Land Acknowledgement

A very useful Guide to Indigenous Land Acknowledgement!

I was so inspired by an Indigenous Land Acknowledgement that was part of Fiona Hamilton's "Word Inquiry in Action" conference I attended remotely in April, and I shared it during the Grade 7 Age of Exploration block: https://switzerite.blogspot.com/2022/04/week-30-highlights.html.

I began to develop a Land Acknowledgement to use at Touch of Nature during Summer Camps but it never caught hold; however, I would like to incorporate one into our school year here. Which begins tomorrow!

I'm currently finalizing my thinking on daily routines. Here is what I would like us to say to start our Morning Meetings:

This is Kaskaskia land

We are meeting on Kaskaskia land

We honor this land
and those who came before us

We protect this land
for those who come after us

I think that a Land Acknowledgement is always important but for my 8th grade student who is doing U.S. History all year, I believe it is particularly meaningful for us to begin every day this way. At the same time, my youngest student is in 1st grade, and so I need the language to not be scary.

If your school or business does a Land Acknowledgement, I'd love for you to share it!

~ ~ ~

Meet Naiche: A Native Boy from the Chesapeake Bay Area
by Gabrielle Tayac

This is a wonderful photograph that my friend took on the morning of my birthday this year. It's from home. I grew up on the Chesapeake Bay. I wish that when I was a child our schools had spent more time talking about the Piscataway people (to see who lived where you are, visit Native Land).

It was presented like the story of Maryland began with Captain John Smith...

It is not true that that's where the story began. And it's also not accurate to give children the impression that there are no Piscataway people left today.

I also appreciate the practice of a daily land acknowledgment just because the children and I are stopping to look at the land under our feet each morning. We never did that before. It's worth pausing to appreciate it. And it's always worth remembering that you're part of something bigger. This land will be here long after you leave. So we should take care of our Earth!