In the United States, November is recognized as Native American Heritage Month. We still have a very long way to go in recognizing and responding to the treatment of Indigenous people in this country, and making sure we all find ways to give our students opportunities to learn about and celebrate the many Indigenous peoples and their cultures is one very small but critical step for us to take. Navigating how to do so respectfully and appropriately can be difficult, and I am very much still learning how to do that myself. My hope is that this post will point other elementary music teachers in the right direction to continue to do better.
1. Resources from culture bearers
One of the most difficult parts of this learning journey for me has been finding accurate and authentic resources from culture-bearers with materials that are appropriate for me, as a non-native person, to share in my classroom. Here is a collection of my favorite resources that I have found so far:
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2. Current musicians
One key to making sure students understand that indigenous peoples and their cultures are very much alive, active, and modern is to introduce them to current musicians from a broad range of genres. Here is a list of some of my favorite contemporary Native American musicians, along with a song from each that is age-appropriate and engaging for elementary school:
3. Songs and lessons
If you're struggling to figure out what is appropriate for you to use in your classroom, here are a few songs that I've been told are appropriate for me to teach my students to serve as examples. I encourage you as always to seek out local culture bearers to get specific and direct insight from them on what might be best for you to use in your classroom!
I hope this gives you some helpful resources and ideas for recognizing Native American Heritage Month in your classroom! For general advice on how and why to incorporate heritage months in the elementary music classroom, you can head to this post. For ideas and resources to recognize other heritage months, including Black History Month, Hispanic Heritage Month, and more, check out this post.
