TeachRock

This poem by Jane Johnston Schoolcraft (1800-1842) is one of nearly a dozen by Native American poets featured throughout TeachRock’s acclaimed lesson collection, RUMBLE: The Indians Who Rocked the World. Regarded as the first known Native American woman writer in the U.S., Jane Johnston Schoolcraft was the daughter of an Ojibwe mother and Scots-Irish father. Her poem, “On Leaving My Children John and Jane at School…” is presented alongside other poems and personal letters to provide essential Native American perspectives as students investigate the Federal Indian Boarding School system in the “Wounded Knee” lesson plan from the RUMBLE collection.

Crafted to spark engagement and discovery in ELA, General Music, History, and Social Studies classrooms, the TeachRock RUMBLE collection was created in partnership with the producers of the award-winning RUMBLE documentary. Each standards-aligned lesson is packed with captivating clips from the film, powerful primary source documents, and engaging multi-disciplinary activities. While each lesson spotlights important Native American musicians, including Redbone, Link Wray, Jimi Hendrix, Buffy St. Marie, and the Black Eyed Peas’ Taboo, Native American poets and their poems shine throughout every lesson as well. With poems spanning nearly two hundred years, the RUMBLE lesson collection includes works by William Walker Jr., Linda LeGarde Grover, Chrystos, John Trudell, Diane Burns, and many more.

Examine the significant contributions that Native Americans have made to the music, culture, and history of the United States this Indigenous Peoples’ Day with TeachRock’s Rumble lesson collection, and spend time with a new favorite poet.