In this essay, the author begins by acknowledging the necessity of teaching Native American and other indigenous literatures both alongside and independent of Western texts. Instructors should teach these works by listening to the Native authors' worldviews and literary traditions. However, when instructors try to teach Native literatures conscientiously, they find themselves in the challenging position of teaching a complex weave of subjects: they discuss aspects of history, law, federal and tribal politics, and clan/social relations before opening the first novel. They also have to explain the individual tribe's oral and written storytelling traditions to show the continuity of contemporary works. Here, the author points out several problems instructors may encounter when including Native-authored materials and trying to interpret them appropriately. He discusses four areas where teachers should be forewarned when incorporating Native literature into their teaching platforms: (1) context selection; (2) accessibility; (3) time; and (4) assessment.