Jennifer John of Albuquerque, New Mexico. Is a third grade teacher at theNative American Community Academy in the Albuquerque Public Schools district serving students of theNavajo, Pueblo, Apache, Blackfeet, Lakota, Mandan, Northern Cheyenne, Wampanoag Tribe of Aquinnah, Omaha, Euchee, Lumbee, Seminole, Tohono O’odham, Fort Mojave, Paiute Indian, Kiowa tribes, and many others.
Jennifer used her $1,000 Dreamstarter Teacher grant to promote reading and writing by increasing the use of indigenous children’s literature in the classroom and creating a comprehensive indigenous literature curriculum.
“I evaluated the success of my project by submitting my yearlong curriculum with four units to the supervisor helping with the K-5 Indigenous Literature Curriculum and organized my classroom library with these resources readily available to the new, incoming 3rd grade teacher.
“The long-term impact is that the indigenous students at the school will have access to books that are culturally and linguistically responsive to them. They will interact and analyze these books while learning relevant grade level ELA and Social Studies standards.
“I feel that all my students greatly benefited from this project and many more will continue to benefit as the Native Literature curriculum is implemented for years to come.”
