed in school. The first issue addressed is the education of children before they start to school, and the emphasis is on developing pride, self-confidence, and a desire to learn and do new things.…

Suggesting that students in the intermediate grades can explore the world around them and practice valuable skills in spelling, reading, writing, communication, and language, this book presents cross-curricular units designed to integrate language-arts activities into the study of where and how people live. The units in the book reach diverse…