The tenth annual Native Knowledge 360° (NK360°) Teach-In will bring together hundreds of teachers from across the country to enlighten and inform teaching about American Indians. Through interactive workshops, teachers will explore classroom-ready lessons for K-12 students that center on Native voices and histories. Participants will learn how to bring the museum’s exhibitions and the resource-rich NK360° education initiative into their teaching practices.
The tenth annual Teach-In, hosted by the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian in partnership with Teaching for Change, will highlight the connections between Indigenous history and current cultural sovereignty efforts. The Teach-In is an opportunity for educators to convene in person with NMAI’s educators and scholars and discuss how to engage students with compelling questions and explorations of new ideas. What does teaching about Indigenous people look like on the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the birth of the United States? How can teachers inspire and empower their students to preserve our shared history? This year’s program features a keynote address by Dr. Gabrielle Tayac (Piscataway Indian Nation).
This event will be hosted IN PERSON in Washington, D.C. at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian. Coffee and snacks will be provided in the morning during registration check-in and lunch. We encourage participants to bring a reusable water bottle.
Participants who complete the teach-in evaluation can receive professional development credit and a book.
Keynote
The Lands that We Love, The Lands that We Are: Tribal Cultural Sovereignty at the 250th
Native peoples center profound, balanced kinship relationships with life sources embedded in their lands. Cultural sovereignty is the inherent right to practice and shape their tribal values, traditions, and knowledge systems across time. As we commemorate the 250th year since the United States declared independence, contemporary American Indian communities show how links to the past strengthen resilience for the future. In this talk, Dr. Gabrielle Tayac will connect you to teaching frameworks, sources, and inspirations gathered with Indigenous knowledge keepers who carve a path forward for the next 250 years.
About the Keynote Speaker
Our keynote speaker, Dr. Gabrielle Tayac (Piscataway Indian Nation), is a community-engaged public historian, scholar, and museum curator. She holds a PhD in sociology from Harvard University. She served as an inaugural curator, historian, and educator at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian. Now as a professor at George Mason University, she oversees the CoCreative History Space to train new generations of public historians in their pursuits to understand and interpret histories, near and far, ancient and modern. She is rooted in the tidewater lands, caring for places especially along Nanjemoy Creek, with family, striving always to be a good relative and ancestor.
Schedule
9:00 AM: Participant Check-In 10:30 AM – 11:00 AM: Welcome & Keynote Address 11:10 AM – 12:00 PM: Workshops Round One 12:05 PM – 12:50 PM: Lunch with Optional Interactive Debrief & Brainstorm 1:00 PM – 1:50 PM: Workshops Round Two 2:00 PM: Evaluation & Book Distribution
Workshops
Beyond Loyalists and Patriots: Black and Native Americans Fight for Their Freedom in the U.S. War of Independence
The Declaration of Independence is one of the most widely celebrated documents in all of U.S. history. The quotes that most people know — that “all men are created equal” with rights to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” — are often cited as proof that the United States was built on a cornerstone of freedom and justice for all. But the Declaration’s final grievance takes aim at Black and Native Americans, defending slavery and settler colonialism in the new United States. In this session, participants will explore the varied impact of the American Revolution on voices often stifled or erased from its commemorations. Through a mixer activity, participants will surface choices and outcomes navigated by an array of Indigenous and Black people in the Revolutionary period — and examine what freedom means to those excluded from it at the U.S. founding. Recommended audience: 6–12 grade teachers
Exhibition Tour of Stretching the Canvas: Ten Decades of Native Painting and Hands-On Artist Spotlight Activity
NMAI curator Rebecca Trautmann will provide a brief overview of the exhibition Stretching the Canvas: Ten Decades of Native Painting and then we will do a slow looking exploration of Jaune Quick-To- See Smith’s painting Trade Canoe Adrift and Jeffrey Gibson’s work Infinite Anomaly #1 in the exhibition Stretching the Canvas, which explores how Native artists challenged conventional definitions of art and expanded the possibilities of Native expression from the early 20th century to the present. Teachers will then play with a short color study from the new Artist Spotlight. Recommended for K–12 grade teachers. Maximum participants 30.
Additional Events
Hosted in partnership with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian.
NYC Native Knowledge 360° Mini Teach-In
Hosted at the National Museum of the American Indian in New York City
Saturday, September 26, 2026 10:00AM – 12:00PM ET National Museum of the American Indian 1 Bowling Green, New York, NY, 10004
This New York City Teach-In is a MINI version of our flagship annual Native Knowledge 360° Teach-In. This is a more intimate, limited-capacity gathering designed to bring the same rich content and hands-on approach to educators in the NYC metro area who might not otherwise be able to attend the main event in D.C. Space is limited, so early registration is encouraged. Learn more and register.
2026 ONLINE Native Knowledge 360° Teach-In
Online Event
Saturday, November 7, 2026 12:00 PM – 3:00 PM (ET) / 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM (PT) Online Via Zoom
The Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) and Teaching for Change deliver a day of online conversation, curriculum highlights, workshops, and idea exchange — preceded by a short keynote presentation. Participants will have the chance to attend two rounds of workshops and engage with each other virtually via Zoom. Registration coming soon!
2026 Native Knowledge 360° Teach-In
Hosted at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C.
10th Annual Native Knowledge 360° Teach-In
Cultural Sovereignty on the 25Oth
Saturday, September 26, 2026
9:00AM – 2:30PM ET
National Museum of the American Indian
4th Street SW, Washington, D.C.
This event will be hosted IN PERSON in Washington, D.C. at the
Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian.
The tenth annual Native Knowledge 360° (NK360°) Teach-In will bring together hundreds of teachers from across the country to enlighten and inform teaching about American Indians. Through interactive workshops, teachers will explore classroom-ready lessons for K-12 students that center on Native voices and histories. Participants will learn how to bring the museum’s exhibitions and the resource-rich NK360° education initiative into their teaching practices.
The tenth annual Teach-In, hosted by the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian in partnership with Teaching for Change, will highlight the connections between Indigenous history and current cultural sovereignty efforts. The Teach-In is an opportunity for educators to convene in person with NMAI’s educators and scholars and discuss how to engage students with compelling questions and explorations of new ideas. What does teaching about Indigenous people look like on the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the birth of the United States? How can teachers inspire and empower their students to preserve our shared history? This year’s program features a keynote address by Dr. Gabrielle Tayac (Piscataway Indian Nation).
This event will be hosted IN PERSON in Washington, D.C. at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian. Coffee and snacks will be provided in the morning during registration check-in and lunch. We encourage participants to bring a reusable water bottle.
Participants who complete the teach-in evaluation can receive professional development credit and a book.
Keynote
The Lands that We Love, The Lands that We Are: Tribal Cultural Sovereignty at the 250th
Native peoples center profound, balanced kinship relationships with life sources embedded in their lands. Cultural sovereignty is the inherent right to practice and shape their tribal values, traditions, and knowledge systems across time. As we commemorate the 250th year since the United States declared independence, contemporary American Indian communities show how links to the past strengthen resilience for the future. In this talk, Dr. Gabrielle Tayac will connect you to teaching frameworks, sources, and inspirations gathered with Indigenous knowledge keepers who carve a path forward for the next 250 years.
About the Keynote Speaker
Our keynote speaker, Dr. Gabrielle Tayac (Piscataway Indian Nation), is a community-engaged public historian, scholar, and museum curator. She holds a PhD in sociology from Harvard University. She served as an inaugural curator, historian, and educator at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian. Now as a professor at George Mason University, she oversees the CoCreative History Space to train new generations of public historians in their pursuits to understand and interpret histories, near and far, ancient and modern. She is rooted in the tidewater lands, caring for places especially along Nanjemoy Creek, with family, striving always to be a good relative and ancestor.
Schedule
9:00 AM: Participant Check-In
10:30 AM – 11:00 AM: Welcome & Keynote Address
11:10 AM – 12:00 PM: Workshops Round One
12:05 PM – 12:50 PM: Lunch with Optional Interactive Debrief & Brainstorm
1:00 PM – 1:50 PM: Workshops Round Two
2:00 PM: Evaluation & Book Distribution
Workshops
Beyond Loyalists and Patriots: Black and Native Americans Fight for Their Freedom in the U.S. War of Independence
The Declaration of Independence is one of the most widely celebrated documents in all of U.S. history. The quotes that most people know — that “all men are created equal” with rights to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” — are often cited as proof that the United States was built on a cornerstone of freedom and justice for all. But the Declaration’s final grievance takes aim at Black and Native Americans, defending slavery and settler colonialism in the new United States. In this session, participants will explore the varied impact of the American Revolution on voices often stifled or erased from its commemorations. Through a mixer activity, participants will surface choices and outcomes navigated by an array of Indigenous and Black people in the Revolutionary period — and examine what freedom means to those excluded from it at the U.S. founding. Recommended audience: 6–12 grade teachers
Exhibition Tour of Stretching the Canvas: Ten Decades of Native Painting and Hands-On Artist Spotlight Activity
NMAI curator Rebecca Trautmann will provide a brief overview of the exhibition Stretching the Canvas: Ten Decades of Native Painting and then we will do a slow looking exploration of Jaune Quick-To- See Smith’s painting Trade Canoe Adrift and Jeffrey Gibson’s work Infinite Anomaly #1 in the exhibition Stretching the Canvas, which explores how Native artists challenged
conventional definitions of art and expanded the possibilities of Native expression from the early 20th century to the present. Teachers will then play with a short color study from the new Artist Spotlight. Recommended for K–12 grade teachers. Maximum participants 30.
Additional Events
Hosted in partnership with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian.
NYC Native Knowledge 360° Mini Teach-In
Hosted at the National Museum of the American Indian in New York City
Saturday, September 26, 2026
10:00AM – 12:00PM ET
National Museum of the American Indian
1 Bowling Green, New York, NY, 10004
This New York City Teach-In is a MINI version of our flagship annual Native Knowledge 360° Teach-In. This is a more intimate, limited-capacity gathering designed to bring the same rich content and hands-on approach to educators in the NYC metro area who might not otherwise be able to attend the main event in D.C. Space is limited, so early registration is encouraged. Learn more and register.
2026 ONLINE Native Knowledge 360° Teach-In
Online Event
Saturday, November 7, 2026
12:00 PM – 3:00 PM (ET) / 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM (PT)
Online Via Zoom
The Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) and Teaching for Change deliver a day of online conversation, curriculum highlights, workshops, and idea exchange — preceded by a short keynote presentation. Participants will have the chance to attend two rounds of workshops and engage with each other virtually via Zoom. Registration coming soon!
Posted: August 31, 2026