Collected Wisdom and Seventh Generation: Native Students Speak About Finding the Good Path

South Dakota Teach For America uses two books to help orient their new teachers to life and school on our American Indian reservations. Collected Wisdom is teachers' voices, and Seventh Generation: Native Students Speak About Finding the Good Path has students' stories. Both of these books have helped me understand on a small scale the struggle and the pain of life as an American Indian today. There is also great hope and wisdom here! The hope comes from promising practices like supporting and honoring native languages and customs. These are both rich resources for anyone working in schools in South Dakota, whether or not they are located on a reservation. Both books helped me understand why there is such an urgency about preserving the Lakota Language and culture.

I read these books in the Spring of 2008, and in the intervening years have verified that these are accurate and hopeful resources for anyone wanting to understand better what they see on reservations.