A LIVING HISTORY
Revised and Revived
Lowell’s Class of 2027 combined advocacy, research, and design to pay respect to the first stewards of our campus In 4th grade, Lowell’s integrated curriculum ties together lessons in reading, writing, and social studies to explore the history of and current issues facing Indigenous people. This lens of the Indigenous experience shapes countless units throughout the year, showing up in book reports, art creations, and social justice projects. In the 2022–2023 school year, one project stood out as an actionable way for our students to create change in our own community. On a crisp November day in 2022, the entire Primary School assembled on the Front Field for a bi-weekly community gathering. In recognition of Native American Heritage Month, Lowell’s 4th graders presented some of their social studies learning to fellow students from Kindergarten through 5th grade. As in years past, they talked about their exploration of the history of Lowell School and the land its campus sits on. “A land acknowledgment is when you recognize and name the people who were the original and first to live in an area, even if there are other people living
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THE LEAD FALL 2023
on the land now,” one student explained before reading aloud from the then-current Lowell School Land Acknowledgment. But these 4th graders noticed something else significant in their research: changes had to be made! And so, with an audience of their fellow students, 4th graders stated their commitment to a months-long project to improve and update Lowell’s land acknowledgment and make it more visible. “It was important to me to update the land acknowledgment because it was outdated and incorrect, and I feel like Indigenous people could be better represented,” said student Jackie, thinking back on their work. With student interest leading the charge, teachers Emily and Elizabeth helped guide their classes through the process of creating a thoughtful statement representative of the whole school. “Indigenous communities ask that when an institution writes a land acknowledgment, certain steps be taken to make it meaningful,” they shared. “Students
