Culturally Responsive Instructional Resources for Teaching American Indians

• ASCD: A Framework for Culturally Responsive Teaching
• Alaska Native Educators: Alaskan Standards for Culturally Responsive Schools. and Guide to Implementation
• Montana Office of Public Instruction: Indian Education  
• National Education Association: Online Resources for Culturally Responsive Teachers
• Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory: Culturally Responsive Practices for Student Success: A Regional Sampler 
• Teaching Tolerance: Being Culturally Responsive
• Montana Office of Public Instruction Indian Education for All Companion Guides: Common Core Standards Companion Guides with detailed ELA lessons using wonderful Native-based texts. Links to day-by-day instructions, summaries, background information, guided reading lesson suggestions and assessment suggestions.
• Alaska Native Knowledge Network book reviews: This site contains book reviews of children’s literature that feature Alaska’s indigenous people and also has information about Alaskan Native peoples.
• American Indians in Children’s Literature: This outstanding blog has great book reviews and commentaries that help teachers and others evaluate books from a Native perspective. Highly recommended to browse this site before using literature in class that includes American Indians.
• American Indian Library Association
• American Indian Library Association’s American Indian Youth Services Literature Award
• American Indian Library Association compilation of publications: The American Indian Library Association is a membership action group that is an affiliate of the American Library Association (ALA). This membership action group that addresses the library-related needs of American Indians and Alaska Natives. The American Indian Library Association’s American Indian Youth Services Literature Award is an honor created to identify and honor the very best writing and illustrations by and about American Indians. This link is one of the premier places to find the “best books about American Indians” for children’s literature.
• Canku Ota: Canku Ota is an online newsletter celebrating Native America. Access information about American Indian educational resources under “Cool Links”.
• Cherokee Studies, Western Carolina University: Western Carolina University’s Cullowhee, N.C. campus is at the heart of the spiritual and cultural homeland of the region's largest Native American population, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. Uniquely located amidst rich cultural and academic resources, their interdisciplinary program is multi-faceted, offering students and scholars a wide range of academic and support services in partnership with the Cherokee community.
• Criteria From How To Tell the Difference: A Guide for Evaluating Children’s Books for Anti-Indian Bias (adapted from oyate.org): This helpful document gives tips and thinking points to help you learn to evaluate books for bias and stereotypes.
• Indian 101 for Writers: This five-part blog series, appropriate for both writers and educators, looks at writing (and teaching) about American Indians and gives resources to accurately and respectfully do so.
• Indian Country Today Media Network: Indian Country Today is Indian Country’s online news that gives information on top issues in Indian culture today. It is helpful to anyone teaching or learning about First Peoples to be aware of contemporary Indian issues.
• Learn NC American Indian Resources: Planning a unit on American Indians and not sure where to begin? Learn NC has assembled lesson plans, articles and great websites to help you teach to, and about, America’s First People. *Largely geared toward historical information; teachers will need to supplement with contemporary information.
• Learn NC/UNC American Indian Center’s Curriculum Guide, Teaching About North Carolina American Indians: This curriculum guide has tribally-supplied information, useful K-16, that includes great contemporary, as well as historical, information from all eight of North Carolina’s state-recognized tribes. Lesson plans included with some of the tribes. https://americanindiancenter.unc.edu/files/2014/02/AIC.-Flyer-Curriculu… and https://americanindiancenter.unc.edu/
• Museum of the Cherokee Indian: The Museum’s Education & Outreach offers courses and workshops for teachers, students and families as well as literature and other resources. Their goal is to provide accurate information about the Cherokee.
• National Indian Education Association: The National Indian Education Association supports traditional Native cultures and values, enables Native learners to become contributing members of their communities, promotes control of Native educational institutions, and improves educational opportunities and resources for American Indians and Alaska Natives throughout the United States.
• National Museum of the American Indian: Located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., this museum is dedicated to the preservation, study and exhibition of the life, language, literature, contemporary accuracy, history and arts of American Indians.
• Native American Resource Center: The mission of the Native American Resource Center of the University of North Carolina at Pembroke is to educate the public about the prehistory, history, culture, art and contemporary issues of American Indians, with special emphasis on the Robeson County Native American community; to conduct scholarly research; to collect and preserve the material culture of Native America; to encourage Native American artists and craftsperson; and to cooperate on a wide range of projects with other agencies concerned with Native America. The museum of the Native American Resource Center contains exhibits of authentic Indian artifacts, arts and crafts. These items come from Indian people all over North America, from Abenaki to Zuni. Many other items come from North Carolina Native Americans, with particular focus on the Lumbee tribe of North Carolina.
• North Carolina Commission of Indian Affairs: Created in 1971 by the North Carolina General Assembly, the North Carolina Commission of Indian Affairs has a two-fold mission to increase economic opportunities for Indians in North Carolina and to maximize educational opportunities for Indian citizens of North Carolina. The NCCIA also offers links to resources on Indian education and initiatives.
• The North Carolina Museum of History holds an annual American Indian Heritage Celebration in November. This is a wonderful, free event for the public with all eight North Carolina state-recognized tribes represented and much information, hands-on activities and events. There is also a ‘student day’.
• North Carolina State Advisory Council on Indian Education: The State Advisory Council on Indian Education was established to identify issues and concerns that affect the academic achievement of American Indian students. Council members study the yearly data collected on academic achievement and dropout rates, keep abreast of education policy issues at the local, state, and national levels, and work with tribal leadership in American Indian communities. As an outcome, the Council produces an annual report that addresses relevant concerns pertaining to the education of American Indian students and provides recommendations to the North Carolina State Board of Education
• Oyate: Oyate is a Native organization working to see that Native lives and histories are portrayed with honesty and integrity. They have an online bookstore with appropriate materials and offer book reviews. Under their Resources tab, please especially see their sections on Thanksgiving and evaluating books for anti-Indian bias. And don’t miss the Living Stories section under Resources!
• Resources for Projects on American Indians: This page of the blog American Indians in Children’s Literature lists specific suggested texts. The NC SACIE would also suggest that you use the numerous other resources listed on our page to familiarize yourself with accurate vs stereotypical resources.
• UNC American Indian Center: The American Indian Center at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill is a campus-wide center to advance the University’s overall mission of research, teaching and public service by creating an environment in which quality research, scholarship, and engagement related to American Indians are strengthened, nurtured and coordinated. North Carolina is home to one of the largest Native populations in the Eastern United States and the center serves as the University’s front door to American Indian communities across the state and nation. The center enables Carolina to truly serve the First People of North Carolina.
• Native American Facts For Kids: This site has a wealth of information about American Indians today, different tribes and traditional clothing, homes and food.

• Criteria From How To Tell the Difference: A Guide for Evaluating Children’s Books for Anti-Indian Bias (adapted from oyate.org):  This helpful document gives tips and thinking points to help you learn to evaluate books for bias and stereotypes.
• Recommended Books About American Indians: This handy resource lists top books that elementary, middle and high schools should have on hand, as well as a longer list of acceptable books about American Indians.
• Recommended Professional Resources: Books and websites listed here can help teachers, media specialists and other educators locate books, do fact-checking, and gain insight and awareness of issues related to Native culture and Native perspectives.
• Recommended Children’s Literature Resources: Native Americans specific to American Indians in children’s literature.
• Not Recommended Books About American Indians: This document lists books that we feel present American Indians in a stereotypical, non-accurate and/or Eurocentric point of view. This listing includes many reviews and also a guide which acts as a starting point for self-education in evaluating books for bias. 

• American Indian Perspectives on Thanksgiving: This is an ideal resource for teachers’ grades 4-8 that gives the American Indian Perspective on Thanksgiving through three themes that delve into understanding American Indians and the deeper meaning of the Thanksgiving Holiday. This is a colorful resource developed by the National Museum of the American Indian.
• Are You Teaching the Real Story of the First Thanksgiving? This resource will help you determine if you are teaching the true Thanksgiving story or a blend of myth and facts.
• Deconstructing the Myths of the First Thanksgiving: This thorough resource addresses 11 myths of Thanksgiving and debunks each one. It is a must-have resource for teachers to accurately teach about the “Real Thanksgiving Story”.
• Harvest Ceremony: Beyond the Thanksgiving Myth. This study resource from the National Museum of the American Indian can be adapted for various grade levels. It gives a historical perspective on how two groups of neighbors, the Wampanoag people, and the newest neighbors, the European immigrants, came together for a Harvest celebration, which is today known as the first Thanksgiving.
• Native American Heritage Month Resources for Teachers: This is a teacher resource to assist them in going beyond typical stereotypes in the classroom. It includes suggested books, curricula, and media resources.
• Teaching about Thanksgiving: This publication is informative regarding Thanksgiving facts without passing on historical distortions, racial and cultural stereotypes. It contains a list of texts and resources regarding the complete facts about the “First” Thanksgiving. You will find appropriate study and discussion questions, ideas for enrichment, ways to avoid old stereotypes as well as various Native food recipes. This resource was developed by the Fourth World Documentation Project endorsed by the Superintendent of Public Instruction State of Washington.
• Ten Things Teachers Should Never Do When Teaching Native Kids: A resource for teachers on how to navigate the classroom with American Indian kids. This is particularly helpful for teachers who teach predominantly non-Native children but may have no or very few Native American Indian children.
• The True Story of the First Thanksgiving, Muse Magazine: This is a child-targeted article that addresses many Thanksgiving myths in a fun, engaging manner.

These texts are recommended from oyate.org.

• Bruchac, Margaret M. (Abenaki), and Catherine Grace O'Neill, 1621: A New Look at Thanksgiving. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society, 2001, grades 4-up
• Hunter, Sally M. (Ojibwe), Four Seasons of Corn: A Winnebago Tradition. Minneapolis: Lerner Publications, 1997, grades 4-6.
• Peters, Russell M. (Wampanoag), Clambake: A Wampanoag Tradition. Minneapolis: Lerner Publications, 1992, grades 4-6.
• Regguinti, Gordon (Ojibwe), The Sacred Harvest: Ojibway Wild Rice Gathering. Minneapolis: Lerner Publications, 1992, grades 4-6.
• Seale, Doris (Santee/Cree), Beverly Slapin, and Carolyn Silverman (Cherokee), eds., Thanksgiving: A Native Perspective. Berkeley: Oyate, 1998, teacher resource.
• Swamp, Jake (Mohawk), Giving Thanks: A Native American Good Morning Message. New York: Lee & Low, 1995, all grades.
• Wittstock, Laura Waterman (Seneca), Ininatig's Gift of Sugar: Traditional Native Sugarmaking. Minneapolis: Lerner Publications, 1993, grades 4-6

• Davis, Bonnie. How to Teach Students Who Don’t Look Like You. A guide to reflective practice for working with students of different races and cultures from your own.
• Delpit, Lisa. Other People’s Children: Cultural Conflict in the Classroom. A seminal and critical look at how race and culture impact schooling. The book is especially helpful for examining why educators so rarely talk openly about race. 
• Hanley, Mary Stone and Noblit, George. Cultural Responsiveness, Racial Identity, and Academic Success: A Review of the Literature. A thorough overview of the research connecting race and student achievement commissioned by the Heinz Foundation. https://www.heinz.org/userfiles/library/crea_executive%20summary.pdf
• International Journal of MultiCultural Education: The Positive Impact of Culturally Responsive Pedagogy: Montana’s Indian Education for All
• Ladson-Billings, Gloria. The Dreamkeepers: Successful Teachers of African-American Children.Describes how some teachers (of all races) have been successful with African-American children.
• Loewen, James. Lies My Teacher Told Me. Revitalizes the truth of America’s history, explores how myths continue to be perpetrated. https://www.npr.org/2018/08/09/634991713/lies-my-teacher-told-me-and-how-american-history-can-be-used-as-a-weapon
• Loewen, James. Teaching What Really Happened: How to Avoid the Tyranny of Textbooks and Get Students Excited About Doing History.
• Perry, Theresa, Hilliard, Asa and Steele,Claude. Young, Gifted, and Black: Promoting High Achievement Among African American Students. Perry advances a theory about how and why African Americans excel in education. Steele discusses the impact of “stereotype threat.” Hilliard examines how we can close the achievement gap by using tools, skills, and knowledge that we already have in our possession.
• Singleton, Glenn and Curtis Linton. Courageous Conversations about Race, A Field Guide for Achieving Equity in Schools. A field guide for educators who want explore race and equity in a professional context. Includes staff development activities.
• Tatum, Beverly Daniel. Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? An excellent primer for understanding racial identity development of all students.
• American Indians in Children’s Literature: This outstanding blog has great book reviews and commentaries that help teachers and others evaluate books from a Native perspective. Highly recommended to browse this site before using literature in class that includes American Indians.
• American Indian magazine
• Indian 101 for Writers: This five-part blog series, appropriate for both writers and educators, looks at writing (and teaching) about American Indians and gives resources to accurately and respectfully do so.
• Indian Country Today Media Network: Indian Country Today is Indian Country’s online news that gives information on top issues in Indian culture today. It is helpful to anyone teaching or learning about First Peoples to be aware of contemporary Indian issues.
• Native Appropriations: Native Appropriations is a forum for discussing the representation of Native peoples, including stereotypes, cultural appropriation, news, activism and more.

North Carolina State Board of Education’s Resolution

Recommends that the North Carolina Public Schools study the impact of American Indian sports mascots and logos and review policies and procedures on this issue. Results of activities will be reported to the State Board of Education as part of the annual report of the State Advisory Council on Indian Education.

State of the American Indian Mascots in North Carolina According to DPI Data:

• “In 2002, 73 North Carolina schools in 43 districts had American Indian mascots or imagery. In 2012, 43 schools in 20 districts used Indian sports mascots, logos or nicknames. To date, 55 percent of North Carolina public schools with Indian mascots have chosen to retire and eliminate them.”-Dr. Cunningham-Brown from January 9, 2013 Minutes of the North Carolina State Board of Education
• In July 2017, a review of all NC Public School district websites revealed that 22 school districts, with a total of 36 schools, in the state of North Carolina still have American Indian-themed mascots/logos /names. This includes 10 elementary schools, 1 K-8 school, 1 intermediate school, 10 middle schools, and 14 high schools. There are also a number of other schools that use terms such as Warriors and Braves but do not have an Indian-themed mascot/logo. Regarding this issue, Executive Director of the NC Commission of Indian Affairs Greg Richardson states, "Cultural sensitivity, along with Cultural Diversity should be a priority and part of the education process! American Indians should NOT be portrayed as Mascots."
• American Indian Mascots Used by North Carolina Public Schools

Online Resources

• The Mascot Issue: This is a compilation of websites and articles on the issue of American Indian Mascots by Lisa Mitten, American Library Association, CHOICE Magazine, Social Sciences Editor.
• The Society of Indian Psychologists is an organization for Native American Indigenous people (American Indian and Alaska Native) who advocate for the mental well-being of Native peoples by increasing the knowledge and awareness of issues impacting Native Mental Health.
• The 2,128 Native American Mascots People Aren’t Talking About: This resource is from Nate Silver’s fivethirtyeight.com website that describes with data the prevalence of the use of American Indian mascots in various sports teams in K-16.
• Why Educators Can't Ignore Indian Mascots By Dr. Cornel Pewewardy: Dr. Cornel Pewewardy is the foremost American Indian Scholar in the field of multicultural education and in this article, he expounds on why education is the ultimate tool to eliminate the racism which the use of mascots perpetuates in this society.

The discussion of American Indian mascots is interlinked with the issue of stereotypes of Native people. The mascot issue exists because stereotypes of American Indians persist. These resources can be used as guides to evaluate and analyze classroom instruction and teaching materials and to promote meaningful discussions about stereotypes.

Resources

• Anthropology Outreach Office Smithsonian Institution’s Erasing Native American Stereotypes: This is the Anthropology Outreach Office of the Smithsonian Institution’s eleven recommendations to help teachers evaluate their own teaching and the criteria to evaluate the materials they use.
• Stereotypes of Native Americans: This is an inexhaustive list of fiction and non-fiction resources that can be used inside and outside the classroom.
• Pewewardy, C.D. (2002). Learning styles of American Indian/Alaska Native students: A review of the literature and implications for practice. Journal of American Indian Education, 41(3), 22-56.
• Pewewardy, C.D., & Hammer, P.C. (2003). Culturally responsive teaching for American Indian students. ERIC Digest. (ERIC Document Reproduction No. ED 482325)