Skip to main content

Focus on Native American Heritage

From the NCTE inbox:

National American Indian Heritage Month is recognized each November as a time to learn more about the history and heritage of Native American peoples. These resources provide strategies to explore Native American literature and heritage in your own classroom.

The Language Arts article "Proceed with Caution: Using Native American Folktales in the Classroom" (E) explains the importance of selecting texts that include realistic and accurate presentations of Native American peoples. The article includes guidelines for evaluating and selecting Native American literature.

Examine two speeches by Shawnee Chief Tecumseh with the ReadWriteThink lesson Battling for Liberty: Tecumseh's and Patrick Henry's Language of Resistance (M) and ask students to consider Tecumseh's politically effective and poetic use of language. See the ReadWriteThink calendar entry for National American Indian Heritage Month for links to additional lesson plans and resources.

"Contemporary American Indian Life in The Owl's Song and Smoke Signals" (S) from English Journal explores how to teach the novel and film together in a unit that "paints a realistic picture of contemporary American Indian life" while inviting students to identify with protagonists who grow in both self-awareness and their appreciation of others.

The English Journal article "Hoop Dancing: Literature Circles and Native American Storytelling" (S-C) explores strategies teachers can use to address the misrepresentations of Indian culture through the study of Native American oral traditions and literatures.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Orbis Pictus and Gray Awards

The 2014 NCTE Orbis Pictus Award for promoting and recognizing excellence in the writing of nonfiction for children goes to: A Splash of Red: The Life and Art of Horace Pippin written by Jennifer Bryant and illustrated by Melissa Sweet (click here to find the book at your local library).  Honors go to: Locomotive by Brian Floca The Boy Who Loved Math: The Improbable Life of Paul Erdos by Deborah Heiligman, illustrated by LeUyen Pham Brave Girl: Clara and the Shirtwaist Makers’ Strike of 1909 by Michelle Markel, illustrated by Melissa Sweet Parrots Over Puerto Rico by Susan L. Roth and Cindy Trumbore   Courage Has No Color: The True Story of the Triple Nickles, America's First Black Paratroopers by Tanya Lee Ston The 2014 Dolly Gray Children’s Literature Award , recognizing authors, illustrators, and publishers of high quality fictional and biographical children, intermediate, and young adult books that appropriately portray individuals with deve

Webcast focuses on struggling readers

A free School Library Journal webcast sponsored by Capstone Publishers will bring together a panel of experts in reading, media center services, and children’s literacy--including school librarians, educators, and a representative from Capstone Press and Stone Arch Books--to cover a range of processes, programs, and ideas that can bolster reading skills, comprehension, and literacy in the K-6 library and classroom. The webcast will be held from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. eastern time on Wednesday, October 8. Attendees will learn best practices to engage struggling and reluctant readers, discover multi-level reading resources for classroom and school library integration, and pick up techniques and programming ideas that will encourage the use of fiction and nonfiction. Time will be reserved for questions and answers at the end of the webcast. Who should attend: School librarians and library media specialists working with grades K-6, classroom teachers and reading specialists, and public libraria