National History Day Theme for 2015: Exploration, Encounter, Exchange

Thinking about trying to implement National History Day in your classroom next year? 

I hope so. National History Day projects are a great way to better align your history curriculum to the Common Core. (More on that here).

Michael Herdina is now the state coordinator for NHD. He's also a classroom teacher who told me he initially got his students involved in NHD as a way to meet the requirements of Common Core. He's become a tremendous advocate for the program because of its impact on his students' learning. Michael would be delighted to visit with you this summer about NHD--including the nuts and bolts of making it work in the classroom. Contact him at mtnhdcoordinator@gmail.com. He'll also be presenting on NHD next October at the MEA-MFT conference in Billings.

The 2015 theme is Exploration, Encounter, Exchange, which makes it perfect for Montana topics from the obvious (Lewis and Clark, Indian boarding schools, or the Jesuits and the founding of St. Mary's Mission) to the less obvious: Rocky Mountain Labs and the search for a Spotted Mountain fever vaccine (exploration), Metis cultural expressions, or the anti-Chinese boycott. We'll be updating our Montana topic bibliographies over the summer, so stay tuned.