Teachers at the Shelter Island School developed a Native American curriculum to enhance student understanding of indigenous people who lived here for millennia before the arrival of Europeans and whose descendants remain integral members of our East End community.
The Board of Educational unanimously adopted the proposal at its monthly meeting on Monday.
Social Studies teachers Sean Brennan and Peter Miedema prepared a presentation for the school board. Brennan explained that the New York State Education Department provides a framework for the grade K to 12 Social Studies curriculum that has been updated to “reflect a better understanding of some topics including Native Americans.”
The presentation included those aspects of Native American history that are already included in lessons at Shelter Island School, such as field trips to Sylvester Manor Educational Farm and non-fiction writing assignments like teacher Natalie Regan’s 1st Grade Native American dwelling project, among others.
They recommended that an elective course be added at the secondary level and also that more information about Native American history and culture be folded into the K to 12 curriculum. And not just in the area of Social Studies, but through expanded virtual and in-person field trips and targeted curation of reading selections, among other ideas.
Among the samples of reading selections for primary grades are Louise Erdich’s “The Birchbark House”, Tim Tingle’s “How I Became a Ghost: A Choctaw Trail of Tears Story”, and Celina Kalluk’s “Sweetest Kulu.” Suggestions for additional texts for secondary ELA and independent reading include: “New Poets of Native Nations,” edited by Heidi J. Erdich, “There, There” by Tommy Orange, and graphic novels like “Tales of the Mighty Code Talkers,” edited by Arigon Starr.
(Editor’s Note: If you are interested in reading these books, you can use your Shelter Island Public Library card to check them out on Live-brary.com. )
Native American elective for older students
A new secondary level Social Studies elective would cover Native American history on Shelter Island, on Long Island, and throughout the United States.
“This class could begin to provide students with the necessary time to understand the contributions of Native Americans,” Brennan said.
Throughout the grade levels, the teachers said, the school can expand its connections to local organizations such as the Shelter Island Historical Society and Sylvester Manor, to further student understanding of Native American history and culture.
Among the other entities mentioned were the Garvies Point Museum and Preserve in Glen Cove, the National Museum of the American Indian in Manhattan, the Southold Indian Museum in Southold, and the the National Museum of the American Indian at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, DC, which offers free virtual field trips.
Board member Tracy McCarthy, who is operations director at Sylvester Manor, encouraged the curriculum team to also reach out to the Shinnecock Nation, which is headquartered in Southampton, and other local Native American groups.
Brennan said that while details about the Shinnecock were not included in the public presentation, such content will be part of the elective course.
McCarthy noted that additional opportunities exist to educate the wider school community about the historical contributions of Native Americans and their continued presence as our neighbors. Given that so much of the Shinnecock history is preserved in oral traditions, rather than in written documents, she suggested inviting members to visit the school and possibly conduct workshops to share information about their cultural practices.
As a result of long-simmering concerns (and under growing pressure from the state), the school board voted last summer voted to drop “Indians” as the name for Shelter Island sports teams in favor of “Islanders.” At the time, many speakers, including McCarthy and others on both sides of the issue, encouraged the school district to expand educational resources pertaining to Native American history and culture.
The adoption of the new curriculum is another step in addressing the pre- and early-Colonial history of the indigenous people of the East End and the continued cultural role of their descendants. Jennifer Rylott, the district’s Director of Pupil Personnel, Data & Instruction, said the curriculum is a living document that will be modified over time.
