How do we move from teaching about Indigenous peoples as a single topic or commemorative moment to meaningfully integrating Indigenous history and perspectives throughout the social studies curriculum? In this engaging professional development session, Dr. Anton Treuer invites educators to examine what students—and educators—most often get wrong, leave out, or oversimplify when learning about Indigenous peoples.

Treuer will explore the essential ideas students should understand about Tribal sovereignty, treaties, Native nations, and the continuing relationship between Tribal nations, Minnesota, and the United States. He will also challenge educators to consider how Indigenous history can be woven authentically into the teaching of U.S. and Minnesota history rather than confined to Indigenous Peoples’ Day, a single unit, or a collection of cultural activities.

Drawing on Native American history, Indigenous scholarship, storytelling, and his experience as an educator, Treuer will highlight whose voices and sources belong in the classroom and offer practical ways teachers can deepen historical understanding, challenge common misconceptions, and help students recognize Native nations as living, sovereign communities whose histories and contemporary experiences are essential to understanding Minnesota and the United States.

Please note, this is a closed professional development event for educators of District 196 (Rosemount, Apple Valley, and Eagan Public Schools).