Tlingit Culture, Language, and Literacy
The Tlingit Culture, Language, and Literacy (TCLL) program is a place-based, culture-based “school within a school” where the Tlingit language and culture are celebrated, respected, and integrated into daily instruction. SHI works in partnership with Juneau School District to host classrooms in Harborview Elementary where Tlingit Elders work alongside the teaching teams and Tlingit language speakers. TCLL will expand its services for K-8th grade while implementing a dual language model whose goal is to cultivate Tlingit language fluency for children, staff, and families participating in the program. Learn more about this program on the TCLL website.
Haa Latseení
Haa Latseení is a culturally integrated college and career readiness program for Alaska Native/American Indian high school students. Strength-based social engagement activities, mentorship, and culturally affirming personal learning plans help students identify and achieve their postsecondary goals.
STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math)
Opening the Box: STEAM provides culturally-centered youth programming to students in grades 6-12 that is grounded in Indigenous knowledge and STEAM career connections. Students and teachers work alongside cultural specialists and professional researchers to build a deeper connection to the places they call home. Current and recently graduated high school students can engage in AISES (American Indian Science and Engineering Society) research projects, field internships, and professional mentorships to help them achieve their academic and career goals. Makerspace activities combine cutting-edge tools with Alaska Native values in classrooms, summer academies, and out-of-school clubs and events.
Voices on the Land
Voices on the Land provides literacy-based, artist residencies in 4th and 5th grade classrooms, with Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian languages and cultural values forming the basis of instruction. The program integrates visual, performing, and digital arts with traditional knowledge. Through the experience, students use storytelling to create stop motion animation videos; learn the elements of Northwest Coast formline design, while keeping an artist’s journal and making a traditional drum; and use the skills of the actor’s toolbox and reader’s theater to explore and perform Raven Stories handed down through the ages. Voices on the Land also provides an in-person summer and winter arts intensive program for students in grades 4-8, as well as a virtual summer intensive program for students in grades 4-8 who live outside of Juneau.
Baby Raven Reads
Sealaska Heritage sponsors Baby Raven Reads, an award-winning program that promotes early-literacy, language development and school readiness for Alaska Native families with children up to age 5. The pilot program in Juneau ended in 2017, and SHI received funding to offer the program for several more years and to expand it to nine other communities in Southeast Alaska. SHI is currently offering the program in Anchorage, Angoon, Craig, Haines, Hoonah, Hydaburg, Juneau, Kake, Ketchikan, Klukwan, Metlakatla, Saxman, Sitka, Wrangell, and Yakutat. Special thanks to our partners: Alaska Native Heritage Center, Association of Alaska School Boards, Metlakatla Indian Community, Ketchikan Indian Community, Chilkat Indian Village, Organized Village of Kake, and AEYC-SEA. Baby Raven Reads improves early literacy skills by translating cultural strengths into home literacy practices. Baby Raven Reads provides family literacy events, training for care providers, and professional development for early childhood educators. A study by McKinley Research Group reveals that Native children who participated in the BRR program made 20-39 percent gains in phonetic knowledge, awareness of print concepts, and knowledge of letters and symbols, while scores for all other students have remained relatively static. The program was also known to increase parental and family engagement in student learning.
Literacy Events
Family literacy events occur 9 times a year in selected communities. Storytelling, songs, and other literacy activities are available to Alaska Native families with children up to age 5. Through playful and culturally relevant activities with parents, children are provided opportunities to practice and develop skills such as oral language, phonological awareness, print awareness, and letter knowledge.Baby Raven Books
Baby Raven Reads publications are a collection based on the cultural themes of the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian. The illustrations in the Baby Raven Reads series reflect the importance of family, subsistence, and our land. From baby board books to early readers and read a-louds, babies to adults can find joy in reading together. Families enrolled in Baby Raven Reads will receive Baby Raven Reads books with literacy activities to do at home. Books are also available through the Sealaska Heritage Store.Audio Resources
SHI's Language Podcast includes the following episodes related to the Baby Raven Reads series:- Colors in Sm'algyax
- Colors in Xaad Kíl
- Colors in Tlingit
- Baby Raven
- Baby Eagle
- Haida Baby Raven
- Haida Baby Eagle
Awards
Baby Raven Reads was recognized in 2017 by the Library of Congress, which gave SHI a 2017 Best Practice Honoree award (watch a video short of former Education Director Jackie Kookesh accepting the award). In February 2018, the American Indian Library Association awarded SHI's book Shanyaak'utlaax: Salmon Boy its American Indian Youth Literature Best Picture Book Award, and in January 2020 it gave Raven Makes the Aleutians a AILA Picture Book Honor award.. in February 2018, SHI’s Baby Raven book How Devil’s Club Came to Be was reviewed by the American Indians in Children's Literature (AICL) blog as a recommended title. In January 2020, AICL also recommended Cradle Songs of Southeast Alaska.
Raven Writes
Raven Writes offers in-school and summer camp programming that allows Alaska Native students K-5 to explore their cultural heritage surrounding traditional food and resources while improving their writing skills. Students write personal stories and learn from experience as they develop more robust literacy and language skills. Families are invited to celebrate alongside students during special presentation events. A companion summer camp rich with Tlingit dancing, singing, and drumming; as well as art, games, community building, and lots of outside play offers continuity during the summer months.
Native Youth Olympics (Traditional Games)
Native Youth Olympics (NYO) (also known as Traditional Games) is based on the hunting and survival skills of the Indigenous peoples of Alaska and across the Arctic going back thousands of years. Each athlete strives to perform at their personal best while helping and supporting their fellow competitors, no matter which team they are a part of. This is the spirit of the games: to work together toward common goals and learn from the skills and values that allowed Alaska Native peoples to survive and thrive in the harshest conditions.
Box of Treasures (High School and College)
It is committed to building educational and career pathways beginning in high school and extending throughout the collegiate and professional levels, and is implemented in partnership with University of Alaska Southeast, Juneau School District, Klawock City School District, Sitka School District and Sitka Tribe of Alaska. A large portion of the programming is offered through the Sealaska Heritage Arts Campus, a hub for in-person and virtual course offerings taught by master artists and co-sponsored with University of Alaska in efforts to expand the Northwest Coast Arts degree program while increasing delivery methods. The project is part of SHI’s efforts to galvanize the region’s economy and ultimately designate Northwest Coast Art as a national treasure.