Educator Toolkit for Indigenous People’s Day

Last year, we worked with council member at-large Helena Moreno to make Indigenous People’s Day an official city holiday in New Orleans. This was a first step in land acknowledgement, but now we must do the work to continue to decolonize our minds, ways, and classrooms!

For Indigenous People’s Day 2022, we have created this special toolkit for New Orleans educators to use to teach their students about indigenous peoples. We hope you can utilize these resources to create culturally-relevant and respectful learning experiences that both honor and center indigenous people.

Tips and things to think about when Teaching Indigenous People’s Day

Here are a couple of articles to read that talk about the importance of centering indigenous people in the classroom:

Teaching and learning about land acknowledgement

One of our strongest, most ancient connections is to our oldest ancestor: the land. Land is sacred to all of us, whether we consciously appreciate it or not — it is the space upon which we play, live, eat, find love, and experience life. Native Land is a platform that maps who the original stewards of the land were in order to bring an awareness to the lived history of Indigenous peoples and nations.

Native Land has also designed and created a teachers guide for using their interactive maps. It includes detailed instructions on how to use Native Land, as well as exercises for use by teachers of different levels, from kids to adults. The guide also discusses the pros and cons of the map itself, the importance of learning more about colonialism, and provides resources for teachers to learn more.

Access the Native Land Teacher’s Guide Here!

Ready-to-teach curriculum and lesson plans

We know how hard our teachers work, so we gathered some ready-to-teach pre-written lessons for you to use in your classrooms! These lessons focus on students learning more about Indigenous people’s day and honoring indigenous people. You’ll see them organized by different grade levels below:

Whose Land? – K-5 edition – Teach students about the land they are learning on by viewing and creating original land acknowledgements.

Tribal First Foods: American Indian first foods, legends, and traditional ecological knowledge along the route of the Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery – Designed for early elementary school students, this exploration of first foods goes beyond just the study of plants and animals that were crucial to the dietary needs of tribes. It offers a deep and sacred understanding of self and place and how these things shaped indigenous societies.

Good Fire – Designed for upper elementary students, this is a compilation of science and culture lessons that build into a larger understanding of how fire suppression has been used as a tool of colonization. Fire suppression policy and practice has prevented indigenous people from using prescribed fire as a tool in traditional resource management and has contributed to the disruption of traditional foodways. Applying fire to the land in a mindful and good way enhances habitat, increases food production, and helps address the impacts of global climate change.

Whose Land? – Grade 6-9 Edition – Teach students about the land they are learning on by viewing and creating original land acknowledgements.

Introduction to Indigenous Peoples Day – This reading gives students an understanding of why Indigenous People’s Day has replaced Columbus Day. 

Discovering Columbus – This article is ripe for discussion and focuses on re-reading the past and learning why textbooks have not told the whole story. 

The people v. ColumbusIn this role play students will confront who — and/or what — was responsible for this genocide of the Taíno people in the years after 1492.

Whose Land? – Grade 10-12 Edition – Teach students about the land they are learning on by viewing and creating original land acknowledgements.

Introduction to Indigenous Peoples Day – This reading gives students an understanding of why Indigenous People’s Day has replaced Columbus Day.

Discovering Columbus – This article is ripe for discussion and focuses on re-reading the past and learning why textbooks have not told the whole story.

The people v. Columbus – In this role play students will confront who — and/or what — was responsible for this genocide of the Taíno people in the years after 1492.

Columbus day or Indigenous People’s Day? – This lesson, designed by the ADL, provides an opportunity for students to learn more about why some cities and states have renamed Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day and consider their own points of view on the topic by engaging in a writing project to express their perspective.

Land and Native American Cultures – This kit introduces students to the use of land in Native American communities through three case studies: the Hopi of Arizona; the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian of Alaska; and the Aymara and Quechua of Bolivia and Peru. It includes an extensive teacher/student guide with narrative, photographs, resource listing, and activity questions.

“Survivance” and the Native American Civil Rights Movement, Late 1960s–Present – This unit seeks to answer the questions: what is “survivance,” and how do we define “survivance” as a culture? Have recent Native American Civil Rights gains or losses had an impact on current Native American rights?