A culturally sustaining/revitalizing English language arts curriculum for Yup'ik students in a Yup'ik community

Abstract

This project, A Culturally Sustaining/Revitalizing English Language Arts Curriculum for Yup’ik Students in a Yup’ik Community, arose from the question of how to better incorporate cultural ways to teaching and learning into the everyday school curriculum. While there is a growing understanding of the importance of culturally relevant teaching, not very much research has been done for Alaska Native students in an English Language Arts classroom. To create this curriculum framework, I interviewed twenty-five Elders and community members in my village to learn about Yup’ik ways of teaching and learning, and how we might use some of those methods, activities, and mindsets in the contemporary classroom. The resulting project is a framework with practical tools, ideas, strategies, and lessons to help create a more culturally sustaining/revitalizing classroom.