Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 35, Number 9, 1 September 2018 — Teacher-in-residence helps expand native knowledge [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Teacher-in-residence helps expand native knowledge

HO'ONAAUAO EDUCATION

By Treena Shapiro \ative Americans played significant roles in the making of Ameiiea, but often only basic information filters into textbooks, with little mention of the struggles that persist today because of colonization, says Kamehameha Schools kumu Kēhau Glassco. Glassco recently retumed from Washington D.C., where she spent the summer as teacher-in-residence at the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI). As part of the museum's Native Knowledge 360° initiative, Glassco's residency involved working with museum education staff to

create social studies units aimed at providing teachers an authentic curriculum about Native people, from the perspective of Native people. "There's so mueh more to Native people that is not being taught," Glassco says. Education could add context to issues like the Dakota Access Pipeline eontroversy, the importance of buffalo and the plight of Native Americans in the Paeihe Northwest who

are fighting for the right to fish salmon because the rivers have been dammed. "I think the units build empathy and eompassion. When there are contemporary events happening, students will understand why the Nativepeople arefighting so hard," saidGlassco. "That's what we need today. We need aloha."

In Hawai'i, learning about Hawaiian history and culture is a requirement - although that doesn't prevent incomplete and false narratives from being taught. On the continent.

Hawaiian history is often distilled to a paragraph, while the history of Native peoples across the nation doesn't adequately address the impacts of eolonization. Glassco, a secondary social studies teacher, brought a culture-based perspective to NMAI: "This is what makes me unique, I have this culturebased education background. I also teach in a school for Hawaiians. I felt like that was a lens I wanted to bring to the educational units the museum was creating."

Glassco concentrated on four units of the Native Knowledge 360° online curriculum - two on the Pacific Northwest and two on the Northern Plains. Developed using an inquiry design model, the units encourage students to investigate and use documents to develop their own arguments. "Through these units.

students will understand the connection the Native people have to their land, culturally and spiritually. Everything they need comes from the land." The curriculum addresses

> Manifest Destiny and the treaties between America f and Native nations that r were created and broken. I "It gets the students to understand that the Native leaders were trying to work with America - here are the documents that have been created." As a requirement of her residency, Glassco

will offer professional development for teachers across the state this spring to show them how the units ean complement what students are learning. At Kamehameha, students learn about their identity as Hawaiians. But many Native students across the country don't gain the

confidence that comes from learning about their own people's history. "These units allow the Native students of the Pacific Northwest and Northern Plains to learn about them-

selves, their own ancestors," Gssco explains. Even teachers who have no Native students in their classes ean find connections to teach their students, she says. While at the Smithsonian, Glassco took time for her own enrichment and was particularly moved by the National Museum of African Ameriean History. "'America was great for who?' I was thinking about while I was there," Glassco recalls. "We need to have aloha. We need to have compassion for all people." Glassco's research allowed her to use the Library of Congress, where she held one of the first Hawaiian bibles ever printed. The library's collection also houses one of the earliest Hawaiian spelling books, and treaties made with the United States. Glassco even found genealogy books for her husband's family and scanned the two volumes full of rich history to bring home. "It's so amazing when I think of all the things in Washington, D.C., so far away from Hawai'i," she notes. NMAI is unique, every aspect of the museum was done with the consultation of Native cultural specialists of various tribes and the l- belief that all artifacts have mana, Glassco explains. The museum has a cultural resource center and

a ceremonial room that Native people ean use when they visit. One of the museum's four cardinal boulders comes from Hawai'i Island - Glassco bathed it with Hawaiian salt water, left a ti-leaf lei and offered an oli (chant). "We want our people to know about Kane pō, so they ean also visit and touch the pōhaku," she says. Some of the cultural objects at the Smithsonian should be returned, says Glassco. "There are a lot of Hawaiian artifacts that they have there that should be brought home. I talked to some of the people at the American history museum. They're moving toward repatriation and are a lot more open to bringing back things to where they belong." Explore the Native Knowledge 360° resources at http://www.nmai.si.edu/nk360. ■

Kamehameha Schools Kumu Kēhau Glassco spent the summer in Washington, D.C., as teacher-in-residence for the Nalional Museum of the American lndian's Native Knowledge 360Q initiative. - Photos: Courtesy ofKome ■ hameha Schools

The Native Knowledge 360Q initiative is creating social studies units to provide teachers wilh aulhenlie curriculum Ihal includes Native perspectives.

This is what makes me unique. I have this background. I teach in a school for Hawaiians. I felt like that was a thing I wanted to put ahead." — Kēhau Glassco, Kamehameha Schools kumu