External resources

Livre

The Seventh Generation: Native Students Speak About Finding the Good Path.

Many American Indian, First Nations, and Alaska Native cultures have prophecies about the “Seventh Generation”–young people who will have a spiritual and cultural awakening and lead the regeneration of the nations and the earth. This book honors the Seventh Generation. It draws on the words of 120 Native youth, interviewed in the United States and Canada, to share what can be learned from their stories of success, failure, growth, and resilience. Chapters focus on themes that emerged in these stories: glimpses into the lives of Native youth, factors that influence how youth develop a Native identity, things that make life and school difficult, ways that students handle difficulty, different intellectual gifts and how they may be used to help one’s people, finding the help and motivation to succeed in school, and how students found the “good path” and where it has taken them. The final chapter, written especially for teachers and youth workers, provides information about how to help Native youth develop resiliency and gives more detail about the research methods used and the philosophy underlying this unusual project. Interspersed throughout the book are short fictional “teaching stories” meant to illustrate common dilemmas faced by Native youth and possible responses. Discussion questions are included to help youth use the stories as starting points for voicing their own concerns and experiences and for considering how they too might find the good path.