1) This photo is from an online page @studiesweekly created. If your district uses materials Studies Weekly creates, children are being mis-educated.

I'll do a brief analysis in this thread. This is only one item in a pages-long unit that is full of errors and bias.

2) "What was" is past tense. That's error #1.

Use of past tense verbs suggests we no longer exist.

3) "by American Indians" suggests that Native ppls of the hundreds of Native Nations speak a single language. That's error #2.

Consider the word "papoose." Tho it is often used as *the* Native word for baby, it is the word in one language.

Here's "read" in many languages:

4) Called out (on Twitter) for this messed-up unit, Studies Weekly apologized and said "The curriculum team who built this product are no longer with us."

I don't know if firing people is the right (or only) response a company of that size should do.

5) What does accountability look like in 2020?

Schools are so poorly funded. They cannot afford to use precious funds for flawed products like this one--and you should all be wondering what else these "educational" materials provide!

6) Do any of the materials tell children that the US government established schools based on an idea to "kill the Indian and save the man" -- which meant kill our languages? That Native kids who went to those schools were punished for speaking their language?

7) In that Studies Weekly page, children are asked "What was the language used by American Indians, many years ago?" (see previous tweets for why the question is flawed). Kids had to choose from German, Spanish, English, or "there was no language."

8) What does "no language" mean? And how long ago is "many years ago"?

I think "many years ago" means before our homelands were invaded by Europeans. We had hundreds of languages. Due to trade, Native ppl knew many Native languages, and post-invasion learned European ones.

9) Some of you reading this thread are saying to yourself "oh, I didn't realize (or know) that..." and some of you are saying to yourself "This makes total sense! Why didn't I realize it before?"

Both speak to the power of miseducation. You learned it somewhere.

10) You can unlearn it, and you can help others unlearn or recognize the ways you were miseducated about Native peoples.

Step up! Interrupt that cycle of miseducation!

11) It is uncomfortable to step up. Ppl don't like to make someone else feel bad.

Silence, however, means you are choosing to be complicit in miseducation.

Is that what you want to do? I hope not.

12) This particular item became known because a parent spoke up. The @ZinnEdProject responded. I am responding, too, with this thread.

Those of you who are sharing it, you're responding, too. Thank you!

13) Dr. @JeanMendoza2016 and I created a Tips for Teachers last week. You can find it here: …https://americanindiansinchildrensliterature.blogspot.com/2020/10/tips-for-teachers-developing.html (there's a pdf of it, too).

Please use/share it--but don't bundle into something you sell, ok?

14) I'm adding a link to @ProfesoraEspana's thread. She's looking at additional mis-educational materials you've done, @studiesweekly. https://twitter.com/ProfesoraEspana/status/1312408276584275968

15) In replies, people have told me about having called out @studiesweekly's use of a "Cotton Pickin'" song.

I see that @educationweek ran an article about Studies Weekly in June, 2019: https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2019/06/14/a-popular-social-studies-curriculum-got-an.html

16) In one activity, students were asked to write from the point of view of a plantation owner.

An internal review found more than 400 examples of "...racial or ethnic bias, historical inaccuracies, ..." and decided that 100 of them needed immediate attention.

17) There's a sidebar in the Ed Week article with examples. Science Weekly's statement then (June 2019) said some items would be corrected.

If you are using these materials this year, are these items still there, like this?