# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Mapping

We strive to map Indigenous territories, treaties, and languages across the world in a way that goes beyond colonial ways of thinking in order to better represent how Indigenous people want to see themselves.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Native Land is a resource to learn more about Indigenous territories, languages, lands, and ways of life. We welcome you to our site.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
We lead with the heart and courageously work to address racial injustice in education, embodying Black joy, confronting anti-Blackness, and building authentic partnerships with all who support creating equitable school communities across the nation.

​In September 2016, DeShawn Jackson, along with Black Men Uniting to Change The Narrative, planned a day of encouragement. The previous school year, another local elementary school had more than 200 Black men show up to greet students as they arrived at school. The men wore their uniforms, regalia, and Sunday best in hopes of disrupting the inaccurate imagery students have of Black men. Black men make up only 3% of teachers in k-12 education.​

DeShawn had taught at the school for six years and even attended the elementary school as a child. He wanted students to see Black men in a positive light, not like they often are portrayed in media. A bomb threat was called into the school on the day of the event, so school leadership officially canceled it. Yet, after the threat was investigated, nothing was found, and the school remained open. So, DeShawn personally greeted students and about fifty others joined him.

When students arrived at John Muir Elementary School, they were greeted with cheers and high-fives while drums played in the background. Black men showed up because they wanted to counter the perception students have about education and race. Inside the school, staff wore shirts that said "Black Lives Matter We Stand Together."Julie Trout, the art teacher, designed the shirts. Teachers' lessons for the day were focused on racial justice.

​Social Equality Educators (SEE), a group within the Seattle teachers union, decided October 19th would be "Black Lives Matter At School Day." They'd wear Black Lives Matter shirts to school, created a second design with "#Say Her Name," and educators picked from several options. Parent Teacher Associations made buttons and stickers for teachers and students to wear. This attracted national news, which spread to Philadelphia, where the Racial Justice & Organizing Committee of the Caucus of Working Educators was inspired to plan a similar action.

We envision a nation in which we live in authentic and conscious relationship with ourselves, each other, and the lands we occupy with the least amount of harm and violence, in which we are unapologetically Black and collectively love and care for one another as extended intergenerational families. To achieve safety, equity, and liberation for all Black lives, we attend to systems and networks of care to make the domination, erasure, and dehumanization of Black life obsolete. ​

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
National coalition organizing for racial justice in education.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
What are the guiding principles?

The C3 is driven by the following shared principles about high quality social studies education:

Social studies prepares the nation's young people for college, careers, and civic life.

Inquiry is at the heart of social studies.

Social studies involves interdisciplinary applications and welcomes integration of the arts and humanities.

Social studies is composed of deep and enduring understandings, concepts, and skills from the disciplines. Social studies emphasizes skills and practices as preparation for democratic decision-making.

Social studies education should have direct and explicit connections to the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts.

What are the instructional shifts for social studies?

The C3 Framework, like the Common Core State Standards, emphasizes the acquisition and application of knowledge to prepare students for college, career, and civic life. It intentionally envisions social studies instruction as an inquiry arc of interlocking and mutually reinforcing elements that speak to the intersection of ideas and learners. The Four Dimensions highlighted below center on the use of questions to spark curiosity, guide instruction, deepen investigations, acquire rigorous content, and apply knowledge and ideas in real world settings to become active and engaged citizens in the 21st century.

C3 Framework Organization

Dimension 1: Developing Questions and Planning Inquiries

Dimension 2: Applying Disciplinary Tools and Concepts

Dimension 3: Evaluating Sources and Using Evidence

Dimension 4: Communicating Conclusions and Taking Informed Action

Developing Questions and Planning Inquiries

Civics

Gathering and Evaluating Sources

Communicating and Critiquing Conclusions

Geography

Developing Claims and Using Evidence

Taking Informed Action

Connections to the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy in History/Social Studies

The C3 Framework changes the conversation about literacy instruction in social studies by creating a context that is meaningful and purposeful. Reading, writing, speaking and listening and language skills are critically important for building disciplinary literacy and the skills needed for college, career, and civic life. Each of the Four Dimensions are strategically aligned to the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy in History/Social Studies.

Why do we need the C3 Framework?

There are a number of motivating factors that inspired this work:

Marginalization of the Social Studies - The loss of instructional time at the elementary level and the narrowing of instruction in response to multiple-choice, high-stakes testing has significantly impacted time, resources, and support for the social studies. The introduction of the Common Core provided an opportunity for social studies educators to re-frame instruction to promote disciplinary literacy in social studies in such a way as to allow social studies to regain a more balanced and elevated role in the K-12 curriculum.

Motivation of Students - Children and adolescents are naturally curious about the complex and multifaceted world they inhabit. But they quickly become disengaged when instruction is limited to reading textbooks to answer end-of-chapter questions and taking multiple-choice tests that may measure content knowledge but do little to measure how knowledge is meaningful and applicable in the real world. The C3 Framework addresses this issue in fundamental ways.

The Future of Our Democracy - Abundant research bears out the sad reality that fewer and fewer young people, particularly students of color and students in poverty, are receiving a high quality social studies education, despite the central role of social studies in preparing students for the responsibilities of citizenship. Active and responsible citizens are able to identify and analyze public problems, deliberate with other people about how to define and address issues, take constructive action together, reflect on their actions, create and sustain groups, and influence institutions both large and small. They vote, serve on juries when called, follow the news and current events, and participate in voluntary groups and efforts. Implementing the C3 Framework to teach students to be able to act in these ways-as citizens-significantly enhances preparation for college and career.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The C3 is driven by the following shared principles about high quality social studies education:

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The film features students from Alabama and Massachusetts discussing what they know about LGBTQ people, what they hear at school and how teachers can help.

The students in the film were not coached on what to say, but instead speak from their own experiences. The students are a diverse group:

Six come from families where there has been a divorce

Three have LGBTQ parents

Three are being raised by single moms

Two are adopted

Six have parents who were born outside of the U.S., and

At least five have parents from two different religions, races or countries.

Ways to Use What Do You Know?

This film can help all audiences understand that students want educators to stop LGBTQ and gender putdowns at school to welcome all students and their families. The film also reveals that children are already having conversations regarding LGBTQ topics and students want educators to help guide those conversations. HRC Welcoming Schools believes that everyone will benefit from watching this telling film.

Elementary school educators, counselors and administrators can use the film as a starting point for professional development to find ways to stop anti-LGBTQ behavior and practice answering questions on LGBTQ topics.

Families and caregivers can watch the film at a family engagement event to discuss how educators and families can work together to stop harassment, bullying and LGBTQ putdowns.

College and university instructors can use the film to help students to become more confident in talking about LGBTQ topics in elementary schools, especially in elementary education, school counseling, school psychology and social work courses.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
WATCH: What Do You Know? Kids Talk About LGBTQ Topics

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The film features students from Alabama and Massachusetts discussing what they know about LGBTQ people, what they hear at school and how teachers can help. The students in the film were not coached on what to say, but instead speak from their own experiences.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Drag and drop countries around the map to compare their relative size. Is Greenland really as big as all of Africa? You may be surprised at what you find! A great tool for educators.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Standards-based education is the process of basic teaching, learning and assessment that focuses on national, state, and local educational standards. Academic Content Standards are statements of what students are expected to know and be able to do at specified grade levels.

Social Sciences Standards

Every seven years, social science standards are adopted by the State Board of Education. In 2018, Oregon adopted Social Science Standards identifying grade-level standards for civics, geography, economics, financial literacy, history, historical thinking, and social science analysis. The 2018 standards also co-identified selected standards as multicultural. The 2018 standards are the current required standards for use by school districts through the 2025 school year.

In February of 2021, the State Board of Education adopted new social science standards integrating ethnic studies into each of the social science domains and removed the co-identified multi-cultural standards. School districts may implement the 2021 Social Science Standards beginning in March 2021. School districts are not required to implement the new standards until the 2026-2027 school year.

The 2021 social science standards reflect a shift in content best addressed through pedagogical methods that create a safe and inclusive learning environment for all students to study and discuss issues of discrimination, equity, racism, and prejudice.

K-12 Content Standards

Common Core State Standards for Literacy in History/Social Sciences

The 6-12 literacy standards for History/Social Studies are not meant to replace the content standards in the social sciences but rather to supplement them. The emphasis in the literacy standards is for students to learn to read and write in English Language Arts and to further develop reading and writing skills specific to social sciences' content.

National Social Sciences Standards Documents

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Standards-based education is the process of basic teaching, learning and assessment that focuses on national, state, and local educational standards. Academic Content Standards are statements of what students are expected to know and be able to do at specified grade levels. Every seven years, social science standards are adopted by the State Board of Education.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Moving Beyond the Gender Binary in Education | Teach For America

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Tips for how educators can create a more affirming space for students of all gender identities.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Talking About Race

Check out resources to help facilitate conversations about race, including classroom appropriate lesson plans, guides on how to have tough conversations with peers and students, and more.

Teaching for Black Lives, Edited By Dyan Watson, Jesse Hagopian, Wayne Au. Rethinking Schools.

Black Lives Matter at School, website of the national coalition organizing for racial justice in education.

2020 Curriculum Resource Guide, BlackLivesMatteratSchool.com

Creating the Space to Talk about Race in Your School (PDF), National Education Association

Lessons by grade-level and educator resources, Washington DC Black Lives Matter

Classroom Activities, Circle Scripts, and Promoting Positive School Climate, Rochester City School District

Share your BLM at School events, actions or resolutions here: neaedjustice@nea.org
Standing Together

See how cities like Milwaukee, Rochester, and Seattle have passed community and union resolutions - and then mobilized to support Black Lives Matter at School.

Art and Activism

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Black Lives Matter at School - Resources - NEA EdJustice

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Talking About Race Check out resources to help facilitate conversations about race, including classroom appropriate lesson plans, guides on how to have tough conversations with peers and students, and more. Teaching for Black Lives, Edited By Dyan Watson, Jesse Hagopian, Wayne Au. Rethinking Schools. Black Lives Matter at School, website of the national coalition organizing ...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Oregon Black Pioneers works to preserve the rich history of Black Pioneers throughout Oregon. OBP was founded in 1993 and incorporated in 1994 to do research and educate Oregonians about African-Americans' contributions to Oregon's history.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Oregon Black Pioneers works to preserve the rich history of Black Pioneers throughout Oregon. OBP was founded in 1993 and incorporated in 1994 to do research and educate Oregonians about African-Americans' contributions to Oregon's history.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Classroom Library List/ Personal Library

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
American Indians in Children's Literature (AICL)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Designed to help readers develop a critical eye about representations of American Indians in children's and young adult books

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This list is by Debbie Reese of American Indians in Children's Literature (AICL). AICL provides critical perspectives and analysis of indigenous peoples in children's and young adult books, the school curriculum, popular culture, and society.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
PK-2 Student-Centered Digital Learning Activities - National Indian Education Association

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Who We Are Programs Advocacy Work Resources Events Get Involved Other Ways to Give Come Work for Us Teach.NIEA.org Job Board Other Positions in Native Education Log Into Your Member Record Contact Your Senator Contact Your Representative Annual Events 2024 Hill Week 2023 NIEA Convention & Trade Show NIEA Golf

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Learning for Justice is a community education program of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) that centers civic and political action education for everyone.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Antibias, Antiracist Strategies for the Classroom, Workplace, and Community

Lets do the work together!

Welcome!

I am a transracially adopted Korean, Jewish, queer, antibias and antiracist nationally recognized educator, author, and consultant. My identity as an Asian American is complex-it has taken me a long time to grapple and reconcile the intersections of that identity.....

Read More >

To play, press and hold the enter key. To stop, release the enter key.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Antibias, Antiracist Strategies for the Classroom, Workplace, and Community Lets do the work together! Welcome! I am a transracially adopted Korean, Jewish, queer, antibias and antiracist nationally recognized educator, author, and consultant. My identity as an Asian American is complex-it has taken me a long time to grapple and reconcile the intersections of that identity.....

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The Core Knowledge History and Geography (CKHG) program includes the complete history and geography curriculum plus additional resources for teachers and students in Kindergarten through grade 8 and above (Ages 5-13+).

This is a comprehensive program in world and American history and geography, integrating topics in civics and the arts. Core Knowledge History and Geography helps students build knowledge of the diverse civilizations, cultures, and concepts specified in the Core Knowledge Sequence.

Students will build a strong foundation in CKHG for Kindergarten through Grade 8.

CKHG Curriculum Components

For each grade level, you'll find a range of titles to cover during the school year with each year building upon the knowledge learned in the previous year. CKHG includes everything you'll need to implement the curriculum at your school or at home.

Student Readers: richly illustrated and engagingly written, also available as e-books

Teacher Guides: with detailed lesson plans, activity page masters, additional activities, and assessments

Timeline Cards: visual aids to reinforce big ideas, chronology, and context

Additional Activities: online videos, virtual field trips, art and literature connections, and more

Online Resources: support lessons and activities within the teacher guides

See CKHG Titles By Grade Level
We also offer additional implementation tips, tools and resources for extra help.

Download Free CKHG Materials

Core Knowledge History and Geography curriculum materials are available for free download. New units are in development and will be added when ready. Be sure to review the Terms of Use for free materials.

Download Free CKHG Materials

Most CKHG resources are also available in print versions for purchase in our online Store .

Featured Title: Early Civilizations of the Americas

In this Grade 1 Core Knowledge History and Geography unit, students will explore several powerful civilizations in North and South America from long ago.

Download the Unit

Integrating History and Geography Curriculum With Additional Subjects

CKHG follows our approach to knowledge-based schooling, outlined in the Core Knowledge Sequence . It allows students to build and deepen their knowledge grade by grade and to make cross-curricular connections across subjects.

CKHG and Civics

The history and geography curriculum materials aim to prepare students to actively participate in a democratic society. Within all CKHG American History titles, every Teacher Guide includes a feature called The Pathway to Citizenship .
Read More About Civics and CKHG
CKHG for Social Studies

Used in their recommended sequence, CKHG materials can form the basis of an engaging Social Studies program that builds historical and geographical knowledge and skills grade by grade.

CKHG and Language Arts

You can also use CKHG to integrate content-rich nonfiction into your Reading or Language Arts lessons. CKHG objectives are correlated with the Common Core English Language Arts standards, which call for increased reading of nonfiction informational texts. With CKHG, you can take an interdisciplinary approach to reading that provides rich, meaningful, and sustained engagement with informational texts organized in a coherent sequence.

Terms of Use

The Core Knowledge History and Geography curriculum materials made available for download are freely available for anyone to use, adapt, and share (with attribution). No one is permitted to extract any images included in our PDF materials for use in any other way; to do so would be a violation of the agreements under which the images were licensed. No one is permitted to sell either the original program, an adaptation of it, or lesson plans that reproduce any part of it. For more information, see the Guidelines to Core Knowledge and the Creative Commons License.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
History and Geography - Core Knowledge Foundation

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Core Knowledge History and Geography program offers free materials related to world and American history and geography. Download resources now!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The News Literacy Project works with educators and journalists to give students the skills they need to discern fact from fiction and to know what to trust.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.provider_name
National Museum of African American History and Culture

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Talking about race, although hard, is necessary. We are here to provide tools and guidance to empower your journey and inspire conversation.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Inquiry Design Model (IDM) is a distinctive approach to creating curriculum and instructional materials that honors teachers' knowledge and expertise, avoids overprescription, and focuses on the main elements of the instructional design process as envisioned in the Inquiry Arc of the College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards (2013).

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Many new teachers are inspired by the social justice and multicultural theory presented in some teacher education programs, but need to see examples of it in action. Some people believe that younger students are not capable of discussing difficult or controversial topics. This site counters that notion by showing teachers and students engaged in social action on complex topics. It provides a multimedia space to see social justice projects in action.

All the units housed on this site:

were designed and implemented by elementary school teachers and student teachers

focus on social justice issues such as racism, gentrification, fairness, child labor etc.

help students ask difficult questions about the world

are designed to engage children in social action to change the conditions of their worlds

have been integrated with standards or mandated curricular program

About the Site

This site features the work of Dr. Bree Picower and her students.

Dr. Bree Picower is a Professor at Montclair State University in the College of Education and Human Development. She is the Co-Director of the Urban Teacher Residency, Newark Teacher Project and the Critical Urban Education Speaker Series with Dr. Tanya Maloney at MSU. Her newest book, Reading, Writing and Racism, is an unflinching examination of recent examples of viral racist curriculum and what it means for our educational institutions to take responsibility for addressing teachers' understandings of race. Her previous co-edited book with Rita Kohli, Confronting Racism in Teacher Education: Counternarratives of Critical Practice examines patterns of institutional racism by amplifying the voices of non-dominant teacher educators. She also co-edited a collection of essays with Edwin Mayorga and Ujju Aggarwal called What's Race Got To Do With It? How current school reform maintains racial and economic inequality . She is also the author of Practice What You Teach: Social Justice Education in the Classroom and the Streets explores a developmental continuum toward teacher activism. Bree works to create spaces for educators to sharpen their political analysis and act for educational justice. She has taught in public elementary schools in Oakland, California and New York City.

This site features blogs from Bree's students as they engage in teaching about social issues and engage their students in social action. It also includes an extensive annotated bibliography (click children's literature) maintained by her students of social justice books for elementary students.
View Additional Publications
------------------------------------------

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Many new teachers are inspired by the social justice and multicultural theory presented in some teacher education programs, but need to see examples of it in action. Some people believe that younger students are not capable of discussing difficult or controversial topics.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Skip to main content

A Framework for Anti-Bias Education

The Social Justice Standards are a road map for anti-bias education at every stage of K-12 instruction. Comprised of anchor standards and age-appropriate learning outcomes, the standards provide a common language and organizational structure educators can use to guide curriculum development and make schools more just and equitable.

Divided into four domains-identity, diversity, justice and action (IDJA)-the standards recognize that, in today's diverse classrooms, students need knowledge and skills related to both prejudice-reduction and collective action. Together, these domains represent a continuum of engagement in anti-bias, multicultural and social justice education. The IDJA domains are based on Louise Derman-Sparks' four goals for anti-bias education in early childhood.

Each of the IDJA domains has learning outcomes and school-based scenarios organized by grades K-2, 3-5, 6-8 and 9-12.

Download the Standards

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Social Justice Standards are a road map for anti-bias education at every stage of K-12 instruction, providing a common language and organizational structure educators can use to guide curriculum development and make schools more just and equitable.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The Children's Literature Assembly (CLA) of the National Council of Teachers of English is a professional community of children's literature enthusiasts who advocate the centrality of literature in children's academic and personal lives.

Join CLA

Join/Renew online or via mail

We offer individual memberships, student memberships and faculty/staff bundled memberships. For individual members, we also offer an auto-renewing option.

You can make a personal donation or a donation in honor of someone else.

The CLA Endowment Fund supports original research on children's literature and the dissemination of CLA's Notable Books for the Language Arts.

-->Donate to CLA's Endowment Fund

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Children's Literature Assembly (CLA) of the National Council of Teachers of English is a professional community of children's literature enthusiasts who advocate the centrality of literature in children's academic and personal lives. Join/Renew online or via mail We offer individual memberships, student memberships and faculty/staff bundled memberships.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
is a unique and vital gathering place for books, ideas, and expertise in the field of children's
and young adult literature. The CCBC is a noncirculating examination, study, and research library
for Wisconsin school and public librarians, teachers, early childhood care providers, university
students, and others interested in children's and young adult literature. The CCBC is part of the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW) School of Education (SoE), and receives additional support from the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI).

Annual Statistics on Multicultural Literature in Publishing

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
is a unique and vital gathering place for books, ideas, and expertise in the field of children's and young adult literature. The CCBC is a noncirculating examination, study, and research library for Wisconsin school and public librarians, teachers, early childhood care providers, university students, and others interested in children's and young adult literature.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
"I believe in the power of Facing History."

-Durias D., Facing History Alum

"I went to a Facing History workshop and it opened my eyes."

-Tareeq R., Educator

Facing History & Ourselves
uses lessons of history
to challenge teachers
and their students
to stand up to bigotry and hate.

Facing History & Ourselves is more than our name. It is an active and continuous process that calls on each of us to connect the choices of the past to those we face today. To build a more just and equitable future, we must face our history in all its complexity, Are you ready to face history with us?

Learn how you can experience Facing History

Facing History has thousands of research-based resources and professional learning events to support Social Studies and English Language Arts education.

Not in the United States?

Sign Up

And hopefully, they will always remember what happened to us and make sure that it won't happen again.

Sonia Weitz, Holocaust survivor and poet

Sign up to download the PDF version of our textbook, Holocaust and Human Behavior.

Facing History students are 94% more likely than their peers to report that their class motivated them to learn.

92% of Facing History teachers agree that Facing History helps their students stand up for what they believe even when others disagree.

91% of elective teachers agree or strongly agree that their Facing History course promoted their students' abilities to ground reading, writing, and speaking in evidence from text.

Demand for our work is greater than ever. Make a 100% tax-deductible donation today and you'll help us reach even more teachers and students around the world, giving them the tools to stand up to bigotry and hate.

Gift Amount

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Facing History & Ourselves uses lessons of history to challenge teachers and their students to stand up to bigotry and hate.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Promoting Local Learning through Place-Based Education Scandinavian Folk Arts in the K-12 Classroom What is local culture? How can we teach local culture? Does WTLC provide professional development? What local culture resources are available?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.embed_code
Home

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The Zinn Education Project is my compass in a sea of corporate textbooks, packaged common core curriculum and standardized testing. My entire curriculum is based on lessons that can be found on the Zinn Education Project.

High School Social Studies Teacher, Portland, Ore.

Your support is needed to help more students learn people's history. 100% of Zinn Education Project funding comes from individuals like you. Donate today.

By Ursula Wolfe-Rocca

From voter ID laws to voter-roll purges, gerrymandering to poll closures to the deadly in-person voting conditions during a pandemic, the right to vote is under attack and the stakes are high. It is critical that students learn about the fight for voting rights, past and present.

Nov. 30, 1924: Shirley Chisholm Born...

Teaching About the Violence in Palestine and Israel...

I can UNDERSTAND pessimism, but I don't BELIEVE in it. It's not simply a matter of faith, but of historical EVIDENCE. Not overwhelming evidence, just enough to give HOPE, because for hope we don't need certainty, only POSSIBILITY.

-Howard Zinn

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Zinn Education Project: Teaching People's History

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Zinn Education Project promotes and supports the teaching of people's history in middle and high school classrooms across the country. Based on the lens of history highlighted in Howard Zinn's best-selling book A People's History of the United States, the website offers free, downloadable lessons and articles organized by theme, time period, and reading level.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Listen to my interview with Hasan Kwame Jeffries (transcript):
Sponsored by Peergrade and Microsoft Inclusive Classroom

Every couple of weeks, I hear someone repeat some version of this sentiment: "Slavery ended in 1865. Get over it."

And although I know this claim is riddled with problems, my ability to adequately refute it is limited. That's because my education on American slavery, its causes, and its aftermath, consisted of answering end-of-chapter textbook questions in grades 5, 8, and 11. We "covered" the topic, took a test where we matched Harriet Tubman, Abraham Lincoln, and Dred Scott to their one-line descriptions, then moved on. It was treated as a period of bad behavior in our country's history, behavior that the "good guys" ultimately put a stop to, and since then, things have been much better. The end.

In the years that followed, I built a kind of patchwork understanding of slavery through books, college classes, and films. While every new piece has refined and expanded my understanding of the massive role slavery has played in our history and our contemporary life, the pieces still feel discrete, never stitched together into a cohesive whole. I feel like I'm still lacking a lot of information and insight. Still, if I'd never taken that initiative on my own, if I'd stopped learning at graduation, my knowledge of slavery might very well be limited to "Slavery ended in 1865."

And that's where a lot of people are.

Earlier this year, the Southern Poverty Law Center published a report about how the topic of slavery is being taught in the United States. The report reveals that most students have significant knowledge gaps when it comes to some of the most basic facts about slavery, and in many states, social studies standards related to slavery are incredibly limited in their scope. While teachers feel that slavery is an important topic to teach, many of them don't feel that they are adequately prepared or supported to do a thorough job.

To address these problems, the Southern Poverty Law Center, through its website, Teaching Tolerance, has put together a comprehensive Framework for Teaching American Slavery, an outstanding collection of resources and guidelines for history teachers. The framework provides a list of 10 key concepts and 21 summary objectives to help you and your students give American slavery a thorough, thoughtful examination. It also includes over 100 primary source texts and a set of sample Inquiry Design Models-teaching plans that actually show you how to walk students through an inquiry of slavery with guiding questions, analysis of primary sources, and performance tasks to synthesize what they've learned.

Another piece of the framework is the Teaching Hard History Podcast, which is produced for teachers. Every episode looks at the teaching of slavery from a slightly different angle, with topics like Slavery in the Supreme Court, Slavery and the Northern Economy, and Slave Resistance, with each topic explored by one prominent history scholar. If you teach history, you need to make time to listen to this incredible podcast-not only will it deepen your understanding of American Slavery, it will give you so many insights on how to teach difficult topics.

The podcast is hosted by Dr. Hasan Kwame Jeffries, Associate Professor of History at The Ohio State University and chair of the Teaching Hard History Advisory Board. I recently talked with Dr. Jeffries about the Teaching Hard History framework. You can listen to our whole conversation in the player above or read a full transcript, also linked above.

"Why do we call it 'hard history'?" Jeffries asked. "There are a number of phenomena in the American experience that are difficult for Americans to talk about, to teach about, to think about, and almost all of them certainly revolve around race and racism, and slavery is really foremost among those. So the 'hard history' is slavery itself, because it really is something that we have found, as Americans, is hard to talk about in our everyday lives, hard to think about, and certainly hard to teach in the classroom setting."

The curriculum not only points out what we've been getting wrong-things like not focusing enough on the inhumanity of the system of slavery, or limiting its scope to the American South-it also describes what we should be doing to get it right. In particular, the podcast does a wonderful job of going in-depth about teaching practices.

At this time in history, when racism and social divisions have risen so sharply onto our daily landscapes, high-quality education on these issues is more important than ever. Jeffries points to just one example of the gaps in our understanding: "How do you wind up with a Charlottesville of the last year and people talking about Confederate monuments and white supremacy and this, that, and the other, without understanding its roots in American slavery, and the birth of white supremacy in American ideology to justify slavery and then to justify Jim Crow, and the emergence of these Confederate monuments not in 1865 but in 1915 and 1960 as African Americans were fighting against white supremacy and Jim Crow? This is hard because it's so relevant to today."

Anyone who teaches history-even indirectly through literature-will be far better equipped to teach about slavery after exploring these materials. If more schools use them, and more students are exposed to the complex relationship our country has always had with slavery, we might get to a place where we have more elevated conversations about race, and people stop saying "Get over it." ♦

Come back for more.
Join our mailing list and get weekly tips, tools, and inspiration that will make your teaching more effective and fun. You'll get access to our members-only library of free downloads, including 20 Ways to Cut Your Grading Time in Half, the e-booklet that has helped thousands of teachers save time on grading. Over 50,000 teachers have already joined-come on in!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Improving the Way We Teach About Slavery

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Listen to my interview with Hasan Kwame Jeffries (transcript): Sponsored by Peergrade and Microsoft Inclusive Classroom Every couple of weeks, I hear someone repeat some version of this sentiment: "Slavery ended in 1865. Get over it." And although I know this claim is riddled with problems, my ability to adequately refute it is limited.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.provider_name
Transformative Justice in Education Center

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
As a community research center, The TJE Center launched our Practitioner-in-Residence: Working Paper Series in 2017-18. The Working Paper Series aims to bridge the gap between theory and practice in Transformative Justice in Education in tangible ways, as we work in community toward sustainable just…

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Our youngest students deserve a truthful, age-appropriate account of our past. These resources for elementary educators include a first-of-its-kind framework, along with student texts, teaching tools and professional development for anyone committed to teaching this hard history. Download the Framework

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Schools are not adequately teaching the history of American slavery, educators are not sufficiently prepared to teach it, textbooks do not have enough material about it, and – as a result – students lack a basic knowledge of the important role it played in shaping the United States and the impact it…

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How to teach kids to talk about taboo topics | Liz Kleinrock

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
BATs Statement: In Solidarity #BlackLivesMatter June 2020

We, the Board of Directors for the Badass Teachers Association, will state this over and over again until the day that Black and Indigenous People of Color tell us that it is no longer necessary.

Black Lives Matter.

We must do everything in our power to demand and stop the killing of Black bodies, Black mothers, Black fathers, sons, or daughters who are killed simply for their existence. Everything that we do must be done to work towards the day that Black and Indigenous lives are valued as equals in our communities. We must engage in the work necessary to change racist laws and policies that maintain White Supremacy.

As educators, it is our responsibility to demand that our schools become places where anti-racism is embraced, modeled, and expected of all. Whether we teach in predominantly white schools or schools with majority Black and brown students, we must commit to being anti-racist educators. We can no longer ignore the impact of racism and expect our students to grow up and believe that we are all equal. We can no longer remain silent while our colleagues advocate for the dangerous position of being colorblind in a world built on robbing Black, Indigenous, and People of Color of their humanity.

It is past time for police accountability. It is past time for Ethnic Studies in our schools. It is past time for mandated training for all educators in inherent biases and racism. It is past time for equitable funding and resources so that public education can break the institution of racism, instead of feeding it.

We stand in solidarity with all Black, Indigenous, and People of Color protesting against police brutality, white supremacy, and toxic masculinity that took the life of George Floyd, Ahmaud Aubrey, Breonna Taylor, Nina Pop, and so many more.

We welcome all anti-racist and anti-fascist educators who are eager to use their greatest weapon to fight back: access to schools and classrooms. We cannot wait for the government to mandate schools be anti-racist. We must commit to this work now and forever.

Sincerely,

Melissa Love Light Tomlinson, Executive Director

Dr. Denisha Jones, Esq., Assistant Executive Director

Wilma de Soto, Board of Directors

Susan DuFresne, Board of Directors

Michael Flanagan, Board of Directors

Sergio Flores, Board of Directors

Directors of Steering Committees:

Susan DuFresne, and Nancy Osborne - Co-Directors of Meme Team

Jamy Brice Hyde and Kathy Beery - Co-Directors Quality of Workplace Steering Committee

Tina Andres and Brianne Kramer - Co-Directors of Action Committee

Michael Flanagan and Steven Singer - Co-Directors of Research/Blogging

Kathleen Hagans Jeskey and Brittany Alexander - Co-Directors of State Administrators

Tikiela Rucker - Director of Social Justice

Terry Kalb - Director of Special Education

Phil Sorensen- NEA BAT Caucus Chair

Nikk Enser - Director of Member Engagement

Resources

Join educators in your community who are fighting for Black lives. Research how to be an ally and an accomplice. Here are some resources to help you on your journey!
Talking About Race
The Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC), has released a powerful new web portal Talking About Race.
"Talking About Race" provides digital tools, online exercises, video instructions, scholarly articles, and more than 100 multimedia resources tailored for educators, parents, and caregivers, as well as individuals committed to racial equality. In releasing this resource now, we hope to help individuals and communities foster constructive dialogues on one of the nation's most challenging issues: racism, and its corrosive impact.
Scaffolded Anti-Racism Resources
https://docs.google.com/document/u/0/d/1PrAq4iBNb4nVIcTsLcNlW8zjaQXBLkWayL8EaPlh0bc/mobilebasic
An Essential Reading Guide For Fighting Racism
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ariannarebolini/george-floyd-amy-cooper-antiracist-books-reading-resources?utm_source=dynamic&utm_campaign=bffbbuzzfeedbooks&ref=bffbbuzzfeedbooks
40+ Books for AntiRacist Teachers - White Fragiles Beware! (summer 2020 update)

https://culturallyresponsiveleadership.com/antiracistbooks/

George Floyd Forum Discussion

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1a9yejqAZ9VYsFbKfPj1u26q2D0Tj-8Zago8iNWYbPyQ/edit?usp=sharing

Institutionalized Racism: A Syllabus
https://daily.jstor.org/institutionalized-racism-a-syllabus/?fbclid=IwAR389w7Lk4FpHICML8KccB2wj1D5s3df3AAiTlTPDA0wuhOzqOvGaWl1f4Y
Social Justice Resources
http://www.childrenscommunityschool.org/social-justice-resources/?fbclid=IwAR37PWDJSNV3HiG5Rp9sgezRAW80UtggMrCfntubK6euibscUgsw4607fAQ
Colorful Pages Resources for Educators K-8 Learning Activities for Justice for George Floyd
https://colorfulpages.org/2020/05/31/blacklivesmatter-k-8-distance-learning-activities-for-justice-for-george-floyd/
Black Lives Matter at School
https://blacklivesmatteratschool.com/
How Educators Can Turn Grief Into Action
https://rodrobinsonrva.com/blogs/f/how-educators-can-turn-grief-into-action?fbclid=IwAR2dEdbREisf-AGmbQd0Dc6hbQIoUvaBs7PQ5dU123IDFCtFfm6vrrUbIMY
Show your solidarity as a union member by signing:

Union members for #JusticeforGeorgeFloyd
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScpv6V1R2DVjUWulp1NQWP_o34OowQanGc0OCE6FL6PgmRnKA/viewform?fbclid=IwAR1lsOVdiRMPaVBr0h4TY-mcVlUtDh8_ysOP0NWI85S4F3j06A10XIqjt1w

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
We, the Board of Directors for the Badass Teachers Association, will state this over and over again until the day that Black and Indigenous People of Color tell us that it is no longer necessary. We must do everything in our power to demand and stop the killing of Black bodies, Black mothers, Black fathers, sons, or daughters who are killed simply for their existence.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Teaching for Change and Rethinking Schools collaborate to bring people's history to the classroom.

A dedicated website to encourage and support teaching about Central American history.

The best selection of multicultural and social justice books for children, YA, and educators.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Building social justice starting in the classroom.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Being listened to helps human beings in profound ways. If listening exchanges are happening regularly, and with fidelity, there will be enough space for students to begin to really share their emotions.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.provider_name
Institute for Teachers of Color Committed to Racial Justice

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
ITOC STATEMENT OF POST-ELECTION SOLIDARITY
The Institute for Teachers of Color Committed to Racial Justice (ITOC) stands in solidarity with all peoples who are being targeted, terrorized, and dehumanized by our government and its regime. The institutionalized ideologies and policies are life and death for many in our communities, and the oppressive force of this extreme power can be debilitating physically, emotionally, and spiritually. We send love and strength to all the teachers and leaders of Color committed to racial justice, as you resist and reimagine alongside young people and our most marginalized communities.
ITOC STATEMENT OF SOLIDARITY WITH #BlackLivesMatters
The Institute for Teachers of Color (ITOC) stands in solidarity with those who are outraged by the current system's blatant disregard for Black lives. We feel a responsibility to take a formal stance against the anti-black racism that plagues our schools, our justice system, and society. Rekia Boyd, Michael Brown, twelve year old Tamir Rice, and Eric Garner (to name just a few) were unarmed and brutally murdered by the police within the past few months. With the justice system's failure to indict police on crimes like these, we are reminded of the callous disregard this nation has for People of Color generally, and Black people specifically. As educators, we have a role in reframing the deficit discourse on how our rightfully angered communities are responding. We must ourselves, but also provide youth the space and language to process, speak out and challenge racism.

ITOC is a community of critical, active teachers of color leaders from across the nation. From the classroom to the streets, we know that many of you have been holding teach-ins, sharing resources and creating curriculum to engage youth about these manifestations of historical and current day white supremacy. We commend you in your activism, and with you we stand in solidarity, justice and power.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
ITOC STATEMENT OF POST-ELECTION SOLIDARITY The Institute for Teachers of Color Committed to Racial Justice (ITOC) stands in solidarity with all peoples who are being targeted, terrorized, and dehumanized by our government and its regime. The institutionalized ideologies and policies are life and death for many in our communities, and the oppressive force of this extreme power can be debilitating physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
DocsTeach is a product of the National Archives education division. Our mission is to engage, educate, and inspire all learners to discover and explore the records of the American people preserved by the National Archives. The National Archives and Records Administration is the nation's record keeper.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Español
Document analysis is the first step in working with primary sources. Teach your students to think through primary source documents for contextual understanding and to extract information to make informed judgments.
Follow this progression:
Use these worksheets - for photos, written documents, artifacts, posters, maps, cartoons, videos, and sound recordings - to teach your students the process of document analysis.

Don't stop with document analysis though. Analysis is just the foundation. Move on to activities in which students use the primary sources as historical evidence, like on DocsTeach.org.

The first few times you ask students to work with primary sources, and whenever you have not worked with primary sources recently, model careful document analysis using the worksheets. Point out that the steps are the same each time, for every type of primary source:

1. Meet the document.

2. Observe its parts.

3. Try to make sense of it.

4. Use it as historical evidence.

Once students have become familiar with using the worksheets, direct them to analyze documents as a class or in groups without the worksheets, vocalizing the four steps as they go.

Eventually, students will internalize the procedure and be able to go through these four steps on their own every time they encounter a primary source document. Remind students to practice this same careful analysis with every primary source they see.

Worksheet for Understanding Perspective in Primary Sources - For All Students and Document Types

This tool helps students identify perspective in primary sources and understand how backgrounds, beliefs, and experiences shape point of view.

Former Worksheets

These worksheets were revised in February, 2017. Please let us know if you have feedback. If you prefer the previous version of the worksheets, you can download them below.

Materials created by the National Archives and Records Administration are in the public domain.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Español Document analysis is the first step in working with primary sources. Teach your students to think through primary source documents for contextual understanding and to extract information to make informed judgments. Use these worksheets - for photos, written documents, artifacts, posters, maps, cartoons, videos, and sound recordings - to teach your students the process of document analysis.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Search results from Classroom Materials at the Library of Congress, Available Online, Primary Source Set

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Primary Source Sets | Minnesota Historical Society

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Compelling primary sources strengthen social studies lessons for students of all grade levels, but finding the right source can be time-consuming. We have collected sets of sources from the Library of Congress, on topics that align with student abilities and standards in multiple grade levels, to save on research time and encourage the use of more primary sources in the classroom.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Search Tips:

* Use Keyword search to look for matches in the following categories all at once: Author, Title, Annotation, Full Text.

* These searches are not case sensitive.

* Type new masses to search for all resources that mention words new and masses.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Search Tips: * Use Keyword search to look for matches in the following categories all at once: Author, Title, Annotation, Full Text. * These searches are not case sensitive. * Type new masses to search for all resources that mention words new and masses.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The struggle for racial equality in the 1950s and 1960s is among the most far-reaching social movements in the nation's history, and it represents a crucial step in the evolution of American democracy. The Civil Rights Digital Library promotes an enhanced understanding of the Movement by helping users discover primary sources and other educational materials from libraries, archives, museums, public broadcasters, and others on a national scale. The CRDL features a collection of unedited news film from the WSB (Atlanta) and WALB (Albany, Ga.) television archives held by the Walter J. Brown Media Archives and Peabody Awards Collection at the University of Georgia Libraries. The CRDL provides educator resources and contextual materials, including Freedom on Film, relating instructive stories and discussion questions from the Civil Rights Movement in Georgia, and the New Georgia Encyclopedia, delivering engaging online articles and multimedia.

CRDL is a partnership among librarians, technologists, archivists, educators, scholars, academic publishers, and public broadcasters. The initiative receives support through a National Leadership Grant for Libraries awarded to the University of Georgia by the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Welcome to the Civil Rights Digital Library

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The struggle for racial equality in the 1950s and 1960s is among the most far-reaching social movements in the nation's history, and it represents a crucial step in the evolution of American democracy. The Civil Rights Digital Library promotes an enhanced understanding of the Movement by helping users discover primary sources and other educational materials from libraries, archives, museums, public broadcasters, and others on a national scale.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.provider_name
Densho: Japanese American Incarceration and Japanese Internment

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
120,000 Japanese Americans were unjustly incarcerated during World War II. Learn about this unprecedented denial of civil liberties and why it still matters today.

Learn about Japanese American history and the legacy of WWII incarceration by exploring personal stories from those who lived through it.

History doesn't repeat itself, but it often rhymes. Join us in putting the lessons of Japanese American WWII incarceration into action today.

Densho Content Director Brian Niiya answers a question about the origin of the concentration camps where Japanese Americans were imprisoned during World War II.

Percussionist, composer, and interdisciplinary artist Paul Kikuchi speaks with Densho Community Curator Erin Shigaki about the influences of his ancestors, identity, and community on his art. Kikuchi shares, "How easily...

Thank you to everyone who tuned in on October 5 for Densho's 2023 virtual fundraiser, Our Voices Will Not Be Silenced!

Stay Informed: Join The Mailing List

Campu: A Podcast

Campu weaves together the voices of survivors to spin narratives out of the seemingly mundane things that gave shape to the incarceration experience: rocks, fences, food, paper. Follow along as hosts Hana and Noah Maruyama move far beyond the standard Japanese American incarceration 101 and into more intimate and lesser-known corners of this history.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Densho: Japanese American Incarceration and Japanese Internment

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Preserving Japanese American stories of the past for the generations of tomorrow.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Oregon Encyclopedia of History and Culture provides definitive, authoritative information written in accessible and literate language about the State of Oregon, including significant individuals, places, institutions, events, peoples, and artistic expressions.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Featuring the original photo captions by Lewis W. Hine

About these Photos

Faces of Lost Youth

- Out after midnight selling extras. There were many young boys selling very late. Youngest boy in the group is 9 years old. Harry, age 11, Eugene and the rest were a little older. Washington, D.C. Left Mid - Newsboy asleep on stairs with papers. Jersey City, New Jersey. Right - Michael McNelis, age 8, a newsboy [with photographer Hine]. This boy has just recovered from his second attack of pneumonia. Was found selling papers in a big rain storm. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

- Young cigar makers in Engelhardt & Co. Three boys looked under 14. Labor leaders told me in busy times many small boys and girls were employed. Youngsters all smoke. Tampa, Florida. Left Mid - Boys in the packing room at the Brown Mfg. Co. Evansville, Indiana. Right - Willie, a Polish boy, taking his noon rest in a doffer box at the Quidwick Co. Mill. Anthony, Rhode Island.

- After 9 p.m., 7-year-old Tommie Nooman demonstrating the advantages of the Ideal Necktie Form in a store window on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C. His father said, "He is the youngest demonstrator in America. Has been doing it for several years from San Francisco to New York. We stay a month or six weeks in a place. He works at it off and on." Remarks from the bystanders were not having the best effect on Tommie. Left Mid - Joseph Severio, peanut vender, age 11 [seen with photographer Hine]. Been pushing a cart 2 years. Out after midnight on May 21, 1910. Ordinarily works 6 hours per day. Works of his own volition. All earnings go to his father. Wilmington, Delaware. Right - In business for himself. Boston, Massachusetts.

Copyright © 1998-2020 The History Place™ All Rights Reserved

Terms of use: Private home/school non-commercial, non-Internet re-usage only is allowed of any text, graphics, photos, audio clips, other electronic files or materials from The History Place.

[ The History Place Main Page | American Revolution | Abraham Lincoln | U.S. Civil War | World War II in the Pacific | John F. Kennedy Photo History | The Rise of Adolf Hitler | Triumph of Hitler | Defeat of Hitler | Timeline of World War II in Europe | Holocaust Timeline | Photo of the Week | This Month in History | Advertise | Send Feedback ]

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The History Place - Child Labor in America: Investigative Photos of Lewis Hine

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Featuring the original photo captions by Lewis W. Hine About these Photos Faces of Lost Youth - Out after midnight selling extras. There were many young boys selling very late. Youngest boy in the group is 9 years old. Harry, age 11, Eugene and the rest were a little older.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.provider_name
Black Freedom Struggle in the United States:

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Introducing the Black Freedom Struggle Website | ProQuest

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Black Freedom Struggle website is freely available to students, educators and patrons. This curated selection of primary sources is designed for teaching and learning about the struggles and triumphs of Black Americans. Developed with input from Black history scholars and advisors, its easily discoverable materials are ideal for assignments and special projects focused on U.S.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
There is no shortage of formative assessment strategies, techniques, and tools available to teachers who use formative instructional practice in their classrooms. Here is an extensive list of 75 digital tools, apps, and platforms that can help you and your students use formative assessment to elicit evidence of learning. We didn't just add any old tool to this list. Here are the criteria we used for those that made the cut:

Supports formative instructional strategies and ways to activate learners to be resources for themselves and peers

Is free or awful close to it (under $10 per year, where possible)

Allows both students and teachers to take the activator role when possible (sometimes teachers need to get things started)

Before you dig into the tools, I encourage you to spend some time thinking about exactly what you want to accomplish with your students. "How to pick the right digital tool: Start with your learning goal" by Erin Beard can help you wrap your head around goals and guide you in choosing the best tool for the task. "27 easy formative assessment strategies for gathering evidence of student learning" can help you decide what strategies work best for you and your students.

Record audio and video

Create quizzes, polls, and surveys

1. Crowdsignal Lets you create online polls, quizzes, and questions. Students can use smartphones, tablets, and computers to provide their answers, and information can be culled for reports.

2. Edulastic Allows you to make standards-aligned assessments and get instant feedback.

3. FreeOnlineSurveys Helps you create surveys, quizzes, forms, and polls.

4. Gimkit Lets you write real-time quizzes. And it was designed by a high school student!

5. Kahoot! A game-based classroom response system that lets you create quizzes using internet content.

6. MicroPoll Helps you create polls, embed them into websites, and analyze responses.

7. Naiku Lets you write quizzes students can answer using their mobile devices.

8. Obsurvey Designed to make surveys, polls, and questionnaires.

9. Poll Everywhere Lets you create a feedback poll or ask questions and see results in real time. Allows students to respond in various ways. With open-ended questions, you can capture data and spin up tag clouds to aggregate responses.

10. Poll Maker Offers unique features, like allowing multiple answers to one question.

11. ProProfs Helps you make quizzes, polls, and surveys.

12. Quia Lets you create games, quizzes, surveys, and more. Access a database of existing quizzes from other educators.

13. Quizalize Helps you create quizzes and homework.

14. Quizizz Guides you through designing quizzes and lets you include students in the quiz-writing process.

15. Quizlet Lets you make flashcards, tests, quizzes, and study games that are mobile friendly.

16. Survey Hero Designed to build questionnaires and surveys.

17. SurveyMonkey Helpful for online polls and surveys.

18. SurveyPlanet Also helpful for online polls and surveys.

19. Triventy Lets you create quizzes students take in real time using individual devices.

20. Yacapaca Helps you write and assign quizzes.

21. Zoho Survey Allows you to make mobile-friendly surveys and see results in real time.

Brainstorm, mind map, and collaborate

Present, engage, and inspire

Generate word or tag clouds

1. EdWordle Generates word clouds from any entered text to help aggregate responses and facilitate discussion. Word clouds are pictures composed of a cloud of smaller words that form a clue to the topic.

2. Tagxedo Allows you to examine student consensus and facilitate dialogues.

3. Wordables Helps you elicit evidence of learning or determine background knowledge about a topic.

4. WordArt Includes a feature that allows the user to make each word an active link to connect to websites, including YouTube.

Get real-time feedback

Foster family communication

1. Remind Lets you text students and stay in touch with families.

2. Seesaw Helps you improve family communication and makes formative assessment easy, while students can use the platform to document their learning.

3. Voxer Lets you send recordings so families can hear how their students are doing, students can chat about their work, and you can provide feedback.

Strengthen teacher-to-student or student-to-student communication

Keep the conversation going with live chats

1. Yo Teach A backchannel site great for keeping the conversation going with students.

2. Chatzy Supports live, online chats in a private setting.

Create and store documents or assignments

1. Google Forms A Google Drive app that allows you to create documents students can collaborate on in real time using smartphones, tablets, and laptops.

2. Piazza Lets you upload lectures, assignments, and homework; pose and respond to student questions; and poll students about class content. This tool is better suited for older students as it mimics post-secondary class instructional formats.

Learn more

There are several resources for learning more about formative assessment and responsive instruction strategies. Consider our formative practices workshops, where school and district teams can gain a better understanding of the role formative practice plays in instruction and the four foundational practices to use in the classroom. Or for a quick start, download our eBook "Making it work: How formative assessment can supercharge your practice."

Jump in, try new tools and methods, and have fun!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
75 digital tools and apps teachers can use to support formative assessment in the classroom

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
We've compiled an extensive list of 75 digital tools that can help teachers use formative assessment to elicit evidence of student learning.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Interactive Techniques for Peer Teaching.pdf

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Interactive teaching is all about instructing the students in a way they are actively involved with their learning process. There are different ways to create an involvement like this. Most of the time it's through

teacher-student interaction

student-student interaction

the use of audio, visuals, video

hands-on demonstrations and exercises

You encourage your students to be active members of your class, thinking on their own, using their brains, resulting in long-term memory retention. Not only the students' knowledge will improve, but their interest, strength, knowledge, team spirit and freedom of expression will increase as well.

In this blog post, I will talk about the use of interactive methods for teaching, encouraging more dedication towards the lesson material. We will see some interactive teaching tools, interactive teaching ideas, and interactive teaching games.
Not only will I talk about the use of interactive methods of teaching, but I'll also give you some examples of methods used in the present classroom as well.

Ready? Let's find out some interactive classroom activities to engage your pupils!

3 Effective interactive teaching strategies to encourage speech in your classroom

First, I want to put some activities in the spotlight. The following interactive student activities are three of the most effective ways to encourage more speech in your classroom.

1. Think, pair and share

Set a problem or a question around a certain topic, and pair up your students. Give each pair of students enough time so they can reach a proper conclusion, and permit the kids to share their conclusion in their voice. This way your students will be engaged, communicating, and remember more of the class than ever before.

2. Brainstorming

Interactive brainstorming is mostly performed in group sessions. The process is useful for generating creative thoughts and ideas. Brainstorming helps students learn to work together, and above all, learn from each other. You'll be surprised by all the great ideas they come up with! Check out these 8 fun brainstorming apps you can use in your classroom, or use BookWidgets' Mindmap widget to structure thinking.

3. Buzz session

Participants come together in session groups that focus on a single topic. Within each group, every student contributes thoughts and ideas. Encourage discussion and collaboration among the students within each group. Everyone should learn from each other's input and experiences. As a teacher, you could give your students some keywords to spark the conversation.

Of course, there are many other interactive teaching ideas as well. I split up the activities in different categories:

Individual student activities

Student pair activities

Student group activities

Interactive game activities

Individual student activities

4. Exit slips

These are best used at the end of the class session. You'll ask the students to write for one minute on a specific question. It might be generalized to "what was the most important thing you learned today". Then, you can decide if you are going to open up a conversation about it in your next class. You can ask them if they still remember what they wrote down. Need a digital exit slip template? Try this one from BookWidgets and learn more about the possibilities of an exit slip. Looking for inspiration? Check this out! You will find 60 examples of digital exit tickets.

5. Misconception check

Discover students' misconceptions. See if students can identify what is the correct answer when given a false fact. It's useful when going over a previous lesson. It encourages students to think deeply and wager all the possibilities.

6. Circle the questions

Make a worksheet or a survey that has a list of questions (make them specific) about your topic, and ask students to circle (or check) the ones they don't know the answers to. Then, let them turn in the paper.

Create corners concerning different questions that were circled. Let your students work on the extra exercises and explanation in the corners, individually. As your students will all have circled different questions, you have to give each student a different and personalized order to visit the corners.

7. Ask the winner

Ask students to silently solve a problem on the board. After revealing the answer, instruct those who got it right to raise their hands (and keep them raised). Then, all other students have to talk to someone with a raised hand to better understand the question and how to solve it next time.

Student pair activities

8. Pair-share-repeat

After a Think-pair-share experience, which I've written about in the first interactive learning lesson idea, you can also ask students to find a new partner and share the wisdom of the old partnership to this new partner.

9. Teacher and student

Let students brainstorm the main points of the last lesson. Then, pair up your students and assign them 2 roles. One of them is the teacher, and the other the student. The teacher's job is to sketch the main points, while the student's job is to cross off points on his list as they are mentioned and come up with 2 to 3 points that the teacher missed.

10. Wisdom from another

After an individual brainstorm or creative activity, pair students to share their results. Then, call for volunteers who found their partner's work to be interesting or exemplary. Students are often more willing to share the work of fellow students publicly than their work. Of course, you can always encourage sharing their objectives as well.

11. Forced debate

Let students debate in pairs. Students must defend the opposite side of their personal opinion. It encourages them to step away from their own beliefs and teaches them to look through a different colored glass once in a while.

Variation: one half of the class takes one position, the other half takes the other position. Students line up and face each other. Each student may only speak once so that all students on both sides can engage the issue.

12. Optimist/Pessimist

In pairs, students take opposite emotional sides of a case study, statement, or topic. Encourage them to be empathic and truly "live" the case study. You'll discover some good solution proposals and your students will learn some exceptional social skills.

13. Peer review writing task

To assist students with a writing assignment, encourage them to exchange drafts with a partner. The partner reads the essay and writes a three-paragraph response: the first paragraph outlines the strengths of the essay, the second paragraph discusses the essay's problems, and the third paragraph is a description of what the partner would focus on in revision if it were her essay. Students can learn a lot from each other and themselves as well! Here are 10 more creative self-assessment ideas.

Student group activities

14. Board rotation

This interactive learning strategy is even more interactive than others! Divide your class into different groups of students and assign them to each of the boards you've set up in the room. Assign one topic/question per board. After each group writes an answer, they rotate to the next board. Here, they write their answer below the first answer of the previous group. Let them go around the room until all the groups have covered all the boards. Not that many boards in your classroom? Try using tablets and BookWidgets' interactive whiteboard.

15. Pick the Winner

Divide the class into groups and let them work on the same topic/problem. Let them record an answer/strategy on paper or digitally. Then, ask the groups to switch with a nearby group and let them evaluate their answer. After a few minutes, allow each set of groups to merge and ask them to select the best answer from the two choices, which will be presented to the complete class.

16. Movie Application

In groups, students discuss examples of movies that made use of a concept or event discussed in class, trying to identify at least one way the movie makers got it right, and one way they got it wrong. Think about movies showing historical facts, geographical facts, biographies of famous people, ...

Interactive game activities

Create an interactive classroom full of interactive learning games. Games are so much fun for students since it doesn't feel like learning. With BookWidgets, you can make interactive learning games like crossword puzzles, pair matching games, bingo games, jigsaw puzzles, memory games, and many more in minutes (and there's a Google Classroom integration as well).

17. Crossword puzzle

The crossword game is perfect to use as repetition activity. Choose a list of words and their description, and BookWidgets creates an interactive crossword for you. The crossword game transforms these boring lessons into a fun experience. Here you can read more about how to create them and for which topics you can use them (not only for teaching languages)!

18. Scrabble

Use the chapter (or course) title as the pool of letters from which to make words (e.g., mitochondrial DNA), and allow teams to brainstorm as many words relevant to the topic as possible. You can also actually play scrabble and ask students to form words from the newly learned vocabulary.

19. Who/what am I?

Tape a term or name on the back of each student. You can also tape it on their forehead. Each student walks around the room, asking "yes or no" questions to the other students in an effort to guess the term. Of course, the term has something to do with your lesson topic.

20. Bingo

Bingo is a fun game that can be used for all sorts of exercises: language exercises, introductory games, math exercises, etc. Take a look at this blog post with all the different bingo possibilities here. You'll be surprised about how many interactive lesson activities you can do with just one game.

Want to create a bingo game yourself? You can start for free right here:

Wrap up

That's it! Like in any list, you could add many other interactive lesson ideas. I could go on for quite a while myself. But what about you? Share your creative, interactive classroom ideas in our Facebook Group. This way, we can build out this article with many more great ideas!

One more thing... Don't forget to follow us on Twitter! 😉

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
20 interactive teaching activities for in the interactive classroom

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Interactive teaching is all about instructing the students in a way they are actively involved with their learning process. There are different ways to create an involvement like this.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Listen to this post as a podcast:
When I worked with student teachers on developing effective lesson plans, one thing I always asked them to revise was the phrase "We will discuss."
We will discuss the video. We will discuss the story. We will discuss our results.
Every time I saw it in a lesson plan, I would add a note: "What format will you use? What questions will you ask? How will you ensure that all students participate?" I was pretty sure that We will discuss actually meant the teacher would do most of the talking; He would throw out a couple of questions like "So what did you think about the video?" or "What was the theme of the story?" and a few students would respond, resulting in something that looked like a discussion, but was ultimately just a conversation between the teacher and a handful of extroverted students; a classic case of Fisheye Teaching.

The problem wasn't them; in most of the classrooms where they'd sat as students, that's exactly what a class discussion looked like. They didn't know any other "formats." I have only ever been familiar with a few myself. But when teachers began contacting me recently asking for a more comprehensive list, I knew it was time to do some serious research.

So here they are: 15 formats for structuring a class discussion to make it more engaging, more organized, more equitable, and more academically challenging. If you've struggled to find effective ways to develop students' speaking and listening skills, this is your lucky day.

I've separated the strategies into three groups. The first batch contains the higher-prep strategies, formats that require teachers to do some planning or gathering of materials ahead of time. Next come the low-prep strategies, which can be used on the fly when you have a few extra minutes or just want your students to get more active. Note that these are not strict categories; it's certainly possible to simplify or add more meat to any of these structures and still make them work. The last group is the ongoing strategies. These are smaller techniques that can be integrated with other instructional strategies and don't really stand alone. For each strategy, you'll find a list of other names it sometimes goes by, a description of its basic structure, and an explanation of variations that exist, if any. To watch each strategy in action, click on its name and a new window will open with a video that demonstrates it.

Enjoy!
a.k.a. Chat Stations
Basic Structure: Stations or posters are set up around the classroom, on the walls or on tables. Small groups of students travel from station to station together, performing some kind of task or responding to a prompt, either of which will result in a conversation.

Variations: Some Gallery Walks stay true to the term gallery, where groups of students create informative posters, then act as tour guides or docents, giving other students a short presentation about their poster and conducting a Q&A about it. In Starr Sackstein's high school classroom, her stations consisted of video tutorials created by the students themselves. Before I knew the term Gallery Walk, I shared a strategy similar to it called Chat Stations, where the teacher prepares discussion prompts or content-related tasks and sets them up around the room for students to visit in small groups.
a.k.a. Values Continuum, Forced Debate, Physical Barometer, This or That
Basic Structure: A statement that has two possible responses-agree or disagree-is read out loud. Depending on whether they agree or disagree with this statement, students move to one side of the room or the other. From that spot, students take turns defending their positions.

Variations: Often a Philosophical Chairs debate will be based around a text or group of texts students have read ahead of time; students are required to cite textual evidence to support their claims and usually hold the texts in their hands during the discussion. Some teachers set up one hot seat to represent each side, and students must take turns in the seat. In less formal variations (which require less prep), a teacher may simply read provocative statements students are likely to disagree on, and a debate can occur spontaneously without a text to refer to (I call this variation This or That in my classroom icebreakers post). Teachers may also opt to offer a continuum of choices, ranging from "Strongly Agree" on one side of the room, all the way to "Strongly Disagree" on the other, and have students place themselves along that continuum based on the strength of their convictions.

Basic Structure: Students are divided into 4 groups. Three of these groups are assigned to represent specific points of view. Members of the fourth group are designated as "provocateurs," tasked with making sure the discussion keeps going and stays challenging. One person from each group (the "speaker") sits in a desk facing speakers from the other groups, so they form a square in the center of the room. Behind each speaker, the remaining group members are seated: two right behind the speaker, then three behind them, and so on, forming a kind of triangle. From above, this would look like a pinwheel. The four speakers introduce and discuss questions they prepared ahead of time (this preparation is done with their groups). After some time passes, new students rotate from the seats behind the speaker into the center seats and continue the conversation.

Variations: When high school English teacher Sarah Brown Wessling introduced this strategy in the featured video (click Pinwheel Discussion above), she used it as a device for talking about literature, where each group represented a different author, plus one provocateur group. But in the comments that follow the video, Wessling adds that she also uses the strategy with non-fiction, where students represent authors of different non-fiction texts or are assigned to take on different perspectives about an issue.
a.k.a. Socratic Circles
Basic Structure: Students prepare by reading a text or group of texts and writing some higher-order discussion questions about the text. On seminar day, students sit in a circle and an introductory, open-ended question is posed by the teacher or student discussion leader. From there, students continue the conversation, prompting one another to support their claims with textual evidence. There is no particular order to how students speak, but they are encouraged to respectfully share the floor with others. Discussion is meant to happen naturally and students do not need to raise their hands to speak. This overview of Socratic Seminar from the website Facing History and Ourselves provides a list of appropriate questions, plus more information about how to prepare for a seminar.

Variations: If students are beginners, the teacher may write the discussion questions, or the question creation can be a joint effort. For larger classes, teachers may need to set up seminars in more of a fishbowl-like arrangement, dividing students into one inner circle that will participate in the discussion, and one outer circle that silently observes, takes notes, and may eventually trade places with those in the inner circle, sometimes all at once, and sometimes by "tapping in" as the urge strikes them.
a.k.a. Affinity Diagramming
Basic Structure: Give students a broad question or problem that is likely to result in lots of different ideas, such as "What were the impacts of the Great Depression?" or "What literary works should every person read?" Have students generate responses by writing ideas on post-it notes (one idea per note) and placing them in no particular arrangement on a wall, whiteboard, or chart paper. Once lots of ideas have been generated, have students begin grouping them into similar categories, then label the categories and discuss why the ideas fit within them, how the categories relate to one another, and so on.

Variations: Some teachers have students do much of this exercise-recording their ideas and arranging them into categories- without talking at first. In other variations, participants are asked to re-combine the ideas into new, different categories after the first round of organization occurs. Often, this activity serves as a good pre-writing exercise, after which students will write some kind of analysis or position paper.
a.k.a. Speed Dating
Basic Structure: Students form two circles, one inside circle and one outside circle. Each student on the inside is paired with a student on the outside; they face each other. The teacher poses a question to the whole group and pairs discuss their responses with each other. Then the teacher signals students to rotate: Students on the outside circle move one space to the right so they are standing in front of a new person (or sitting, as they are in the video). Now the teacher poses a new question, and the process is repeated.

Variations: Instead of two circles, students could also form two straight lines facing one another. Instead of "rotating" to switch partners, one line just slides over one spot, and the leftover person on the end comes around to the beginning of the line. Some teachers use this strategy to have students teach one piece of content to their fellow students, making it less of a discussion strategy and more of a peer teaching format. In fact, many of these protocols could be used for peer teaching as well.

Basic Structure: Another great idea from Sarah Brown Wessling, this is a small-group discussion strategy that gives students exposure to more of their peers' ideas and prevents the stagnation that can happen when a group doesn't happen to have the right chemistry. Students are placed into a few groups of 4-6 students each and are given a discussion question to talk about. After sufficient time has passed for the discussion to develop, one or two students from each group rotate to a different group, while the other group members remain where they are. Once in their new group, they will discuss a different, but related question, and they may also share some of the key points from their last group's conversation. For the next rotation, students who have not rotated before may be chosen to move, resulting in groups that are continually evolving.

Basic Structure: Two students sit facing each other in the center of the room; the remaining students sit in a circle around them. The two central students have a conversation based on a pre-determined topic and often using specific skills the class is practicing (such as asking follow-up questions, paraphrasing, or elaborating on another person's point). Students on the outside observe, take notes, or perform some other discussion-related task assigned by the teacher.

Variations: One variation of this strategy allows students in the outer circle to trade places with those in the fishbowl, doing kind of a relay-style discussion, or they may periodically "coach" the fishbowl talkers from the sidelines. Teachers may also opt to have students in the outside circle grade the participants' conversation with a rubric, then give feedback on what they saw in a debriefing afterward, as mentioned in the featured video.

Basic Structure: One student assumes the role of a book character, significant figure in history, or concept (such as a tornado, an animal, or the Titanic). Sitting in front of the rest of the class, the student responds to classmates' questions while staying in character in that role.

Variations: Give more students the opportunity to be in the hot seat while increasing everyone's participation by having students do hot seat discussions in small groups, where one person per group acts as the "character" and three or four others ask them questions. In another variation, several students could form a panel of different characters, taking questions from the class all together and interacting with one another like guests on a TV talk show.
a.k.a. Pyramid Discussion
Basic Structure: Students begin in pairs, responding to a discussion question only with a single partner. After each person has had a chance to share their ideas, the pair joins another pair, creating a group of four. Pairs share their ideas with the pair they just joined. Next, groups of four join together to form groups of eight, and so on, until the whole class is joined up in one large discussion.

Variations: This structure could simply be used to share ideas on a topic, or students could be required to reach consensus every time they join up with a new group.

Whereas the other formats in this list have a distinct shape-specific activities you do with students-the strategies in this section are more like plug-ins, working discussion into other instructional activities and improving the quality and reach of existing conversations.

One of the limitations of discussion is that rich, face-to-face conversations can only happen when all parties are available, so we're limited to the time we have in class. With a tool like Voxer, those limitations disappear. Like a private voice mailbox that you set up with just one person or a group (but SOOOO much easier), Voxer allows users to have conversations at whatever time is most convenient for each participant. So a group of four students can "discuss" a topic from 3pm until bedtime-asynchronously-each member contributing whenever they have a moment, and if the teacher makes herself part of the group, she can listen in, offer feedback, or contribute her own discussion points. Voxer is also invaluable for collaborating on projects and for having one-on-one discussions with students, parents, and your own colleagues. Like many other educators, Peter DeWitt took a while to really understand the potential of Voxer, but in this EdWeek piece, he explains what turned him around.

A backchannel is a conversation that happens right alongside another activity. The first time I saw a backchannel in action was at my first unconference: While those of us in the audience listened to presenters and watched a few short video clips, a separate screen was up beside the main screen, projecting something called TodaysMeet (update: TodaysMeet has shut down. Use YoTeach! instead.) It looked a lot like those chat rooms from back in the day, basically a blank screen where people would contribute a few lines of text, the lines stacking up one after the other, no other bells or whistles. Anyone in the room could participate in this conversation on their phone, laptop, or tablet, asking questions, offering commentary, and sharing links to related resources without ever interrupting the flow of the presentations. This kind of tool allows for a completely silent discussion, one that doesn't have to move at a super-fast pace, and it gives students who may be reluctant to speak up or who process their thoughts more slowly a chance to fully contribute. For a deeper discussion of how this kind of tool can be used, read this thoughtful overview of using backchannel discussions in the classroom by Edutopia's Beth Holland.
a.k.a. Accountable Talk
Talk moves are sentence frames we supply to our students that help them express ideas and interact with one another in respectful, academically appropriate ways. From kindergarten all the way through college, students can benefit from explicit instruction in the skills of summarizing another person's argument before presenting an alternate view, asking clarifying questions, and expressing agreement or partial agreement with the stance of another participant. Talk moves can be incorporated into any of the other discussion formats listed here.

Whole Brain Teaching is a set of teaching and classroom management methods that has grown in popularity over the past 10 years. One of WBT's foundational techniques is Teach-OK, a peer teaching strategy that begins with the teacher spending a few minutes introducing a concept to the class. Next, the teacher says Teach!, the class responds with Okay!, and pairs of students take turns re-teaching the concept to each other. It's a bit like think-pair-share, but it's faster-paced, it focuses more on re-teaching than general sharing, and students are encouraged to use gestures to animate their discussion. Although WBT is most popular in elementary schools, this featured video shows the creator of WBT, Chris Biffle, using it quite successfully with college students. I have also used Teach-OK with college students, and most of my students said they were happy for a change from the sit-and-listen they were used to in college classrooms.

An oldie but a goodie, think-pair-share can be used any time you want to plug interactivity into a lesson: Simply have students think about their response to a question, form a pair with another person, discuss their response, then share it with the larger group. Because I feel this strategy has so many uses and can be way more powerful than we give it credit for, I devoted a whole post to think-pair-share; everything you need to know about it is right there.

TWO MORE YOU'LL LOVE

Since writing this post, I have learned about two more discussion strategies that teachers are finding to be incredibly effective and powerful for getting students to talk, especially about books and other texts:

This protocol has students come up with their own Thoughts, lingering Questions, and Epiphanies from an assigned reading. Teachers who have used this method say it has generated some of the richest conversations they have ever heard from students!

This strategy places students into one-on-one conversations, getting them to learn each others' names better and create a track record of what they talked about. Excellent for classes where you want to assess for discussion and help students get more comfortable with each other.

So what else do you have? I would like to think this is a pretty complete list, but I'm sure more strategies are out there. If you use a discussion strategy that's not mentioned here, please share it below.

Come back for more.
Join our mailing list and get weekly tips, tools, and inspiration that will make your teaching more effective and fun. You'll get access to our members-only library of free downloads, including 20 Ways to Cut Your Grading Time in Half, the e-booklet that has helped thousands of teachers save time on grading. Over 50,000 teachers have already joined-come on in.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Big List of Class Discussion Strategies

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Here they are: 15 formats for structuring a class discussion to make it more engaging, more organized, more equitable, and more academically challenging.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Banned Books Week is an annual event that highlights the value of free and open access to information.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Inclusive Schools: Family Survey for Teachers - Family Equality

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Understanding a student's family structure is key to creating safe and inclusive schools, and an easy way to start is by sending out a survey!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Introduction

Prior to contact with Europeans the area now recognized as Oregon was the homeland of diverse native peoples. The descendants of those people, and native people from throughout the United States continue to live and thrive here. The richness of these cultures enriches history and nourishes all Oregonians. Developing an understanding of the diverse lifeways of today's native people and the legacy of our nation's growth offers all people the opportunity to develop a shared future.

Historically, American Indian/Alaska Native Education is a rocky path. Many factors contribute to the Academic Achievement Gap that exists between American Indian/Alaska Native learners and their peers. Whether native students are dropping out, or stepping out, the result is the same, low employment rates, depressed economic development in Indian Country, separatism, and poverty. Our students need to leave high school with the knowledge and skills to succeed in careers, higher education, business, and life. The path is clear, we need teachers who are culturally competent to work with native students and impart to non-natives respect for the deep cultural roots of the US. It will take all of us working together at every level to ensure true equity in our schools.

In September 2017, ODE's Office of Accountability, Research, and Information Services prepared the American Indian/Alaska Native Students in Oregon: A Review of Key Indicators report, updated in March 2020, to further conversations about improving outcomes for Oregon's American Indian student population.

The native population is about 1.4% of the total population in Oregon. American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) and Hawaiian Native students are potentially in every classroom and every district. Oregon is a national leader in adopting a comprehensive plan developed by native education leaders. The AI/AN Education State Plan aligns to the strategic goals and key efforts of the Oregon Department of Education. The 2015 plan focuses on eleven (11) educational objectives with accompanying strategies and measureable outcomes.

The Oregon Department of Education promotes active tribal communication through the Indian Education Advisor to the Deputy Superintendent. Executive Order 96-30 was issued by the Governor of the State of Oregon in 1996, it established State Government-to-Government Relations with the nine (9) federally recognized Tribes in Oregon. The purpose of the formal relationship was to improve services and develop avenues for consultation. Under EO 96-30 the Government to Government Education Cluster was established. The Indian Education Advisor meets at least quarterly with the Government-to-Government Education Cluster to create and monitor the annual work plan; to exchange information on issues impacting tribes and schools; to review and establish policy positions with tribes; to receive questions and requests for data, share research and information; to maintain active communication with all aspects of the educational enterprise, participating entities include the Chief Education Office, the Higher Education Coordinating Commission, the Teachers Standards & Practices Commission, and the Oregon Student Access Commission.

Part C Title VI of the "Every Student Succeeds Act" (ESSA) of 2015 details the national expectations to provide a quality education for American Indian, Alaska and Hawaiian Native students. There are federal grant programs to 1) support the efforts of local educational agencies to meet the culturally related educational needs of native students so such students can meet academic standards; 2) ensure that students gain knowledge and understanding of Native communities, languages, tribal histories, traditions and cultures, and 3) to ensure that school staff who serve native students have the ability to provide culturally appropriate and effective instruction

Office of Indian Education Updates

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Prior to contact with Europeans the area now recognized as Oregon was the homeland of diverse native peoples. The descendants of those people, and native people from throughout the United States continue to live and thrive here. The richness of these cultures enriches history and nourishes all Oregonians.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Acknowledging or celebrating holidays in early childhood programs can bring pleasure to many families, staff, and children and can be useful in building connections between school and families. However, holidays also pose a range of challenges to ensuring that all children, families, and staff feel respected and to children learning about diversity of families. Whether or not to include any holidays in your curriculum, and what activities to use if you do, requires thoughtful decision making.

In this blog, by the authors of the current as well as the upcoming second edition of Anti-Bias Education for Young Children and Ourselves, Louise Derman-Sparks and Julie Olsen Edward lay out some principles about how programs and teachers can think about holidays in their classrooms. Catherine Goins, who worked with Louise and Julie on the second edition, and Julie Bisson's book Celebrate! An Anti-Bias Guide to Including Holidays in Early Childhood Programs, have contributed to the authors' thinking.--Editors

Specific holidays and religious observances are not universal

All cultures commemorate beliefs, historical events, and people significant to the culture through special celebrations and holidays from daily work. These differ from each other. In almost all early childhood settings, the beliefs and traditions of some families may differ from those of others. Even within groups that honor the same holiday, how individual families celebrate will reflect both similarities and differences. Yet, conflicting celebrations may also have common ground. Knowing the purpose and worldview underlying a holiday will help you make decisions about what role, if any, you want that holiday to play in your program.

Secularized or commercialized versions of holidays are not culturally or religiously neutral

Both the NAEYC Code of Ethics and the anti-bias education approach make respecting family diversity a cornerstone of quality early childhood programs. Honoring the cultural diversity among the families you serve means recognizing that all have the right to their traditions and that the ECE program does not favor one category of families over another.

Arguing that it is okay for a program to celebrate a dominant culture religious holiday, on the rationale that the props and activities connected to the holiday are "not specifically religious, but just fun" and therefore okay for everyone (e.g., Christmas trees, Santa Claus, cards, and gift giving, or Easter bunnies and egg hunts), does not respect cultural and religious diversity. Instead, it lifts up one group's holidays above others. Regardless of how commercially advertised or widespread these secular approaches may be, they are grounded in specific religious and cultural assumptions. Even some Christian families see these as pagan appropriations that trivialize one of their two most important holy days of the year. For the many families of other faiths, the activities are inseparable from the underlying meaning of the religious rituals themselves (after all, a Christmas tree is still a Christmas tree, and the Easter bunny is the Easter bunny). Other kinds of designated holidays often included in early childhood program activities may be based on beliefs or practices that negate some families. For example, Mother's Day and Father's Day, in the traditional narrative, recognize only one type of family. Yet, most early childhood education programs now serve a wide range of families, many of which have configurations that differ from the one mother and one father family structure. And all dominant culture holidays reflect a particular perspective about historic events and particular groups of people who are admired and those who are erased.

So what is a teacher to do? Are there ways to acknowledge holidays, to have celebrations, to honor families that are respectful in a highly diverse world? The answer is yes. Here are some key ideas.

Emphasize children learning about each other's family holidays, rather than celebrating them

Celebrating a holiday engages children in holiday activities as full-fledged participants, on the assumption that their families believe in the holiday's purpose and meaning. Learning about a holiday means teaching children about what the holiday means to different people and about the many different ways those families who honor the holiday celebrate it. Teaching about a holiday requires that teachers make very clear that the class can enjoy learning about each other's holidays while holding to their own family's beliefs and traditions. Celebrating a particular holiday is appropriate in faith-based programs or in programs in which the holiday is truly lived by every family in the program. Even then, it's important to clarify that within any belief system, different families celebrate in different ways.

Respect all families' holiday traditions and their specific ways of celebrating-or not celebrating

It is hurtful to children and families to impose celebrating of the holidays of one group on all the children and staff, or to make the holiday traditions of some groups visible while others are invisible. Respecting the cultural diversity among the families you serve means recognizing that all have the right to their traditions. This does not mean that you must teach about every holiday your families practice. It does mean that you make choices that do not disrespect or leave out any family.

Pay attention to the language you use in holiday activities

This is an important element in children learning about, rather than celebrating, a holiday grounded in a specific faith or celebrating a historic event. This is especially necessary in publicly funded programs where religious teaching is not allowed by law. Your language choices also support or undercut the concept of religious diversity and each family's freedom of choice. The challenge is to choose words that focus on the history of the special day and that also make clear the diversity of beliefs. These are topics that require clarifying conversations.

Consider creating unique class or school celebrations

In addition to, or instead of, celebrating the holidays observed by children's families, some teachers create their own celebrations for various parts of the school year. This approach makes it possible for every child to participate in shared special days with the rest of the class. They also can build school-family connections and community within a program. Celebrations can be respectful-for example, "Honoring Our Families" get-togethers; "Thanking the People Who Make Our School Work" (cook, janitor, bus driver, etc.) days; or occasions for "Recognizing Family and Neighborhood Heroes."

Celebrations can also be whimsical and playful-for example, "Bring Books Alive Day" (making and wearing costumes from books, eating foods from favorite books, acting out favorite stories); "Pajama Day" (wearing pjs and slippers to school, telling bedtime stories, sharing family bedtime rituals); or "Backwards Day" (wearing clothes backwards, doing things in reverse order of an ordinary day). They can also be used to mark the passing of the year with an annual end-of-year picnic or potluck dinner. Some schools also have graduation ceremonies or "You're Off to Kindergarten" parties for children transitioning out of the programs.

Help children understand when a staff member or child cannot participate

Teaching respect for diversity includes helping children understand that families have different ways of acting, and these may not be the same as the behaviors in their own family. This is certainly true regarding holiday practices. Consider the following holiday examples:

A mother brings a special lunch to school for her child's birthday. She does not realize it is Ramadan, when observant adult Muslims fast between dawn and dusk. She is upset when Edward, a student teacher, doesn't eat anything. She complains to the head teacher that both her and her daughter's feelings were hurt. The head teacher explains Edward's right to practice fasting. She also tells Edward that the child was puzzled by his not eating the special lunch. Edward makes sure to talk with the child that the next day. He explains why he hadn't eaten and assures the child that he is happy for her birthday.

Here is an incident where a student teacher allows her personal feelings to undercut a basic practice of the Jewish holiday of Passover.

The kindergarten has spent a few days learning about Passover. During a discussion of the Seder ceremony, the teacher explains the meaning and tradition behind matzo. Esther, one of the Jewish children, states that she cannot eat leavened bread during the whole week of Passover. The next day a birthday celebration for another child includes cupcakes from the birthday child's family.

A student teacher, enjoying her cupcake, gives Esther a piece because she feels sorry about "depriving" Esther. Luckily, the teacher notices the conflicted expression on Esther's face and intervenes: "Esther, do you know that cake is made with leavened flour and that you can't eat it during Passover?" Esther nods her head. "Let's freeze your piece and you can eat it after the holiday." Esther relaxes, gives her cake to the teacher, and goes off to play. Unfortunately, the teacher had not thought to check ahead of time with Esther's family when the birthday celebration was scheduled during the Passover holiday. If she had, she might have planned with them-for example, asking if the the birthday child's family might check with Esther's family about bringing a non-leaven cookie or pastry for Esther.

Understanding the different ways people do and don't celebrate; learning accurate, respectful vocabulary about holidays; broadening children's worldview of what a holiday is-these are all wonderful, powerful learning outcomes for children about holidays. Activities that foster these objectives prepare children to live in a diverse society with respect while cherishing their own beliefs. Taking the time to thoughtfully discuss how to make respectful learning about holidays a part of your curriculum is worth the results when all children and families feel that they are cared about and belong in your program.

This blog is a part of Equity in Action, a blog series exploring the many ways early childhood educators and administrators, higher education faculty members, policymakers, advocates, and other ECE allies can bring the new Advancing Equity in Early Childhood Education position statement to life in practice and policy.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Anti-Bias Education and Holidays: Making Thoughtful Decisions

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Knowing the purpose and world view underlying a holiday will help you make decisions about what role, if any, you want that holiday to play in your program.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Empowering Educators series promotes antiracist education through resources that support educators in facilitating effective, courageous conversations about race and social justice and in learning and teaching about racism.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Mapping Racial Trauma in Schools. 898 likes · 9 talking about this. Mapping Racial Trauma in Schools keeps a current account of racialized violence enacted by teachers and students in schools in the...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
This post on Land Acknowledgements is long over-due. I promised to do it last year, but one thing after another meant I put it off. This morning (Saturday, March 9, 2019) I did a twitter thread about land acknowledgements, and am pasting that thread here. There's more to say, but I hope this is helpful.

7) Listen to Hayden King's 12) I've got links to lists of books by Native writers, here: I'd love to see ppl who do Land Acknowledgements in California say "hey everybody, 13) And, I'd love to see people in California who are doing Land Acknowledgements say "hey everybody, let's look critically at the mission projects teachers are doing..." Start by reading 19) Some of you might have taken a DNA test and in your head and heart, think that validates your family story, but it doesn't. To understand why it doesn't, read Kim Tallbear's work. Start with her article, 20) Most of the mainstream media does a terrible job reporting on Native issues. They can flail about as they've done for hundreds of years, or they can take a look at the 21) There are 22) Do you listen to podcasts as you drive, walk, or exercise? Subscribe to And 23) And give a listen to 24) One issue you could address in your land acknowledgement is mascots. There are far more than you may know. Zoom in on this
1) More and more I am seeing people in the US talk about doing a Land Acknowledgement at their meeting, conference, or event.
2) If you're wondering what a Land Acknowledgement is, it is opening remarks that say the land that the event is on is (or was) the homeland of a specific Native Nation. It is meant to create awareness.
3) At first glance, cool, right? Progressive-minded, right? They have a lot of appeal, for sure. But... that is where they can go wrong.
4) I've seen scripts that people write that a presenter/speaker can use. The use of it is well-meaning, but we all know about good intentions, right?
5) If you do one because you think you should, but that's as far as you go with it in your own thinking or what you impart to others, you're just doing it as a box-checked sort of thing that is no good.
6) If you're not mindful of what you are doing, then, you are turning a land acknowledgement into a token. It becomes an empty gesture to "honor" Native people. It becomes this century's mascot.
He makes many excellent points. Listen and share it! He's Anishinaabe.
8) If you're going to do one, you gotta do some research! If, for example, you are in Oklahoma, you might want to acknowledge one of the 39 tribal nations there today, but you know (right?) that many of them are there because of the Indian Removal Act.
9) How might you incorporate that history into your acknowledgement?'I regret it' about his reflections on a land acknowledgement he helped draft at his university.
10) Find out what the nation(s) you are naming in your acknowledgement are doing, today. Tell your audience about it. Tell them how they can support that nation's work. See? That means you have to do some research so your Land Acknowledgement is meaningful.
11) Annoying fact: lot of people think children's literature is not worthy of the same kind of study that English departments give to bks for the adult market. But you know that people want their kids to read! In your Land Acknowledgement, recommend a book by a Native writer!

14) And, wouldn't it be terrific if Land Acknowledgements in California and Alaska and Georgia included "let's think about the impact the gold rush had on Indigenous people..."
15) In other words: do some work before doing a Land Acknowledgement. Make it meaningful. Give your audience a task.
16) And when you speak those words... don't do it in a somber tone. You're not in church! When you're teaching, you don't speak in a reverent, prayer like way. Don't do it for a Land Acknowledgement, either.
17) By this point in this thread, some of you are wondering what to do. How, you might wonder, can you 'get it right' (or close to right)? Best Books ISLAND OF THE BLUE DOLPHINS is not a good book." Because it isn't.
Teaching the Truth about California Missions. 18) Most of you have a lifetime of unlearning to do. Some of you have a family story about a Native ancestor and you think that puts you in a place to say this or that about an issue, but if you don't know more than just "Native ancestor", you're probably relying on stereotypes.

'There is no DNA test to prove you're Native American' (link: https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22129554-400-there-is-no-dna-test-to-prove-youre-native-american/) Get her book, too. And follow her on Twitter. resources developed by the Native American Journalists Association. resources available from the American Indian Library Association, too: All My Relations: (link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/all-my-relations-podcast/id1454424563?mt=2) Media Indigena. Henceforward. interactive map. Note on Oct 30: the interactive map is offline for revisions.

25) And if you want to incorporate something about why mascots are unacceptable, start by reading 26) Get a copy of Daniel Heath Justice's Stephanie Fryberg's research.
WHY INDIGENOUS LITERATURES MATTER. It doesn't matter what YOU teach... we all read, buy, and share books... Daniel's book will help you a lot.

28) Make sure you read the articles there, and take a look at the teacher's guide, too! Here's the link that will take you right to theIn August, I was at the
That's it for now...
---Back to add one more tweet---

This is a great resource for doing land acknowledgements. map. Read the disclaimer that pops up when you go to the map. ---Update on Oct 30, 2019---
Indian Ed for All conference, held on the Pala homelands in California. There were several excellent presentations but my reason for doing this update today is because some of the most powerful remarks came from Dr. Joely Proudfit. She's the chair of the American Indian Studies at Cal State San Marcos, and the director of the California Indian Culture and Sovereignty Center. She said a few things about Land Acknowledgements that prompt me to add what I'm saying next.
When the acknowledgement is a "thank you" it suggests that you (the speaker) are replying to someone. Is it a specific person in a tribal nation? Or, is it Native peoples in the abstract as in no-longer-here? If it is the former, name that person. If it is the latter, reconsider saying it because it comes off as prayer-like.
When you say you're a guest on a specific nation's homeland, it implies that you were invited. Were you, in fact, invited to be there by someone of that nation?

Some people say "uninvited guest" but doesn't the word "guest" embody invited?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Are you planning to do a Land Acknowledgement?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This post on Land Acknowledgements is long over-due. I promised to do it last year, but one thing after another meant I put it off. This morning (Saturday, March 9, 2019) I did a twitter thread about land acknowledgements, and am pasting that thread here. There's more to say, but I hope this is helpful.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Journal of Critical Indigenous Anthropology | David G. Lewis, PhD

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Tribal Tongues along the Trail: American Indian Languages, Histories, Values, and Cultures Encountered by the Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery , by Joseph Scott and Crystal Boulton-Scott

Living Within the Four Base Tipi Poles of the Apsáalooke Homeland, by Shane Doyle (Apsáalooke) and Megkian Doyle

Tribal Oral Traditions and Languages in the Plains Region of the Lewis and Clark Trail, by

Traditional Native Games Along the Lewis and Clark Trail , by Shane Doyle (Apsáalooke)

Traditional Economies along the Lewis and Clark Trail: The Missouri Headwaters Before and After the Expedition , by curriculum designer Shane Doyle (Apsáalooke)

There There by Tommy Orange, the Importance of Place, and Contemporary Native American Communities, by Miriam Rock

Sacred Spaces and National Parks , by Joseph Scott and Crystal Boulton-Scott

Understanding Historical Trauma and the Relationship to Indian Education, by

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Tribal Tongues along the Trail: American Indian Languages, Histories, Values, and Cultures Encountered by the Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery , by Joseph Scott and Crystal Boulton-Scott Living Within the Four Base Tipi Poles of the Apsáalooke Homeland, by Shane Doyle (Apsáalooke) and Megkian Doyle Tribal Oral Traditions and

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Native Knowledge 360° | Search NK360° Educational Resources

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Native Knowledge 360° is the National Museum of the American Indian's national initiative to inspire and promote improvement of teaching and learning about American Indians. Discover standards-compliant, interactive teaching resources for all grade levels. Explore and search for new and timely instructionaland informational resources.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Use this form to request hard copy OPI Indian Education for All materials and curriculum.

Please type the name of the resource from the Publications Available list you wish to be sent.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
montana office of public instruction website

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Use this form to request hard copy OPI Indian Education for All materials and curriculum. Please type the name of the resource from the Publications Available list you wish to be sent.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Since Time Immemorial: Tribal Sovereignty in Washington State

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In 2015, the Legislature passed Senate Bill 5433 modifying the original 2005 legislation, now requiring the Since Time Immemorial: Tribal Sovereignty in Washington state or other tribally-developed curriculum be taught in all schools. The use of the Since Time Immemorial curriculum has been endorsed by all 29 federally recognized tribes.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Welcome to North Dakota Department of Public Instruction's Teachings Of Our Elders website. This is the home of the newly adopted North Dakota Native American Essential Understandings (NDNAEU) as well as a growing collection of Elder video interviews, lesson plans and other resources dedicated to helping Educators incorporate the NDNAEU into their classrooms and curriculum!
Download our NDNAEU Elder Quote Posters! 2019 Posters 2018 Posters 2017 Posters

Watch video above to learn about the importance of the North Dakota Native American Essential Understandings, Elder interviews and Culturally Responsive Practices in classrooms.

View the NDNAEU graphic that shows all seven of the essential understandings at a glance.

Meet some of the Elders who were involved in the writing of the North Dakota Native American Essential Understandings in this 20 minute video.

View or download the full North Dakota Native American Essential Understandings document.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Welcome to North Dakota Department of Public Instruction's Teachings Of Our Elders website. This is the home of the newly adopted North Dakota Native American Essential Understandings (NDNAEU) as well as a growing collection of Elder video interviews, lesson plans and other resources dedicated to helping Educators incorporate the NDNAEU into their classrooms and curriculum!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
California Indian Conference 2020 Digital Exhibition

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
California's land and water systems are the homelands to over 109 federally recognized tribes and many others that hold cultural-intellectual knowledge and California's history, despite large scale efforts to deracinate California of its indigenous peoples. The Central Valley homelands are stewarded by over twenty American Indian tribes.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
ISTEAM 2020 Activity Materials

These activities are designed to be used right outside your door! With your family, you can explore your relations with water, food, and plant and bird relatives. Each activity is explained in a two-page overview document which you can download or print. Some activities have extra pages that serve as worksheets to help you do the activity. If you don't have a printer, no worries! You can easily remake the worksheets on a blank piece of paper. The activities are in no particular order. Just choose the ones that you find most interesting!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
These activities are designed to be used right outside your door! With your family, you can explore your relations with water, food, and plant and bird relatives. Each activity is explained in a two-page overview document which you can download or print. Some activities have extra pages that serve as worksheets to help you do the activity.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The Lessons of Our Land Curriculum enables Pre-K through grade 12 teachers to easily incorporate Native American stories, lessons and games about land, cultures, histories and languages into regular classroom instruction. This inter-disciplinary curriculum aligns with state academic standards and is adaptable to include the history and culture of a region's Native nations. There are more than 200 lessons available that are free and easy to use in the classroom.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Lessons of Our Land Curriculum enables Pre-K through grade 12 teachers to easily incorporate Native American stories, lessons and games about land, cultures, histories and languages into regular classroom instruction. This inter-disciplinary curriculum aligns with state academic standards and is adaptable to include the history and culture of a region's Native nations.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
We are a collaborative network of educators, families, and community partners working to cultivate equitable, culturally thriving, socio-ecological systems learning and ethical decision-making using field-based science education in outdoor places, including gardens, for children in pre-kindergarten to 3rd grade and their families.

We are more aware than ever of the need to build learning environments that strive for just, sustainable, and culturally thriving communities. Learning in Places is more than a curriculum-it is a model of pedagogy that centers racial equity, ethical, evidence-based decision-making, and just relations with the natural world. We offer materials for professional development, classroom learning, outdoor learning, and family engagement. If you are a teacher, family member, teacher educator, and/or researcher, you may find something that will deepen your practice, reflection, and learning.

Our materials are free to use!
We only ask that you properly cite all materials using the suggested citations at the end of each document that you download.

Or, if you find any of the graphics or sections of the website useful for your work, please cite them using the following format: Learning in Places Collaborative (2021). [Title of page that you got the graphic or information from]. Learning in Places website. [url of the page]

The University of Washington Bothell Goodlad Institute for Educational Renewal, Northwestern University, Tilth Alliance and Seattle Public Schools have partnered for this project. Funded by a 2.9 million dollar grant from the National Science Foundation, the project builds outdoor learning spaces and draws upon local communities and green spaces at several Seattle schools while developing a robust model of equitable field-based learning for preK-3 educators to engage students and their families in complex socio-ecological reasoning and decision-making.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
We are a collaborative network of educators, families, and community partners working to cultivate equitable, culturally thriving, socio-ecological systems learning and ethical decision-making using field-based science education in outdoor places, including gardens, for children in pre-kindergarten to 3rd grade and their families.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Writer Dialect is a story game where players participate in an isolated community whose language emerges and must be protected from loss as they establish values, interact, and face challenges through modular world-building. Designed by Thorny Games with writing by Elizabeth LaPensée. Winner of the Tabletop Award at IndieCade Europe 2019.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
TED Talks Indigenous Native American & First Nations

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A mixture of Ted Talks / TedX demonstrations by or about Indigenous people, Native American tribes and First Nations.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
History/Politics
Bordewich, Fergus M. Killing The White Man's Indian; The Reinvention of Native Americans at the End of the 20th Century. New York: Anchor; 1st Anchor Books Trade Pbk. Ed edition, 1997.
Boye, Alan. Holding Stone Hands: On the Trail of the Cheyenne Exodus. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1999.
Brown, Dee. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. New York: Owl Books, 2001.
Cahn, Edgar S. and David W. Hearne. Our Brother's Keeper: The Indian in White America. Cincinnati: New Community Press, 1972.

Cornell, Stephen. The Return of the Native: American Indian Political Resurgence. New York: Oxford Press, 1998.
Deloria, Vine. Custer Died for Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1969.
Deloria, Vine Jr. and Clifford M. Lytle. American Indians, American Justice. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1983.

Deloria, Vine and David Wilkins. Tribes, Treaties, and Constitutional Tribulations. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1999.
Deloria, Vine Jr. Red Earth, White Lies: Native Americans and the Myth of Scientific Fact. Golden: Fulcrum Publishing; Reissue edition, 1997.
Denetdale, Jennifer Nez. Reclaiming Diné History: The Legacies of Navajo Chief Manuelito and Juanita. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2007.

Demos, John Putnam. The Unredeemed Captive. New York: Vintage, 1995

Dorris, Michael and Louise Erdrich. The Broken Cord: A Family's Ongoing Struggle with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. London: Harper Perennial, 1989.

Dorris, Michael. Morning Girl. New York: Hyperion, 1999.
Dunbar-Ortiz, Roxanne and Dina Gilio-Whitaker. "All the Real Indians Died Off" and 20 Other Myths about Native Americans. Boston: Beacon Press, 2016.
Echo-Hawk, Walter, R. In the Light of Justice: The Rise of Human Rights in Native America and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Golden: Fulcrum Publishing, 2013.

Echo-Hawk, Walter, R. In the Courts of the Conqueror: The 10 Worst Indian Law Cases Ever Decided. Golden: Fulcrum Publishing, 2010.

Fleming, Walter. The Complete Idiot's Guide to Native American History. Royersford: Alpha Publishing, 2003.

Howe, Craig and Kim TallBear. eds. This Stretch of the River: Lakota, Dakota, & Nakota Responses to the Lewis & Clark Expedition and Bicentennial. Rapid City: Oak Lake Writers' Society, 2006.

Johnson, Troy, ed. Contemporary Native American Political Issues. Walnut Creek: Alta Mira Press, 1999.
Limerick, Patricia Nelson. The Legacy of Conquest: The Unbroken Past of the American West. New York: W. W. Norton, 1987. Lyons, Oren. Exiled in the Land of the Free: Democracy, Indian Nations & the U.S. Constitution. Santa Fe: Clear Light Books, 1992.
Mason, Dale. Indian Gaming: Tribal Sovereignty and American Politics. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2000.

McCool, Daniel. Native Waters - Contemporary Indian Water Settlements and the Second Treaty Era. Tucson: The University of Arizona Press, 2002.

Meyer, John ed. American Indians and U.S. Politics: A Companion Reader. Westport: Praeger Paperback, 2002.

Neihardt, John. Black Elk Speak s. Lincoln: Bison Books, 2004.

O'Brien, Sharon. American Indian Tribal Governments. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1989.

O'Brien, Sharon. Roots of Resistance: Land Tenure in New Mexico, 1680-1980. Los Angeles: University of California, 1980.

O'Brien, Sharon. Indians of the Americas: Human Rights and Self-Determination. New York: Zed Books, 1984.

Prucha, Francis Paul. Documents of United State Indians. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2000.

Sale, Kirkpatrick. Conquest of Paradise. New York: Plume, 1991.

Smith, Andrea. Conquest: Sexual Violence And American Indian Genocide. Boulder: South End Press, 2005.

Stannard, David. American Holocaust: The Conquest of the New World. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992.

Sullivan, Robert. A Whale Hunt: How a Native-American Village Did What No One Thought It Could. New York: Scribner, 2002.

Weatherford, Jack. Indian Givers. New York: Ballantine Books, 1989

Wilkins, David E. and K. Tsianina Lomawaima. Uneven Ground: American Indian Sovereignty and Federal Law. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2001.

Wilkins, David E. American Indian Politics and the American Political System. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2002.

Wilkins, David E. American Indian Sovereignty and the U.S. Supreme Court: The Masking of Justice. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1997.

Wilkinson, Charles. American Indians, Time, and the Law. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1987.

Wilkinson, Charles. Blood Struggle. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2005.

Wittstock Waterman, Laura and Dick Bancroft. We Are Still Here: A Photographic History of the American Indian Movement. St. Paul: Borealis Books, 2013.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Books | First Nations Development Institute

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The staff members of First Nations Development Institute have compiled a list of what they consider to be essential reading for anyone interested in the Native American experience. Certain entries on the list are boldfaced, indicating that the employees of First Nations consider them to be "a goo...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Treaties-solemn agreements between sovereign nations-lie at the heart of the relationship between Indian Nations and the United States. Native Nations made treaties with one another long before Europeans came to the Western Hemisphere. The United States began making treaties with Native Peoples because they were independent nations. Often broken, sometimes coerced, treaties still define mutual obligations between the United States and Indian Nations. The treaties featured in Nation to Nation: Treaties Between the United States and American Indian Nations, on loan from the National Archives and Records Administration, are representative of the approximately 374 that were ratified between the United States and Native Nations.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Nation to Nation | Treaties Between the United States and American Indian Nations

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Nation to Nation: Treaties between the United States and American Indian Nations exhibition at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, DC. Treaties-solemn agreements between sovereign nations-lie at the heart of the relationship between Indian Nations and the United States.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The Ways

Tag: First Nations

Tag: Grades 6-12

The Ways is a collection of language and culture stories from Native communities around the central Great Lakes that explores traditional ways and those of today. The series supports educators in meeting the requirements of Wisconsin Act 31.

Learning Goals

Discover

Expand knowledge and understanding of contemporary Wisconsin's First Nations cultures and languages in the Great Lakes region.

Identify & apply

Describe the role of language, tradition and culture in Wisconsin First Nations identities and communities.

Stories

Partners

Quotation

The Ways has been an invaluable resource as we continue to share culturally accurate, relevant, and contemporary information about Native people with non-Natives in and out of classrooms.

Robin Amado

School Librarian, Vel Phillips Memorial High School

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Ways is a collection of language and culture stories from Native communities around the central Great Lakes that explores traditional ways and those of today. The series supports educators in meeting the requirements of Wisconsin Act 31.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This case describes the recent Tribal Compact School movement in Washington State which aims to address persistent issues in the educational experiences of Native students. The case explores the rationale for tribal compact schools and other educational initiatives in Washington and the experience of three tribes--- the Suquamish, the Muckleshoot, and the Lummi Tribes---that have established tribal compact schools.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Photo by Robert Alexander/Getty Images.

Don't even think about calling anyone/anything your spirit animal.

The most exciting stories on the internet.

Natives have been so cancelled out of the American conversation that people don't even know where to begin to include us. "What do we call you? ... American Indian? Native American? Do you guys still live in tipis?" These questions are still asked today-and they will continue to be asked unless we put together some kind of list, a collection of do's and don'ts, and share it widely... Wait. Hang on a tick. What do we have here?

November is Native American Heritage Month, when the U.S. is supposed to celebrate Natives and our contributions to the world. In recognition of the season, let's start with 100 ways you and yours can be allies toward the Indigenous peoples of this continent-our ancestral land.

2. Stop saying say there are "too many chiefs and not enough Indians."

3. If somebody says, "My great grandma was a Cherokee princess," ask them who the king and queen were. (FYI: There's no such thing as a Cherokee king, queen, princess, etc.)

4. No, just because you say your great, great, great grandma was allegedly Cherokee does not permit you to wear a headdress. In fact: Unless you are a Native who has earned the right to wear one, don't wear headdresses. Ever.

6. Change the narrative on "Indian givers." We aren't the ones who reneged on agreements.

7. Never use the word "squaw." It's profane. It comes from the Algonquin word "shunksqaw," which means "woman." White men truncated it to describe what they desired in order to objectify Native women. So please stop using it.

8. Not every Native can/does ride a horse. Don't assume we do just because Hollywood, more often than not, has us pulling up on a horse rather than a Honda.

9. And, no, we don't live in tipis. Please stop asking. Also, please stop purchasing those cheap, fake fucking tipis at Target for your kids.

10. Do not speak with smug entitlement on issues that affect Native communities just because you claim to be a quarter Indian or whatever. For example, do not tell a Native that racist mascots aren't racist because you are allegedly Cherokee and you, yourself, don't find them offensive. Instead, listen to us when we tell you what is and what isn't offensive.

12. Do not tag your Indigenous friends in all the racist, triggering content you come across. If a post includes redface, nasty caricatures, or even the acerbic Twitter troll attacking Natives, it's most likely offensive.

13. Also, quit telling us to "get over it." Too often when we bring up the Trail of Tears or Wounded Knee Massacre, for example, we're berated-"It's in the past. Move on, already!" Yet when it's a massacre of predominantly white people it's, "We will always remember," or, "We will never forget." Why do we have to "get over it" when you get to "always remember"?

14. Share Native voices. Please and thank you.

15. Expose your children to as many Indigenous activities as you can. The more children are exposed to the truth of a people, the less they will be affected by stereotypes.

16. Don't allow schools to dress your kid up as an Indian. Playing Indian is always racist, and. my traditional regalia is not a costume.

18. Don't correct the way people choose to identify. Native American, Indian, American Indian, Indigenous, or our tribal names-it's our choice.

20. Use your privilege and platform to speak out regularly against the oppression of Natives. Create and empower more allies to do the same. For example, if you have a following or are in a position of authority, use it to illuminate issues in Indian country, and most certainly, maybe most importantly, pass the flippin' mic to a Native.

22. If you invite Native elders into your spaces, treat them with the respect that we do. Let them eat first, let them have your seat, listen to them. They are not props.

24. Even if you have a friend who says he or she doesn't have a problem with a racist slur, it doesn't make the racist slur any less of a racist slur. Remind your friend that their sentiments toward a slur does not change its definition.

25. Recognize that DNA does not equate to culture. Ancestry.com and 23andMe, for example, are in the business of biotechnology, not culture. Culture is the community, not your spit.

26. You can't look at someone and "see" if they are Native or not.

27. Don't vote for politicians who support oppressive policies and agendas.

28. Help elect and vote for Native candidates on the ballot. We need more representation at all levels of government-from local to state to national.

29. Stand up to your racist uncle/aunt/parents/grandparents when they use anti-Native slurs.

31. Speak out against Columbus Day. Columbus was a murderer and a rapist who set into motion one of the world's worst genocides.

32. Don't dress up as an Indian on Halloween. If you see a non-Native person playing Indian, i.e. wearing "war paint" and donning a faux-feather headdress, ask the person, "Would you dress up as an Indian in a room full of Indians? Then why would you think it's OK any other time?"

33. Push for inclusion of Native American history in schools, especially the histories of local tribes.

34. Every racial diversity list, like the ones your company uses to tout its inclusivity, that excludes Natives is an incomplete diversity list. When this happens, speak up; ask them why Natives have been excluded-and maybe why none have been hired.

35. Know how many tribes and nations are in your state and what tribes and nations are local to your specific area. Learn about them. You're on their land.

37. Speaking of, don't visit a reservation for one week/one month/one year and assume you know everything about the struggles and problems of the people that live there all the time.

38. Don't come to powwows and touch anyone's regalia or take photos without asking.

39. Stop buying "sage wands" at grocery stores. Sage, for traditional purposes, is not to be purchased. Sage, or "smudging," as we call it, is meant to bless and cleanse a person or place. Purchasing some hippie sage wand diminishes its sacred meaning.

40. None of our medicines are to be sold for profit. Please don't purchase any and call out those who attempt to sell them.

41. I know it's tempting, but even if your grandma told you so (or you just got your 23AndMe results back), if you are distantly related to someone who was Native, we don't immediately need to know.

42. Read books by Indigenous writers like Vine Deloria Jr., Louise Erdrich, and N. Scott Momaday. Please don't read fiction by white authors and think you know anything about Native culture.

43. Stop using (and stop your friends from using) the Bering Strait Theory to justify aggressive land theft. This theory (emphasis on theory) suggests Natives crossed a land bridge, but the latest research continues to debunk this antiquated theory.

44. When someone says, "America is a land of immigrants," for fuck's sake, inform them that America is a land of immigrants...and Indigenous peoples and slaves who were brought here against their will.

45. Remind your friends/family/foes that English is a foreign language. Lakota, Ojibwe, Diné, Cherokee, Choctaw, Osage, etc. are the languages of the land. English is from where? Yep. England.

46. Stop touching our hair if it's long. Stop questioning our hair if it's short.

47. Stop referring to early Europeans as "pilgrims" and "settlers." They were invaders, colonizers, and terrorists.

48. Please do not dictate, talk over, or suppress actual Indigenous voices during an important dialogue on Native issues and topics.

49. Your western university degree does not always equal factual knowledge about us, nor does your settler professor have authority in our oral histories. Our elders do.

50. You don't have to travel to another continent to find oppression. Ask a Native.

51. Understand that not all Natives agree on all subjects, just as white people don't.

52. Be a good listener-put your ego aside.

53. If you're a fellow person of color, let's not play the "oppression Olympics." Just because we inform people that Natives, per capita, are more likely to die at the hands of police than any other demographic that is not us playing "oppression Olympics." It's a fact that should be included in the discussion of discrimination.

54. Understand that "Native American" is a very generalized term. Each and every tribe has their own customs and ways.

55. Your family hasn't "always fought for this country" or owned your family farm. You're on stolen land.

56. We are not defined by our blood quantum. Although separate, sovereign tribal nations determine who is and isn't a part of their nation/tribe based on a person's traceable family and lineage, blood quantum is a colonial construct. Today, non-Natives use the one-drop rule (a small percentage of Indigenous blood) to claim Indigenous heritage. One day, people didn't even want to be around us. Now, they desperately claim to be us. Weird.

57. If someone (most often, white people) tries to charge you to participate in a "Native American ceremony," don't go! Also, call them out. There's never an entry fee to attend our ceremonies. Ever.

58. Type in #NativeTwitter. This hashtag is where you can find Native users, perspectives, events, and so on.

60. Quit assuming I'm not a real Native because I live in a fucking house. I like electricity and WiFi, too.

61. Look for and hang out at your local Indian center. There's one in Los Angeles, Denver, Chicago, New York City, Minneapolis...this list goes on! You may learn a thing or two. When you show up, be humble, learn, and just listen. An elder once told me: The Creator gave you two ears and one mouth for a reason.

62. Please do not claim to be Native just to get a job or scholarship. That's fucked up.

63. Don't say "Native American culture." There are hundreds of tribes, each with unique cultures, languages, foods, ceremonies, etc. Not all Native tribes and nations are the same.

64. Don't even think about calling anyone/anything your spirit animal.

65. Don't tell me what I should be honored by. Let me tell you how to honor me.

67. Don't assume we go to college for free. A Native can't simply walk into Harvard, say, "Hi! I'm a Native American," and get a free ride. Just ask my credit report.

68. Before you make jokey comments about jock stereotypes, recognize that privileged prep-school, East Coast white boys did not invent lacrosse. The Iroquois did.

69. Hire. More. Natives!

70. Are you a student? A professor? When applicable, advocate for or add more Native content, voices, etc. to your syllabi.

71. Not all Natives are rich from casinos. (Again: I'm in so much debt.)

72. Don't claim Cherokee if the Cherokee don't claim you.

73. Don't say "circle the wagons." That's racist. Natives weren't the threat-land- and gold-horny white people were.

74. Dear journalists, stop saying that the Orlando Nightclub Shooting is the "worst massacre in U.S. history." Look up the Wounded Knee Massacre, Bear River Massacre, Sand Creek Massacre, etc. Headlines should not come at the expense of history.

76. No, Native Americans are not all drunks. Jeezus. Please stop assuming that.

77. Folks always want to come to a Native community to "learn our ways." I'm like, "It would be much more helpful if you just check your people." But if you do visit a reservation, don't go for self-enlightenment. Go because you genuinely want to learn something.

78. No, you cannot give yourself a "spirit name" at a summer camp. Please stop that.

80. On that note, painting stripes on your face doesn't make it "war paint." Stop doing that and saying that.

81. Don't ask me why I'm studying my Indigenous ancestral language instead of Spanish or Chinese or whatever. I study my peoples' language because it was once outlawed, and yep, I have the right to study whatever I want.

82. Avoid big banks, like Wells Fargo and Chase, that bankroll environmentally destructive oil and gas developments and also violate Native treaty rights. Support your local public banking effort to prevent money going to these colossal institutions. Divest!

83. Not every smoking pipe is a peace pipe, so let's take "peace pipe" out of your vocabulary.

84. Yes, we pay taxes. State and federal. Please don't assume we live tax-free.

85. You're not "part Indian." You either are, or you are not.

86. Not all Natives practice their people's spirituality. Some are Christian, Jewish, Buddhist. Some are agnostic, atheist. Please don't assume all Natives are spiritual and believe in a deity or spirits.

87. Going camping with your pals whilst pounding booze in Patagonia jackets isn't a "vision quest." Please just go camping. No need to call it a "vision quest."

88. There are Indigenous people in the U.S. There are Indigenous people in Mexico. There are Indigenous people in Canada. Natives did not approve of the white man's borders creating the three countries that make up this continent. Remember that.

89. Heteronormativity and archetypal gender roles are post-colonial. Homosexuality is considered medicine in many Native communities. Look up "two-spirit."

90. I don't want to hear about how you watched a PBS special, have you question me about it, and then pretend you know more than me. I am walking, breathing, and living this life.

92. Natives, per capita, serve in the U.S. military more than any other racial demographic. Just a fact allies should know.

93. Stop using the words, "tribes," "tribe," and "tribalism" as hip words for interest groups or groups of shared interest. This usage undermines the political, legal and social unique status of tribes.

96. Peyote is not recreational, it's medicinal, it's spiritual, and no, we can't just give you some.

97. No, we don't all commune with animals. I cannot even get my fucking dog to sit. Please stop asking.

98. If you can help it, please stop asking us if we can date "outside of our race." Yes, we are allowed to date anyone we want, but we also realize we are the smallest racial minority in our ancestral land, and many of us do feel an obligation to make more Native babies. #NativeBabies

For More Stories Like This, Sign Up for Our Newsletter

100. The title of this list could also be, "100 Basic Ways to be a Decent Human." So, please just be a decent human being. Don't be an ass.

Simon Moya-Smith is a citizen of the Oglala Lakota Nation and Chicano writer and reporter. His new book, Your Spirit Animal Is a Jackass, will be available in 2019. Follow him on Twitter @SimonMoyaSmith.

ORIGINAL REPORTING ON EVERYTHING THAT MATTERS IN YOUR INBOX.

By signing up, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy & to receive electronic communications from Vice Media Group, which may include marketing promotions, advertisements and sponsored content.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How to Be an Ally to Native and Indigenous People

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Photo by Robert Alexander/Getty Images. Don't even think about calling anyone/anything your spirit animal. The most exciting stories on the internet. Natives have been so cancelled out of the American conversation that people don't even know where to begin to include us. "What do we call you? ... American Indian?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
We are halfway through our presentation at a conference. Participants are buzzing about the simulation they just experienced and asking procedural questions, sharing their responses and reactions. Then the inevitable happens. Someone asks, "How do you handle your students feeling guilt or shame? I don't want to make my students feel bad." We freeze. We look at each other. Our response? "We're afraid they won't feel bad."

We need our students to feel something because students will not truly understand or even engage with the dynamics at play unless they have an emotional involvement-including discomfort. In fact, discomfort is often where learning begins. It is good for our students to wrestle with it, especially those who live with great privilege. Beyond that, our simulations are never about assigning individual blame. They are about recognizing and experiencing (briefly, temporarily, and minutely) the systemic effects of privilege. Without that realization, students will be allowed to think that oppression is disconnected from them or someone else's problem.

The simulation in question is our pom-pom activity. We created it to attempt to simulate the dynamics of cyclical wealth and power and disrupt students' belief that poor people just need to work harder in order to no longer be poor. As co-teachers at a progressive private school in Washington, DC, we tried to teach with a social justice lens in all of our curriculum. This means we continually questioned whose voice is/is not heard, or who is advantaged/disadvantaged by institutions and systems. This means that when we taught economics, we explicitly addressed cyclical poverty, wealth, and oppression, and investigated who is (and who is not) valued in economic systems. The simulation we created was one of the most dynamic learning experiences we have ever had with fifth graders. Before we explain it, however, a few words of caution.

First, while we love when students have fun, that was not the intention of this activity. In fact, many of our students did not find this experience "fun," instead feeling a mixture of anger, guilt, and shame. Secondly, this simulation was woven within an explicit instructional framework and should not be taught in a "constructivist" way. Cyclical poverty is a real concept that we can define-we do not want students to leave this experience with fuzzy understandings of that. We did not just toss the simulation into our day but planned meticulously for this experience with explicit pre- and post-reflections. Lastly, students' misconceptions and questions should never be left floating in the air after this simulation as they need multiple ways throughout the curriculum to think through their experience, make connections, and receive feedback. Without these caveats, we fear (and know) that the simulation and others like it will be used as an "exciting" experience that students are left to sort out by themselves. This explicit instruction also helps make the information accessible for all of our students.

The Simulation
There are three rounds to the pom-pom simulation. Round One consists of collecting as many differently sized and colored pom-poms as they can in two minutes. Pom-poms, of course, represent wealth and power. There is a catch, however. Students receive slips of paper with "assignments" on them with instructions for how they can gather pom poms (e.g., You can use both of your hands, but you may not move your feet at all). Only two people are allowed to use their hands and move around as they typically would. We also caution all students that if you touch or bump another body, you lose pom-poms. This is a safety requirement but also makes it harder for those already limited by their instructions.

After setting up the simulation and answering questions, we start a timer and tell them to go. Once pom-pom collection is over, we put students into three groups based on the number of pom-poms they collected: Group 1 includes a few students (out of 26 total) who have "great wealth and power," Group 2 has another few students who have "some wealth and power," and Group 3 is everyone else with "little wealth and power." For debriefing, we ask students to move to different areas of the room for each group to discuss Round 1. Group 1 moves to the biggest, most comfortable area. Group 2 moves to a smaller but still comfortable area. Group 3 is corralled into an uncomfortable corner of the room. Students are typically very engaged in the debrief, animatedly talking about how the process was "not fair" and how they deserved another chance. Group 3 students often loudly complain about the instructions they had, saying things like, "I could only use my two pointer fingers behind my back!" or "This is not fair-why are we all smushed back here?" As they air their grievances, we say, "We hear you complaining that Round One was not fair, so we will give you another chance in Round Two."

Round Two consists of making "baskets" of crumpled up balls of paper with each group using different color paper. We tell the third group with little wealth and power that they will have an advantage in the next round due to their large number of members. Every time one member of the group makes a "basket," each member of the group will earn another pom-pom. There are cheers when this is announced, but the celebration is short lived as we show each group where they have to stand to shoot. Group 1 is in front and Group 2 is behind them, and Group 3 is in the back of the room. Naturally, Group 1 makes many baskets, while Group 2 and 3 rarely make any. During this round, we witness some very creative teamwork, as well as enterprising blocking tactics. After Round 2 ends, we tend to hear more frustration about how "unfair" the whole situation was and many requests for a new "fair" round. "We couldn't even see the baskets. And Group 1 blocked our shots! They already have so many pom-poms." "It was basically impossible. I don't even know why we tried."

We move onto Round 3 during which each group gets to decide what they think is a "fair" system to distribute all of the pom-poms. We give them five minutes to discuss with their group and come up with a system they support. Each group must choose a spokesperson to present their plan to the class with one minute to make a pitch for their group's plan. What students do not know until voting happens is that voting is weighted (Group 1 members get five votes each, Group 2 gets two each, and Group gets a half vote each) to represent the influence that wealth confers. When students see the unequal voting power, Group 3 is livid. They planned on winning the vote by virtue of their large number of people. Group 1 is pleased as they planned on retaining their "wealth and power" and now had the votes to do so. When we voted, Group 1's proposal got the most votes after calculating the weighting. The other students were frustrated. Group 1 was pleased-they had started out trying to think of a "fair" system, but soon realized "it doesn't say it has to be fair." They also were influenced by two members who repeatedly said, "Stay wealthy! We should keep our power!"

The Debrief
At this point, we stopped the simulation for a debrief. First, we asked students to verbally share their reactions and feelings, limiting them to one comment per person and giving them time to reflect.

When I first saw the amounts each group got, it made me feel like the people in the third group were being treated like they aren't humans... ½ a vote. ½ human! Half not real. Not seen. When the people with more wealth get so many more votes, it feels like just because they have more, they also should get more of everything always. We are the people working the hardest, but we can't get the things they have that we want and need. (Student from Group 3)

I do agree with [student's name] that it wasn't fair. But our group was trying to make it so that we would still be at the top of the ladder, so it wouldn't be as fair-you had to be strategic and life isn't always fair. (Student from Group 1)

Once everyone shared, we reminded students that this was a simulation and therefore not the same as actually experiencing poverty, discrimination, etc. We do not suddenly understand how others in these situations feel because we did an activity about pom-poms. This reminder is essential to avoid trivializing or minimizing oppression or injustice as most people (whether they are fifth grader or adults) find having perspective difficult when they are frustrated. After this, we asked them to make connections to real life-both in the debrief discussion and later as a homework reflection. 1 A sample of their responses is included below.
[T]hough the law says everyone can vote, there are examples in history when our voting wasn't fair. Even now, some people can't vote because they don't have access to it. I think that was an accurate representation of those with more or less power because there are less super wealthy people then super unwealthy people but if someone super wealthy says they are doing something it might sway other people to do the same. I think an example is endorsements during the election. I used to think that if you work hard you can get wealth but now, I think there is more to it. I think this because If you are born without wealth you will have a disadvantage and you will be stuck behind someone who started with a lot of resources and wealth.
We wrote this simulation as an antidote to the idea that people experiencing poverty should just "work hard" and in hopes of simulating the experiences and effects of privilege (or not having privilege), but students have made connections to ableism, racism, sexism, classism, politics, and more in their written reflections.

Considerations
For teachers considering using simulations like this as a strategy for social justice education in "elite" settings, we recommend the following essential elements:

Simulations should be long enough for students to feel emotions/responses genuinely (e.g., guilty for watching friends in an "unfair" situation or frustrated and ready to give up). Even after an hour, students will report that a simulation was "endless," "unbearable," and "went on forever."

Simulations must have an explicit, real world analog.2 Our pom-pom simulation occurs in the midst of our economics unit, after we teach students about the distribution of wealth in the United States. They often think of other applications on their own, especially as we continue to learn more economic systems.

Try to have multiple rounds so that students can feel and observe the cyclical, repetitive, and defeating nature of the experience. If it is too short, it will just be a funny or odd activity and easily shrugged off. Multiple rounds also give students the possibility of redemption or "fresh start," so they often react with frustration when they thought it was finally going to be fair but is the same dynamics all over again.

Debrief is key. Start with feelings and observations, move to reflection and connections, and end with identifying how your thinking has changed and next steps. Without a debrief, the students simply played a game or did an activity, so the application must be explicit!

We have students share out orally immediately after the simulation about how they felt and what choices they made. Every student is given a chance to speak. Students are allowed to pass, and we encourage them to add to the discussion instead of repeating. We have them journal immediately after this share to get out their thoughts and reactions and complete a question sheet for homework. The sharing out, discussing, and journaling take at least thirty minutes and we usually have to cut the discussion short (or at least pause it until the next class).

Make sure to add a disclaimer that it is a simulation that only lasted an hour or so and is NOT the same as the actual experience. If this is not our lived reality, we cannot fully understand how others who are actually in the situation feel.

Simulations are critical teaching tools to make learning relevant, personal, tangible, and felt. We become numb to stories of injustice or misfortune that happen to others and report sadness or outrage, but soon move on. When we experience an injustice, even in small ways, those emotions stay with us far longer. When students have an experience like this, they use these feelings as prior knowledge that can be activated when confronted with new vocabulary and complex content. In addition, everyone (including children) already has preconceived ideas: people are poor because they are lazy, racism was "fixed" by Martin Luther King, only bad people believe stereotypes, etc. Once we have established these "facts," it is very hard to change our minds about things we already "know." Experiencing something that disproves our preconceived notions is key because it forces us to acknowledge what we think we know, and it shows how it is not necessarily true. It also demonstrates to our students the ways in which they can grapple with some of the more unequal or unjust aspects of our society.
Sometimes, understanding concepts in our world like this might feel bad-and we won't avoid that. Concepts like oppression or cyclical wealth are painful. It does feel bad. But this is teaching, and this is learning. And one thing the students consistently see in this experience is that their learning is vast and connected to the actual world around them-and that their learning and voices matter.
​
______________________________
Interview with Gabby Arca and Nina Sethi

Katy: What was your philosophy as a teaching team?

Gabby: What Nina and I did really well was that "one-two-punch": you know you're loved and supported-- and you will be challenged and near tears and you're going to write in your journal "I can't stand my teachers" right now and then we'll be there for you two seconds later when you come in from recess after a fight with your friend. It's not a constant either/or-it's a both/and. You are challenged because you are cared for.

Nina: It takes time. Someone might be upset in the moment. Hopefully, later on-you may not hear about it-it sinks in. We were very transparent about what we were doing-if you walked into our classroom, it was very obvious. Being two women of color, people did not like certain things and sent us emails-such a wonderfully passive aggressive tool to throw a compliment in there but CC the head of school! When push comes to shove, we've had administrators back us up. We would often invite parents to come in and talk to us-while they were super uncomfortable, they knew we shared facts. One of my favorites was when a mom came in because her white son said that she was racist and she was crying. She clearly wanted us to reassure her, but we said, "It sounds like you were." A year later, she told me she had learned a lot from her son being in our class and tries to incorporate what she learned into her Sunday school. I appreciated that. It took her awhile and I'm sure it was painful for her son to call her racist.

Gabby: You also can't deny when dynamic learning is happening-a classroom has a buzz. We built a reputation, families that expressed their appreciation and kids who loved us, and we had the administration's backing. I think a lot of that was the power of two of us. What private schools need to do is put two teachers of color together. That setup gives safety, support, and power that you can't beat. We also understood this is one way to make change-we have access to super wealthy white people. The parents won't listen to us or talk to us, but we had access to their babies. And their babies loved us, and we got them thinking and asking questions-and they will listen to their kid who brings home really important questions. Then when that mom came in swinging that finger, crying, saying her kid called her racist-usually that feels really terrible as a teacher, but reframing those moments as successes because that's what they really are. That, in combination with what I call "speaking it into existence." We'd say, "Thank you so much for being in this work." Even if they weren't, they would pretend because that's part of whiteness and we know that and would use it. Also, Nina was especially good at framing our tough content as "rigorous," which was totally factual. Talking about the world around us and thinking critically is higher level work and there's nothing private school families love more than their kid doing something their friends' kids aren't doing.

Nina: Just make it about the kids. "Your student asked a really great question and I gave him facts about his question that he was curious about."

Gabby: We'd also be sincerely excited for the kids and say, "Gosh, our generation doesn't know how to talk about these things" and parents would agree, and we'd talk about how proud we were that their kids could.

Nina: I've had some success referring to our mission. It requires a lot of patience and I reserve my patience for children.

Gabby: We would retreat to our rooms sometime, which is not a solution, but when you walk through the hallway and encounter multiple microaggressions-we're saving our patience and we want to keep our job and the world is the world on top of that, so it's hard to always find the right words. In my experience, white people need the exact right words in the exact right tone. It can take a lot to be heard, even when you're trying to be supportive. People could come to our room literally any time, but rarely did-I struggled with that feeling of that diversity eye-roll vibe. At conferences is when I would feel most valued-when people would say "This is really great" and saw how complicated and important this type of education is. It requires two women of color, who have been in a range of spaces and studied a great deal with degrees from "elite" institutions who know a lot of layers about a lot of things-quality social justice education requires a lot for us to pull these things together and make it work.

Katy: What dimensions of anti-oppressive education were especially tough to tackle?

Nina: At well-meaning white liberal progressive schools there is a lot of "Don't say that-we don't want to hurt anyone's feelings," but that's not why we don't use that language. Dehumanizing someone debases all of us and lowers our collective humanity. Wealth and inequality also dehumanize people. The reason we wrote the simulation is because we had students who would talk about poor people and say, "They're poor because they don't work hard." They're fifth graders, so they're just repeating what they hear their parents say. And we're like, "Okay, that's one opinion." We never directly said, "Your dad is wrong." We would say, "Why don't we try this and see what we all think?" And then students could reflect on their own. A lot came from our students' questions. In terms of what was difficult, talking about disability-we did our best, but I always felt like that the kids were still very concrete about it.

Gabby: Disability is so complex. We really wanted to avoid the pity or overcomer narratives and struggled to find the way to do so successfully. One of our good friends was in a wheelchair (she passed away in 2019, we love you Anne Thomas!) and she told our students that she would not have liked it if people held the door for her. Wealth took some guts. That first year we had a few Black kids in our class and almost all were very wealthy. We thought of those kiddos and families first and how they wanted to present and be. The dynamics of looking at the wealth gap was really important because white kids would be confused: "Race means people don't have money, but my friend here is rolling in it!" The other thing that was hard, but we were both jazzed about, is that the justice lens we have is incessant. It would be the choices we were making on a rolling basis, both of us figuring out how we were going to pull a book or write a simulation because we heard a kid say something. We missed stuff, for sure, but it was incessant.

Katy: Talk to me about assessment, or how you calibrated when to push harder or pull back.

Nina: We always had written reflections. Sometimes they got something wrong because they're ten and made a connection that doesn't make sense, so we would clear that up. Other times, students would say, "I don't want to learn about this anymore-it's too painful." Depending on who they are, we would take that different ways. And some kids just aren't there yet-they can't make the connections yet because they're so concrete. That's okay.

Gabby: Sometimes we had to connect the dots for them because it was too important to leave hanging. Another way we would know it was working is when we would hear them start correcting each other, gently and kindly, taking on certain language. We would look at each other and think, "That kid really gets humanity." And then we had drawings and writing reflections in case they didn't want to share what they were thinking with the whole group. It's kind of "spidey" sense subtle, watching your kids having reactions to things. It's truly listening to your kids.

Katy: A common question is if you're teaching them racism or homophobia because they wouldn't otherwise know about it. What's your response to that line of thinking?

Nina: That feels like if we hide under the bed, then nothing exists.

Gabby: One thing that is really sincere with both of us is that we respect kids as brilliant thinkers. That question is disrespectful to kids. Time and time again, our students said what they liked about our teaching was that we treated them as real people who got to learn about the world. It doesn't mean throw everything at them-but it does mean respect how thoughtful they can be. We definitely got parent complaints that we were "scaring" kids, which we had to debunk and work through and honor all at the same time. But the kids were savvy. They already knew at ten how to be avoidant of race. Sometimes we would prompt them, and they would act like they don't know-especially in a progressive crowd of kids. They actually do know, and they've learned from adults so they're doing a level of pivoting that's pretty impressive. Regardless, they need the vocabulary, the frameworks, and the time to make connections with this content. They live on Earth.

Katy: What messages did you give kids about their obligations?

Nina: We ended the year with a storytelling unit where kids would perform their stories and we would talk about the importance of using your voice, about how some of our voices are heard more than others and what obligation that leaves us with.

Gabby: Some of the pushback we would get, especially in our conversations around race, was parents saying, "My kid comes home and thinks everything is their fault. You guys did this to them." One thing we would be explicit about is that they are ten. It wasn't removing this sense of obligation to be a good human, which was a non-negotiable in our room. They got that you have a voice, but so does everyone else-all of us are speaking up for humanity when and how we can. We didn't nail the obligation piece because we had too many kids who were so loving that they would have thought, "I must wake up at 6am and cry about this every morning!" And that isn't their weight to carry in that way. They didn't start racism, so our work is to work against it-but it is not you.

Katy: Were you explicit with kids about transitioning to places where that baseline expectation isn't there?

Gabby: We would talk about it as them having dissonance-noticing what didn't match. A lot of them had dissonance from classroom to home, which was tricky. I struggled with how confusing that would be for some of our kids. We felt for them. People can spiral down being annoyed or frustrated with parents and it's really not effective. We tried to just celebrate how awesome the kid was being so they'll expand their realities through their engagement and critical thinking. Their life is going to be swimming in these different spaces and they just got this huge dose of Women-of-Color-Education-Land intensely for a year. We can't make every connection for them as they move on-we have to trust that the intensive year gave them something and they're going to connect to it and build. There were hard moments. Every year I've ever taught, a kid has said the "n" word at least once and it's so disappointing. We were good keeping in mind that they are ten years old, but there were still moments of treating them like a full human. I remember having to tell a kid that they hurt my feelings: "I'm shattered inside by what you did, and I need a moment before we can talk through this." Maybe that's crummy but remembering they're ten and celebrating them and then owning how you've hurt someone.

Katy: Is that the flip side of respecting them?

Gabby: Yes. But I can't imagine a teacher having said that to me! But that's the learning. If I took that away from them, they miss it. We respect them enough-we want them to have the whole learning process.

Nina: That's what we're fighting against. If, at the end of the day, everything is okay for you-well, it may for you, but what about everyone else?

Gabby: In my house, we say, "It's not me versus you-it's us versus the problem."

Katy: Whenever I visit private schools, someone pulls me aside and says, "I care about social justice. I shouldn't work here." Have you ever felt that way?

Nina: Before I worked at Sheridan, I taught in public schools. I know not all public schools are the same, but I felt like I was hurting children due to high stakes tests and inappropriate tasks. We weren't encouraged to talk about race, even though the city was really segregated. I wanted to work at a progressive school and the most progressive ones are private. We have a lot more flexibility and freedom. I think about how I'm teaching kids who have access to power and it's really important that they know about these systems of oppression. So many public school teachers are doing so many amazing things-just the constraints of the system really got me down. Know what's best for you and be kind to yourself-so many teachers aren't, and they burn out.

Gabby: If you understand systemic oppression, there is such an opportunity for change in terms of having access to folks in the top 1% during such formative years. It's powerful and you can't deny that. Beyond that, creating a space that inundated these messages-even in the best public school, I can't imagine having that freedom. I will also say, we applied to different jobs every year. And we were not in the minority-we have other friends of color who worked at private schools and we all talked to get a pulse on where you can be treated well. We know our value and then we know what mission statements are trendy at private schools-we're well-educated women of color.

Nina: Every day at Sheridan I'm reminded that representation matters. I was explaining it was okay to say "Indian American" and how I call myself Asian American and how Asians are the majority of the world. We had a student who was East Asian adopted by white parents and the next week I heard her say, "I'm Asian American" for the first time. No one had ever modeled that you could say that because everyone she knows is white.
​
Gabby: And the modeling-that intimacy. We love these kids. We love them to pieces. They knew, the families knew. That's what kept us afloat even when it was hard. For me, the narrative so often goes around the white kids when we talk about this. But there are other kiddos in those rooms and I think we always thought of them first. It was really powerful for us and for them that we were there for them. They also deserve women of color teachers who love them fiercely and can give them the tools they need as they navigate the world so they can value themselves and self-advocate and all of that. A lot of times it sounds like "we're talking about private schools, we're talking about white kids," but so much of the fight is for them.

Gabby Arca is currently the Special Education teacher at a bilingual public elementary school in Oregon. She's passionate about supporting all kids in being their best selves, and in honing their voice for themselves and others.

Nina Sethi is currently a 3rd grade teacher, the Co-Teaching Faciliator, and a faculty facilitator of a Students of Color affinity group at an independent school. Learn more about Nina & Gabby's work at teachpluralism.squarespace.com and @teachpluralism.

REFERENCES
Jones, S. (2020). Ending curriculum violence. Teaching Tolerance, 64. https://www.tolerance.org/magazine/spring-2020/ending-curriculum-violence

1 The discussion prompts included the following questions: Why were some people given more votes than others? Was this an accurate representation of those with more or less power in the world? What examples can you think of where this might play out in the world? The homework was to respond to the following prompt: "I used to think ___, but now I think ___."

2 Editors' note: This point Gabby and Nina make about analogs with real world applications is crucial. We do not recommend engaging students in simulations that directly replicate injustice (e.g., holding a mock slave auction). Also, be careful never to assign students roles because of their real-world identities so as not to retraumatize or tokenize them. See Stephanie Jones' (2020) work on curriculum violence for more on this.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Teaching for Social Justice at the Elementary Level

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
We are halfway through our presentation at a conference. Participants are buzzing about the simulation they just experienced and asking procedural questions, sharing their responses and reactions. Then the inevitable happens. Someone asks, "How do you handle your students feeling guilt or shame? I don't want to make my students feel bad."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The Oregon Department of Education recognizes that student health and safety are the cornerstone of education and that all students are entitled to a high-quality educational experience, free from discrimination or harassment based on perceived race, color, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, or national origin, and without fear or hatred, racism or violence. All staff and leaders are also entitled to work in environments that are free from discrimination or harassment, and visitors should be able to participate in school activities without fear for their safety. The Every Student Belongs rule is an important step in creating safe and inclusive school climates where all who participate in our school communities feel welcome.

The Every Student Belongs rule prohibits hate symbols, specifically three of the most recognizable symbols of hate in the U.S.-the swastika (outside of a religious context), the Confederate flag, and the noose. The temporary rule takes effect on September 18, 2020. It requires districts to adopt and implement policies and procedures that prohibit the use or display of the noose, swastika, or confederate flag in any program or school-sponsored activity except where used in teaching curricula that are aligned with the Oregon State Standards by January 1, 2021.

If you have any questions about the rules or the information linked here, please email us.

Documents related to this rule are being updated based on the passing of the permanent rule on February 18, 2021 and as the title "All Students Belong" changed to "Every Student Belongs" based on community feedback. The translated versions of two immediately relevant documents will be available soon (a new letter from ODE Director Colt Gill and Communications toolkit). Because other resources are being actively rewritten to correspond with the permanent rule and community feedback, they will be translated upon completion, available in English and other languages on a similar timeline.

اللغة العربية (Arabic) | 繁體中文 (Traditional Chinese) | Русский (Russian) | Af Soomaali (Somali) | Español (Spanish) | Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)

Back to Mental Health and Well-being Home Page

Other Resources

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Oregon Department of Education recognizes that student health and safety are the cornerstone of education and that all students are entitled to a high-quality educational experience, free from discrimination or harassment based on perceived race, color, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, or national origin, and without fear or hatred, racism or violence.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Native American/ Indigenous Peoples Resources

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Only 1% of the children's books published in the U.S. in 2016 featured Indigenous characters, and even fewer (1/4 of the 1% = 8 books total) were written by Indigenous authors.

"Most of what kids see in books today are best sellers & classics that stereotype & misrepresent Native people in history. There's a lot of bias in them. The books that I recommend are ones that can counter that bias in several ways. One, they're not stereotypical. Two, most of them are set in the present day, which is important in countering what we see in a lot of children's & young adult literature, which says that we vanished, we didn't make it to the present day, and of course we did." -Debbie Reese, Nambe Pueblo, of American Indians in Children's Literature

Indigenous people are very much a part of today's society. With their stories, Indigenous writers share the range of their lives, past and present, and we hope that you'll embrace and share their stories. This list of 14 recommended children's books by Indigenous writers and illustrators was curated by The Conscious Kid Library and American Indians in Children's Literature, in partnership with Brooklyn Children's Museum.

Little you
little wonder Little wish
gentle thunder You are mighty
you are small

You are ours
after all

Sweetest Kulu by Celina Kalluk, illustrated by Alexandria Neonakis: A lyrical lullaby imbued with traditional Inuit beliefs, this bedtime poem written by internationally acclaimed Inuit throat singer Celina Kalluk describes the gifts bestowed upon a newborn baby by all the animals of the Arctic. Lyrically and lovingly written, this visually stunning book is infused with the Inuit values of love and respect for the land and its animal inhabitants. Ages 3-7.

Hiawatha and the Peacemaker by Robbie Robertson, illustrated by David Shannon: Born of Mohawk and Cayuga descent, musical icon Robbie Robertson learned the story of Hiawatha and his spiritual guide, the Peacemaker, as part of the Iroquois oral tradition. Now he shares the same gift of storytelling with a new generation. Hiawatha was a strong Mohawk who was chosen to translate the Peacemaker's message of unity for the five warring Iroquois nations during the 14th century. This message not only succeeded in uniting the tribes but also forever changed how the Iroquois governed themselves - a blueprint for democracy that would later inspire the authors of the U.S. Constitution. Ages 5-10.

Sharing Our World: Animals of the Native Northwest Coast: The images and text in this book are the work of First Nations and Native artists from communities throughout the Pacific Northwest. Through their art and words, each artist has shared the importance of their personal and cultural relationship to the natural world. Cultural meanings are provided from the Nuxalk, Namgis, Coast Salish, Kwakwaka'wakw, Haisla, Heiltsuk, Haida, Bella Bella, Tsimshian, Kwa Na Ki Nulth and Nuchatlaht Nations. "We have a spiritual connection with all that dwell in our natural surroundings. Our beliefs, based on our ancient traditions, guide us to live in balance with the wildlife that we share this land with." - T.J. Young, Kaigani, Haida. Ages 3-7.

When I Was Eight by Christy Jordan-Fenton and Margaret Pokiak-Fenton, illustrated by Gabrielle Grimard: Olemaun is eight and knows a lot of things. But she does not know how to read. Ignoring her father's warnings, she travels far from her Arctic home to the outsiders' school to learn. The nuns at the school call her Margaret. They cut off her long hair and force her to do menial chores, but she remains undaunted. Her tenacity draws the attention of a black-cloaked nun who tries to break her spirit at every turn. But the young girl is more determined than ever to learn how to read. Based on the true story of Margaret Pokiak-Fenton, and complemented by stunning illustrations, When I Was Eight is a young readers version of the bestselling memoir, Fatty Legs. Now young readers can meet this remarkable girl who reminds us what power we hold when we can read. Ages 6-8.

"We Sang You Home" illustration by Julie Flett

Saltypie: A Choctaw Journey From Darkness Into Light by Tim Tingle, illustrated by Karen Clarkson:In this powerful family saga, author Tim Tingle tells the story of his family's move from Oklahoma Choctaw country to Pasadena, TX. Spanning 50 years, Saltypie describes the problems encountered by his Choctaw grandmother - from her orphan days at an Indian boarding school to hardships encountered in her new home on the Gulf Coast. Tingle says, "Stories of modern Indian families rarely grace the printed page. Long before I began writing, I knew this story must be told." Seen through the innocent eyes of a young boy, Saltypie is the story of one family's efforts to honor the past while struggling to gain a foothold in modern America. Ages 6-10.

Jingle Dancer by Cynthia Leitich Smith, illustrated by Cornelius Van Wright and Ying-Hwa Hu: The affirming story of how a contemporary Native girl turns to her family and community to help her dance find a voice.Jenna loves the tradition of jingle dancing that has been shared by generations of women in her family, and she hopes to dance at the next powwow. But she has a problem - how will her dress sing if it has no jingles? The cone-shaped jingles sewn to Grandma Wolfe's dress sing t ink, tink, tink, tink. Jenna's heart beats to the brum, brum, brum, brum of the powwow drum as she daydreams about the clinking song of her grandma's jingle dancing. Ages 4-8.

Dragonfly Kites by Tomson Highway, illustrated by Julie Flett: Joe and Cody, two young Cree brothers, along with their parents and their little dog Ootsie, are spending the summer by one of the hundreds of lakes in northern Manitoba. Summer means a chance to explore the world and make friends with an array of creatures, but what Joe and Cody like doing best of all is flying dragonfly kites. Off soar the dragonflies into the summer sky and off race the brothers and Ootsie too, chasing after their dragonfly kites through trees and meadows and down to the beach before watching them disappear into the night sky. In their dreams, Joe and Cody soar through the skies with their kites until it's time to wake up. Tomson Highway brilliantly evokes the very essence of childhood as he weaves a deceptively simple story about the power of the imagination. Dragonfly Kites has a bilingual text, written in English and Cree. Ages 4-7.

The Conscious Kid Library is an education, research, and policy organization dedicated to reducing bias and promoting positive identity development in young children. They promote access to diverse children's books that center underrepresented and oppressed groups. www.theconsciouskid.org

American Indians in Children's Literature (AICL) provides critical perspectives and analysis of indigenous peoples in children's and young adult books, the school curriculum, popular culture, and society. https://americanindiansinchildrensliterature.blogspot.com

Brooklyn Children's Museum(BCM) works to ensure that all children have access to cultural learning opportunities that build empathy, encourage creative thought and problem solving, and inspire global citizenship. BCM believes in the power of culture to help children and families find comfort, resilience and stimulation. All books featured in the #IndigenousReads list support BCM's commitment to cultural learning and will be available to read during story time at the museum throughout November. www.brooklynkids.org

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
#IndigenousReads by Indigenous Writers: A Children's Reading List

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Only 1% of the children's books published in the U.S. in 2016 featured Indigenous characters, and even fewer (1/4 of the 1% = 8 books total) were written by Indigenous authors. "Most of what kids see...