4th Annual Indigenous Education Symposium: Full Schedule

10:00am MDT

Thursday July 16, 2026 10:00am - 11:30am MDT

This interactive session explores how educators can co-learn with the land through Indigenous Science, social-emotional learning, and sensory-based experiences that deepen curiosity, connection, and understanding of the natural world. Drawing from an elementary curriculum developed at the Native American Community Academy for Elementary, participants will engage in hands-on strategies that connect learners to self, land, plants, water, and animal relatives while discovering adaptable methods for integrating outdoor learning into the classroom.

Speakers

Victoria Martinez (Laguna, Zia, Zuni, and Santo Domingo)

Thursday July 16, 2026 10:00am - 11:30am MDT
TBA

Breakout Session D

10:00am MDT

From Classroom to Community: Empowering Students by Indigenizing Your Secondary ELA Curriculum Using A Rhetorical Approach

Thursday July 16, 2026 10:00am - 11:30am MDT

TBA

How do we prepare students for where they’re going in life? Recent scholarship on writing and rhetoric offers important insights about how we can help students negotiate the critical transitions that increasingly determine postsecondary success—like the transition from middle school to high school, high school to college, school to work, and from first-year college courses into the major and beyond. Teaching texts rhetorically promotes students’ agency and resilience by empowering them to transform their learning for new purposes. The units provided by the Native Literature Design Program encompass this approach.

No curriculum is perfect and for many secondary ELA teachers, the curriculum we have been given is often imperfect. Curriculum is equitable and effective when it acts as a “positive light” (142), to use Gholdy Muhammad’s description. Muhammad explains that “a quality curriculum provides teachers with guidance on how to approach, enhance, and customize lessons to meet the needs of their students” (157). When we use the tools of the Native Literature Design program and the framework from the California State University’s Expository Reading and Writing Curriculum (ERWC) we can create a curriculum that meets the needs of all of our students, gives students a voice, and celebrates the joy of Indigenous Genius.

In this session, participants learn how to level up literacy and language learning through a rhetorical approach to reading and composing. Using examples from California State University's Expository Reading and Writing Curriculum (ERWC) and the Native Literature Design Program, we explore teaching strategies and frameworks that promote transfer from reading to writing (and back again), between academic disciplines, and across genres and rhetorical situations. Most importantly, as part of the process of integrating these frameworks, participants will learn how to incorporate Indigenous knowledge into their existing curriculum.

Speakers

Margo Batha

English teacher Los Alamos High School and Coach, California State University Expository Reading and Writing Course, Los Alamos Public Schools

From Classroom to Community: Empowering Students by Indigenizing Your Secondary ELA Curriculum Using A Rhetorical Approach
How do we prepare students for where they’re going in life? Recent scholarship on writing and rhetoric offers important insights about how we can help students negotiate the critical transitions that increasingly determine postsecondary success—like the transition from middle... Read More →

Thursday July 16, 2026 10:00am - 11:30am MDT
TBA

Breakout Session D

10:00am MDT

Inter-Indigenous Perspectives on Place-Based Learning

Thursday July 16, 2026 10:00am - 11:30am MDT

TBA

This interactive session explores land-based learning through an inter-Indigenous lens, highlighting how relationships with land, story, and community can shape meaningful educational experiences for youth. Facilitators Liv Martinez and Atieno Ouma will share practices from their work in outdoor and place-based education that encourage middle school students to build curiosity, observation skills, and a sense of responsibility toward the environments and communities they are part of.

Participants will engage in a model lesson and collaborative activities designed to help educators incorporate land-based learning into their own classrooms or school communities. Together, we will explore how Indigenous science practices such as observation, storytelling, and relational learning can support student identity, belonging, and connection to place.

Speakers

Olivia Martinez (Kickapoo, Pyramid Lake Paiute, and Hispanic)

Olivia “Liv” Martinez (she/her) is Kickapoo, Pyramid Lake Paiute, and Hispanic, born and raised in Albuquerque’s South Valley. Her early connection to land and community shaped her passion for outdoor education and working with youth. Now serving as Program Manager at Nature... Read More →

Atieno Ouma (Kenyan from the Luo tribe)

Nature Ninos

Atieno Ouma is a dedicated leader in outdoor education and community engagement with extensive experience designing experiential programs that connect young people to education, community, and the natural world. Originally from Kenya and raised in Massachusetts, she has lived in New... Read More →

Thursday July 16, 2026 10:00am - 11:30am MDT
TBA

Breakout Session D

10:00am MDT

Language and the Land: Resources for Connecting to Critical Concepts

Thursday July 16, 2026 10:00am - 11:30am MDT

TBA

Land is a teacher. Land is not just a backdrop but a living entity that provides sustenance, medicine, and knowledge. This session provides ways that teachers can connect the land to literature by asking the following questions: How do we see land as text? How do you integrate land as text? Focusing on poetry, children's books, and non-fiction texts this session will help teachers k-12 connect land to language and literature.
Participants will practice using language to describe the land and practice writing and identifying questions that help students' land as text comprehension.

Speakers

Azella Humetewa

Senior Director of School Design & Sustainability, NACA inspired Schools Network

Faith Rosetta (Santo Domingo Pueblo)

Diane Katzenmeyer Delgado

Director of Indigenous Genius by Design (Curriculum), NACA inspired Schools Network

Thursday July 16, 2026 10:00am - 11:30am MDT
TBA

Breakout Session D

10:00am MDT

Localizing Your Curriculum- Planning in Place

Thursday July 16, 2026 10:00am - 11:30am MDT

TBA

Join us for an interactive session grounded in land based learning. Educators will reflect on their own recent outdoor experiences and explore how to design meaningful field trips that center relationships with land, community, and student
Identity. Participants will consider how outdoor learning connects to Indigenous Science Initiative curriculum, including ways to frame pre- and post- learning experiences that will deepen understanding. This session will also highlight what it looks like to
teach in the field, sharing practical tools and strategies for responding to student curiosity, honoring teachable moments, and adapting to the natural flow of learning
Outdoors. Educators will leave with concrete approaches to creating intentional, culturally
grounded, and responsive outdoor learning experiences that extend beyond the classroom.

Speakers

Alice Tsoodle (Kiowa & Cherokee)

NACA inspired Schools Network

Alice Tsoodle comes from the Kiowa and Cherokee people of Oklahoma and is descendent of European settlers. She grew up in New Mexico and returns by way of Oklahoma, Colorado, and Washington. Her interests and experiences include walking with and learning from children as they reclaim... Read More →

Thursday July 16, 2026 10:00am - 11:30am MDT
TBA

Breakout Session D

10:00am MDT

Memoirs as Medicine

Thursday July 16, 2026 10:00am - 11:30am MDT

TBA

Indigenous literacy is more than reading and writing—it is the preservation of voice, identity, memory, and community knowledge. This session explores how storytelling and memoir can serve as powerful literacy tools that strengthen student identity, engagement, and academic growth across PK–12 classrooms.
Drawing from Memoirs of a Rez Girl and years of experience in Indigenous education, this session demonstrates how culturally grounded storytelling supports reading, writing, speaking, and listening while affirming students’ lived experiences. Participants will explore how literacy instruction rooted in identity and voice fosters confidence, belonging, and resilience, particularly for Indigenous learners whose stories are often absent from traditional curriculum.

Thursday July 16, 2026 10:00am - 11:30am MDT
TBA

Breakout Session D

10:00am MDT

Storytelling: Passing on Indigenous Knowledge Through the Framework of Storytelling

Thursday July 16, 2026 10:00am - 11:30am MDT

TBA

Step into a reflective pause with Michael as he shares the living tradition of Pueblo storytelling, where stories are more than narratives—they are vessels of ancestral knowledge, identity, and responsibility. Through the timeless presence of tricksters, participants explore how humor, mischief, and consequence become powerful teaching tools rooted in place, community, and emergence. This session invites participants to reconnect with storytelling as an Indigenous framework for preserving language, ceremony, culture, and lived experience—honoring the wisdom of the past while carrying it forward with intention and heart.

Thursday July 16, 2026 10:00am - 11:30am MDT
TBA

Breakout Session D

10:00am MDT

Understanding Tribal Systems and Building Meaningful Relationships

Thursday July 16, 2026 10:00am - 11:30am MDT

TBA

This session will explore the importance of localizing education efforts through meaningful partnerships with Indigenous communities. Drawing from the presenter’s experience working in Tribal education, she will share practical insights from her own work in building relationships and navigating collaboration. Participants will then be introduced to foundational knowledge of Tribal governance systems and how they are structured, in particular Tribal Education Departments, to help educators understand the scope of the work and services that they provide to their communities.
Building on this foundation, the session will focus on strategies for developing respectful and effective partnerships with Indigenous Communities, and will conclude with practical guidance and concrete steps participants can take to begin building meaningful relationships.

Speakers

Bettina Sandoval (Taos Pueblo)

Bettina Sandoval was born into the community of Taos Pueblo, she is deeply rooted in her values and connections and is driven to make a positive impact anywhere she goes. Her passion for education started when she earned a Bachelor's of Science in Elementary Education from the University... Read More →

Thursday July 16, 2026 10:00am - 11:30am MDT
TBA

Breakout Session D