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Aboriginal Education Beyond Words: Creating Racism-Free Schools for Aboriginal Learners
This document begins with a narrative history of racism/assimilation with respect to aboriginal peoples in Canada. While not directly related to Native Americans in the United States, many of the themes and ideas are representative of the same issues in the United States. This document offers advice on creating policy to deal with racism against Aboriginal people, creating inclusive classroom environments, communicating with Aboriginal children’s parents and community leaders, and how to approach teaching controversial topics. Additionally, the document includes case studies and some guided reflection/discussion sections in the back.
The content of this considerably lengthy resource is varied and diverse, with each chapter authored by a different individual. Potential users are therefore likely to find at least one or more sections relevant to the classroom or school. For example, teachers may find chapters such as “Racism and Aboriginal Students and Teachers, An Inclusive Classroom” or “Case Studies for Discussion” informative, and may well use one or more of the cases in the “Case Studies” chapter in their classroom. Communications quality is generally good, although the nature of a multi-authored publication leads to some content duplication and organizational challenges. As suggested, utility should be quite high with, at minimum, a greater understanding of native cultures and common stereotypes. Evidence of effectiveness is not provided but must be presumed based on the content and quality of each individual section and its author’s qualifications.