On this site you can find information and resources about Samish so that you feel comfortable and confident teaching about us in a respectful and appropriate way. Please reach out to the Education Department if you have any questions or concerns. We are your partners in learning and teaching!

We are presently working with our culture department to create usable curricula for teachers who want to incorporate the Samish experience into their personal understanding and teaching practice. This will complement the Since Time Immemorial curriculum in a local, place-based knowledge way.

As traditional Samish territory is the heart of the Salish Sea, these curricula will be especially relevant and helpful for teachers in: Anacortes, Burlington-Edison, Lopez Island, Oak Harbor, Orcas Island, San Juan Island, and Shaw Island School Districts. Teachers in other school districts in the Northwest Educational Service District 189 may also benefit from the Samish experience, but we encourage you to reach out the tribes on whose traditional territories you may work and live.

The "Native Land" app can help you get started or try this spreadsheet of WA State School District Tribal Neighbors.

Please consider the following resources for your teaching and learning efforts:

Maiden of Deception Pass | Guardian of Her Samish People from Samish Indian Nation & Longhouse Media.

This is a great introduction to the Samish and includes footage of traditional Samish territories and the history of the Maiden of Deception Pass. There is important information conveyed about the recent Samish struggle for Federal Re-recognition that will provide invaluable context for viewers.

Honor Native Land [Website- reference] (U.S. Department of Arts and Culture)
Acknowledgment is a simple, powerful way of showing respect and a step toward correcting the stories and practices that erase Indigenous people’s history and culture and toward inviting and honoring the truth.  Acknowledgment by itself is a small gesture. It becomes meaningful when coupled with authentic relationship and informed action. But this beginning can be an opening to greater public consciousness of Native sovereignty and cultural rights, a step toward equitable relationship and reconciliation.

Since Time Immemorial: Tribal Sovereignty in Washington State [Curriculum- All grades] (OSPI, WA State)
This site houses resources, materials, lessons, and entire units to support the teaching of tribal sovereignty, tribal history, and current tribal issues within the context of OSPI recommended units for Washington and US history in the elementary and middle school levels and US history and Contemporary World Issues in the high school level. Each unit is aligned with National Common Core State Standards, state standards and builds toward the successful completion of a Content-Based Assessment, or CBA.

The Fish Wars: What Kinds of Actions Can lead to Justice? [Lesson- High School] (Smithsonian, National Museum of the American Indian)
This online lesson provides perspectives from Native American community members and their supporters, images, news footage, an interactive timeline, and other sources about an important campaign to secure the treaty rights and sovereignty of Native Nations of the Pacific Northwest. Scroll to begin an exploration of the actions Native Nations took to address injustices. 
After watching the Maiden of Deception Pass, and exploring this curriculum, please consider the question: "Who might have been left out of the Fish Wars?"