The study of effective teaching for Aboriginal students needs to be situated in the com­plexities of sociohistorical realities. In addition to cultural differences, the analysis needs to include the impact of colonization and power relationships in which educa­tion takes place. In this article, the stories of two teachers are presented to illustrate how in practice these teachers attend to both culture and colonization. Each teacher in different ways integrates language and cultural knowledge and uses cultural norms and values. In doing so, they develop more equitable power relationships and deal with the impact of colonization.