SILETZ — The Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians has released its first set of tribally developed K-12 curriculum for use in Oregon schools.
The curriculum includes lessons for students in grades K-1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10 and 11, and covers an array of topics related to tribal history, culture, science and governance. Together, the lessons are designed to expose students to the many different tribes and bands that make up the Confederated Tribes of Siletz, peoples who occupied all of Western Oregon and parts of Northern California and Southwest Washington before being forcibly removed to the Siletz Reservation beginning in the mid-1850s.
“We are so excited to be able share a more complete version of our region’s history,” said Alissa Lane-Keene, programs manager for the Siletz Tribe. “We hope that these lessons will help the coming generations of Oregonians appreciate the resilience and persistence of the Siletz Tribe and our ongoing connection with our Tribal homelands and traditions.”
Although the lessons were designed for classroom use, tribal staff hopes the curriculum can be a resource for tribal members and the general public of all ages.
To create the lessons, Siletz staff brought together information from many different sources in order to give students the opportunity to engage with historic documents, published scholarship and tribal oral histories, some of which can be difficult to access.
The Siletz Tribal Curriculum is part of a larger effort to reshape the way that Oregon public schools teach about Native people, codified into law with the passage of Senate Bill 13 in 2017. The Oregon law mandates the instruction of lessons about the nine Oregon tribes in fourth, eighth and 10th grades.
The Siletz curriculum was developed with grants from the Oregon Department of Education. Lesson plans and materials are already available for download on the Siletz Tribal website at www.ctsi.nsn.us. Tribal staff plans to release a final set of lessons for grades three, seven, nine and 12 in time for the 2023-2024 school year.