Instructify

November is National American Indian Heritage Month and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian offers a wealth of resources for K-12 teachers who want to help their students learn more about American Indian history and culture.  In addition to discovering the museum and its many resources, educators who visit the museum’s website can view two engaging online exhibits, find lesson plans, and download PDFs of several different educational publications.

In the online exhibition Fritz Scholder: Indian/Not Indian,  students can learn about native artist Fritz Scholder, a member of the Luiseño tribe, and view several of his works and commentary about him, and consider his significance in the history of native art.  There is also a podcast available describing Scholder’s work.

In the online exhibit Native Words, Native Warriors, students can learn about the experiences of native code talkers in World War I and World War II.  Students can read the text of this exhibit themselves or listen to audio while viewing compelling image and teachers can access a lesson plan for grades 6 to 12 focused on the exhibit.  The lesson plan includes a list of resources for teachers that will lead you to numerous websites on the code talkers, on various kinds of codes and ciphers, and on American Indian languages.

In the museum website’s Education section,  a collection of print resources offers teachers PDF files that can be used to support a field trip visit to the museum as well as PDF versions of several publications and educational posters that can be used in the classroom even if you are not fortunate enough to be able to visit the museum in Washington D.C.  Of particular interest this month are the teaching poster (which also includes a detailed guide for educators) American Indian Perspectives on Thanksgiving, aimed at students in grades 4 through 8, and the study guide Harvest Ceremony: Beyond the Thanksgiving Myth, which includes detailed information about the Wampanoag people, the first Thanksgiving, the importance of corn as a native crop, and a recipe for Johnny cakes that you could make with your students

For another detailed collection of resources, you may want to also visit the National Register of Historic Places feature on National American Indian Heritage Month from the National Park Service. -KATHRYN WALBERT

National Museum of the American Indian

National American Indian Heritage Month