Accurate instruction about American Indian people has been woefully inadequate to date. This guide will enable the school library media specialist to help teachers and students teach and learn about American Indian people, history, culture, and contemporary issues in ways that are authentic, accurate, and appropriate. It provides accurate information, recommends appropriate resources, and offers guidelines for selection of instructional materials and activities, and includes model lessons for teaching in appropriate and culturally sensitive ways. This invaluable resource is designed to fit into existing classes and curriculum patterns and is both practical and thought-provoking.
The authors bring to this guide their considerable expertise in American Indian cultures and methods of teaching them accurately, and the content of this book is acceptable to American Indian teachers, parents, and community members. The work presents accurate information on history, cultures, religions and spiritual practices, governments, contemporary life, and literatures of the American Indian and it discusses how these topics should be taught. It also addresses the practical aspects of how to select instructional materials and activities, how to create interdisciplinary units, and how to use community resources. Hundreds of suggestions for appropriate print, nonprint, electronic, and community resources are included. This guide explores the multiple roles of the library media specialist as a resource to teachers and students, as curriculum developer and coordinator, collector, manager, and teacher. Throughout, the authors suggest specific ways in which the library media specialist can fulfill these roles. This guide is geared to K-12 school library media specialists and educators.
About the Author: KAREN D. HARVEY is Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at the University of Denver. She has been involved in social studies education and multicultural education for over 25 years. She is the editor of American Indian Voices (1995), an anthology of American Indian literature, Plains Indians (1993), a children's book, and is the coauthor of Indian Country: A History of Indian People in America (1994) and Teaching About Native Americans (1990).
LISA D. HARJO is program director of the Circle of Learning Early Childhood and Family Education Program of the Denver Indian Center. She is a member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. She is the coauthor of Indian Country: A History of Indian People in America (1994), Teaching Native Americans (1990), and other publications about American Indians.
LYNDA WELBORN is senior consultant, School Library Media, Colorado State Library, where she provides technical assistance to 176 school districts. She is the coauthor of The Impact of School Library Media Centers on Student Achievement (1993).
