Sealaska Heritage Institute enlists renowned, nationally-known educators to give keynote addresses at its education conferences for teachers and administrators in Southeast Alaska as part of a larger effort to promote culturally responsive pedagogy in schools.
Monique Gray Smith is an award-winning, best-selling author. Her books cover a broad spectrum of ages, topics and emotions. Woven into all of Monique’s writing, speaking engagements and online courses is the teaching that Love is Medicine. In September 2022, she released her 4th children’s picture book, I Hope with Orca Book Publishers. Monique’s most recent book is Braiding Sweetgrass for Young Adults. Originally written by Robin Wall Kimmerer and the adaptation includes illustrations by Nicole Neidhardt. Monique’s novel, Tilly and the Crazy Eights was longlisted for Canada Reads 2021.
Monique is trained as a Psychiatric Nurse and has worked in various capacities in community and as a consultant since 1990. Her focus has been weaving history, resilience and trauma informed training for educators, social workers, librarians and early childhood teams. She is an appointed member of the Board of Directors of Royal Roads University and the Minister’s Advisory Council for Indigenous Women for the Government of BC and is the elected President of the Board of Directors for the Victoria Native Friendship Centre. In 2019 Monique received the City of Victoria Leadership Award for Reconciliation. Monique is Cree and Scottish and has been sober and involved in her healing journey for over 32 years. She is well known for her storytelling, spirit of generosity and focus on resilience.
Koogak’aax (Angela Lunda) is a life-long Alaskan of the Tlingít tribe, Ch’aak (Eagle) moiety, Kaagwaantaan (Wolf) clan, and the Sitka Déix X’awool’ja Hít (Two-Door House) with more than three decades as a teacher and administrator. She is passionate about equity in education and ensuring that all students receive a quality education in a culturally safe and nurturing environment. Lunda’s research interest centers on the cultural identity development (CID) of young Indigenous Alaskan children and the ways that schools and communities support healthy CID.
Lunda is co-Principal Investigator on a multi-year National Science Foundation-funded grant, the Molly Community Science Project, a collaborative grant between GBH-Boston, the producers of the popular Molly of Denali children’s television program, South Dakota State University, and the University of Alaska Southeast. This research-design project is a collaboration among families, educators, and community members from rural Alaska Native villages; Alaska-based researchers and evaluators; public media producers and outreach professionals; the Alaska Library Association; and a cadre of advisors with expertise in identity formation, STEM education, and Indigenous culture and child development. The project aims to: (1) build new knowledge about the ways in which children from rural Alaska Native communities, ages 6-8, develop “environmental identity”—the empathy, knowledge, and skills, that children need to act responsibly for the environment (Green, Kalvaitis, & Worster, 2016)—and (2) investigate how environmental identity can be nurtured via an intergenerational, community-based environmental science program that is supported by appropriate technologies and incorporates culturally responsive ways of understanding and doing science.
Publications:
"I'm a Killer Whale: The process of cultural identity development from the perspectives of young Indigenous children" (2022) pdf
Lunda, A., & Green, C. (2020). Harvesting good medicine: Internalizing and crystalizing core cultural values in young children. Ecopsychology, 12(2), 91-100. pdf
Panigkaq Agatha John-Shields, Ph.D., is the daughter of the late Dr. Chief Kangrilnguq Paul and Anguyaluk Martina John from the Yup'ik village of Toksook Bay, Alaska, where she was raised traditionally by many elder mentors.
Agatha was an educator for 17 years at the Lower Kuskokwim School District where she served as an ESL teacher for Yup’ik students at Kilbuck Elementary School, and at Ayaprun Elitnaurvik Yup’ik Immersion Charter School as an immersion teacher, material developer, and a principal. She currently is an assistant professor at the University of Alaska Anchorage for Indigenizing Education at the School of Education. Her professional passion is to teach through the lens of personal stories and experiences integrating Indigenous education and culturally responsive teaching and learning. She has also taught at cultural camps transitioning new teachers to Alaska before they move to the remote communities. She is a guest speaker and lecturer for in-service trainings in various school districts around the state. She is the recipient of the Educator of the Year award from her home region, the Eileen Panigeo MacLean Education Award from the Alaska Federation of Natives, and the Angayuqaq Oscar Kawagley Indigenous Scholar Award.
Publications:
Panigkaq Agatha John-Shields, "Yupiunrirngaitua/The Skirt I Refuse to Wear" In Culturally Sustaining and Revitalizing Pedagogies. Published online: 07 Jun 2017; 111-126. pdf