About the Stop Talking Handbook

For 10,000 years, Alaska’s Native peoples have survived and thrived in some of the harshest conditions in the world. During that time, they perfected teaching and learning practices that ensured the survival of their communities and the well being of their natural environments. Those ancient practices offer fresh insights for educators who care about the state of our world and seek ways to make education more relevant and engaging.

This book describes a unique higher education project that broke some difficult silences between academic and Native communities by introducing a small group of non-Native faculty members to traditional Alaska Native ways of teaching and learning. It presents a model for a Native-designed and run faculty development intensive, strategies for applying indigenous pedagogies in western learning environments, reflection on education by Alaska Native Elders, and reports from participants on what they learned and what they tried in their classrooms. It is intended to stimulate discussion and reflection about best practices in higher education.

Complete Handbook (pdf)

Stop Talking: Indigenous Ways of Teaching and Learning and Difficult Dialogues in Higher Education

Individual Chapters

Chapter 1: Ground Rules

Chapter 2: Indigenizing Education

Chapter 3: Difficult Dialogues

Chapter 4: One Day with Elders on the Land

Chapter 5: Into Our Classrooms

Chapter 6: Assessment

Chapter 7: Pausing for Reflection

References & Recommended Reading