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Guidelines for Being Strong White Allies

Adapted from Uprooting Racism: How White People Can Work for Social Justice by Paul Kivel, www.paulkivel.com

WHAT KIND OF ACTIVE SUPPORT does a strong white ally provide to a person of color? Over the years, people of color that I have talked with have been remarkably consistent in describing the kinds of support they need from white allies.

Evaluating Children's Literature
How can you tell if the books your children are reading are culturally sensitive and relevant?

When children read multicultural literature, they may learn about unfamiliar cultures and develop an understanding and appreciation for cultures different from their own. Children are more engaged when they see themselves reflected in their reading and curriculum. A lot can be said about the rich view of the world that students gain from diverse reading selections.

Culturally Responsive Practices for Student Success: A Regional Sampler; June 2005

This booklet is one in a series of "hot topics" reports produced by the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory. This particular issue is a joint publication of NWREL's Equity Center and the Office of Planning and Service Coordination. This booklet contains a discussion of research and literature pertinent to the issue, how Northwest schools and programs are addressing the issue, selected resources, and contact information. Each of these profiles provides multiple examples of culturally responsive practices, including many not specifically identified in the research. 

More info at the NW Regional Educational Lab website: http://www.nwrel.org/request/2005june/index.html

Classroom to Community and Back is a practitioner's guide to strategies that draw on the knowledge, skills, experiences, and culture of family and community members in order to meet academic standards and enhance learning for all students. The guide focuses on how educators can tap into the culture of the students' family and community in ways that enrich teaching and learning, increase their relevance to students, and engage the entire community. This, in turn, will improve partnerships, first, by creating a standards-based curriculum that brings family and community culture into the classroom and the school in meaningful ways and, second, by improving family and community partnerships to support educational experiences outside the school.

This guide introduces culturally responsive, standards-based (CRSB) teaching and provides ideas and planning tools to implement it in the classroom or within a program. Culturally Responsive, Standards-Based Teaching looks at the convergence of practices in three areas: culturally responsive teaching, standards-based teaching, and family-community partnerships. The implementation of these research-based, effective strategies in all three areas will enhance student engagement and motivation, create academic rigor and challenging curriculum, and improve school-family-community partnerships (intermediate outcomes), which in turn will increase student achievement and youth success (ultimate outcome).

More info at the NW Regional Educational Lab website: http://www.nwrel.org/partnerships/pubs/c2cb.html

Teaching and Cultural Competence from Rethinking Schools Online, Volume 15, No. 4 - Summer 2001

What does it take to be a successful teacher in a diverse classroom?

In her new book, Crossing Over to Canaan: The Journey of New Teachers in Diverse Classrooms, Gloria Ladson-Billings details a program known as Teach for Diversity. This 15-month elementary certification program with master's degree is specifically designed to prepare teachers to work in diverse learning environments.

The program started after Ladson-Billings and her colleagues in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Wisconsin-Madison discussed their concerns that the department was not preparing teachers who could demonstrate a clear understanding and commitment to principles of human diversity, equity, social justice, and the intellectual lives of teachers.

Ladson-Billings writes that her work with the Teach for Diversity program was "informed by my previous research with successful teachers of African-American students. This work helped me develop a theoretical notion of culturally relevant pedagogy that is based on three propositions: academic achievement, cultural competence, and sociopolitical consciousness." The excerpt below outlines some of the challenges facing the teaching profession and explains the concept of cultural competence.

— Rethinking Schools

This is a good article

Native American and Alaskan Native

Digital Teacher Workshops for Teachers of Native American Students. The Digital Teacher Workshops are designed to provide professional development training for Teachers of American Indians and Alaska Natives in all grade levels and content areas. The workshops support mastery of academic content and application by modeling strong teaching methods that have been successful in the classroom and providing a classroom application component, and additional resources.

Education World: Exploring Native Americans Across the Curriculum
www.education-world.com/a_lesson/lesson638.shtml 

For outstanding lesson plans from PBS – go to http://www.pbs.org. Click on PBS Teachers, and go to the 9-12 Social Studies Page, where you may request the subject of Native American Indian studies from the scroll-down menu.

From there you will find lesson plans on myriad issues related to Native Americans culture, sociology, and history, including the subjects of assimilation, sovereignty, Native American contributions, sacred grounds, the power of perspective, the rights of indigenous people in the U.S., and media.

Specific subject PBS website lesson plans for teachers:

http://www.pbs.org/lewisandclark/class/l05.html
http://www.pbs.org/lewisandclark/class/l07.html
http://www.pbs.org/circleofstories/educators/lesson2.html
http://www.pbs.org/americanrootsmusic/pbs_arm_itc_lesson_four.html
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpedu/lessons/98/grand/overview.html

Native web
www.nativeweb.org 

Index of Native American Resources for the Internet
www.hanksville.org/naresources/ 

National Museum of the American Indian
www.nmai.si.edu  (click on Education, and go to On-line Resources). 

National Museum of the American Indian Guide for Teachers; What you need to know to bring a school group to the museum.
www.nmai.si.edu/education/files/teacherguide.pdf 

National Indian Education Association
www.niea.org 

Newswatch Native America - learn up to the minute development on issues related to Native American Indians: http://www.newswatchnativeamerica.com/

INDIAN TRIBES
There are five Indian Tribes that consider part of the Seattle area to be within their traditional territory. Here are links to their web sites:

The Duwamish Tribe site has information about the Tribe's efforts to seek federal recognition, and the Longhouse and Cultural Center that the Tribe is working to create on the Duwamish River. www.duwamishtribe.org

The Muckleshoot Tribe site has cultural history information. www.muckleshoot.nsn.us

The Snoqualmie Tribe site has cultural history information. snoqualmienation.com

The Suquamish Tribe site has information about Chief Seattle, the Suquamish Museum, and the Tribe's cultural history. www.suquamish.nsn.us

The Tulalip Tribes site has cultural history information. www.tulaliptribes-nsn.gov