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In seventh-grade classrooms across DSST, November means more than turning the calendar page. It's a moment to pause, to listen and to learn from voices that have too often been silenced or simplified in education. At DSST: Aurora Science & Tech (AST) Middle School, English Language Arts teacher Gretchen Pearson is helping students do exactly that through the Modern Indigenous Voices unit, a curriculum designed not just to teach about Indigenous people, but to learn from them.
"I hope students walk away with a deeper understanding of the strength, depth and resilience of Indigenous people, not only throughout history, but in the present day," Pearson said. "I want them to leave this unit with concrete examples of how Indigenous communities have retained their culture, identity and humanity despite centuries of injustice and persecution."
The unit, taught across DSST's middle schools during the fall semester, centers contemporary Indigenous poetry and narrative alongside informational texts that contextualize both historical and ongoing injustices. Students don't just read about Indigenous boarding schools, they read poems written by survivors and their descendants. They don't just learn that land was stolen, they explore how Indigenous communities continue to fight for water rights, environmental justice and cultural preservation today.
It's a curriculum built on the belief that representation matters, that accuracy matters and that middle schoolers are ready to grapple with hard truths.
"Many students enter the classroom with an incomplete or romanticized understanding of America's past," Pearson explained. "By engaging with authentic Indigenous voices, they gain a fuller, more accurate perspective of what happened, and what continues to happen within our country."
One of the most powerful moments in the unit comes when students study the history of Indigenous boarding schools, institutions designed to erase Native languages, traditions and identities under the guise of education. Pearson said the texts sparked immediate and visceral responses from her students.
"Their emotional responses, especially their anger and disbelief, became a driving force for discussion," she said. "They weren't just absorbing information; they were confronting injustice … It's powerful to witness literature spark real empathy, self-awareness, and a desire for personal growth."
The Modern Indigenous Voices unit fits seamlessly into DSST's broader humanities curriculum, which asks students to examine the human experience from multiple angles throughout the year. It is also distinctive in its breadth of genre, shared Pearson. Students dive into stories, poems, and informational pieces, experiencing a wide variety of styles and perspectives.
"It's essential for students to see that Native cultures are living, vibrant, and active today, not simply cultures of the past," Pearson said. "Contemporary Indigenous voices help students understand how traditions endure, adapt, and thrive even in the face of systemic oppression."
This work directly supports DSST's mission of equity and inclusion. At its core, the unit teaches students to recognize inequity, listen to marginalized voices and understand the diverse experiences that make up our shared history. It asks them to sit with discomfort, to question what they've been taught and to honor the stories of people whose narratives have been erased or distorted for generations.
"I've seen students develop a deeper appreciation for cultural identity, as well as a heightened awareness of how history shapes present-day realities," Pearson said.
As the unit transitions into the study of the Holocaust, students carry forward the questions they've been wrestling with: What does it mean to preserve culture in the face of oppression? How do communities resist erasure? What does resilience look like when survival itself is an act of defiance?
These are not easy questions. But Pearson believes middle schoolers are ready for them, and that they deserve curriculum that respects their capacity to think critically, feel deeply, and engage meaningfully with the world around them.
"Middle schoolers in particular benefit from seeing how a community can maintain cultural pride and continue shaping society today," she said. "This perspective broadens their understanding of history, identity, and the ongoing impact of colonization."
At DSST, education has always been about more than test scores or college acceptance letters. It's about preparing students to break systemic barriers, to lead with empathy and to contribute to a more just and equitable world.