How to Teach about American Indians: A Guide for the School Library Media Specialist (Libraries Unlimited Professional Guides in School Librarianship)

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.