Cradleboard Teaching Project
Frequently Asked Questions

1. What are the problems that Cradleboard is designed to remedy?
   
   
2. What are the various levels of involvement?
   
   
3. What is the role of Native American educators who are not necessarily classroom teachers?
   
   
4. What’s in it for Native American children?
   
   
5. What’s in it for non-Indian children?
   
   
6. How does Cradleboard maximize the teachers’ time without increasing workload?
   
   
7. Why do Native American teachers want to get involved?
   
   
8. Why do Native American parents and communities want to get involved?
   
   
9. How can Cradleboard help schools?
   
   
10. With regard to veteran Cradleboard classes who qualify for Partnering, what’s expected of the Native American partner class?
    
    
11. What’s expected of the Non-Indian partner class?
    
    
12. How much time is involved?
    
    
13. What is the Electronic Powwow model?
    
    
14. What is the role of the Tribal Colleges?
    
    
15. How can the new communications technology serve Native educational goals?
    
    
16. What’s in the Cradleboard Teaching Project’s core curriculum?
    
    
17. What’s special about Cradleboard's interactive teaching materials?
    
    
18. Who has helped Cradleboard to survive?
    
    
19. How can interested classes get involved?
    
    
20. What are the present needs of the Nihewan Foundation in relation to the Cradleboard Teaching Project?
    
    
21. How can you help the Cradleboard Teaching Project?
    
    

What are the Problems that Cradleboard is designed to remedy?

• Native American people suffer from being misperceived all their lives because of the lack of accuracy in the mainstream. Native American reality is virtually invisible to ourselves and our peers and the parents of our peers. Any child whose concept of self identity must depend upon what’s reflected as Native American in the world of school and media will come up empty. It’s like looking in the mirror with a group of friends and having everybody reflected but yourself.
  
  
• Native American children don’t see anybody on television or at the movies with whom they can identify. They have no visibility and no impact. Meanwhile their innocent non-Indian peers celebrate a Broadway-style Pocahontas who sings like a showgirl and dances with pink bunnies. What is a Native American child to do? Most Native American children don’t know anybody who lives like “Dances with Wolves” any more than a non-Indian child knows anybody who lives like Mary Poppins.
  
  
• Statistics show that the same inaccurate, stereotypical curricula about Native peoples that hurt Native Americans also produce Mainstream adults with inaccurate or negative views about Indians. When a Native American child grows up, he and she will have to deal with both sides of this dilemma: absence of a strong self concept and inaccurate perceptions from others.
  
  
• Lack of enriching, accurate information about Native American people and cultures are in part to blame for our having the highest depression and suicide rates in the country. Leading up to this fact are high rates of school drop-out, concomitant high unemployment, welfare dependency, substance abuse, and rates of poverty.

What are the various levels of involvement?

• Anybody can use the extensive free resources at our website, or buy from the Cradleboard Store.
  
  
• Electronic Powwow participants pay a small fee for the additional year-long privileges of private Chat Rooms and Discussion Boards, where informal relationships with other Cradleboard classes might bloom online. Also, Electronic Powwow subscribers have first access to new core curriculum and supplements as they are created, and are invited to participate in Cradleboard 101 Teacher Training Workshops. This is our most flexible model.
  
  
• The private Cradleboard Cross Cultural Partnering Program is offered only to veteran Cradleboard classes who have already participated in the Electronic Powwow for at least a year. For these classes we create a private Cradleboarders website shared only by themselves and their own Cradleboard partner class where students and teachers develop real relationships at their own pace throughout the school year. Curriculum is the same as in the Electronic Powwow; however, teachers receive an immediate email of test results as each student takes online quizzes, and online metrics are available through which teachers and/or administrators can see how much students are learning. Discussion Boards for the students and a separate one for the partnering teachers are private to the partnership. Live online conversations by telephone, videoconferencing or Cradleboard Chat Rooms are scheduled by participating teachers themselves at their own convenience. Cradleboard Partner Activities are suggested (but not compulsory) wherein classes study in tandem. Since commitment to one’s partner class is imperative, only veteran teachers with release time approved by their principals are encouraged to take on true partnering.

What is the role of Native American educators who are not necessarily classroom teachers?

• Native educators in and out of the classroom have been working for years at the local level, trying to reinforce Indian self identity within their own tribal boundaries. Cradleboard maximizes their work and brings it beyond the reservation into the light of a brighter day. There, learners of all backgrounds can also benefit from the accuracy and fun of studying Native American culture together with Native American cultural experts (as well as with accredited teachers) who teach and learn about themselves and other tribes, including those things which are seldom available in school curricula.
  
  
• Homeschool teachers, parents and friends are now empowered to learn and pass on accurate information even without the benefit of the classroom. Ignorance about - and interest in - Native American people and culture are about the same at age 70 as at age 12 , indicating a fertile field for positive action. We can do this!
  

• Now Native American children can know the empowerment of Self Identity. All children need a strong concept of self as well as the ability to have impact upon who others think they are. Because of the Cradleboard Teaching Project, for the first time Native American children and their teachers are in the driver’s seat of declaring “Who I Am” and “Who We Are”.
  
  
• Children study their own and other Native American cultures, not just as peripherals, bells, whistles, and ‘hobby stuff’, but in core curriculum disciplines - science, geography, social studies, history, and music - written from a Native American point of view. All core units match National Content Standards.
  

• Instead of wasting their time learning inaccuracies that do nobody any good, now Mainstream students can experience the thrill of studying real Native American culture with a class of Native American peers who are learning about themselves, live and interactive as they also learn new computer skills. Up until now, most children have been in the position of having to study shallow and inaccurate information because their teachers lacked good materials. Cradleboard provides both accurate curriculum and connectivity.

• Computer internet skills become meaningful far beyond surfing the net. Students participate in Live Chat, and Discussion Boards; and in some cases face-to-face meetings and live video conferencing. They build new friendships in a controlled private environment, while also gaining guided access to hundreds of Native American tribes, curriculum, newspapers, and organizations.
  

• All Cradleboard core curriculum units match National Content Standards, while providing specific concepts for teachers to address under each Standard. This ensures two things: that participants work within concept areas that teachers are already scheduled to study that year; and that students in one part of the country are in alignment with their peers elsewhere.
  
  
• We include tests, lesson plans, activities, suggested resources, references, and, where applicable, music and/or video excerpts which teachers can use to augment instruction.
  

Why do Native American teachers want to get involved?

• Native American educators across America have written award winning curriculum materials that have never been implemented in the schools. Cradleboard provides a venue for this work to get into the hands of fellow Native American teachers, as well as Mainstream teachers who want and need them.
  
  
• It used to be that even with all their excellent work, Native American educators and social workers felt that they were working in a vacuum. Cradleboard puts Mainstream non-Indian teachers on the team in order to remedy misperceptions from the outside as we continue to clarify facts and build educational tools from inside the Native community.
  
  
• Native American teachers at the reservation or local community level are excellent at teaching their own cultures, but up to now there has not been a reliable body of core curriculum originating from within the Native American community. Thus, a Native American teacher could clearly reflect an Indian identity when talking about tipis and smoke signals; but when the subject was science or social studies or geography, the world became non-Indian again. It was as if the ‘serious’ things in life belonged to others, not us.

• How many times we have heard a parent or grandparent say, “My child came home from school crying because someone had made a negative racial comment about Indians. I told her, ‘You should be proud you’re an Indian!’” We all know that this is not really enough. We need to provide children with real information as to what there is to be proud of. The fact that Native American reality is unique, fascinating, often charming, and almost always surprising can be empowering to a Native American child, without overwhelming the non-Indian child. Cradleboard provides the tools for a Win-Win situation.
  
  
• Native American communities still include people who are cultural experts, although some are quite elderly. Most of us know several people on the reservation to whom we can point as real cultural treasures. Cradleboard encourages our Native American sites to seek these people out and help them to share what they would like children to know. We encourage children to interview willing Elders; and we provide monies to be spent on local community curriculum development which is guided by local educators but includes the wisdom of those Masters who never had the chance to earn a master’s degree.

• The Cradleboard Teaching Project helps schools to fulfill certain requirements with both fun and dignity. Most schools are required to teach about Native American culture as part of American history, but don’t know how. They are also required to offer instruction in new technologies. Rather than simply surfing the net, the Cradleboard students engage in interactive dialogs with cross-cultural peers in other areas of the country. Some of our most enthusiastic participating schools see Cradleboard as a new kind of multi-discipline project that maximizes what they are already doing . These schools have recently upgraded the Cradleboard Teaching Project to the same priority as core subjects, guaranteeing both teacher and computer lab time to Cradleboard students.

• A letter from your Principal is required to be sure you have administrative support.

• The Native American schools participate without charge, in contrast to non-Indian schools. In lieu of their fee, Native American classes are expected to deliver a unit of tribal specific curriculum back to us, to be shared with other educators and students. Tribe specific materials must be copyrighted by the authors before being presented to Cradleboard.

• Native schools are also expected to participate in all our activities to build self esteem and self identity; evaluation tasks to help us know how students are doing; and to participate in a total of eight hours of online interaction with other classes throughout the year.
  

• A letter from your Principal is required to be sure you have administrative support.

• Mainstream schools pay a subscription fee per class. There are two levels of participation: Custom Partnering and our new Electronic Powwow model. Upon request, Elder classes returning from last year may participate with their last year’s partner, in their own custom private Study Buddy areas of the Cradleboarders website, as in former years. They also receive additional curriculum, as well as having access to all the Electronic Powwow features. Or they may choose the Electronic Powwow model. (See below.)

• A letter from your Principal is required to be sure you have administrative support.

• Mainstream schools pay a subscription fee per class. There are two levels of participation: Custom Partnering and our new Electronic Powwow model. Upon request, Elder classes returning from last year may participate with their last year’s partner, in their own custom private Study Buddy areas of the Cradleboarders website, as in former years. They also receive additional curriculum, as well as having access to all the Electronic Powwow features. Or they may choose the Electronic Powwow model. (See below)

• Non-Indian schools are expected to participate in all our activities to build self esteem and self identity; evaluation tasks to help us know how students are doing; and to participate in a total of eight hours of online interaction with other classes throughout the year.

• For those who need tech support or help with fees, we suggest contacting local civic groups such as the Rotary Club, several of whose local chapters have been very supportive of Cradleboard partnerships.
  
  
• We maintain a Waitlist for classes who are enthusiastic to participate but are not quite ready.
  
  
• Non-Indian classes do not write any curriculum.
  

• The time you devote to Cradleboard activities is up to you. If you are new to the Cradleboard Teaching Project, if your time is limited or if you prefer not to commit to a yearlong relationship with a Partner class, the Electronic Powwow model is for you, and you would participate whenever you can with whomever you find online. In Custom Partnering, the Cradleboard Teaching Project finds you a custom partner. Then you and your Partner commit to a deeper relationship, make dates together for online chat, study in tandem, and sometimes meet face-to-face via local funding. The timing is left up to the two partnering classes.
  

• New classes (grades 3-12) can participate in our new Electronic Powwow model, whereby all teachers have access to all other teachers, and classes may interact with same level peers (elementary, middle or high school). You may (or may not) find one particular class with whom you want to create a special relationship on your own.
  
  
• Curriculum: (Online) You can choose either elementary, middle school, or high school grades Social Studies: Through Native American Eyes Online. More free supplementary curriculum will appear online from time to time throughout the year.
  
  
• Curriculum: ( CD-ROM) One copy of SCIENCE: Through Native American Eyes is provided to each Cradleboard Teaching Project student up to 15 students. Additional single copies as well as Educators' 5-CD Kits can be purchased online as needed at a discount rate by arrangement with the Cradleboard Office.
  
  
• Cross Cultural Partnering: Chat Rooms and grade appropriate Discussion Boards will enable teachers to meet one or more Native American and non-Indian partners with whom to interact at your own convenience. At least one year of previous experience in the Electronic Powwow is required.
  
  
• Teacher Training: Several Cradleboard 101 Teacher Training Workshops will be offered in various parts of the country, dates yet to be designated. As well, Teacher Training videos will be provided this year.

What is the role of the Tribal Colleges?

• The American Indian Higher Education Consortium is a group of 33 Tribal Colleges located in Native American communities. Some of the Tribal Colleges have kindly taken on the role of Resource Partner, to assist the Native American school with whatever is needed, which differs from place to place. It might be tech support, help from teachers in training, writing curriculum, or some cultural reinforcement. The college resource partner is not always a Tribal College, but where a Tribal College is located near a Cradleboard site, they are our first choice for the role of “Auntie” or “Uncle” to a Cradleboard school. Several presidents and founders of Tribal Colleges serve on the Advisory Board for the Cradleboard Teaching Project.
  

• The lively reality of Native American culture simply cannot fit into a mere text-based curriculum. Anyone who has been to a reservation will appreciate our use of video, spoken word, music, and live interaction in teaching one another who we are. The SCIENCE: Through Native American Eyes interactive multimedia curriculum brings learning alive. Text is only part of the plan. On camera narrative presented by Native American educators is closer to human oral traditions and addresses additional learning styles beyond what’s usually taught in tribal and non-tribal schools.
  
  
• The chance to represent oneself and one’s tribe or nation is a welcome opportunity to build self identity and self esteem while learning core curriculum in school. How wonderful to have younger generations coming up who can take the lead in letting their peers from other backgrounds know who Native Americans really are and what we have to offer.
  

• Creating cultural interactive multimedia is timely for Native American communities interested in self determination and self identity. Media - publishing, music, art, historical research, film, etc. - used to be in the hands of a precious few outside professionals dedicated to keeping the market for themselves. To such professionals, Indians were often just one more exotic project to exploit. They called all the shots - from timing when, where, and by whom we got interviewed, to the final edit.
  
  
• Today however there is great potential for widespread community self expression, since almost everyone is familiar with the concepts of a video camera, a tape recorder, an interview. To put children, teachers and communities into the driver’s seat of creating engaging products through which others may learn about what they know best - themselves - is to inspire both the individual and the group. It engenders both self esteem and community. Video, photography, art, animation, music, text, and the spoken word at last can all be combined in a classroom computer, to be learned from and/or to be created, taught and shared with others.
  

• The Cradleboard Teaching Project has created 15 traditional school-type print and graphics curriculum units in Geography - Social Studies - History - Music - Science (See below.) Social Studies Online is available free to all who visit our website this year. Geography and/or History will be offered online this year to Electronic Powwow subscribers.
  
  
• SCIENCE Through Native American Eyes is offered as a CD-ROM which anybody can buy in the Cradleboard Store at our website: www.cradleboard.org .
  
  
• All units are written from the point of view of Native American culture. Thus in geography we study ancient Native American trade routes and cities, that the meaning of the Land is more than just real estate, the use of rivers, forests, and Mother Earth from a Native American perspective, etc.. All units are extensive and meet National Content Standards for appropriate elementary, middle school or high school levels
  

.What’s special about Cradleboard's interactive teaching materials?

• Interactive multimedia curriculum engages the student by way of several senses, not just one. The concept of multisensory stimulation is valued in the world of education. Children read, hear, see, and touch when they are engaged in multimedia learning; and they enjoy the experience. The Cradleboard Teaching Project’s first interactive multimedia CD-ROM SCIENCE: Through Native American Eyes covers the Principles of Sound, the Principles of Friction, and the science involved in various styles of Lodges, all presented from within a Native American cultural perspective. The CD-ROM is self grading. As each student does the work, she/he creates a self grading record for teacher tracking of student progress. An award winner profiled in USA Today and education magazines, SCIENCE: Through Native American Eyes is reviewed by MultiMedia Schools, which you can find in the Press area of this website.

• It should be noted that interactive multimedia curriculum does not replace reading; it just creates additional paths by which concepts can reach a student, such as when a teacher ten years ago showed a film that illustrated the lesson. Multimedia will never replace literature, poetry, sculpture , dance, - or teachers - any more than a violin replaces a piano. It’s just an additional set of tools for learning
  

• The Cradleboard Teaching Project came into existence because it was needed. For twelve years the only support came from the Nihewan Foundation for American Indian Education, and all the work was done on a volunteer basis by a few teachers.
  
  
• In 1996 the W.K. Kellogg Foundation gave the Nihewan Foundation a two-year major grant to develop Cradleboard as a national project. This really turned the tide and made us viable.
  
  
• A second generous grant was received from the Ford Foundation. More recent grants have been generously donated by the Herb Alpert Foundation, the Lynn and Norman Lear Family Foundation, the Toyota USA Foundation, and the Shakopee Mdewakanton Business Council.
  
  
• In-kind contributions have been highly significant, particularly from Rotary Club chapters.
  

• Teachers of a specific grade (3-12) who want to participate must also have interest from a school administrator. The best procedure is to fill out the Form at our website: www.cradleboard.org
  
  
• This lets us know about your location, your grade level and tech capabilities. You must specify grade level and an email address.
  
  
• You can also write to us at:
  

  Cradleboard Teaching Project
  1191 Kuhio Highway
  Kapaa, HI 96746
  Tel: 808 822-3111
  

What are the present needs of the Nihewan Foundation in relation to the Cradleboard Teaching Project?

• More curriculum is needed than we have time and resources to create. Teachers and students presently using our materials are eager for additional subjects at the same high tech quality. Presently we offer Social Studies online at elementary, middle, and high school levels. Science is offered on CD-ROM.
  
  
• History, Geography and Music are complete but waiting in the wings as paper (text) units, ready to be turned into interactive multimedia and/or online interactive curriculum which is a time consuming task for professionals.
  However, Arts, Sports and Language units have yet to be funded. More Nihewan core curriculum needs to be made available as interactive multimedia, both online; and as stand alone units similar to the SCIENCE: Through Native American Eyes CD-ROM.
  

• Checks should be made out to the Nihewan Foundation, and sent to the above address. The Cradleboard Teaching Project is an initiative of the Nihewan Foundation, a registered federally exempt corporation. Your contribution is tax deductible. Our registration number is LA:E069-1-177. code 421 EDJ. Thank you from the staff and participants in the Cradleboard Teaching Project.