Summer PD Opportunities: In Billings, Bozeman, Helena and across the Country

I've already touted the Montana Geographic Alliance's Geo-Inquiry Institute at Flathead Lake (June 20-22). Here are a few other professional development opportunities that have crossed my radar.

Once again the Montana Network of Holocaust/IEFA Educators is hosting "Worlds Apart But Not Strangers: Holocaust Education and Indian Education for All. The seminar is for all educators, grades 4 through college professors, who are currently teaching or interested in teaching the Holocaust and/or the Indian Education for All. Held on the campus of MSU-Billings, June 10-16, 2018, this intensive, inquiry-based seminar bridges past and present. Participants build background knowledge about the Holocaust and IEFA and gain writing-based classroom strategies for building community and processing difficult information. The seminar is free (three graduate credits are available for $135) and includes copies of selected books and teaching materials, lunches and most dinners, several field trips, and the opportunity to apply for mini-grants of up to $1,000. Low-cost dorm housing is available.

Project Archaeology is offering a professional development workshop “Civil Rights through the Lens of Archaeology: Investigating a Shotgun House," on June 18-20, 2018 at the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman, MT. The cost of registration is $145 which includes full instruction and all materials. (University credit (1) and renewal units (21) are available, university credit is an additional $60.) Participants will explore the history of the working class, the meaning of neighborhood, and the definition of family. Workshop leader Crystal Alegria assures me that she's adapting the national curriculum to Montana and that the participants will take home curriculum that is immediately usable in their classrooms to fulfil Common Core Standards, while their students discover historical inquiry through engaging hands-on activities. The registration deadline is June 1, 2018, or when the class fills. If you have any questions, please send email Crystal at calegria@montana.edu or give her a call at 406-994-6925.


We're teaming up to offer OPI Renewal Units for teachers attending the Montana History Foundation's Cemetery Workshop, which will be held in Helena, June 21-23, 2018. Day 1 features national and regional experts on cemetery presentation techniques, including GIS mapping and ground penetrating radar. Day 2 focuses on technology preservation demonstrations at Forestvale Cemetery and Day 3 offers a choice of field trips that include a day of hands-on preservation training at Elkhorn Ghost Town and a half-day motor coach tour of Helena's historic cemeteries with MHS Interpretive Historian Ellen Baumler. Registration cost is $125.

Looking to travel farther afield? Check out the NEH Summer Seminars and Institutes for School Teachers. The application is competitive and includes a travel stipend of $1200-$3,000 to defray the costs of attending these one-three week tuition-free seminars. Topics include the 1918 Flu Epidemic (Blacksburg, VA and Washington, DC) and Reading Material Maps in a Digital Age (Chicago). Deadline for applying is March 1, 2018.