Cradleboard Teaching Project, founded in 1997 by singer/songwriter
Buffy Sainte-Marie
Buffy Sainte-Marie, (born Beverly Sainte-Marie, February 20, 1941) is an Indigenous Canadian-American (Piapot Cree Nation) singer-songwriter, musician, composer, visual artist, educator, pacifist, and social activist. While working in these ar ...
, has developed a curriculum that aims to raise self-identity and self-esteem in present and future generations of Native American children by introducing them to enriching, accurate information about Native American people and cultures.
It was financed with money from her non-profit philanthropic Nihewan Foundation for American Indian Education and a grant from
W.K. Kellogg Foundation. Additional financial support has been made available from
Ford Foundation
The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a US$25,000 gift from Edsel Ford. By 1947, after the death ...
, the Lyn and Norman Lear Family Foundation, The Herb Alpert Foundation, private donations and sale of curriculum materials.
The project uses the internet
email
Electronic mail (email or e-mail) is a method of exchanging messages ("mail") between people using electronic devices. Email was thus conceived as the electronic ( digital) version of, or counterpart to, mail, at a time when "mail" mean ...
,
chat rooms
The term chat room, or chatroom (and sometimes group chat; abbreviated as GC), is primarily used to describe any form of synchronous conferencing, occasionally even asynchronous conferencing. The term can thus mean any technology, ranging from ...
,
bulletin boards, interactive
web sites
A website (also written as a web site) is a collection of web pages and related content that is identified by a common domain name and published on at least one web server. Examples of notable websites are Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Wiki ...
,
videoconferencing
Videotelephony, also known as videoconferencing and video teleconferencing, is the two-way or multipoint reception and transmission of audio signal, audio and video signals by people in different locations for Real-time, real time communication. ...
, along with
multi-media resources and other more traditional media. Teachers and students are introduced to the curriculum via an Electronic Powwow which presents relevant information via the web, and gives opportunities to interact with others via Chat Rooms and discussion boards. After a period of initial exposure to the curriculum via the Powwow, teachers are offered the opportunity to participate with other veteran teachers and students in a Cradleboard Cross Cultural Partnering Program which partners Indian and non-Indian students and teachers to explore their understanding of Native American cultures. Telephone contact and live meetings are also used here to extend personal intercultural understanding.
The core curriculum includes courses about geography, social studies, history, science and music at each of three grade levels—elementary school, middle school and high school grades. All units are developed to give a Native American perspective about each subject to all students. To achieve this, the project has involved members of various Native American tribes in the ongoing development process.
The Cradleboard project was selected as one of over 300 promising practices identified by President Clinton's
One America Initiative
One America in the 21st Century: The President's Initiative on Race , or the One America Initiative, was established by U.S. President Bill Clinton in 1997 with . The main thrust of the effort was convening and encouraging community dialogue thro ...
on Race.
President's Initiative on Race Promising Practices
.
References
{{reflist
Native American organizations
Organizations established in 1997
Educational organizations based in the United States
Child-related organizations in the United States
External links
Official website