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Dustin Luca
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SALEM, MASS. – Salem State University’s Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies is hosting two powerful opportunities for area educators to develop their skills around teaching indigenous history, with a pair of workshops later this month for area elementary and high school teachers.
The two events, day-long workshops scheduled for March 19 and 27, are designed to help teachers center Indigenous voices and perspectives into lessons around colonial history. They’re a continuation of the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies’ efforts to provide professional development opportunities centered on teaching themes of genocide and human rights in elementary and high school classrooms.
“The 2021 Genocide Education Act directs educators to engage difficult topics around human rights and genocide,” said Chris Mauriello, director of the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies. “These workshops bring together scholars and educational experts with elementary, middle school and high school teachers for an intensive and interactive learning experience that will translate directly into first-rate curriculum design and teaching for the Commonwealth’s students.”
The first day, scheduled for Thursday, March 19, is a workshop for middle and high school teachers titled Topics in Indigenous History from Precontact to the Present Day. It will feature Brady DeSanti, a citizen of the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Nation, associate professor of Religious Studies and Native American Studies at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, and director of the Native American Studies program at the school. He’ll be joined by Kristofer Ray, a visiting associate professor of Indigenous American History at the College of the Holy Cross.
The second day, scheduled for Friday, March 27, is a workshop for elementary school teachers titled Centering Indigenous Voices in Early American History. It will feature Linda Coombs, a member of the Aquinnah Wampanoag Tribe on Martha’s Vineyard whose work focuses on improving knowledge of the history, cultures, and people of the Wampanoag and other Indigenous nations. She’ll be joined by Lindsay Randall, a senior humanities specialist with the Metropolitan Area Planning Council whose work is grounded in Indigenous collaborative archaeology.
The March 19 event for high school teachers will be held in the Martin Luther King, Jr. room in the Ellison Campus Center, 1 Meier Dr., on North Campus. The March 27 event for elementary school teachers will be held in room 123 of Charlotte Forten Hall, 71C Loring Ave., on Harrington Campus. Both will run from 9 am to 3 pm.
School districts wishing to send teams of teachers and individual teachers wishing to reserve a spot for either workshop should contact the Center at chgs@salemstate.edu for more information.